From the author of World Running Down and Key Lime Sky comes a beautifully funny, heart-wrenching contemporary queer romance with a magical twist.
Nine months ago, a brutal assault in his studio apartment left eccentric portrait artist Micah Wildsmith with facial scars and PTSD. He's struggled to leave the apartment ever since, and experiences panic attacks if anyone else enters it while he's there. To make matters worse, Micah begins to sense another presence in the apartment.
He puts the 80s synthpop down to inconsiderate neighbors, and the shadows down to paranoia. But when saccharin platitudes inexplicably start appearing on the bathroom mirror, and Micah learns the previous resident, Cosmo, died, he's convinced his apartment is haunted. When Cosmo's form materializes in front of Micah, he's struck by the spectre's beauty and mystery. Cosmo is safe company inside the studio, and Micah no longer wants him to leave.
Meanwhile, dramatic sculpture artist Cosmo Koslov is mourning the shambles of his love life. His boyfriend has cheated on him. Again. If that weren't bad enough, his studio in the Artists' District is haunted. He thought the "on hold" music and faint phone conversations were a neighbor, and the replies to his mirror messages his ex. But when a bespectacled man with an eye socket of scars appears – then evaporates – there's no other explanation. And no matter how intrigued Cosmo is by the macabre, when finally faced with something paranormal, his first instinct is to move out.
Now the enchanting apparition in Micah's apartment has disappeared. Desperate to lure him back, Micah searches for more details about Cosmo and discovers… Cosmo isn't dead. The very alive socialite and fixture of the city's art scene works in a gallery just down the block. Fueled by a desire to understand the mystery in the studio and – more importantly – get closer to his new crush, Micah fights through his anxiety to seek him out. But Cosmo is not without his own ghosts. In order to find a future in which they can both be happy and together, Micah and Cosmo need to confront their trauma once and for all. Al Hess is the author of the self-published post-apocalyptic Travelers series and the 1930s flavoured dystopian series, Hep Cats of Boise. When not hunched before a computer screen, Al can be found at his art desk. He does portraits in both pencil and oil paint, and loves drawing fellow authors' characters nearly as much as his own. He writes cozy and uplifting stories with queer, trans, and neurodiverse representation.
