Amor

“No hope, no fear.”

The wise-ass young apprentice Cecco Boneri shares the brazen truth about his life as pupil to the greatest painter in 17th century Rome, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The brilliant, ill-tempered artist sleeps with both sexes, defies his patrons, assaults his enemies, and practically lives in prison. When not assisting the artist, wily Cecco makes money selling his body to wealthy Romans and corrupt priests. Caravaggio sets Rome ablaze with his defiant paintings, posing Cecco as a cocky Cupid and daring the Vatican’s wrath. Meanwhile, Caravaggio’s enemies plot revenge against him.

Street kid Cecco is too smart to let Caravaggio fall in love with him. But as years pass, the painter’s life spirals brutally out of control into jealousy and murder, and Cecco discovers the searing truth about why he’s bound to Caravaggio’s unsettled, violent spirit. When their edifice finally crumbles, will there be anyone left to pick up the pieces?

Amor at Amazon

Amor Facebook Page

The Woman Who Married Don Juan

Some people simply refuse to stay dead.

A year after her husband’s fiery death, Don Juan’s widow Doña Elvira Tenorio returns to Seville bearing a young servant about to lose his heart to a budding lothario. Meanwhile, Elvira’s friend Doña Anna de Ulloa refuses to marry the boorish Don Octavio, while young newlywed Zerlina cheerfully frolics with every man in town—except her spouse.

There’s only one problem: Don Juan escapes from Hell and storms the Andalusian countryside seducing girls, pursued by the stony ghost of the blowhard Commendatore that he killed. Before it’s all over, fortunes are told and bandits ride, lusts are quenched and love is shattered, wedding plans are waylaid and a full-blown riot takes everyone to the flaming gates of Hell. Amidst this passionate pandemonium, Doña Elvira must choose to follow the not-so-dead husband she still loves—or finally kick Don Juan aside and get on with her life.

The Woman Who Married Don Juan at Amazon

The Woman Who Married Don Juan Facebook Page

Toasted Cheese Reviews Feeding!

Oh, wow! Toasted Cheese has given my novel Feeding an excellent review! I know, I’m being shameless, but I have to quote this bit:

Likewise all of Stanford’s characters are robust and real and sometimes raw. Stanford doesn’t hold back. Some of the scenes are edgy and some are more than a little provocative. Tajo isn’t a perfect character and the things he does—although done for love—make him more appealing because sometimes good people do bad things and bad people do good things. Tajo does both. Stanford gets this and that is why Tajo, along with his fabulous supporting cast, is such a terrific teen character, so believable with his old-soul, wise-cracking, kid-cussing ways. Clearly, Stanford gets teenagers and is fluid in their speak.

Thanks so much for the terrific review! You can get Feeding for yourself and read the first three chapters here!

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Feeding is here!

Find out what’s slithering down in the cellar…

Purchase Feeding in paperback or Kindle at the link below.

Feeding at Amazon.com

You can find other e-book formats for Feeding here:

Feeding at Smashwords

Visit the official website for Feeding:

Feeding Website

Discover what Tajo fears most—read the first three chapters of Feeding here:

FEEDING—First Three Chapters

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You've met Daray before...

He's coming back...

Bigger than before and even more deadly...

He's on his way here. Get ready.

Coming soon: a full-length novel of my short story, Feeding.

Lock the doors. Bolt the windows. He'll still find a way inside.

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Where's Cody?

I know, I know; I don't update here as often as I should. If you really want to keep up with what I'm working on, what I'm thinking and, most of all, what I'm eating, come check out my Facebook page! I welcome followers, so you'll never miss a moment of hilarity, writing trivia, gay fabulousness, recipes, food p0rn, and My Little Pony pix! :D You can also check out my Gryphon Wings and Tiger Tails page, too. See you there!

Cody Stanford's Facebook Page

Gryphon Wings and Tiger Tails on Facebook

"Facebook Unicorn" by GiantMosquito

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Dare Seize the Fire has roared to life!

And here it is! Dare Seize the Fire is available right now as an e-book and soon in a print version. Woot!

