Illinois Authors

Honey Gold Records / Heavy Hands Press 2023

Erin is convinced that delivering the most amazing commencement speech her high school has ever heard will heal the heartache of losing her father. But on the morning of graduation, a notification from a DNA website she'd pretty much forgotten about not only derails Erin's confidence-it also collapses her life and identity as she knows it. Evan knows he's on the fast track to success. Sure, his ultra-conservative parents aren't happy with his recent coming out, but his improv career is set to skyrocket as soon as he's selected to the national travelling team. Until Evan's parents kick him out and all his big plans begin to unravel. Now as both Erin and Evan pick up the pieces of their shattered expectations, Erin sets out to make contact with her unexpected sibling. The two immediately hit it off, agreeing on almost everything with one key difference: Evan wants to find their anonymous donor while Erin most certainly does not. Only one will get their way, but both will be forever changed as they struggle to redefine their families and themselves, all while not being torn apart by the very thing that brought them together. Based on close family experiences, OUR EXTENDED UNIVERSE is a humorous yet heartwarming story that's as much about overcoming grief, anxiety, and failure as it is about embracing new understandings of family, friendship, and personal identity. 

Honey Gold Records / Heavy Hands Press 2022

In a near future world, where critics of the authoritarian leader are imprisoned, one punk rock band goes on the road to start a revolution with their music. * But the members of The Futile are fighting more than just the upcoming (and likely rigged) re-election of J. R. Rankin—the man who decides what art, music, books and news can be consumed by the public. When one of their own secretly brings The Futile to the attention of state media and causes them to be a target for Rankin himself, the band—and some of their family members—find themselves on the run. They won't be silent. They will stick with their very public and very dangerous plan to take down Rankin—even if they might not make it out of this final act of rebellion and revolution alive. * Written with plenty of humor and heart, The Futile is ultimately a book about how people have the power to change themselves—and their world—even in the darkest of times.