Waiting For Walker - A Gay Teen Falls For An Teen Who Is Intersex

Waiting For Walker by Robin Reardon

Micah Jaeger's life is a mess. His folks have split, and his mother is seeing a medium to communicate with Micah's older brother, killed in Afghanistan. He had to change schools for his junior year, and he retreats further into himself, hiding behind his camera—and hiding that he's gay.

One sunny day in June, as he's shooting a dead seagull on the shore of Long Island Sound, a mysterious guy appears in a beautiful sailboat. At first, the guy's boat shoes are the image that stays with Micah. But soon it's the person himself, Walker Donnell, who haunts Micah's dreams.

Walker's life looks perfect to Micah. His wealthy parents adore him. He has everything he could want. He's gorgeous and generous. And he falls hard for Micah. But he has a secret: Walker is intersex.

The closer Walker and Micah grow, the more Walker feels the need to be sure of himself in ways he hasn't fully faced before, and now it's his turn to retreat. Micah knows Walker is worth waiting for, so he waits. And waits.

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The Revelations Of Jude Connor - A Teen's Sexuality and Faith Collide

The Revelations of Jude Connor by Robin Reardon

Jude Connor’s rural Idaho hometown is a place of strong values and high expectations. For those who fit into the local church’s narrow confines, there’s support and fellowship. For those who don’t, there’s ostracism in this life and certain damnation in the next.

Jude wants desperately to be saved. Yet it’s not easy. There are restrictions on behavior and whispers about other congregants. And there’s Jude’s growing need to decide for himself how to live, when to question, and who to love. In the face of his temptations, Jude must confront the truth behind the church’s façade and his willingness to follow his own path — even if it leads him far from everything he’s known…

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The Evolution of Ethan Poe - A Gay Teen Comes Of Age

The Evolution of Ethan Poe by Robin Reardon

Ethan Poe, 16 and gay, is struggling to maintain balance in his increasingly chaotic life. His parents are divorcing, his brother Kyle is damaging his own right hand in the name of purity, and his best friend, who is extremely religious, prays for Ethan to be straight. As Ethan begins seeing the light in the form of Max Modine, a boy he wants to know better, his rural Maine town is exploding around him. Against his intentions he gets pulled into a pitched and sometimes violent conflict about whether Intelligent Design should be introduced into science classrooms.

Friendships end, families are torn apart, and the school becomes a battleground. It isn’t long before Ethan must decide how far he is willing to go to protect what he believes.

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Awake - A GLBTQ Teen Anthology

Edited by Tracey Pennington, with a forward by Kathe Koja

Awake features four novellas by some wonderful authors...

Worth Waiting For, by Nancy Garden
When a young lesbian, Marina, falls in love and joins a gay-straight alliance, she learns just how her beloved, very religious mom feels about gay people, and is faced with an agonizing decision.

A Line in the Sand, by Robin Reardon
What could have been just another summer vacation on Hilton Head Island for 15-year-old, out-and-proud Dustin Hamilton takes turn after turn as his infatuation for the exotic Randy Aziz spins him in different directions. Dustin's clear but unspoken challenge to Randy, “Come out of the closet for me, just for a week,” receives first a tentative and then a joyful “Yes!” from Randy. The boys spend days, and a very special evening, on the beach together, learning that their lives are similar in some surprising ways. But coming out takes Randy in a direction neither boy predicted. It's a summer the boys—and their families—will never forget.

Shattered Diamonds, by Jordan Taylor
Told from the point of view of the bully who has made the effort to view the video journal entries of the boy he and his friends have unmercifully harassed. The story painfully inches toward the bully’s epiphany: “The truth—that tiny, precise spark which occasionally crosses my path—is that I do not know how to face his mother and say, ‘I killed your son.’”

Pervert, by Brian Katcher
The unnamed protagonist secretly dresses in his mother’s and his sister’s clothes and suffers the shame that attends any realization that one’s physical gender is just simply “wrong.” But the boy’s sister comes to the rescue and actually accepts him to the point of dressing him up herself. His sister concludes: “Sometimes holding something inside can just eat you up. Sometimes a secret isn’t so hard to deal with if you share it with someone.”


And here's something else really great about this anthology:  all net proceeds will benefit The Trevor Project, the 24 hour lifeline for GLBTQ & Allied youth in crisis at 1-866-4-U-TREVOR (1-866-488-7386.)

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Thinking Straight

By Robin Reardon

Taylor's a junior in High School, and he's figured out that since he's Gay, God must have wanted him to be that way. He's crushing on a guy in his school, Will, and the feeling is mutual.

But Taylor's parents have a different view on it, and when they discover that their son is "confused" about his sexuality, they pack him off to a Christian rehab center called "Straight to God."

It's kind of a prison, specializing in ridding teenagers of their sins - drugs, violence, being attracted to other boys...

Taylor is constantly watched and has no privacy, and figures he has to play along with the reprogramming to survive. Or does he?


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A Secret Edge

By Robin Reardon

Jason is 16. He's a runner, and feels really comfortable on the track.

Where he doesn't feel so comfortable is with his feelings for guys - specifically, Raj, the new guy on the track team.

Jason has been hiding that part of himself, but now their attraction throws Jason's world for a loop.

And even if they can figure out things between themselves, how can they deal with the homophobes out there? Jason carries a secret knife to make him feel protected from the bullies. But Raj is convinced the non-violent strategy of Ghandi is the way to deal with the haters of the world.

Can Jason and Raj figure things out? Can they ever feel safe? Can they find and keep love?



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