Katie Zielinski is an ordinary girl who obeys her parents, does her homework, and loves her autistic brother, Cassie. But Katie is too afraid to tell anyone about her secret crush on her best friend, Laurinda. Then Katie meets Jyoti, a tiger who's able to think and talk when he gets close to her, and also fuels amazing magic powers in Katie. The evil warlock Zadornin wants to sacrifice Jyoti in a black magic ritual, and he'll kill anyone who gets in his way. Katie must think fast to save Jyoti while her ordinary world explodes with magic fireballs, a deadly enemy, and discovering how Laurinda really feels about her. From a chase among ghosts on the Gettysburg battlefield to a confrontation in Philadelphia where mythical creatures join in a vicious battle against Zadornin, Katie must learn to dare seize the fire of who she really is to survive.

Stay tuned for updates on the availability of a print version. Either way, I think you'll love this one; it's got adventure, young romance, a tiger, and gryphons! How can you go wrong? :D

Dare Seize the Fire at Storm Moon Press/Budding Moon Press

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The Gryphon's Boy has been unleashed!

He's finally here! Dzywllym, the young bird-boy first seen in The Glasschanger's Child, is back with his own amazing adventure in The Gryphon's Boy! Discover how Dzywllym's parents were killed, leaving him an orphan wandering around aimlessly until one day when he spies the magnificent ship Orpheus and meets his true love, the ship's navigator and budding opera composer Quinn. Quinn is a young gryphon who fled the cold gryphon homeland of Okrakktyr to find adventure of his own and found the devoted Dzywllym as well. But things are about to get a lot more adventurous for both the gryphon and his beloved boy!

The winged Vylloizõ boy Dzywllym is tired of adventures and simply wants to love his gryphon boyfriend, Quinn. When Quinn is called back to the gryphon homeland Okrakktyr and imprisoned there, Dzywllym sets out from Klyrrok with the cheerful and valiant mytho-magic Fledglings to rescue him. But wizard Flyntn Castefurvus, who murdered Dzywllym’s parents, takes over Okrakktyr in his pursuit of Klyrrok’s throne. Chaos erupts when Flyntn and his sadistic henchmen steal a battleship from Earth. The fates of Earth and Myrohtrae hang in the balance as gryphons, dragons, wizards, werewolves, the goat-god Pan, his prankish, sexually rapacious and deadly cousin Pwcca, a cranky, well-armed guardian angel, and the magnificent triple-hulled flying ship Orpheus wage war with Flyntn in the skies over both worlds. Amidst intense episodes of erotic passion and ferocious violence, young Dzywllym must learn to vanquish his fears and focus his rage to save Quinn and exact revenge for his parents’ savage deaths.

Join Dzywllym for his greatest adventure in The Gryphon's Boy, now available in print and on Kindle, and available soon in other e-book formats.

The Gryphon's Boy (print)

The Gryphon's Boy (Kindle)

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Sinews of the Heart is here!

Sinews of the Heart is finally available in both softcover and e-book editions! Check out this great review of Sinews of the Heart from Kris Piet, and look for updates about reviews and my blog tour on my Facebook page. You can read an excerpt from Sinews of the Heart and order the book from Budding Moon Press, the YA imprint of Storm Moon Press. It's a great story! Hey, where else are you going to find genderqueer youth, furries, a post-apocalyptic world, and big explosions all in one novel? :D

Sinews of the Heart at Budding Moon Press

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Sinews of the Heart is awesome!

Kristina Piet of Storm Moon Press wants to tell you about my upcoming novel, Sinews of the Heart. She likes it. She really likes it!

This book, quite frankly, breaks the rules. These days, people expect YA QUILTBAG fiction to basically be YA Gay fiction. Let’s face it, the rise in popularity of gay fiction in general has led to quite a number of authors in the gay romance fiction genre ‘giving a go’ at writing YA gay fiction. Is that a bad thing? Oh, hell no, it’s not! I love seeing an influx of Gay YA just as much as the next reader who wants to spread the love for GLBT to young people. But it does mean that the majority of YA books coming out deal primarily with gay characters. This book doesn’t end at that. Sinews of the Heart breaks past that barrier into not only addressing the common ‘coming out’ story arc for a character identifying non-heterosexually, but also addressing gender identity in a very raw and organic way. The main character, Nikki, is biologically male but lives as a female. Her parents fight about it, have pronoun arguments, the works. On top of that, a romance develops between Nikki and a boy, Kane, who then has to come to terms not only with his own sexual identity, but with Nikki’s gender identity, expression, and sexuality as well. Add another boy into the mix–Rory, who is secure in his identity as a gay young man–and you have just struck YA QUILTBAG Fiction gold!

