Member Since:
March 14, 2014
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Justine Saracen
Biography
A recovered academic, Justine Saracen started out producing dreary theses, dissertations and articles for esoteric literary journals. Writing fiction, it turned out, was way more fun. With seven historical thrillers now under her literary belt, she has moved from Ancient Egyptian theology (The 100th Generation) to the Crusades (2007 Lammy-nominated Vulture’s Kiss) to the Roman Renaissance.
Sistine Heresy, which conjures up a thoroughly blasphemic backstory to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel frescoes, won a 2009 Independent Publisher’s Award (IPPY) and was a finalist in the ForeWord Book of the Year Award.
A few centuries farther along, WWII thriller Mephisto Aria, was a finalist in the EPIC award competition, won Rainbow awards for Best Historical Novel and Best Writing Style, and took the 2011 Golden Crown first prize for best historical novel.
The Eddie Izzard inspired novel, Sarah, Son of God followed soon after. In the story within a story, a transgendered beauty takes us through Stonewall-rioting New York, Venice under the Inquisition, and Nero’s Rome. The novel won the Rainbow First Prize for Best Transgendered Novel.
Her second WWII thriller Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright, which follows the lives of four homosexuals during the Third Reich, won the 2012 Rainbow First Prize for Historical Novel. Having lived in Germany and taught courses on 20th Century German history, Justine is deeply engaged in the moral issues of the ‘urge to war’ and the ease with which it infects.
Beloved Gomorrah, appearing March 2013, marks a return to her critique of Bible myths – in this case an LGBT version of Sodom and Gomorrah — though it also involves a lot of Red Sea diving and the dangerous allure of a certain Hollywood actress.
Saracen lives on a “charming little winding street in Brussels.” Being an adopted European has brought her close to the memories of WWII and engendered a sort of obsession with the war years. Waiting for the Violins, her work in progress, tells of an English nurse, nearly killed while fleeing Dunkirk, who returns as a British spy and joins forces with the Belgian resistance. In a year of constant terror, she discovers both betrayal and heroism and learns how very costly love can be.
When dwelling in reality, Justine’s favorite pursuits are scuba diving and listening to opera.
Sistine Heresy, which conjures up a thoroughly blasphemic backstory to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel frescoes, won a 2009 Independent Publisher’s Award (IPPY) and was a finalist in the ForeWord Book of the Year Award.
A few centuries farther along, WWII thriller Mephisto Aria, was a finalist in the EPIC award competition, won Rainbow awards for Best Historical Novel and Best Writing Style, and took the 2011 Golden Crown first prize for best historical novel.
The Eddie Izzard inspired novel, Sarah, Son of God followed soon after. In the story within a story, a transgendered beauty takes us through Stonewall-rioting New York, Venice under the Inquisition, and Nero’s Rome. The novel won the Rainbow First Prize for Best Transgendered Novel.
Her second WWII thriller Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright, which follows the lives of four homosexuals during the Third Reich, won the 2012 Rainbow First Prize for Historical Novel. Having lived in Germany and taught courses on 20th Century German history, Justine is deeply engaged in the moral issues of the ‘urge to war’ and the ease with which it infects.
Beloved Gomorrah, appearing March 2013, marks a return to her critique of Bible myths – in this case an LGBT version of Sodom and Gomorrah — though it also involves a lot of Red Sea diving and the dangerous allure of a certain Hollywood actress.
Saracen lives on a “charming little winding street in Brussels.” Being an adopted European has brought her close to the memories of WWII and engendered a sort of obsession with the war years. Waiting for the Violins, her work in progress, tells of an English nurse, nearly killed while fleeing Dunkirk, who returns as a British spy and joins forces with the Belgian resistance. In a year of constant terror, she discovers both betrayal and heroism and learns how very costly love can be.
When dwelling in reality, Justine’s favorite pursuits are scuba diving and listening to opera.
Where to find Justine Saracen online
Where to buy in print
Books
To Sleep With Reindeer
by Justine Saracen
Price:
$9.99 USD.
Words: 90,090.
Language:
English.
Published: October 13, 2020
by
Bold Strokes Books.
