First published 2021
In a series of interconnected stories, young Black queer characters navigate intimacy, isolation, and precarious social landscapes. A graduate student named Charles moves through fragile relationships—sexual, professional, and familial—where every interaction feels like a potential fracture point. Each story reveals a different perspective on vulnerability: a mathematician wrestling with romantic uncertainty, a catering worker caught between professional performance and personal survival, a wounded connection that might heal or further damage. Tension builds through small, exquisite moments of human contact: a touch, a glance, a misunderstood gesture that carries enormous emotional weight. Taylor captures the electric, unstable spaces between desire, survival, and self-preservation.
Genres: fiction, african-american, contemporary, 21st-century, lgbt, academic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, fragile-relationships
259 pages · Paperback · Daunt Books Originals
Content warnings: anxiety, depression, mental-illness