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Books By Russell J. Sanders
Word Count: 66000
Character Identities: Transgender
Summary: Suddenly homeless, young dancer Shelly Sheridan, heartbroken at Christmas, is taken in by an uncle Shelly has never met and didn’t know existed. The burly ex-Marine uncle and his husband welcome Shelly with a shower of love and acceptance. Their friend Estrella, a retired ballet star, is enraptured by Shelly’s dancing. Shelly makes a new friend the first day of school in this strange place, but Shelly is not happy, feeling out of place and very different from the other boys. The new friend eventually suggests something that Shelly didn’t even know was possible. Could Shelly be transgender? When Shelly embraces this new idea, problems immediately arise. His former nanny doesn’t approve, and the trustee of his mother’s estate fights Shelly’s newly formed decisions. With the new family’s unconditional love, Shelly hopes all will be well. It’s Christmas once again, and a merry one it will be if Shelly’s problems go away, and Christmas works its magic.
Word Count: 62000
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: Remy Walsh is buried in secrets. The big ones he keeps from his friends are his maman, the Cajun beauty Aurore, is housebound and trapped in her own world, and his runaway father left six years ago without a word to Remy. He hates him. But Remy has another giant secret. Even though he and his boyfriend Trung are a popular couple at their school, Remy is afraid to tell his mother he is gay. The last thing he wants to do is hurt this fragile being he loves so much. So he retreats into the cocoon that being an actor is, starring in his school’s musical, and forgetting for a time each day, during rehearsal, that he has so many problems eating at him. His home is about to literally come crashing down on him. He well knows, but doesn’t believe, that “secrets have a way of coming out.” Will anyone come to his rescue?
Word Count: 74,000
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: A serial killer is stalking young gay men in a Midwest college town. High school senior Kevin Bland, rich, brilliant, and a wild-child, meets a college freshman, Mitch Christman, who is just Kevin’s type. And also the killer’s type. Adding to the mix is college sophomore Brent who enlists Mitch’s help in finding answers and possibly unmasking the killer. And all the while, Dr. Spencer Fellows, anti-gay crusader, and hate-monger, stirs the pot, praising the killer for ridding the city of gay men, one by one by one.
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Character Identities: Gay
Summary: Aaron Hardaway has it all. At least, most people would think that. He’s from an ultra-rich Chicago family, about to graduate from a prestigious prep school, and he wants for nothing. Except a boyfriend. And a release from therapy hell. Aaron is about to start sessions with his thirteenth therapist because his domineering mother thinks he’s broken. But number thirteen proves to be a keeper, as does the boyfriend Aaron meets, the rule-bending, risk-taking Derrick. Aaron gets a taste of Chicago life he never thought he’d have. Thirteen, however, warns him to “keep your eyes wide open.”
Word Count: 92000
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: Hollywood, the mid-1960s. President Kennedy has been assassinated, the country’s civil rights movement is in full swing, and teenager Nate Berrigan is a television sitcom star. But Nate’s onscreen life looks nothing like the real thing, which stars abusive, addicted parents instead of swooning teenage girls. On top of that, Nate’s questioning his sexuality, and his boss is a demanding monster. The pressure would get to anyone. Fortunately Nate has Tai Atua, his costar… and maybe the love of his life. As the boys slowly fall for each other, Nate tries to believe in the possibility of his own happiness. Tai could be his savior, pulling Nate away from the precarious knife-edge he’s balancing on. Of course, he could also be his undoing. Because if anyone finds out about their relationship, Nate’s whole life will come crashing down around him. If that happened, Nate couldn’t live with himself….
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Summary: Gabe Dillon’s life changes when he gazes across his new school’s commons and spies handsome Kerem Uzun, and he wants to know more. Kerem is senior class president. He is mostly very well liked. He comes from a family of doctors, is of Turkish heritage, and he is Muslim. At first Gabe doesn’t understand the ritual he sees Kerem performing. But as the boys bond, Gabe is eager to learn about Islam. He’s falling in love with a boy who may or may not be gay, a boy whose religion may condemn Gabe’s open homosexuality. Complicating the budding relationship is Timur, Kerem’s cousin, who has grown up alongside Kerem as his brother. A family tragedy left Timur homeless, and Kerem’s parents took him in. But as Kerem grows into his own way of looking at life and how it fits into his devout practice of his faith, Timur is becoming more fundamental in his practice of Islam. And he isn’t the only one opposed to the friendship between Kerem and Gabe. Can they forge a lasting relationship amid so many challenges?