Categories:
Fiction » LGBTQ+ » Lesbian, Fiction » Romance » Historical » General
In Norway under Nazi occupation, Marrit, an Indigenous woman; and Kirsten, a Norwegian resister, join forces to stop the development of an atomic weapon.
Berlin Hungers
by Justine Saracen
Price:
$5.99 USD.
Words: 97,710.
Language:
English.
Published: April 29, 2018
by
Bold Strokes Books.
Categories:
Fiction » LGBTQ+ » Lesbian, Fiction » Romance » Historical » General
Can the love between an RAF woman and the wife of a Luftwaffe pilot, former enemies, survive in besieged Berlin during the aftermath of World War II?
The Sniper's Kiss
by Justine Saracen
Price:
$5.99 USD.
Words: 95,910.
Language:
English.
Published: March 14, 2017
by
Bold Strokes Books.
Categories:
Fiction » LGBTQ+ » Lesbian, Fiction » Adventure » War & military adventure
The power of a kiss: it can swell your heart with splendor, declare abject submission, and sometimes blow your brains out.
Dian's Ghost
by Justine Saracen
Price:
$9.99 USD.
Words: 83,160.
Language:
English.
Published: March 15, 2016
by
Bold Strokes Books.
Categories:
Fiction » LGBTQ+ » Lesbian, Fiction » Adventure » Action
Dana Norland shoots two men in cold blood and flees the US for the mountains of Rwanda. Posing as a biologist, she finds herself caring for gorillas with Kristen, Dian Fossey’s successor at the Karisoke research center. She has plenty of time to think about what she’s done, but can she find peace?
The Witch of Stalingrad
by Justine Saracen
Price:
$5.99 USD.
Words: 99,640.
Language:
English.
Published: March 22, 2015
by
Bold Strokes Books.
Categories:
Fiction » LGBTQ+ » Lesbian
As the German Blitzkrieg brings the Soviet Union to its knees in 1942, a regiment of women aviators flies out at night in flimsy aircraft without parachutes or radios to harass the Wehrmacht troops. The Germans call them “Night Witches” and the best of them is Lilya Drachenko. From the other end of the world, photojournalist Alex Preston arrives to “get the story” for the American press.
Waiting for the Violins
by Justine Saracen
Price:
$5.99 USD.
Words: 97,140.
Language:
English.
Published: March 28, 2014
by
Bold Strokes Books.
Categories:
Fiction » LGBTQ+ » Lesbian
Antonia Forrester, an English nurse, is nearly killed while trying to save soldiers fleeing at Dunkirk. Embittered, she returns to occupied Brussels as a British spy to foment resistance to the Nazis.
Sarah, Son of God
by Justine Saracen
Price:
$4.99 USD.
Words: 99,130.
Language:
English.
Published: March 14, 2014
by
Bold Strokes Books.
Categories:
Fiction » LGBTQ+ » General
What happens when a mask becomes the deepest truth, when a lie reveals the greatest love that was ever given?
Renaissance historian Joanna Valois and transgendered beauty Sara Falier take us spiraling into the past, from New York City during the Stonewall riots, to Venice under the Inquisition, and finally to Nero's Rome.
Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright
by Justine Saracen
Price:
$5.99 USD.
Words: 98,400.
Language:
English.
Published: March 14, 2014
by
Bold Strokes Books.
Categories:
Fiction » LGBTQ+ » General
Twelve years of terror end with a world in flames. Behind filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl’s stirring footage of a million joyous patriots, the horror of Nazi Germany unfolds.
Beloved Gomorrah
by Justine Saracen
Price:
$5.99 USD.
Words: 88,420.
Language:
English.
Published: March 14, 2014
by
Bold Strokes Books.
Categories:
Fiction » LGBTQ+ » General
What if Sodom and Gomorrah, those synonyms for debauchery, were in fact perfect societies? What if the avenging angels were genocidal terrorists, and the "one righteous man" who escaped the annihilation was a murderous fanatic and the rapist of his own daughters? Justice is a long time coming, but finally the serene waters of the Red Sea give up the secret of a millennia-old lie.