Big City / Urban Life - Stories

In the Los Angeles summer of 1969, two straight men attempt to avoid Vietnam by deceiving the local draft board and pretending to be a gay couple. Their plans go about as smoothly as trying to keep peonies alive in Los Angeles.

Wearing a slutty dress to a Halloween party was supposed to be a joke, but Troy looks good. Stupid good. When his longtime straight crush shows up and doesn't recognize him, the joke turns real.

Seventeen years ago, Tyler was Martin’s high school drama club rival, accusing him of stealing the role he deserved. Now in their 30s, Martin has no interest in reconnecting with the guy who made his school years miserable. But when their employers team up to create a theater program for underprivileged youth, Martin and Tyler are forced to work together. It doesn’t help that Tyler is still cute as hell.

As old rivalries give way to some kind of friendship, Martin is plagued by painful memories of the past—and increasingly aggressive fantasies about his former nemesis. Have these theater nerds grown up at all?

Brick has a husband and a man on the side, Vincent, the client across the table. On a trip in Italy for a conference, Pompeii is not on the original itinerary, but Brick needs the distraction. Somewhere between the Forum and a tree off the path, he tries to remember which fire he came here to let burn out.

The first time Niran Shin meets him, Kaleo Rana is having a meltdown of epic proportions. Breaking glass shelves with a baseball bat after a terrible breakup. Niran Shin loves Kaleo’s vibrant personality, but their worlds seem too far apart. Niran is on a path of vengeance and has no desire to pull Kaleo into his world. Then, a villain asks Niran for a favor that places Kaleo’s life in danger, and Niran has no choice but to pull Kaleo into his world. A world haunted by an unknown, vicious villain who threatens their future together. Will Kaleo ever choose him? And what will it cost him?

Nineteen, not out, and secretly into the guy who took the only open seat in his astronomy lab. The hottest guy he's ever met. Older, unbothered, straight as far as Cole can tell. A slow-burn, first-time story told across one semester, intrusive thoughts included. He kept saying I owe you one. Neither of them knew where it would lead. Fifteen chapters. The complete story.

Nate may have found the one. Cal is built like a farmboy, has the wholesome looks of a vintage baseball card, is amazing in bed, and actually texts back. Nate keeps waiting for the catch and not finding one.

Cal even invites Nate out to his family's timeshare at the coast to meet his mother. Diane is progressive, supportive, and fiercely, fiercely devoted. And that's the catch.

It’s 2018 and Londoner Nathanial Greystone is a twenty-five-year-old waiter who works at a charity ball and he has an online blog. Nathanial starts showing signs of having schizophrenia and he is too frighted and ashamed to let anyone know. He meets rising star comedian Charlie Conray and meets someone called AJ online. As his relationship with both of them strengthens and his career working in the writing industry starts to climb, the worse his health gets to the point he questions if any of this is real or if he really deserves anything good. Can Nathaniel find the strength to help himself before it’s too late.

In a 1990s cruising park, a young AIDS outreach volunteer approaches a middle-aged man who looks like someone’s dad. What starts as a simple condom hand-off escalates into something more risky as one decision leads to another in a public restroom.

Content Warning: This story contains explicit M/M sexual content, power imbalances, and themes related to the AIDS crisis including cruising, condoms, and unprotected sex. Characters navigate complex realities, including sexual risk.

When a newly observant Jewish family hires an affable jock as their Shabbos goy, the rule is simple: anticipate their needs without being asked. Their wry son expects a weekly inconvenience, until someone starts paying a little too much attention.

A sex comedy of manners.