THE CHRISTOPHER BOOKS by Stephen G Hardy
LGBTQ+ Contemporary/Literary fiction with a speculative element
Christopher Dunn is a young man who possesses unique qualities that draw people to him. In return, everyone who meets him is changed for the better. Everyone could use a Christopher in their lives.
The three books in the series need to be read in order.
Overall Heat Rating for the series: 2 flames
Follow Christopher as he explores various types of relationships
and the impact he has on the lives of others.
Let’s start by telling us, in twenty words, or less, what you’re book’s about.
The series is about a young man whose unique qualities can change people’s lives through a simple conversation.
What was it that led you to write in the genre(s) you write?
As a gay man, I have met many people in the LGBTQT+ community who have provided me with interesting perspectives on this community that I am a part of. I want to tell their stories.
Are your books character led, plot led, or both?
My books are a mix of both. I had an idea for a plot or storyline, but the characters directed me in the direction they wanted to take, and ultimately, the plot developed through their needs.
What is your favourite part of the writing process?
I have two that I am fond of. I love writing the first draft, just dumping my ideas onto the page. I also love reading that draft, seeing where there are holes to be filled, and filling them.
What is your least favourite part of the writing process?
Cutting scenes or dialogue that I love but understand are not needed.
Where do you get your inspiration for your characters?
My characters are inspired not only by people I know or have met but also by going inside myself and reflecting on the person I used to be in the past and who I am now. I am not the same person at 62 that I was at 22. By remembering who I was at any given age, I can write about another of the same age.
Tell us a little about the characters in your book and their story. You can use more than twenty words this time.
Between the three books in the series, there are three primary characters and two secondary characters of importance.
-Christopher Dunn is the most prominent character, and his POV is featured in all three books. He is a young man who possesses both a male and female essence. Romantically bi-sexual, he has no sexual desires. It is the dual essence that makes him desired by both men and women and gives him the ability to understand both sexes.
-Laura Chasen’s POV is featured in books one and two. She is slightly older than Christopher and, like everyone else, is drawn to him. She desires him and has a difficult time accepting that he can’t be all she wants him to be. Laura is a bit self-centered, but this is allowed by Christopher because of what Laura’s being in his life means to him.
-Benjamin Johnson’s POV is featured in book three. He is also older than Christopher and black. Like Christopher, he possesses two essences, but his are both male. He identifies as gay but is also asexual. Benjamin struggles with what it means to be a man and this causes conflicts between him and Christopher.
The two secondary characters are David Martelli and Joseph Bonheur. Both men are used to help explain who Christopher is to the reader and the unique qualities he possesses.
Tell us in the character’s own words, what he/she would have to say about you.
Laura would say: Stephen understood who I was and what I needed to be happy in my own skin. He is a lot like Christopher.
What do you prefer writing? A one off novel, a series, or short stories?
I would prefer a one-off novel. I had meant to write Search For Complete as a stand-alone, but when I finished, I realized there was so much more to be told. I guess each book dictates what happens next.
Do you have any other projects we should look out for?
I am currently querying Agents, a m2m romance novel that takes place in New York City. It’s about the relationship of a young man who has escaped a trauma in his youth through the songs of the Great American Songbook and a slightly older man grieving the loss of his mother, the only family he has. The working title is It’s Not a Paper Moon.
Thank you.
BOOK DETAILS
BOOK 1
Book Title: Search for Complete
Cover Artist: Ryan Mulford
Length: 83 00 words /380 pages
Release Date: June 4, 2023
Pairing: MMF
Tense/POV: 2 POV’s in the first person
Genres: LGBTQ+ Contemporary/Literary fiction with a speculative element
Tropes: Unrequited love
Themes: Interpersonal relationships, asexuality
It can be read as a standalone story, but it is part of a series.
It does not end on a cliffhanger.
Buy Links – Available in Kindle Unlimited
Blurb
“Why do I get the feeling that Christopher is the type of man that would make the perfect husband for any woman and, at the same time, the perfect wife for any man?” Laura says shortly after Christopher begins his new job at the TV station. Laura’s statement would turn out to hold more truth than she could imagine. No one who meets Christopher, especially not Laura, as well as David, a gay man he meets at a party, understands what it is about him that draws them to him. They also don’t realize that Christopher is searching for something, a search complicated by their desires for him.
