"Wolf Dreams" is up!

In Dreams I Walk With You, a mixed media painting by artist Jen Storey, inspired by Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are.

My short story "Wolf Dreams" just went up at the Toasted Cheese Literary Journal website. The painting above inspired the tale -- it reminded me of how much I loved wolves when I was a teen at the same time I was beginning to realize that I'm gay. In the story, the character of René is very much based on me. Just about everything in there about how I felt about wolves is also true.

I really did fall hugely in love with another boy in high school. Unfortunately, he was straight, but we were still good friends for a while. "Wolf Dreams" is how things might have gone for us had he loved me in return.

"Wolf Dreams" (Toasted Cheese Literary Journal)

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Acceptance for "Wolf Dreams"

I just received word that my story "Wolf Dreams" will appear in the June issue of the Toasted Cheese Literary Journal. I'm very excited. "Wolf Dreams" is about a boy who loves wolves and falls in love with another boy. The kickoff point was reimagining my big high school love; only this time, he likes me back. The rest is all fantasy, but it's a lovely one. Look for "Wolf Dreams" to go up at the Toasted Cheese website in June.

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Cedar Cove Feline Conservatory and Education Center

This is Sierra, a thirteen-year-old female Siberian tiger, and she's my sweetie. What an absolutely gorgeous animal!


Down in Louisburg, Kansas, you'll find the Cedar Cove Feline Conservatory and Education Center. Back in 2006, I was researching tigers for a novel I was writing and I discovered this place, only thirty minutes from my home, that had real tigers! I went down to visit. And I visited again. And again! Finally a wonderful woman named Shelly Tooley pointed at me and said, "Sign him up!" And thus began my three-year adventure helping take care of the cats and other animals at Cedar Cove. The park was found by Billy Pottorff, who first saw tigers for real while serving in Vietnam. Shelly helped him build the park, and for a long time they were the only two people who ran it, until B.J. Auch and Steve Klein became the first outsiders to volunteer there. Shelly passed away very unexpectedly in November of 2008, and we all miss her a lot.

I was active at the park for three years, doing hard work and bonding with the cats, including tigers, leopards, cougars, and bobcats. I stopped going out there regularly simply because I realized I needed to concentrate more on my writing, and I miss the park very much. But if you're in the area and have a chance to visit, don't miss it! There are also three wolves at the park, and soon they'll be making a big announcement about a new addition to the park (my Facebook friends already know what that it).

The park is entirely run by volunteers, and no one draws a salary from the place -- your entry donation goes straight to the care and upkeep of the cats and the park. The work can be unbelievably hard and risky -- imagine shoveling heavy snow while keeping one eye on a tiger that's just waiting for you to give him a chance at you! But there are many rewards, as any of the volunteers will tell you. It takes a certain kind of commitment, patience, perseverance, and love to do what these people do, and they are truly wonderful folks for all of the work and time they give to Cedar Cove.

My personal picture page is here, which has literally thousands of pictures of Cedar Cove's cats. Another one of our regular visitors has his own picture gallery here. Enjoy! And remember, it's Sierra's world -- we just feed her in it.

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