writing

  • Walking With My Father

    Walking With My Father

    I had a dream last night that stayed with me long after I opened my eyes. It felt real in that quiet way some dreams do. In the dream I was walking with my dad at Christmastime. We were at Northwest Plaza in St. Louis, going to see Santa, and I was maybe four years

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  • WHY I SELF PUBLISH NOW

    WHY I SELF PUBLISH NOW

    People ask me why I self publish now, especially since I have been traditionally published and my work has been recognized in places that still surprise me. Some of my books are preserved in major archives. They are studied, referenced, catalogued, quoted and even taught. I earned my place on the shelf, and I am

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  • Grace: Born from the Ashes

    There are moments when fiction stops being fiction. When the story you thought you were writing to escape the world suddenly becomes the mirror that refuses to turn away. Grace was born out of one of those moments. I first began the story in 1992, in the shadow of the Rodney King verdict. The country

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  • Horror as a Mirror

    Horror has always been more than entertainment. At its core, it is a mirror that reflects the fears buried in our collective heart. Every great horror story grows from something real inside us, a shadow of the anxieties we live with. That is why these stories never die. They adapt, change, and take on new

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  • I Am Not the Secret

    I am not the secret,though they tried to make me one—hiding truth behind closed doors,feeding silence instead of love,teaching bitterness as inheritance.I was the boy they blamed,the brother they resented,the son who stood in the shadows of lies. I am not the sin,though they laid it on my shoulders.I am not the weight of their

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  • I can’t even begin to tell you the scope of my new book Grace. It feels vast and uncontainable at times, yet it remains grounded in the most intimate way possible because the story is always brought back to people and their lives. That is where the true terror and the true beauty reside. At

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  • The reality is we are living in a time when our rights can be taken away faster than they are given. If you are a queer couple in the United States, being proactive is not paranoia. It is survival. You cannot wait for a crisis to prepare. Love is worth protecting and so are you.

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  • I write because I love it. Because something in me has always needed to create. The words come whether I want them to or not, and over time I’ve learned to stop resisting and just let them flow. But I won’t pretend I’m above it all. I have an ego. I want to be remembered.

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  • I Remember You

    I remember the first time I saw you.You passed my doorwaywith a smile.Then walked through a wall—and vanished. I remember seeing youin my dreams.Same smile,as if you were knowing.Knowing what?I am not sure. I see the bloodrunning down your face.Your eyes glowing red.Then you’re gone again. Demon,some will tell me.Ghost,others might say. My imagination?Maybe.But you

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  • Family secrets have a strange way of shaping our lives, even when we do not know they exist. They live in the background, quietly influencing relationships, behavior, and how we see ourselves. I learned this firsthand when I found out, well into my fifties, that my two older brothers were actually my half-brothers. We shared

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