Category: Publication · Tags: beyond words, body language, gay erotica, publication, contributor, when the fight fades
“And for the first time, it didn’t feel like a battle. It felt like home.” — from “When the Fight Fades”
There are moments in writing where the body understands the news before the brain does.
The brain wants to behave.
The brain wants to be reasonable.
The brain wants to sit upright, nod politely, and say something polished like, “I’m honored to share this announcement.”
The body, meanwhile, is somewhere under the desk vibrating through the floorboards.
So here it is.
My piece, “When the Fight Fades,” has been selected for inclusion in Body Language: Gay Erotica, published by Beyond Words.
Yes. That sentence is real.
I submitted the story on December 27, 2025. Two days later, on December 29, the acceptance came through, which is the sort of turnaround that makes a writer stare suspiciously at the inbox as if the universe has developed a sense of humor.
The print edition was originally expected in January 2026.
Then January passed.
And then more time passed.
And because publishing enjoys turning anticipation into a minor endurance sport, I did what writers do best.
I waited badly.
I checked.
I wondered.
I pretended I was not checking.
I told myself these things take time, because they do.
I also quietly assumed I had somehow imagined the whole thing, because apparently my nervous system was raised by gremlins with Wi-Fi.
Then, a few days ago, word came through that the project had moved forward.
And today, because I apparently enjoy adding dramatic delay to my own life, I finally checked my email and saw the message from May 22.
There it was.
The anthology is live.
The book exists.
And my name is listed on the Beyond Words website as a contributor.
First, apparently.
Am I gloating? Slightly.
Tastefully? Debatable.
Honestly? Who wouldn’t?
There is a specific kind of disbelief that comes with seeing your name moved from private documents and submission folders into a public contributor list. It is not just validation. That word always feels too clean for the mess of it.
It is more like proof of contact.
The work left the room.
It crossed the threshold.
Someone opened the door and let it stand among other voices.
Beyond Words describes Body Language: Gay Erotica as:
“Seventeen voices, seventeen encounters, each exploring queer desire impossible to reduce to a single touch.”
That line alone feels like a dare. A promise. A little knife under the ribs.
For anyone familiar with my work, you already know I am interested in what the body says before language catches up. Desire as confession. Touch as fracture. Intimacy as a place where power, tenderness, resistance, and surrender start speaking over one another.
So yes, being included in an anthology called Body Language: Gay Erotica feels almost suspiciously on-brand.
My contribution, “When the Fight Fades,” follows two men caught in the brutal heat between challenge and surrender, where desire first arrives as a contest and slowly becomes something far more intimate. What begins as a clash of bodies, pride, and control shifts into trust, tenderness, and the terrifying relief of being wanted without armor. It is a story about masculinity after the performance ends, and the quiet, dangerous moment when a battle becomes a home.
I am proud of this one.
I am also trying very hard to act normal about it.
That attempt is not going well.
You can find Body Language: Gay Erotica through Beyond Words here:
Order Body Language: Gay Erotica from Beyond Words
Thank you to Beyond Words and editor Gal Slonim for including my work.
And to everyone who has followed the writing, the drafts, the strange little experiments, the late-night fragments, the polished pieces, the feral ones, and the ongoing refusal to make queer desire smaller than it is:
This one made it into print.
The body said yes.
I am still catching up.
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