Altimexis - Stories

Zach thought he was fooling everyone and was only out to Jake, his kid brother. Then on his 15^th birthday, his dad gave him a rainbow pendant inscribed with the Hebrew word ‘Chai’, which means ‘Life’. His dad had had it made to give to his best friend, Cliff, who had AIDS, but never got the chance. Zach promised to wear it with pride, but hid it under his shirt, forgetting he had to undress for gym, a class he shared with Tanner, his secret crush.

When my wife died, I decided to move back to Indiana, to spend more time with my grandson. Noticing that Cliff seemed despondent, I decided that a fall hike in Clifty Falls State Park was just what he needed. Suspecting that he was gay, it turned out he was, but his affect was related to something else entirely. We learned a lot about each other and the path we took turned out to be metaphorical as well.

Young Adam, aka Simon, aka J.J. grew up in Southern Indiana, the victim of sexual abuse for as long as he could remember. The one thing he had going for himself was his intelligence, which allowed him to master advanced college-level material online. On his 13th birthday, however, his father left him no choice but to fight back the only way he could. Forced to run away, he began an amazing journey that would lead him to the highest corporate echelons, and more importantly, to love.

Although modern day “Naptown” is very different from Indianapolis in 1972, it's still in the Bible Belt and gay teens face challenges even today. Let me explain what I faced that led me deeply into the closet. (Revised June 18, 2010)

Jake and Ken are getting married, and then they're taking their sons, Roger and Kyle, on a ten-week European vacation. Francis (Freck), Kyle's boyfriend, will be going with them, but he has a history that includes drugs and a suicide attempt when he was only eleven. On top of that, Freck, a freckle-faced redhead who was raised Catholic, now has a Jewish boyfriend and has come to realize that he's one-quarter Jewish. Naturally, he's curious about what it all means. But what will happen when his life hits a minor bump in the road?

Asher White was everything Clarke hated. He was half-black and half-Asian, and out and proud. But when Asher actually managed to beat Clarke in wrestling, he just snapped and punched Asher out. Clarke knew this was it. He'd worked so hard to get into New York's elite Stuyvesant High School and now it would be for naught. Grasping at straws, he tells the vice-principle the one secret not even he knows he has. With the help of a new friend, he is forced to confront years of abuse he has suffered at home. After all, bullying starts in the home, and it must end in the home.

Born with hereditary spastic paraparesis, Simon had spent most of his life in a wheelchair, unable to walk and barely able to use his hands. To his parents, home schooling had seemed to be the only way for Simon to get an education; yet Simon was smart and yearned to be another Stephen Hawking - not to live with his parents until they became to infirm to care for him. He decided to take a chance on applying to the Bronx High School of Science, one of the best public secondary schools in the world. Going to a public high school would be scary, but there'd be new opportunities to live life, and to love.

For ten years Christopher Michaels had been doing research on sending information back in time. On the eve of September 11, 2001, he was forced to come out to his wife and son, but that paled in comparison to the dream he had that night. At first he laughed it off, but what if the dream was real? Little did he know when he contacted his boss that history would change. Not only would the Russians, Chinese and terrorists stop at nothing to get their hands on Chris and his time tunnel technology, but the very fabric of time itself would start to unravel.

The impact of the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 was felt around the world, but in few places more than in New York City. Not only is New York home to the second-largest Jewish population in the world, but it’s home to peoples of many cultures, including a large Arab American population. In my New York Stories, New York Holidays and New York Anthologies series, I’ve introduced characters who might well have been in Israel at the time of the attack. October Fire is a 6-part story about Jewish and Palestinian New Yorkers who persevered in the face of hate.

When Jack loses his wife of more than 40 years, he finds himself besieged by widows looking for a husband. How strange it is, then, when he realizes the one he wants is his neighbor, Larry. (2010 Fall Anthology - No Going Back)