Nah. To hell with gold; this is YA QUILTBAG Fiction diamond-studded rhodium. It has the potential to open eyes and minds through skillful narration, balanced storytelling, and some really amazing characters. All this from a novel starring a trans* anthrotiger in a post-apocalyptic setting! YES, please!

Wow! I'm humbled that something I wrote has touched someone like this. Sinews of the Heart will be available on September 27, and you can save by pre-ordering now.

QUILTBAG YA Fiction: You’ve Gotta Read This Book!

Sinews of the Heart at Storm Moon Press

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The Gryphon's Boy is almost ready!

He's almost ready! I'm putting the last touches on the text of The Gryphon's Boy and fiddling a bit with the formatting. The Gryphon's Boy is a sequel to The Glasschanger's Child. I already have ideas for another novel in this series. The books each stand alone, so you can start with whichever one you prefer. Adventure awaits!

The winged Vylloizõ boy Dzywllym is tired of adventures and simply wants to love his gryphon boyfriend, Quinn. When Quinn is called back to the gryphon homeland Okrakktyr and imprisoned there, Dzywllym sets out from Klyrrok with the cheerful and valiant mytho-magic Fledglings to rescue him. But wizard Flyntn Castefurvus, who murdered Dzywllym’s parents, takes over Okrakktyr in his pursuit of Klyrrok’s throne. Chaos erupts when Flyntn and his sadistic henchmen steal a battleship from Earth. The fates of Earth and Myrohtrae hang in the balance as gryphons, dragons, wizards, werewolves, the goat-god Pan, his prankish, sexually rapacious and deadly cousin Pwcca, a cranky, well-armed guardian angel, and the magnificent triple-hulled flying ship Orpheus wage war with Flyntn in the skies over both worlds. Amidst intense episodes of erotic passion and ferocious violence, young Dzywllym must learn to vanquish his fears and focus his rage to save Quinn and exact revenge for his parents’ savage deaths.

And isn't that a great cover? Thanks once again to April Danaher for her great work!

Dzywllym and Quinn will be flying your way soon! Thanks for being patient; perfection takes time. :D

The Glasschanger's Child

April Danaher's Photobucket Page

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The Gryphon's Boy is going to have an amazing cover!

Just look at this awesome and amazing cover art being created by April Danaher for my upcoming novel, The Gryphon's Boy (a sequel to The Glasschanger's Child). I love the vitality of this preliminary drawing so much that, instead of finishing it off with a fully-colored version, I'm going to try leaving it as is and have April add just minimal color touches similar to what she's already added. Any opinions? I think this drawing is lovely.

The Glasschanger's Child

April Danaher's Photobucket Page

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The Gryphon's Boy is getting ready!

Look at these lovely sketches that the wonderful April Danaher has made for the cover of my upcoming novel, The Gryphon's Boy. I particularly like the one in the lower right corner, but each one of these images is just delightful! :D

The Gryphon's Boy is a sequel to The Glasschanger's Child, and focuses on the bird-boy Dzywllym and his boyfriend, the magnificent gryphon Quinn. It's tender, tragic, emotional, and beautiful, with lots of story twists and intense scenes of love and violence. Many familiar characters from the first novel return, including the Fledglings and their tremendous, three-hulled flying ship, the Orpheus. I'm still polishing up the manuscript, but I'll be publishing The Gryphon's Boy sometime this summer.

The Glasschanger's Child

April Danaher's Photobucket Page

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It's "Feeding" Time!

Whoa, just in time for Halloween! A new story of mine is available in the latest issue of Title Goes Here magazine! It's a nice and creepy story that just might give you shivers! "Feeding" is the cover story as well; this is the first time I've had a cover in a periodical based on one of my stories.

"Feeding" is the tale of young Tajo Borrego, who will do anything for his metamorphosing friend Daray Gilliard. Tajo even brings Daray delicious things to eat, like the neighbor’s cat. But Tajo draws the line at serving people to Daray for his supper. But Daray is still very hungry. And getting hungrier...

Happy Halloween!!! I hope you're hungry... :O

P.S. Hurry if you want a copy because the parent publisher of Title Goes Here is closing at the end of the year. This is a good and creepy story that I'm sure you'll enjoy!

Title Goes Here Issue 13 Print Edition

Title Goes Here Issue 13 E-book Edition

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This is very happy news!

My wonderful friend Robbi has had some very good news lately! He has a terrific blog where he talks about it. He does a great job of describing everything he goes through while he fights cystic fibrosis. I hope he keeps on updating us; it's all very interesting. Keep on fighting, Robbi!

