Tim Mead

You are cordially invited to view another of a triptych of stories involving the lives and loves of gay men who work or volunteer at the Sunrise Arts Center in Stafford, North Carolina. Dr. Jonathan Baker volunteers to man the reception desk because, like he says, he enjoys meeting people. He also boasts he folds a mean program. Everyone tells him he's wasting his talents at doing such menial tasks. But Jonathan is lonely and needs to keep busy. After...

Professor Everett Sloane is totally captivated with William Bond, one of his English students. The young man, with his fair skin, baby face, blue eyes, and curly blond hair, reminds Ev of Melville's eponymous character, Billy Budd. Student-teacher relations goes against college policy and could ruin the reputations of both men. Try as he might, Ev can't give Billy up. With an unpleasant undercurrent of blackmail and deceit, is all as it seems? But...

Eighteen-year-old Justin Quinn has had it pretty rough. His father dies unexpectedly. His first big crush loves him, but only as a little brother. His relationship with his high school boyfriend is mostly platonic and ends when they decide to go to different colleges. While working a summer job, Justin starts a relationship with a coworker, but soon discovers the other guy is only in it for the sex. Justin has always believed his gaydar to be infallible....

The retired Rich sits in his rocking chair on the porch of his cabin and reminisces. W.B. Yates' poem "The Isle of Innisfree" seems to fit his mood and his life. Rich remembers his college days and his boyfriend, Lee. But that was back in the mid-1950s and Rich and Lee had to be extremely careful, even to the point of dating, then ultimately marrying, women. After college, Rich was drafted into the army. He was happy but lost contact with Lee. Will...

Brent Collins, a new professor in the music department of a mid-western university, makes friends quickly among his students and his colleagues. A traumatic experience in high school has him determined to stay celibate in his personal life. However, his resolve is tested when he meets the very sexy and slightly older Gabe Sutton. Although Gabe is happy in his work as an electrician for the college's Buildings and Grounds crew, he's less happy with...

After four years of service, most of it in Iraq, Marine Sargent Brody Cox decides not to re-up. It's the early 2000s and Don't Ask Don't Tell is in effect. Brody takes time to adjust to the choices he needs to make now he's in civilian life. Although he knows he wants to go to college, he doesn't know what to major in. His elder brother owns a couple of florist shops, so at least his part time employment situation is taken care of. One of the first...

Detective Sergeant Ray Stonesifer of the Colby Police is stuck behind a desk and is bored. However, things heat up, literally, when he's sent on a stake out to watch a suspected meth lab that bursts into flames. Would that his personal life be as explosive. Jesse Crofts is burned out by the competitive world of fashion modeling in New York and, after closing his eyes and stabbing his finger on a map of the US, he chooses a small city in Ohio to relocate...

Joe Hill thinks of himself as an ordinary guy with an appropriately ordinary sort of name. He discovers that some other Colby residents think he's extraordinarily good looking, many likening him to Clark Kent. Joe's newfound popularity goes to his head and he has a number of brief flings with various men around town. Joe eventually begins to wonder if settling down with one special man would give him a greater sense of contentment. He sees the happiness...

Dan Cole disappointed his parents when he decided not to go to college. Instead he tried a career as a mixed martial arts fighter. One particularly memorable match was against Casey Shaw, and Dan found it a case of either tap out or pass out. Dan chose the former. To his surprise, Casey invited Dan out for a drink after the match and they agreed to stay in touch. Believing Dan needed a ring name, Casey starts calling him Dan "Cool" Cole. Dan eventually...

After an affair with a male student was exposed, fifty-something English professor Doug Curtis left his teaching job and moved to a small conservative town in central Florida. Keeping the closet door firmly closed, Doug rebuilds his life, makes friends, becomes active in his church, and volunteers for various local organizations. He's settled, safe... and alone. There's some excitement around town when middle-aged hot shot administrator Stan Mason...