Grayality by Carey PW released two weeks ago in the LGBTQIA Contemporary Romance genre.

Love knows no gender.

Pate Boone, a twenty-six-year-old transgender man, embarks on a new adventure when his childhood best friend, and yes, ex-lover, Oakley Ogden, convinces him to escape their hometown in hopes for something new.

They land in Cloverleaf, a tiny rural town in Montana, so that Oakley can care for his granny who is battling breast cancer. She pressures the two young men to enroll in a nearby college. Pate immediately becomes enthralled with Maybelle, a young, vivacious freshman to whom he fears revealing his transgender identity. Still, he finds it impossible to resist Maybelle, even after he meets her ex, Bullet, a large, violent man determined to keep Pate away from “his girl.”

But there are others who accept Pate immediately, like Stormy. An outdoorsy, rugged freshman, Stormy warns Pate away from Maybelle and Bullet, but Pate’s too infatuated to heed these warnings.

Oakley tries to support his friend’s new love but finds himself entangled in his own emotional calamity when he unintentionally falls for Jody, a gay and ostentatiously confident drag queen. This new relationship awakens deep internal conflicts in Oakley as he struggles to accept his bisexuality, lashing out at Pate and causing friction between him and Jody.

Oakley must decide if he can overcome his insecurities so he doesn’t lose the love of his life. And Pate must discover if the love between him and Maybelle is strong enough for her to accept him as a transgender man, or if she will break his heart.

“Do you not realize that all these things you do hurt me?” he asked.

“I apologized for that. I thought we were over that,” I pleaded.

“Then you call me your boyfriend, but you don’t tell your parents,” he continued. “And you know that people around here already know about us, yet you won’t hold my hand at lunch. Not to mention that you still won’t touch me.”

I looked down in shame. “I told you it’s hard for me.” 

“So when does it get hard for me, Oakley? How long am I supposed to date someone who seems repulsed by me?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know what to say. You know I’m straight.”

Jody wiped some tears from his eyes. “Maybe that’s the problem. I shouldn’t be wasting my time on a straight guy, or at least a guy who keeps insisting that he is straight. I told you upfront that we could be friends and that if you wanted to pursue this, then you needed to be ready to actually do it.”

“Are you breaking up with me?” I asked desperately. Jody finally made eye contact. 

“No, not yet anyway. But I’m not waiting for you, Oakley. You need to figure this out because my heart isn’t a tool for you to figure out your sexual orientation.”

“I promise. I’ll try harder. Don’t give up on us yet.” I grabbed his hands.

Jody smiled and went to touch my cheek with his hand, but I pulled away. He shook his head in disappointment.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Carey PW (he/they) is a debut author, college instructor, and mental health counselor. Carey is currently completing his next manuscript, Acing the Game.

Carey lives in Montana, and identifies as nonbinary, transmasculine (AFAB) and panromantic asexual. Due to the lack of resources in rural communities, Carey has discovered that writing about his lived experiences is a therapeutic outlet for him and hopes that his readers relate to his own personal struggles and triumphs shared through his characters’ narratives. Carey is particularly interested in exploring relationship conflicts around sexuality and gender differences. He has also worked as a high school writing instructor and college writing instructor, earning a B.A. in English Literature, a M.Ed. in English Education, and Ph.D. in Social Foundations of Education all from the University of Georgia. In 2020, Carey earned his second M.Ed. in Counselor Education and works as a licensed clinical professional counselor, LCPC. He has a strong passion for working with the unique mental health issues of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Readers can learn more about Carey from his blog, http://www.careypw.com. When he is not writing, Carey is busy training for marathons, parenting his six cats, sharing his culinary talents on social media, serving on the board for the nonprofit Center for Studies of the Person (CSP) and learning photography.

Carey PW loves to hear from readers. You can find his contact information, website and author biography at

http://www.pride-publishing.com.

A Day in the Life of a Happy Little Nerd

I suspect some people leave their home and walk out into a busy city street with taxis and cars flying by, smells from various restaurants, and people scurrying around. Others may jump into their vehicles and commute through traffic to work. In my Montana neighborhood, everything’s quiet.

Perhaps some people may find my neighborhood dull. But I have lived in cities and now enjoy a place that feels slower. On a typical workday, I often wake at five in the morning, turn on the local news, and prepare for my workout. Since homes are cheap here, I’m fortunate to have a finished basement that my husband and I turned into our own personal gym. With my music blasting, I knock out a quick run and sometimes an hour of weights while savoring a large mug of Death Wish Coffee. Black, of course. 

My typical day at work involves teaching human services and chemical dependency classes in which I create discussion questions, share videos, and sometimes get a good laugh out of students. My afternoons are usually filled with either more classes, meetings, research work, or other various duties. My late afternoon and evenings are spent counseling students and staff. During peak season in any given semester, I’m often at work for close to eleven hours! 

That leaves my evenings open for writing, even though it’s a struggle to find the mental energy at times for it. I don’t write every night. I certainly don’t fret over daily word counts. That’s too much pressure! Instead, I try to write for at least one hour twice a week after work. That leaves time for chatting with my husband or relaxing with one of our favorite T.V. shows. 

I can’t say that my weekends are filled with parties, outings, or other activities. I’ve always been a home body. However, I still utilize my time well. 

My typical Saturday morning starts with a long run, since it is my marathon training workout, which means that my day still begins around five. Afterwards, I throw on some sweats and jump in front of my computer to join a meditation encounter group. The group meets every Saturday for around one and half to two hours and contains members mostly from the USA but some from other countries. We meditate, we share our innermost feelings and fears, and sometimes we cry. It’s a group for people who get sick of daily small talk and want something deeper. Given that I’ve always sucked at small talk, these intimate connections over Zoom boxes are refreshing. Unfortunately, I’ve never met any of these people in person, but they probably know me more than my mother. 

After processing my group experience, I may relax a bit before pulling out my cookbooks, turning on some tunes, and spending hours in my kitchen preparing various veggie dishes and experimenting with new baking masterpieces. S’mores cheesecakes, banana bread cupcakes with chocolate cream frosting, lemon meringue pies, spicy molasses cakes, thicc mint cakes, pumpkin cinnamon rolls, and shortbreads topped with blueberry crystalized sugar. My six cats surround me, the aromas fill the air, and I’m in my happy place! To go with dinner, my husband is usually smoking some kind of pork, lamb, or fish in our large barbecue smoker.

Those are the highlights of my weekends. If I have time, I’ll do some writing, but I typically save that for Sunday mornings. After pigging out on my culinary delights, I usually stretch out on the sofa, cuddling my cats with my husband massaging my feet. It makes a surprisingly good day for me.

I’m not the most social person. I love my solitary activities of writing, running, and cooking. As long as I’m busy and working on goals, I’m happy. As a teacher and a counselor, I spend a lot of time engaging with people. So, when I’m not at work, I prefer to tune people out and nurture myself. I’m content in my quiet, tiny town in my cheap but large house with my husband and six cats. I used to desire the most prestigious job or largest paycheck, but I’ve decided that I’m happy with a simple life that allows me to create my own adventures. 

Author Blog: www.careypw.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/careypatrickwertz/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CareyPW2

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kerri.p.singer/

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