“What are your books about?”

I get asked this often, and I will usually joke and say, “Between 200 and 300 pages.”
(Not everyone is amused at my quirky sense of humor.)

But then I’ll give the accurate answer:

“All of my books are character-driven stories of people seeking to live authentically in the often-restrictive, religious traditions embedded into the deep South.”

          It might be a youth minister who moved across the country, attempting to build a successful program at a prestigious Southern Baptist Church, all the while crashing headlong into long-held, ingrained traditions.

          It might be a Christian counselor responding to secret desires that violate everything he’s been taught.

          Maybe it’s the son of a renowned televangelist, struggling to regain his identity after an accident leaves him with few memories of his past.

          Or a professor at a conservative Christian college who falls in love with an incognito celebrity determined to come out.

I’ve written SIX novels, and I’m proud of all of them.
Each is different, but all have (at least) one thing in common: they’re set below the Mason-Dixon Line, in the Bible Belt.

I grew up in the South; it’s a vibrant, powerful backdrop for my stories, though it’s often a difficult place to grow up if you are the least bit different from everyone around you. Those around you would be quick to detect that difference and assign a “nickname” to taunt you. “Fatty. Tomboy. Sissy. Mama’s boy. Beanpole. And so, so many more, based on race or perceived sexual orientation or gender expression.

I’ve lived most of my life in one of these Deep South Bible Belt areas, so this choice for setting is intentional, unapologetic, and an example of “write what you know.”

(If I were arrogant enough, I would make comparisons to Stephen King setting his novels in Maine or John Grisham’s affinity for Mississippi.)

The culture…the surroundings…the people entrenched in this rigid mindset make up the key antagonists in my stories.

There’s an inherent, accepted heritage of injustice and inequality, steeped in long-held traditions that are slow-as-molasses to change.
“Knowing your place” can be viewed as preferable to knowing who you are.
The respectability of “fitting in” is better than the stigma of being different.
Decorum and appearance might matter more than authenticity.
A passive-aggressive veneer of politeness sometimes masks genuine feelings, true motives, and usually the real person.
(e.g., Don’t get all warm and fuzzy when someone says, “Bless your heart.”)

So much of everyday life in the Old South has been influenced by the prominence of conservative religious teachings, which for decades has exerted both subtle and explicit control. If you look and listen, you can find it almost everywhere:

      Parenting
      Commerce
      Leisure/recreation
      Education
      Holiday observances
      Government operation

Seeing an American flag in church is not unusual; they observe patriotic holidays by reciting the pledge of allegiance and singing “God Bless America.”
Schools often bring in evangelists to speak (i.e., proselytize) to the student body.
Sex education is taught by those who believe in abstinence until marriage; biology and earth sciences are taught by those who hold to a literal seven-day creation as taught in the Bible.
It’s normal…mandatory…to pray before sporting events.

The settings of the book are religious, but they are not (NOT!) religious novels.

I don’t disparage personal, sincere faith, but I try to show how entrenched, rigid religious beliefs can impact a person…and how they respond to change.

The Deep South culture is complicated and convoluted, fascinating as well as frustrating, historic and frequently histrionic.

In the South, what has been doesn’t easily give way to what needs to be.
Or should be!

Adherence to these long-held standards delineates as well as divides.
It creates a “we are not like them” or “they are our kind of people” attitude.
It’s built into the explanations, the expectations, and the excuses.

      “That’s just how we do things around here.”
      “It’s always been that way.”
      ”That’s not the kind of place you want to go.”
      ”We’ve never done it that way before.”
      “You should be more ladylike.”
      “Boys don’t act like that.”

In my stories, the goal is not to ridicule religious people, or their faith.
Though I readily admit to a desire to expose the abuses of this rigid system of thought, I try not to exaggerate it, or caricature it.

I know there are sincere, loving people of faith.
And I think we all know that there are some religious folks who just aren’t sincere. Or loving.
In my stories, I include both!

So, yes…there’s a common thread running through all my books: a Bible Belt location.
It’s the foundation that propels my storytelling.

This prevalent, often rigid mentality is the force that drives my characters, who are ensconced in this culture. They are influenced by it, involved with it, baffled by it, controlled by it, trying to escape it, judged by it, and occasionally rejected by it.
Whether they like it or not, their choices…indeed, their lives…are continuously impacted, in good ways and not-so-good ways, by the entrenched, time-honored attitudes of their sacrosanct surroundings.

      Author’s Note: By the way, another commonality in my books is all the titles are from passages in the Bible, to give a preview of      the story.

I invite you to visit these provocative places and meet the captivating characters who live there.

I am a gay man who was well-established in the conservative religion of the area. My stories also reflect those elements.
I don’t consider them “gay novels.”

They have gay characters (sometimes the main character; other times, secondary characters.) But to me, it’s about the story…the journey…of these people, not their sexual orientation.

I’ll let you decide.

Did you know that if you have Kindle Unlimited, you can read FIVE of my six novels…including my latest one…for free?