Social Fictions Series – serie

The Daddies is a love letter to masculinity, a kaleidoscope of its pleasures and horrors. The question “Who’s your Daddy?” started showing up in mainstream cultural references during the 1990s. Those words can be spoken as a question, or a challenge, as a flirtation, a joke, or a threat. It’s all about inflection, intention, and who’s asking. Apparently, we have so much shared cultural meaning about “Daddy” the speakers and listeners can simply intuit meaning and proceed to laugh at the joke, or experience the shame, as appropriate. But who is Daddy in American culture? The Daddies aims to find out more than who – but how the process of knowing Daddy can prompt readers to know themselves and their society. This allegory about patriarchy unfolds as a kinky lesbian Daddy/girl love story. Daddy-ness is situated in all people, after all, and we each share responsibility for creating a fairer world. The Daddies can be used as a springboard for discussion in courses in sociology, gender and women's studies, cultural studies, sexuality studies and communication. As a work of fiction, The Daddies can also be enjoyed by general audiences.

The Daddies is a love letter to masculinity, a kaleidoscope of its pleasures and horrors. The question “Who’s your Daddy?” started showing up in mainstream cultural references during the 1990s. Those words can be spoken as a question, or a challenge, as a flirtation, a joke, or a threat. It’s all about inflection, intention, and who’s asking. Apparently, we have so much shared cultural meaning about “Daddy” the speakers and listeners can simply intuit meaning and proceed to laugh at the joke, or experience the shame, as appropriate. But who is Daddy in American culture? The Daddies aims to find out more than who – but how the process of knowing Daddy can prompt readers to know themselves and their society. This allegory about patriarchy unfolds as a kinky lesbian Daddy/girl love story. Daddy-ness is situated in all people, after all, and we each share responsibility for creating a fairer world. The Daddies can be used as a springboard for discussion in courses in sociology, gender and women's studies, cultural studies, sexuality studies and communication. As a work of fiction, The Daddies can also be enjoyed by general audiences.

Winner of the Independent Press Award 2022 Distinguished Favorites – AnthologyWinner of the 2021 NYC Big Book Award—Distinguished Favorite Anthology!Winner of the 2020 American Fiction Awards—Anthologies!Award-Winning Finalist of the 2021 International Book Awards—Fiction Anthologies!Award-Winning Finalist of the 2021 National Indie Excellence Awards—Anthologies!Award-Winning Finalist of the 2020 USA Best Book Awards—Fiction Anthologies!Candy Floss Collection is a set of three previously released, bestselling novels: Low-Fat Love, Blue, and Film. Together these novels create an overarching message about what it truly means to live a “big life” and the kinds of relationships we need with others and ourselves along the way. This is not a trilogy. This collection can be understood as installation art. Written with humor, cultural insight, and a wink, we follow each female protagonist and cast of offbeat characters as they search for love, friendship, and a sense of self. The characters must learn to mind the gap between their lives as they are and as they wish them to be, to chase their dreams even as they stumble on their insecurities, and to never settle for low-fat love. Along the way, characters are imaged in the glow of television and movie screens, their own stories shaped and illuminated by the stories in pop culture. Set in contemporary New York and Los Angeles, with special tributes to 1980s pop culture, each book questions and celebrates the ever-changing cultural landscape against which we live our stories, frame by frame. Candy Floss Collection can be read entirely for pleasure or used as supplemental reading in a variety of courses in women’s studies/gender studies, sociology, psychology, communication, popular culture, media studies, or qualitative inquiry. The book includes further engagement for class or book club use.

