Grayality
Grayality
By Carey PW
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GENRE: LGBTQIA Contemporary Romance
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BLURB:
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.
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EXCERPT
Pate held up his hand to stop me. “You didn’t pull away when he held your hand. Even he noticed that. You didn’t pull away from his kiss. You think he’s never hit on straight guys before? I think he’d know by now that straight guys pull away—”
“And gay guys don’t?” I asked.
“They don’t if they are interested. Oakley, sexuality is not either/or. Maybe you have some attraction to him. Maybe not toward just any man, but toward him.”
I had been so busy trying to analyze my repulsion toward guys that it had never dawned on me to consider what made Jody attractive to me. His emerald-green eyes alone were enough to mesmerize anyone. His skin was silky and soft like a woman. His frame was small and delicate. But thinking on it, it wasn’t so much those physical traits as it was his confidence and free spirit. I had never seen a girl perform and light up a room as if she owned it the way Jody had dominated the club in Billings. When he realized that I thought he was a girl when I made the date, his response was calm. He didn’t get offended or even embarrassed. Jody was going to keep being Jody. I hadn’t found that certainty for myself yet.
“It wouldn’t mean anything different than me preferring to stay a feminine guy,” Pate replied, shrugging his shoulder. “It’s not about girl or boy. It’s about the feminine and the masculine that’s in all of us.”
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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.
Other links:
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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Interview With …
What are your favorite TV shows?
I’m a sucker for reality TV over scripted shows. I watch 90 Day Fiancé, Teen Mom, MTV’s The Challenge, The Amazing Race, Survivor, Big Brother, My Big Fat Fabulous Life, Little People, Big World, Fear Thy Neighbor, Bar Rescue, and more. It is something that I can sit down in front of and not think too much about. However, my husband and I tend to get rather analytical when we watch them! They induce good conversations on human behavior.
What is your favorite meal?
It’s hard to say that one meal is my favorite, especially since my husband and I cook so much good food! I’ll share some interesting meals that perhaps others haven’t considered. I’m an organ meat lover! I love tongue, liver, heart, you name it! My husband makes beef tongue by boiling it with veggies for hours until it’s super tender. Then he drains the broth into a pan and simmers it until it thickens and serves the tongue in the sauce. It’s good with some spicy zucchini noodles made with peanut butter, soy sauce, fresh ginger, siracha, and rice wine vinegar. For dessert, maybe some Irish cream boozy cookies!
If you were to write a series of novels, what would it be about?
I’m actually working on my first series now. It’s about LGBTQIA people who develop special powers on their twenty-first birthday. Their powers are all connected to different animals in the animal kingdom, such as mammals, rodents, and birds. Some use their powers for good and others for evil. Members of the LGBTQIA community have different abilities. For example, transgender people have certain powers, and asexuals have different powers. It’s a dark fantasy romance with some elements of horror. I’ve wanted to write horror without necessarily making it my key theme. It’s way different than this novel, but I’m stoked about it.
Is there a writer you idolize? If so who?
I can name people, but really, it’s broader. I idolize writers who have made it big like Stephen King. That’s really impressive. I also idolize writers who have a fan base that keeps their career going. I admire writers who take risks and write about controversial topics and themes. I admire writers whose works have remained popular over hundreds of years. I would also say that I idolize writers who write one really good novel and nothing else. It takes a lot to produce an impactful work.
How did you come up for the title of this book?
Grayality is playing on the words gray and sexuality. It’s about the gray areas of sexuality. Too often, I think people put themselves in a category, then are not open to exploring other kinds of relationships. But they may be more open than they think, especially for the right person. My husband was adamant that he could not be with a man when I wanted to transition. Now, he’s attraction to me, including sexual attraction, has not changed a bit, yet he originally saw it as impossible. He was a big inspiration for the book.