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Summary: It's a summer of revelations for Houston high schooler Jake Hardy. Along with his estranged father, Jake embarks on a trip to Nova Scotia to visit the Titanic Museum and the cemetery where the victims are interred. There, Jake's father's biggest secrets are revealed. Hurt and confused, Jake flees--not only from his father's confession, but from his own feelings. Jake is gay. Back home, the proposed Equal Rights Ordinance is polarizing people. As Jake faces a difficult choice about where he stands--and how far he's willing to go for his beliefs--he soon discovers that he's not the only one in hiding. When confronted with how his actions have hurt those he cares about, purposefully or not, Jake must learn to accept his friend, his father...and himself.
Word Count: Information not available
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: It is 1969 when Dewey Snodgress, high school theater star, meets irrepressible hippie Jeep Brickthorn, who quickly inserts himself into Dewey’s life—and eventually, into his heart. Meanwhile, Dewey prepares to appear in a production across town, a play about protestors of the Vietnam War, where he befriends the wild and wonderful Lucretia “LuLu” Belton, who is also determined to follow her dreams and become an actress—whether her parents approve or not. The show has a profound effect, especially on Dewey’s father, who reconsiders his approval of the war after his son’s performance. But Dewey knows his dad won’t be so accepting if he reveals the love he’s developing for Jeep, so he fights to push his feelings away and keep the peace in his family. Still, Dewey can’t ignore the ripples moving through society—from the impending Woodstock Festival to the Stonewall Riots—and he begins to see that the road to happiness and acceptance for him and Jeep might lead them away from conservative Fort Worth, Texas—and Dewey’s dad.
Word Count: Information not available
Character Identities: Gay, Bisexual
Summary: High school senior Neil Darrien is a budding musical theater star. He has it all—a beautiful girlfriend Melissa Watt, a scholarship at a prestigious musical theater school, and a new friend Zane Jeffrey, the boy who has just come to town and immediately lands a spot in the school show choir. Neil is jealous of Zane at first, but they soon become fast friends. Neil harbors a deep dark secret. If it comes out, he is sure that it will destroy his future. But as he gets deeper and deeper into Melissa’s church, he sees a situation that he is sure he needs to fix, but if he does, his secret may come out. Meanwhile, his relationship with Melissa becomes rocky, and Neil finds he may be drawn to Zane in a way that is more than friendship.
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Summary: Ethan Harker is the son of The Prophet, the stern, demanding leader of a small Southwestern polygamous community. Ethan has had a lifetime of warnings that the world outside his “safe haven” is evil. One day he is to take his place as the leader of this confined and confining religious group. But things happen—as they do in life—that propel Ethan to flee his stifling community and find his way in the outside world. There he is sheltered by a remarkable group of loving people, thus learning that family is those who love and accept you, not those who try to control you. And amid all this, Ethan once again comes upon black rapper Kyan, a boy his own age. On a rare trip into town a few months before, Ethan caught a glimpse of this exotic creature, a member of a race he has been brought up to fear and hate. Slowly Ethan realizes what “gay” is and that he has fallen in love with Kyan. Fueled by this new love and his new friends, Ethan gains the strength and courage to conquer this confusing world he has been thrust into.
Word Count: Information not available
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: Graduating senior, theater lighting wunderkind, and closeted gay, Nick Fortunati volunteers with The Streetwise Players in the dark corners of The Laughton, a creepy old movie palace decorated in Grand Guignol style. But his father wishes Nick would use his intellect and his scholarship to become a biotech engineer and earn a prosperous living for his future family. Nick loves his dad and wants to please him, but he dreams of a career in theater. And he wants a male lover. Unfortunately, his homophobic father won’t approve of either. When Nick’s at his loneliest, out of the corners of the theater and into his life comes trouble-laden Steve Stripling, a man with little memory of his past other than his name. Meanwhile, Nick’s introduced to the dashing Wash Vitek and is torn between the two men. His situation is further complicated because he doesn't know if Wash is gay. Nick resolves to solve the mystery surrounding Steve and help the young man recover his memories, even though by doing so, he risks losing the first love he’s ever found.