Cure Cystic Fibrosis: Robbi Skinner's Blog

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"Tiger Stone" is roaring!

My story "Tiger Stone" is now available from Gypsy Shadow Publishing! "Tiger Stone" is a noir detective fantasy in which private eye Kimball Glock hunts for a stolen diamond through the jazz-magic streets of postwar New York City. Kimball uncovers the stone in the teeth of a shapeshifting tiger-boy who hides from a witch bent on the child’s enslavement. Tough guy Kimball is shattered by his selfish betrayal of the boy before being swept by magic both dark and light into a final battle for the weretiger’s soul.

"Tiger Stone" was fun to write! The cover art is once again by the amazing April Danaher. I hope you enjoy reading this scary-creepy, tough guy tale!

"Tiger Stone" at Gypsy Shadow Publishers

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Mohan says he would love to read it!


Don't forget, you can also read my story "Flight" at Gypsy Shadow Publishers!

"And Weren’t You in Love When You Were Young?" is here!

My story "And Weren't You in Love When You Were Young?" is now available as an e-book from Etopia Press! It's included in the LGBT anthology, Come Out With Me. Based on a classic tale of love and tragedy (Eugene Onegin), “And Weren’t You in Love When You Were Young?” is about fifteen-year-old Todd Laurino, who falls hard for fellow high school student Adrian Ginneo. But Adrian cannot come to grips with being gay, and his blind rejection of Todd’s love devastates the boy and nearly destroys Adrian’s best friend. I’ll post an update when the story is published. This is one of those wonderful tales that I always wanted so very much to find a good home, and now it has. I’m very happy about this!

"And Weren't You in Love When You Were Young?" from Etopia Press

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"Sinews of the Heart" will soon have more furriness to love!

"Sinews of the Heart" has switched publishers! Storm Moon Press originally passed on the story since one of the editors, S.L. Armstrong, felt it was more of a YA piece and at the time, they didn't publish a YA line. Well, now they do! And S.L., who liked the story very much, contacted me again about placing the story with them, with the caveat that I have to make it...longer?!? No one ever wants me to make my stories longer! How cool is that? I came up with the idea for a follow-up tale shortly after I originally wrote the story, and now I'm working on expanding the original "Sinews of the Heart."

The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world where human civilization has fallen in a war with anthropomorphs. A family of anthrotigers hiking across the Yellowstone Territory comes upon a hidden family of humans. Whether to kill the humans or let them go is a decision that has dire consequences for Nikki, a twelve-year-old anthrotiger, whose true identity her father refuses to acknowledge. It's a compelling story of coming-of-age, forgiveness, and the importance of being true to one's real self. Plus, it has furries! And now, the story will continue, where some interesting new developments will happen with the characters.

I'll post another update as we get closer to publishing the story. I still have lots of work to do! Meanwhile, go check out Storm Moon Press; you might find something interesting there! They publish LGBT-themed works, usually with SF/fantasy/horror settings. Quite intriguing! Thanks to S.L. for remembering and liking my tale so much!

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Drawing from here.

"Flight" has taken off!

My story "Flight" is now available from Gypsy Shadow Publishers! This is one of my favorite stories and I'm so happy it found a home and can now go out into the wide world and hopefully find a few people who will love it as I do. The great cover is by the very talented April Danaher!

"Flight" is the story of a boy named Ogaleesha who, while trapped in a summer of hell on his grandparents’ Wyoming ranch, meets a boy who can fly. The flying boy, part of a hidden tribe of people like him, forces Ogaleesha to face a terrifying fact about his grandparents’ past and an inescapable personal truth, one that will change the stubborn Ogaleesha's life forever.

"Flight" is dedicated to someone very special in my life.

I hope everyone enjoys the tale!

"Flight" at Gypsy Shadow Publishers

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"Flight" Cover Preview

My story "Flight" will be available soon from Gypsy Shadow Publishing! Here's a preview of the cover created by the amazing April Danaher, who also did the cover for my novel, Wrath of the Gryphonwind.

"Flight" is the story of a boy named Ogaleesha who, while trapped in a summer of hell on his grandparents’ Wyoming ranch, meets a boy who can fly. The flying boy, part of a hidden tribe of people like him, forces Ogaleesha to face a terrifying fact about his grandparents’ past and an inescapable personal truth, one that will change the stubborn Ogaleesha's life forever.

I'll post an update when "Flight" is ready to take off!

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