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If I wake, And he isn't beside me, The thickest blanket Won't keep me warm. ... http://t.co/KqVwxUQqX1 #LoveWins #gaycouple #gayguys #glbt

— StarTrek/Gate/Wars (@DuaneSimolke) June 26, 2015

A lush tangle of small-town life

The Acorn Stories

The Sky Is Always Falling in This West Texas Town!

These tales explore the humor, drama, secrets, and scandals of a small town.

From romantic comedy to razor-sharp satire to moments of quiet reflection, Duane Simolke’s award-winning tales transform a fictional West Texas town into a tapestry of human experiences.

˃˃˃ The Individual Stories:

“Acorn”: When we arrive at the fictional West Texas town of Acorn, the narrative keeps shifting between Regina and Dirk, who both seek control over their relationship.

“Flip, Turn”: A different scene from the narrator's amusing but unproductive life comes to him every time he turns to swim in the opposite direction.

“Keeping A Secret”: A little boy wants to shield his mother and his little brother from a dangerous situation.

“Survival”: A young high school teacher clashes with a popular football coach.

“Paying The Rent”: In this politically incorrect tale, an inarticulate young man hopes to marry a rich woman so he can pay the rent, but he finds her repulsive.

“Morgana Le Fay”: A widow finds her new romance disrupted by her Siamese cat's strange behavior.

“Your Daughter”: Gretchen's approach to raising a daughter and maintaining a marriage requires ignoring problems and carefully orchestrating conversations.

“Knock”: A father sees his daughter abandon her Mexican heritage, and he now fears other types of abandonment.

“Come With Me”: The conflicting influence of her overbearing sister and her supportive husband forces Becky to re-evaluate her ambitions.

“Dead Enough”: Farcical look at English departments, tabloid TV, the publishing industry, and America's superstar culture.

“Mae”: Standing by her husband's grave, an elderly woman looks back at the joys and challenges of marriage and motherhood.

“Timothy Fast”: In this satirical retelling of the Faustian myth, a Jewish businessman finds himself pulled into small-town politics.

“Mirrors: A Blackmail Letter”: The owner of an art gallery becomes the target of a “family values” witch-hunt, spear-headed by Acorn's closeted (and supposedly “ex-gay”) mayor.

“Echoes”: A time of unexpected changes for Becky and her husband.

“Oak”: Julie Briggs can only talk to her mother by leaving messages on her answering machine, but she refuses to give up her voice.

“Acorn Pie”: An unusual weekend in the life of an unusual town.

˃˃˃ Rave Reviews!

“A lush tangle of small-town life branches out in this engrossing collection of short stories.” -Kirkus Reviews

“The ability to depict such a wide cross section of humanity, including details of each character’s breadth of knowledge and experience, takes a talented, insightful author, and Duane Simolke is such a writer.” -E. Conley, Betty’s Books

“There are people that you like, some that you can't wait to see if they get theirs.” -Joe Wright, StoneWall Society

“When you finish, when you put the book aside, Acorn will still be with you.” -E. Carter Jones, author of Absence of Faith

˃˃˃ Award-Winning!

Like Simolke’s books Degranon and Holding Me Together, The Acorn Stories received a StoneWall Society Pride in the Arts Award.

˃˃˃ Read More!

Simolke returned to Acorn by editing and contributing to the spinoff The Acorn Gathering: Writers Uniting Against Cancer.

Scroll up and grab a copy today of this light-hearted and unusual collection!

Books by Duane Simolke

American Author Sherwood Anderson

Read about Winesburg, Ohio and how Gertrude Stein influenced it.

Gay Science Fiction Adventure

In Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure, we stopped racism and homophobia, but face government surveillance of our weight and words.

Visit Goodreads for Degranon discussion or to preview the upcoming sequel, Sons of Taldra.

Sons of Taldra, Chapter 1 Draft

Sons of Taldra, Chapter 2 Draft

Sons of Taldra, Chapter 3 Draft

Sons of Taldra, Chapter 4 Draft

More about Degranon:

On the planet Valchondria, no illness exists, gay marriage is legal, and everyone is a person of color. However, a group called “the Maintainers” carefully monitors everyone's speech, actions, and weight; the Maintainers also force so-called “colorsighted” people to hide their ability to see in color.

The brilliant scientist Taldra sees her twin sons as the hope for Valchondria's future, but one of them becomes entangled in the cult of Degranon, while the other becomes stranded on the other side of a doorway through time. Can they find their way home and help Taldra save their world?

Winner, StoneWall Society Pride in the Arts Award.

Gay Science Fiction News

Gay Love in New SciFi Adventure! Read about Sons of Taldra and more.

First Three Chapters of Gay Science Fiction Novel

“Unidentified space vessels, this is Captain Laaron of the Degran ship Equestar. We’re on a mining mission and mean no harm to anyone, but we have the capacity for self-defense. Please stop firing and identify yourselves.”

Only static came through the com.

Finally, a single broadcast confirmed what they suspected: something was on the planet, killing the Equestar crew members who had been mining the planet below. “Ships! They’re shooting at us!”

The static returned, and neither attackers nor crew members answered Laaron’s hails.

What kind of ships? Was it someone from another circle of Degranon? Equestar hadn’t heard from anyone outside its crew since leaving Degranon’s broadcast range.

Laaron jerked around to see if the other two officers on his deck had anything to report. Their skin-tight red and black uniforms couldn’t conceal their shaking.

Lt. Em stared back at him. With a clean-shaven head and a height that made her look down at most of the Equestar’s men, she rarely looked nervous. Over the past two years, she had remained calm during the middle of a meteor shower, a mine shaft collapse, and a case of oxygen line congestion. But enemy vessels were something new. Laaron could practically see fear throbbing through the veins of her long, brown hands, making them shake.

Read more...

Sons of Taldra, Chapter 1 Draft

Sons of Taldra, Chapter 2 Draft

Sons of Taldra, Chapter 3 Draft

Keywords: gay scifi, sci-fi, science fiction, adventure, gay marriage, Degranon, Duane Simolke, Native American, First Nation, African American, black, Arabic, Indian, Hispanic, people of color, strong women, female leaders, space travel, health care, shapeshifters, aliens, teen heroes, new adult, diversity, social issues, alternate reality