Below are projects I currently have contracted. When release dates are finalized and publication gets closer, they’ll get moved to the books page.
What There Is — Novella, Dreamspinner, Summer 2013
Former professional baseball player Justin goes apartment hunting in Brooklyn and finds a room with Mark, who writes a popular column on sports statistics. Mark is nerdy and socially awkward and immediately develops a terrible crush on Justin, who barely seems to notice him. But as they spend more time together and get to know each other, they start to confess things. Justin admits that he misses playing baseball more than anything, and his current job of coaching a high school team isn’t scratching the itch. Mark confesses that he thought he’d be married by now and wants a serious relationship but has a hard time overcoming his intense shyness. And so they make a pact: Justin will help Mark find a man and Mark will help Justin find something he loves more than baseball.
Things get complicated when they put their plan into action. Mark suggests they take a cooking class together because Justin loves to cook. Then Mark meets a nice guy named Dave and Justin is suddenly crazy with jealousy. Justin thinks he might find a way to let go of the past and focus on what there is in the present, but as Mark and Dave become an item, Justin fears he’s too late.
The Stars that Tremble — Novel, Dreamspinner, Fall 2013
Giovanni Boca was once one of the greatest stars of the opera stage, destined to go down in history with the likes of Pavarotti and Domingo, until an injury to his vocal chords abruptly ended his career. Now Gio teaches voice lessons at a prestigious music school in New York and has found his protege, his redemption: a tiny fourteen-year-old girl named Emma McPhee.
Emma’s father Mike knows a thing or two about loss himself; his partner was killed when Emma was a toddler, forcing Mike into single fatherhood, something he’d never imagined for himself. Now Mike supports Emma’s burgeoning music career by renovating the kitchens and bathrooms of New York’s elite and has come to terms with his lot in life—he’s happy to do whatever he can to make Emma’s dreams come true, even if he is a little lonely himself.
Mike and Gio meet and feel an instant connection. They embark on a tentative affair, each seeing in the other what has been missing from his life. But Mike is torn—Gio is a part of the cultured upper echelon of New York society and Mike can’t get over feeling like he’s just the help, particularly when the parents of Emma’s classmates look down their noses at him. Still, he can’t stay away and he continues to fall harder for the handsome former opera star. Then an ambitious stage mother guns for Emma in an effort to ensure her own daughter’s success, and threatens to exploit Gio and Mike’s relationship to torpedo Gio’s teaching job and Emma’s future before it even gets off the ground. Just as Gio and Mike are becoming closer than ever, Mike fears he’ll lose both his new love and all the work he’s done for his daughter in one blow.
One Man to Remember — Novella, Dreamspinner, Fall 2013 (part of the Playing Ball anthology)
In the summer of 1927, all anyone in New York can talk about is Babe Ruth and the Yankees’ Murderer’s Row, the unstoppable batting lineup that no other team can beat. Skip Littlefield, an infielder for the less flashy New York Giants, is happy to let the Babe take the spotlight, even as he starts hitting as well as Ruth himself. Sports journalist Walter Selby has gained a reputation for being something of a dandy. He’s a force to be reckoned with, too, as one of the most dynamic voices in the daily papers. And now he can’t help but notice the talented first baseman helping the Giants race for the pennant. Then he meets the man and is left breathless—Skip is talented, soft-spoken, and also incredibly handsome. And Walt quickly comes to understand why Skip wants to stay out of the spotlight.
Against the backdrop of the lights of Times Square, the excitement of the era, and some of the most incredible baseball anyone has ever played, Skip starts to fall for Walt. But no one can know. Skip’s only hope is that the more charismatic stars will draw attention away from the quite romance blooming between Skip and Walt, or else Skip’s whole career and everything he loves is at stake.
