Ill Will (46 page)

Jennifer Godwin, her doctor, entered. “Good news or bad news?” she said.

“Start with the bad,” Cordelia answered.

“Your cancer is being stubborn. I know the side effects are hell for you. I’d like to try the bone marrow transplant and add that to R-CHOP.”

Cordelia looked pensive. “When do you throw in the kitchen sink?” she asked sardonically. “Bone marrow and monoclonal antibodies? Jennifer, I’m tired, I don’t know if…” She trailed off as if she no longer had the energy for words.

I took her hand, then knelt in front of her. “You have to. You just have to. Don’t leave me, don’t give up any chance.” Her eyes were still the blue they had been when I first saw her.

A light that had been gone came back into them. Then she smiled at me, as if she suddenly wanted to be in a world where love was possible.

“Okay,” she said. “Okay, we try everything.”

J.M. Redmann is the author of a mystery series featuring New Orleans private detective Michele “Micky” Knight. Her last book,
Water Mark
, won an Over the Rainbow award from the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Roundtable of the American Library Association and a ForeWord Gold First Place mystery award and was shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award. Two of her earlier books,
The Intersection Of Law & Desire
and
Death Of A Daying Man
, have won Lambda Literary Awards; all but her first book have been nominated.
Law & Desire
was an Editor’s Choice of the
San Francisco Chronicle
and a recommended holiday book by Maureen Corrigan of NPR’s
Fresh Air
.
Law & Desire
and
Lost Daughters
were originally published by W.W. Norton. Redmann was a 2010 recipient of the Alice B. Readers Appreciation Award, gave the keynote address at the Golden Crown Literary Society Conference in 2009, in 2006 was inducted as a Literary Saint into the Saints and Sinners Hall of Fame, and in 2011 was an invited speaker to Vassar’s 150th anniversary LGBTQ conference, Smashing History. Her books have been translated into Spanish, German, Dutch, Norwegian, and Hebrew, and one short story even made it into Korean. Her most recent project was co-editing with Greg Herren two anthologies,
Women of the Mean Streets: Lesbian Noir
and
Men of the Mean Streets: Gay Noir
. Redmann lives in an historic neighborhood in New Orleans, at the edge of the area that flooded.

Burgundy Betrayal
by Sheri Lewis Wohl. Park Ranger Kara Lynch has no idea she’s a witch until dead bodies begin to pile up in her park, forcing her to turn to beautiful and sexy shape-shifter Camille Black Wolf for help in stopping a rogue werewolf. (978-1-60282-654-0)

LoveLife
by Rachel Spangler. When Joey Lang unintentionally becomes a client of life coach Elaine Raitt, the relationship becomes complicated as they develop feelings that make them question their purpose in love and life. (978-1-60282-655-7)

The Fling
by Rebekah Weatherspoon. When the ultimate fantasy of a one-night stand with her trainer, Oksana Gorinkov, suddenly turns into more, reality show producer Annie Collins opens her life to a new type of love she’s never imagined. (978-1-60282-656-4)

Ill Will
by J.M. Redmann. New Orleans PI Micky Knight must untangle a twisted web of healthcare fraud that leads to murder—and puts those closest to her most at risk. (978-1-60282-657-1)

Buccaneer Island
by J.P. Beausejour. In the rough world of Caribbean piracy, a man is what he makes of himself—or what a stronger man makes of him. (978-1-60282-658-8)

Twelve O’Clock Tales
by Felice Picano. The fourth collection of short fiction by legendary novelist and memoirist Felice Picano. Thirteen dark tales that will thrill and disturb, discomfort and titillate, enthrall and leave you wondering. (978-1-60282-659-5)

Words to Die By
by William Holden. Sixteen answers to the question: What causes a mind to curdle? (978-1-60282-653-3)

Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright
by Justine Saracen. Love does not conquer all, but when all of Europe is on fire, it’s better than going to hell alone. (978-1-60282-652-6)

Night Hunt
by L.L. Raand. When dormant powers ignite, the wolf Were pack is thrown into violent upheaval, and Sylvan’s pregnant mate is at the center of the turmoil. A Midnight Hunters novel. (978-1-60282-647-2)

Demons are Forever
by Kim Baldwin and Xenia Alexiou. Elite Operative Landis “Chase” Coolidge enlists the help of high-class call girl Heather Snyder to track down a kidnapped colleague embroiled in a global black market organ-harvesting ring. (978-1-60282-648-9)

Runaway
by Anne Laughlin. When Jan Roberts is hired to find a teenager who has run away to live with a group of antigovernment survivalists, she’s forced to return to the life she escaped when she was a teenager herself. (978-1-60282-649-6)

Street Dreams
by Tama Wise. Tyson Rua has more than his fair share of problems growing up in New Zealand—he’s gay, he’s falling in love, and he’s run afoul of the local hip-hop crew leader just as he’s trying to make it as a graffiti artist. (978-1-60282-650-2)

Women of the Dark Streets: lesbian  Paranormal
by Radclyffe and Stacia Seaman, eds. Erotic tales of the supernatural—a world of vampires, werewolves, witches, ghosts, and demons—by the authors of Bold Strokes Books. (978-1-60282-651-9)

Derrick Steele: Private Dick—The Case of the Hollywood Hustlers
by Zavo. Derrick Steele, a hard-drinking, lusty private detective, is being framed for the murder of a hustler in downtown Los Angeles. When his brother’s friend Daniel McAllister joins the investigation, their growing attraction might prove to be more explosive than the case. (978-1-60282-596-3)

Nice Butt: Gay Anal Eroticism
edited by Shane Allison. From toys to teasing, spanking to sporting, some of the best gay erotic scribes celebrate the hottest and most creative in new erotica. (978-1-60282-635-9)

Murder in the Irish Channel
by Greg Herren. Chanse MacLeod investigates the disappearance of a female activist fighting the Archdiocese of New Orleans and a powerful real estate syndicate. (978-1-60282-584-0)