Anthony by JP Barnaby
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: AngstyG
Release Date: June 27, 2016
Goodreads Link
Purchase Links: Dreamspinner Press | Amazon US | ARe
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is lucky to have J.P. Barnaby here today to share the inspiration behind the cover and story of her release, Anthony. Welcome, J.P.
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My Most Beautiful Boy by J.P. Barnaby
Sometimes, I have to ponder the existence of intelligent design, or fate, or karma—nothing else explains me becoming friends with a young man named Cody. Just shy of his 21st birthday, we met at Pride in Atlanta—a city neither of us lived in. At the time, I was still living in Chicago and Cody was attending college in Birmingham—but as fate would have it, he met a mutual friend and ended up in our little group. We fed him mimosas at Joe’s and steered him away from trouble.
Now, anyone who isn’t a supermodel knows the adage—that really hot people know they’re hot and don’t let you forget it. Cody, one of the most beautiful kids I’ve ever seen, not only defied that law, but shattered it. Kind, thoughtful, and funny, Cody surprised me with his unpretentious nature. We exchanged numbers and became very close over the intervening years.
The one thing I did tell him that weekend was that I wanted him to model for me. He readily agreed. Little did we know it would take four years and a professional modeling career for that to happen. I knew as I wrote Anthony that this was the book for Cody—this was the character that matched not only his image, but his spirit. So, when I saw the image that eventually became the cover image, we reached out to the photographer and explained. He licensed the image to me, excited by the project.
AngstyG, my cover artist, went to work creating the four cover in a series of masterpieces that only she could create. There are other good cover artists that work for Dreamspinner, but Sam is my Goddess. She does all of my covers – from Aaron to In the Absence of Monster to A Heart for Robbie. Each one is unique and truly exceptional—Anthony is no exception. The original photograph was taken in a wooden area, but because Anthony is a runaway, she put him against the alley wall. It’s a striking image.
I am incredibly lucky not only with my friends, but with my models, and my artist.
They are truly extraordinary people.
Pairing: M/M
Length: Novel Length
Genre/Tags: Contemporary, Gay Fiction, Hurt/Comfort
Book Blurb
A Survivor Story
Aaron Downing worshiped his mother. She saved his life. She did everything for him. But Anthony Downing has a different perspective. He sees the woman who tossed him into a basement for eight long years and forgot he existed. When Anthony decides he’s done being invisible, he packs up and heads for Detroit to stay with his Internet friend Jay, but fate intervenes.
Brendan Mears lost everything the day the man with a gun came into his father’s store. Now, he’s tethered to a business he can’t manage and a brother who resents him.
Different in all the ways that matter, Anthony and Brendan struggle to overcome their psychological obstacles, until a crushing betrayal sends them running for cover and each other.
Excerpt
A faint chill clung to his skin, and he caught the soft scent of burning as he bent to pick up his vodka. Someone must have been using a fire pit in the quiet of a Saturday night in suburbia. Anthony liked the smell. It reminded him of the backyard barbecues they’d thrown when his family was whole. Before Aaron proved Copernicus wrong and became the center of the fucking universe.
Before Anthony became the invisible boy.
Author Bio
JP Barnaby, an award-winning gay romance novelist, is the author of over two dozen books, including Aaron and the Little Boy Lost Series. She recently moved from Chicago to Atlanta to appease her Camaro who didn’t like the blustery winters. JP specializes in recovery romance, but slips in a few erotic or comedic stories to spice things up. When she’s not hanging out with hot guys in leather, she binge watches superheroes and crime dramas on Netflix. A physics geek, she likes the science side of Sci-Fi, and wants to grow up to be Reed Richards.
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This is a collection of four stories that explore the real life implication of the Supreme Court’s ruling on June 26; 2015. In the future no one will ever have to live with the indignation of not being allowed to marry the one they love. In the coming years gay and lesbian relationships will be different because of the possibility of marriage.
Title: 
Four men in need of a helping hand….
When Sandy Nixon’s conservative Catholic parents discover he’s had sex before marriage, they are furious. But when he blurts out he’s bisexual, they go ballistic. After they threaten him with conversion therapy, Sandy does what many queer kids long to do—leaves his homophobic parents in the dust. He moves in with his Uncle Phineas and Phineas’s partner Cody in Portland, Oregon, and is finally safe to be himself. Sandy misses his siblings, though, and decides to visit his former home in Rockford for Thanksgiving. On the train, he runs into Jade Byrne.
When he arrives at the scene of a raging fire with his unit, Morgan doesn’t waste any time going in to rescue a disabled man from his burning apartment. The moment the family who owns the house tells him about their trapped tenant, Morgan notifies his captain and goes. Getting permission isn’t as important to him as saving the man’s life, and it’s a good thing he didn’t hesitate because he manages to pull Richard out of the apartment with no time to spare. Morgan cares about the people he pulls from burning buildings and always checks on them the next day, so when he heads to the hospital to check on Richard, he’s shocked to find that Richard is Richie, his childhood best friend. 
