Bouncer Post #125

Title: ROCK WILL YIELD

Genre: Literary Fiction

Word Count: 90,000

Query:

ROCK WILL YIELD is a work of literary fiction about relationships beginning and ending, families forming and disintegrating, and principles colliding with people. The novel is narrated by three interweaving voices.

Stephen James is a gay man who loves a woman. When their marriage fails, Stephen is despondent until he meets a man who offers him a second chance at love. But even as his relationship with his partner deepens, Stephen struggles to forget his ex-wife, and on his trips to the city for visitation with their daughter, he begins spending more and more time with her. When his partner asks Stephen to start a family, Stephen has to decide between the man who wants to move forward and the woman he can't get past.

Higen Nishida’s future is set, defined by the expectations of his culture and his family: upon graduation, he will return to Japan, work for the family law firm, and enter into an arranged marriage. Then he falls in love with the football team’s star tight end. As their relationship develops, Higen’s future plans are unsettled, and he must choose between breaking promises and breaking hearts.

Raven Madison is attacked and blinded following a moonlit tryst on the beach. As she struggles to adjust to life without sight, her already frail emotions are further agitated by the romantic attentions of Jack, the one-night stand she never expected to see again. Raven questions Jack’s sincerity, and his touch triggers violent flashbacks. Bit by bit, his steady devotion wins her over, and she falls in love. But when Jack proposes, Raven panics. She must decide whether to face her fears or lose her love.

First 250:

Maximilian the cat is off exploring the yard, which is teeming with crickets and cicadas. Bats are snatching mosquitos from the air. A possum is foraging by the fencepost. Maximilian will live with Danni and warm her lap on cold days, hunt the field mice she refuses to kill.

I wanted to see the sunrise, but I don't think I'll make it. Two handmade envelopes sit beside me, handwritten letters inside; I hope that Grace and Danni will understand, and that Truth will not forget me.

Two pills every twenty minutes. Not so close together that I'll vomit them up, but close enough to do the trick. I've lost nearly all the dexterity in my hands, and my eyelids are cumbersome. I find myself fighting it.

Ants crawl between the blades of grass around my chair — or perhaps they are only shadows cast by the clouds passing in front of the moon. Across the road, a street lamp taints the sky.

My lips are numb now, my lips and my extremities. I can feel the wind moving over my bare legs, my neck, my cheeks; Gabriel used to love to kiss my lips, to tickle them with his stubble. But Gabriel is gone, murdered, the funeral closed casket.

#

My phone rang.

"They caught him."

"Raven?"

"They caught him, Stephen."

I opened my mouth to speak, but only air came out.

"It's over. It's finally over."

Silence.

"I thought you'd want to know."

I nodded, hung up the phone, braced myself against the doorjamb and waited, but nothing came. An hour passed, two. No tears. No relief. I called the police looking for details, but they wouldn't give me any information; I "wasn't family."