Michael Thomas Ford has published superb material in nearly every genre from children's literature, to criticism, mystery, killer gay humor, and memoir.
For your summer listening pleasure, here are six of MTF's suspenseful romances that cover the full spectrum of gay experience in the U.S.
"At thirty-three, Josh has become tired of his life, leaving his old self behind with the hope of making a fresh start. Toby, who is only nineteen, finds himself moving to Provincetown to seek solace after his family has kicked him out of his Midwestern home. Reilly, who has been a lifelong resident, is still unclear about his own sexuality and has long wondered what his fantasies about other men might mean.
"Everything is about to change when Reilly meets Joshua and the two strike up an odd friendship--that's when Reilly knows, for sure, that he isn't just fantasizing anymore."
"James McCloud, a Seattle district attorney, gets an early-morning phone call from his sister Celeste announcing that their father's body has been found. Police officer Daniel McCloud disappeared years ago - but this discovery proves that he was murdered. When James returns home to Cold Falls, New York, he's reunited with his mother Ada and his troubled, gay younger brother Billy. His brother-in-law Nate is the town sheriff and the mistrust that has hovered between them since school still simmers. As the truth emerges, so do powerful secrets."
After an accident, a Boston photographer must reluctantly recover back in his childhood room in his home town.
While he convalesces, he uncovers a local Civil War mystery that reaches in to the present day with implications for his strained relationship with his father.
"Compelling, frankly funny, and often wise, The Road Home is the story of one man's coming to terms with who he is, what he wants out of life, and where he belongs--and the complex, surprising path that finally takes him there."
Following friends and lovers, Jack and Ned from their childhood together in the '50s through their college years in the '60s, the AIDS crisis of the '80s and beyond, Full Circle is at once a sweeping overview of gay popular culture through the late 2oth century, and an intimate character study of a life-long friendship with all the issues of trust, betrayal and love that come with it.
"Mike Monaghan is the bartender at the Engine Room, a meeting place for the small but thriving community of gay men in Cold Falls, New York. As Mike pours beer, wipes glasses and hears everything, he's also witness to the men who come here looking for what they need--sex, direction, friendship, spiritual fulfillment, and love."
A Monterey marine biologist with a troubled teenage daughter helps a grad student with his research of a possible romance between John Steinbeck and Ed "Doc" Ricketts.
The biologist and the grad student find that they each have qualities that can help each other with their own personal demons, and a romance blossoms.
Each of these novels was narrated by Blake Somerset. He brings a note of deep experience to each story.
Next month, we'll bring you Ford's parody of Jane Austen as a vampire, Jane Goes Batty. Michael Thomas Ford can write circles around anything...and now you're going to be part of the cult.
--Willow Pennell and Susie Bright
