Slice of Life - Stories

Elisha has struggled mightily and unsuccessfully for years to make peace with his faith and his flesh. It’s a battle Marcus knows all too well. When they are brought together unexpectedly by a mutual four-legged friend, each sees something of themselves in the other which leaves them both uncertain and unsettled on a day destined to impact many lives forever.

Dean had spent most of his life pretending not to feel. It was easier that way, easier to fight, to fix, to fuck, than to face what was underneath. His father taught him early that softness got you hurt. So he built a life of noise and distraction: engines louder than his thoughts, nights that ended before morning could ask questions.

Kris had spent his life quietly holding things together. After his father died, it was just him and his mother, small home, smaller dreams, and the fear that one more break would undo them.

Neither expected love to expose what they’d buried, loneliness, guilt, and the need to be seen.

Jason first meets Konstantin, a first generation immigrant from Ukraine, in 2006. Konstantin is deeply in the closet and holds some deep-seeded internal homophobia. Despite their differences, Konstantin is drawn to the very out and proud Jason.

Their story is told through journal entries, a first person account filtered through Jason’s many addictions. It’s raw, uncensored, and painfully honest as Jason chronicles their story in an attempt to understand himself and his addictions.

Sometimes to move forward one has to relive the past. These entries have not been altered or edited in any way.

Originally a throwaway parody in The Straightest Lies We Tell Ourselves, this story lassos the cowboy trope of a city boy in search of himself and drags it straight, or not so straight, into a cowboy crisis.

The continuation of the story that was born as 'Angel Keeps A Secret.' The prologue will primarily be that story, with quite a few enhancements.

It was meant to be a break, a few peaceful weeks in Ireland and a chance to reconnect with his brother. But things don’t go according to plan. Businessman Russ can cope, just about, with his football-mad nephews, but add in a punishing encounter with a group of yobs, and the results are not quite what anyone expected. Though his brother has difficulty accepting Russ’ rather different personal life, ultimately the two bond over shared memories, Josephine Baker and bad poetry.

After the death of his wife, Creek is left to raise their newborn son as a single dad, lost in grief and routine. But when new people enter his life—unexpected, complicated, and full of heart—his world begins to shift. Amid family tensions and personal doubts, Creek discovers that healing isn’t about forgetting the past... it’s about making space for what comes next.

A tender story of love, loss, and the quiet courage it takes to begin again.

Adam lives two lives. Alone in his sparse apartment at thirty-five, the tangible world is one of quiet isolation. The other life, vibrant and achingly detailed, exists solely in his mind. There, he shares a full existence with Jamie, the young man in high school that he secretly loved.

Years of regret and yearning have meticulously constructed this parallel reality. Adam has built an entire imagined life: waking together, navigating careers, weathering arguments that end in embraces, celebrating anniversaries, and finding profound comfort in shared, ordinary moments.

A decade after drifting apart, four millennial friends who once bonded online reunite at a secluded cabin, answering an invitation from the friend who always promised they would one day meet. As old memories resurface and new ones take shape, one question lingers:

Where is Chris?

This is book 2 in the annals of Stephen Zamora and Michael Inness, begun in ‘Love Truly Is Blind.’

It will pick up with the young lovers graduating from junior high school. Also along for the ride will be Stephen’s brother Leon, Michael’s brother Jeff, and a select few of their friends. And enemies?