Al Hess – författare

Passionate pie aficionado Denver Bryant is in a rut. Chasing a moment of viral popularity from months ago, their blog posts aren’t resulting in big numbers, leaving them in dire financial straits, and no way to pay next month’s rent.Driving home from a tasting gone wrong, Denver witnesses a UFO explode intoshards of light over their tiny town of Muddy Gap, Wyoming. Yet when they ask their neighbors about it, it appears that Denver’s the only one who cares. And everyone’s acting… stranger. Frustrated, Denver documents the bizarre incidents on their pie blog, and their online popularity skyrockets. Their readers want the truth, spurring them to get to the bottom of things.The only person who takes them seriously is the new (and handsome) bartender in town, Ezra. But as romance burgeons between the two, they find they are trapped in Muddy Gap’s rapidly changing landscape. It turns out that an alien presence is planting its roots deep in the town, and reality is now folding in on itself. Denver’s always been more of an outsider than a hero, but they’re determined to ensure that a world with Ezra – and pie – still exists tomorrow.File Under: Key Lime Kiss | Loop me in | Crabs in a bucket | Extra-terrestrial charm |

Valentine Weis is a salvager in the future wastelands of Utah. Wrestling with body dysphoria, he dreams of earning enough money to afford citizenship in Salt Lake City – a utopia where the testosterone and surgery he needs to transition is free, the food is plentiful, and folk are much less likely to be shot full of arrows by salt pirates. But earning that kind of money is a pipe dream, until he meets the exceptionally handsome Osric.Once a powerful AI in Salt Lake City, Osric has been forced into an android body against his will and sent into the wasteland to offer Valentine a job on behalf of his new employer – an escort service seeking to retrieve their stolen androids. The reward is a visa into the city, and a chance at the life Valentine’s always dreamed of. But as they attempt to recover the “merchandise”, they encounter a problem: the android ladies are becoming self-aware, and have no interest in returning to their old lives.The prize is tempting, but carrying out the job would go against everything Valentine stands for, and would threaten the fragile found family that’s kept him alive so far. He’ll need to decide whether to risk his own dream in order to give the AI a chance to live theirs.File Under: Science Fiction [ Finding Your Way | Everybody Hurts | Body Bound | City Dreams ]

A brutal assault nine months ago left eccentric portrait artist Micah with facial scars and PTSD. He’s struggled to leave his apartment ever since, and he can’t let anyone in. Then his only sanctuary is disrupted by signs of a haunting. Between the 80s synth pop and motivation messages scrawled on his bathroom mirror, Micah finds himself more charmed than frightened by who he believes to be Cosmo, the deceased previous resident of his apartment. But when Cosmo’s ghostly visits suddenly stop, Micah is determined to lure him back. Meanwhile, sculpture artist Cosmo – dramatic, unconventional, and very much alive – is mourning his old self. His boyfriend’s a serial cheater, he’s continually passed over for a promotion at work, and he’s lost contact with his best friend. To make matters worse, his apartment is being haunted by the ghost of a bespectacled man with an eye socket of scars. It’s his last straw, and seeking a new start, Cosmo moves out. In a chance meeting, Cosmo and Micah’s paths cross again, and tentative sparks fly. But the phantoms of their pasts still linger. In order to find a future where they can both be happy together, Micah and Cosmo need to confront their trauma once and for all.File Under: Songs For You| Kisses on the Mirror | Monstera Time Constellation | All that Glitters