not language but a map

Tumblr, once again I come to you on bended knee with a simple question: can I interest you in reading this book I wrote? A book that contains the same witty banter, sharp voice and zany energy as many of my fics, some of which you may have encountered over the years? A book that comes out in October, but is available RIGHT NOW on Netgalley? Comfort Read is a little bit fake dating, a little bit celebrity nonsense, a little bit what would happen if you flipped Notting Hill on its head and made it incredibly gay, and a whole lot of fun. Let me tell you a bit more about it:

📚 Kit Forrest is officially the saddest man in Cedar Falls. A year after his boyfriend turned down his proposal and left town, Kit's beloved bookstore is falling down around him. The old brick firehouse has overstuffed shelves, a resident orange cat with an attitude problem… and repairs Kit can't begin to afford. 📰 Sage Ballard is a hometown boy who got famous, then became a tabloid disaster, and now urgently needs a nice, ordinary boyfriend to convince one very rich investor he's a changed man. Three months of fake dating, and Sawyer's Books will get the cash injection it needs to survive. And it’s not like he has to be actually nice to the guy, right? 🕶️ Kit thinks Sage is a rude, sunglasses-indoors diva. Sage thinks Kit is an earnest nerd who talks too much. But then something shifts. Sage starts turning up at the bookstore for no particular reason. Kit starts saving him the good armchair. And the cat—who bites everyone—won't leave Sage alone. ❄️ By the time the first snow falls, pretending has begun to feel a bit too real. Which would be wonderful, if the whole thing weren't built on lies. You know what they say about small towns and secrets… 🔖 Perfect for fans of KJ Charles, Alexis Hall and Zarah Detand, you can expect:

Fake dating

Celebrity x ordinary guy

Grumpy x sunshine

Small-town romance

Forced proximity / only one bed

Cozy bookstore setting

Slow burn romance

Autumn vibes 🧡

HELLO! I'm doing an event tonight to talk about finding JOY and MINDFULNESS in A CREATIVE PRACTICE, and I wanted to invite you to join me 😄 It starts at 6PM EST, runs less than an hour, and will be a free-ranging conversation on all things creativity between me and my friend JeKolbi Brown from OHC Heart. OHC is a platform where healthcare providers can connect with one another and members of their communities to share skills, expand knowledge, and improve care. Heart is their LGBTQIA-focused arm! Here's a little more about today's event:

What if mindfulness looked less like clearing your mind... and more like creating something? Join the HEART Speaker Series for an inspiring virtual conversation with author Dylan Morrison as we explore Joy in Craft and the many ways creativity can become a pathway to mindfulness, healing, and connection. Together, we'll discover how writing can be more than storytelling; it can be a practice of presence, resilience, and self-discovery. Whether you're an experienced writer, a lifelong creative, or simply curious about new ways to care for your mental well-being, this conversation offers an opportunity to reflect, connect, and be inspired.

BOOK BIRTHDAY! BOOK! BIRTHDAY! I'm so excited to get SECOND HELPINGS out into the world. It's a warm, cozy and funny second-chance romance filled with found family, a chaotic deli dog named Pastrami, and all the comfort food you could ever want. I loved writing it, and I hope you'll love reading it 💜🥪

👨‍💻 Sam Adelson has spent more than ten years pouring his heart into Silverman's Deli, the beloved Cleveland institution his family has run for seventy-five years. So when a bad review tanks his business, Sam develops some strong feelings about the critic responsible. Fantasies involving expired clam juice may be involved.

❤️‍🩹 Then Jake Thompson walks through the door—Sam's first love, the one who got away. Reconnecting after over a decade feels like coming home, and having Jake around makes even the chaos of saving the deli feel manageable. But Sam’s fought to move on from the disaster that tore them apart, and now pretending it never happened is becoming more impossible every day.

🧑‍🍳 As Sam falls harder than he ever meant to, Jake's past begins to catch up with both of them. Some recipes are worth perfecting, even when the first attempt was a disaster—Sam just hopes this one doesn't blow up in his face...

📌 Perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston and TJ Klune. Second Helpings is a male x male contemporary romance, featuring:

• Second-chance romance

• Surprise neighbors (again)

• Slow burn, mild spice

• Cozy vibes

• Grumpy Steady x Chaotic Anxious

• Forced proximity

• Food as a love language

• Found family

• He's fine (he's not fine)

🌈 My new book, SECOND HELPINGS, is out tomorrow; what better time to show you the gorgeous cover for my next one? COMFORT READ is an extravaganza of fake dating, cozy bookshop vibes, Hollywood chaos, a cat whose owner can't prove he ISN'T a warlock trapped in a human body, and, of course, big queer joy 🤩

📚 A-list actor Sage Ballard needs to rescue his reputation. Bookshop owner Kit Forrest just wants to save his beloved local business from shutting down. All they have to do is convince the world they're madly in love. Pumpkin spice, old paperbacks, and a romance that's about to get very real...

☕️ COMFORT READ comes out in October, but you can preorder your copy right here: https://geni.us/1579-al-aut-ch

Extremely excited to tell you that my next book, SECOND HELPINGS, is available to request on NetGalley!

SAM ADELSON hasn't given up on love: he loves Silverman's Deli, the family restaurant in Cleveland that he's worked at since he was a teenager. Romance with an actual person isn't off the table for Sam either; it's just that he's not going to get out of bed for anything less than the real thing.

The last person who made Sam feel the real thing? JAKE THOMPSON, his high school neighbor-turned-friend-turned-situationship. Their passionate if half-baked teen connection would have bloomed out into something more serious if either one of them had been able to really talk about it back then... Or if disaster hadn't struck one awful night, changing everything between them and triggering 10 years of radio silence.

But when Jake unwittingly moves into the building behind Sam's, making them neighbors once again, it turns out that old fire is still sending up sparks. Sam's dealing with the aftermath of a terrible review that's tanked traffic at his beloved deli, and scrambling to keep the business alive. Jake, a former ballet dancer who once dreamed of going pro, is fresh out of an awful relationship on the other side of the country, and has moved home to take on his first-ever gig as a dance teacher.

With so much to deal with, and so much baggage, there's no reason things should work out any better between them this time than they did back then. But sometimes lightning strikes twice... ⚡️