Winner of the Independent Press Award 2022 Distinguished Favorites – AnthologyWinner of the 2021 NYC Big Book Award—Distinguished Favorite Anthology!Winner of the 2020 American Fiction Awards—Anthologies!Award-Winning Finalist of the 2021 International Book Awards—Fiction Anthologies!Award-Winning Finalist of the 2021 National Indie Excellence Awards—Anthologies!Award-Winning Finalist of the 2020 USA Best Book Awards—Fiction Anthologies!Candy Floss Collection is a set of three previously released, bestselling novels: Low-Fat Love, Blue, and Film. Together these novels create an overarching message about what it truly means to live a “big life” and the kinds of relationships we need with others and ourselves along the way. This is not a trilogy. This collection can be understood as installation art. Written with humor, cultural insight, and a wink, we follow each female protagonist and cast of offbeat characters as they search for love, friendship, and a sense of self. The characters must learn to mind the gap between their lives as they are and as they wish them to be, to chase their dreams even as they stumble on their insecurities, and to never settle for low-fat love. Along the way, characters are imaged in the glow of television and movie screens, their own stories shaped and illuminated by the stories in pop culture. Set in contemporary New York and Los Angeles, with special tributes to 1980s pop culture, each book questions and celebrates the ever-changing cultural landscape against which we live our stories, frame by frame. Candy Floss Collection can be read entirely for pleasure or used as supplemental reading in a variety of courses in women’s studies/gender studies, sociology, psychology, communication, popular culture, media studies, or qualitative inquiry. The book includes further engagement for class or book club use.

Buried Together: A Story of Quarantine and a Question of Conscience is a work of historical fiction based on the true story of Silas Mercer Beasley Jr., a Civil War conscientious objector. Silas Jr.’s brothers fought for both sides (Union and Confederacy) and a few questioned Silas’ courage. Following the war, he and his Union veteran brothers faced threats of death from local Southerners. Silas gathered his family and left Georgia in pursuit of his missing brothers and safety. All but Silas fell ill during this exodus due to the pandemic (i.e., smallpox, typhoid fever, measles). They sought refuge in a cabin in Tennessee where they quarantined through these troubling times. During their quarantine, Silas’ mother told the story of the Cherokee Removal and the infamous Kilakeena Elias Boudinot to help her son keep vigil so that he might protect the family from marauders. Surrounded by danger, Silas Jr. was faced with more than one life and death decision and more than one heart-breaking loss.This historical novel speaks to contemporary issues. Based on archival documents and Silas Jr.’s published diary accounts of the Civil War times and beyond, readers learn of conscription, bi-racial families, and voter suppression. With respect to the Cherokee Removal, readers learn about the culture as depicted through the ethnographic work of James Mooney. They further learn of various Generals’ opposition to the Cherokee Removal and political strategies of Jackson and Van Buren. But more than this, readers learn of the life experiences of one family, and of one man; the heartbreak they endured and the resilience they displayed.

Buried Together: A Story of Quarantine and a Question of Conscience is a work of historical fiction based on the true story of Silas Mercer Beasley Jr., a Civil War conscientious objector. Silas Jr.’s brothers fought for both sides (Union and Confederacy) and a few questioned Silas’ courage. Following the war, he and his Union veteran brothers faced threats of death from local Southerners. Silas gathered his family and left Georgia in pursuit of his missing brothers and safety. All but Silas fell ill during this exodus due to the pandemic (i.e., smallpox, typhoid fever, measles). They sought refuge in a cabin in Tennessee where they quarantined through these troubling times. During their quarantine, Silas’ mother told the story of the Cherokee Removal and the infamous Kilakeena Elias Boudinot to help her son keep vigil so that he might protect the family from marauders. Surrounded by danger, Silas Jr. was faced with more than one life and death decision and more than one heart-breaking loss.This historical novel speaks to contemporary issues. Based on archival documents and Silas Jr.’s published diary accounts of the Civil War times and beyond, readers learn of conscription, bi-racial families, and voter suppression. With respect to the Cherokee Removal, readers learn about the culture as depicted through the ethnographic work of James Mooney. They further learn of various Generals’ opposition to the Cherokee Removal and political strategies of Jackson and Van Buren. But more than this, readers learn of the life experiences of one family, and of one man; the heartbreak they endured and the resilience they displayed.