a volley of barks, a novel

Having been diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia, Henry, a working-class 71-year-old gay man—with no partner, children, or family to speak off—moves himself into The Palisades, an affordable assisted living complex. Told in limited third person, present tense, A Volley of Barks spans one summer while Henry continues his decline of personhood, from medication (to slow the progression of dementia) to Reminisce Therapy to a moment of clarity.  As he grapples with the loss of the conscious self into another “Other Henry,” he confronts the languor of the only love he’s ever known, the “fits” of presence and deterioration, and the lives of other residents at The Palisades.  He scrutinizes the biological drive to continue on when faced with the departure of the mind, and he seeks to understand if what we say is what we ever mean, ultimately considering what he’s actually done with his life and how he must do something meaningful with the time he has left.

Where We Go From Here, a novel

Where We Go From Here is set in Butte, Montana, 1986. 

A father dies of exposure one winter evening, drunk in the mountains.  One year and a half later, while his surviving wife and two sons navigate the fallout of his absence, the brothers find a letter to their father, left in his tackle box: “Charlie, not now, not ever  —L”.  So begins their search for —L, whom they believe is the other woman who has ruined their lives.  Told in first person, past tense, from the younger brother, Squeak’s, point of view, Where We Go From Here wrestles with the pain of growing up feeling lost in an old, mining town, the complexities of coming to understand his closeted, gay brother and despondent mother, and the revelations of a father who he had never really known.

Give Us What We Want (E ha’awi ia makou I ka makou makemake)

Give Us What We Want is a collection of 11 linked short stories, all of which take place in Hawai’i.

A few of the stories include

“These are Private Joys” (Finalist/Honorable Mention for the GlimmerTrain Short Short Story Award)

A young woman travels to Hilo from the east coast mainland after being diagnosed with cancer, finds a lover, and creates a space for herself to be free of her home life, even if only for a short while. 

“What Covers the House is a Roof” (Published in The Los Angeles Review and runner-up for the Cinematic Short Story Award)

An obese gay, Hawaiian man dreams of finding someone who can love him beyond his looks, but is called home to Maui to tend to his mother who is dying of rabies.

“The Point of Indifference” (Finalist and Runner-up for The Florida Review Editor’s Choice Award)

Twin Hawaiian sisters born into an wealthy family on O’ahu take wildly different routes after their parents separate: one travels to the mainland in search of meaning in lust, the other stays home in search of meaning in spirituality.