Stories

A novel in twelve chapters.

Summer 2020, and the inhabitants of the Italian mountain town of Ravello are making up for lost time after three months stuck at home. Families are celebrating being reunited at last, and the appetite for romance has never been higher.

However, two teenage boys are navigating this unusual summer alone. Cosmo, a lost soul, and Marco, a recently found soul, find their lives entwined by the fact that everybody seems to have a boyfriend except them. Both of them have experienced pain and neglect in the past; but can they both overcome it to find fulfilment in the present?

Being the oldest and growing up in a large family can be hard, especially when you are gay and the family is extremely homophobic. You are constantly being compared to your deceased father. A man whose stature and deeds are always increasing, as time goes by, and are held up as your goals. Anytime you reach those goals, your mother moves the goalpost further away.

You never seem to measure up. You are always being told that you are worthless and will never amount to anything since you cannot measure up to your father. It never mattered that you were a straight "A" student and that you were an athlete.

Boccaccio's Decameron, a story of renewal and recreation in defiance of a decimating pandemic, relates how ten self-isolated Italians pass the time regaling each other with tall tales during the Black Plague. While Covid19 wasn't nearly as decimating, the opportunity for such entertainment did exist. As a takeoff on that idea, this short story might well be a modern version of one of the tales, recounting events of earlier, less stressful times.

Anthology story

The Day of Silence takes on a new meaning for Dan when his deaf best friend dons a pair of mittens.

Connor Matthews, a shy boy who comes from an abusive family is accidentally hit in the head by a lacrosse ball one day, which leads him to meet Ryan, an attractive redhead, and his younger brother, Toby. Connor gradually learns to come out of his shell, but not without some traumatic experiences along the way.

A mother sends her rebellious teen son to live with his father who abandoned him years earlier.

Roy didn't know that meeting Randy would be a turning point in his life. Or, that his life would never be the same.

Coby had lost direction in life after the death of his parents, and had reached a point where he couldn't go on. But then he met someone new - someone extraordinary. Someone not even human.
The first in a series of supernatural tales set in Amsterdam, involving myths and legends of that ancient city.

The summer that began with Rules of the Road is drawing to a close. Brian and Jeff have become close, despite their inability to have their relationship out in the open. But time and events - and people - have a way of adapting, and the closing days of summer are just the starting days of new things.