Awards: 2024 International Impact Book Award winner for LGBTQ+ Literary Fiction; The BookFest Awards, Fall 2023- Honorable mention LGBTQ+ Literary Fiction
BOOK 2
Book Title: The Price of Happiness
Length: 83 000 words/372 pages
Release Date: November 24, 2023
Tropes: Unrequited love
Themes: Interpersonal relationships, trans
Tense/POV: 2 POV’s in the first person
This is the second book in the series and the first has to have been read.
It ends on a cliffhanger.
Buy Links – Available in Kindle Unlimited
Blurb
As Search for Complete left off, the birth of his twins had just completed Christopher. However, though he has what he had searched so long for, he now must deal with the associated costs, namely the unraveling of his relationship with Laura, the mother of his twins. The birth of the twins should have brought Laura joy, yet, instead, she finds herself on an intense emotional rollercoaster. Laura resents Christopher’s happiness—resents that he is a better mother than she is. But most of all, Laura resents that the twins are Christopher’s spitting image—nowhere does she see herself in them. Christopher fears his happiness in becoming a father has become Laura’s undoing. As he tries to help her adjust to the reality of their situation, Laura struggles to find herself in the tangled mess of their relationship.
In The Price of Happiness, Stephen Hardy has created a profound and moving novel on the themes of parenthood, identity, love and loss—and the cost of getting what we want.
Book 3
Book Title: When the Sun and Moon Touch
Length: 85,000 words/397 pages
Release Date: March 29, 2024
Genres: LGBTQ+ Contemporary Fiction, M/M Romance
Tropes: MM relationships/romance
Themes: Gender identity, asexuality, interpersonal relationships
Tense/POV: 2 POV’s in the first person
The stories need to be read in order. This book picks up where book two left off.
This book does not end on a cliffhanger.
Buy Links – Available in Kindle Unlimited
Blurb
Christopher has settled into life as a single father to his twins, Loren and Christine. Content with his life, he is contemplating the imminent return of their mother Laura, who has been traveling through Europe for nearly a year, when he meets Benjamin, a direct descendant of the sun. Suddenly, his contentment is upended as he tries to understand the reason for their meeting. Despite what Benjamin says, that they are meant to be together,
Christopher initially tries to hold Benjamin at arm’s length, believing that he is only to be for Benjamin what Joseph was to him—a friend and mentor.
Excerpt
Opening scene from book 3: When the Sun and Moon Touch
Their laughter brought me great joy as I watched Loren and Christine mount the short flight of steps and slide down the slide on their behinds. They were quite independent, except for each other, even at the age of two, and had refused my assistance. While they romped, I sat on the bench to watch and enjoy what had turned out to be a lovely day for the end of March. In this moment I felt as though I had not a care in the world.
The sound of an email arriving on my phone startled me. Pulling it from my jacket pocket, I was surprised to see it was from Laura, as it was rare to get one from her.
Christopher-
I am planning on returning at the beginning of May. Please let the rental company know they need to have the tenants vacate by the end of April. Thanks.
Laura
That was it. There was nothing about how she was doing or what she planned to do upon her return. She did not even ask after the twins. But then she never asked about them. I tried not to read anything into this, but it was not easy.
It had been nearly a year since Laura had left our children in my sole custody while she backpacked her way around Europe in order to find herself, something I had supported both emotionally and financially. She never let on how she was doing in any of her very short emails. And now, she was coming back.
I put my phone away and looked at the twins, thinking about what Laura’s return could mean for us. Would Laura still feel the same way about things as she had when she left: that the twins belonged to me and not to her?
“Excuse me?”
Blinking at the sound of someone’s voice, I looked up to see a handsome man looking down at me with grey-green eyes that were all the more striking given his dark coloring. Suddenly, something flitted within his eyes, and I caught my breath. Could it be? Composing myself, I said, “Hello, may I help you?”
“Hi. No. I,” The stranger paused, suddenly flustered, “Sorry to disturb you, but are those children playing on the slide yours?” he blurted out.
“Yes, they are.”
“I thought so. They look just like you.” He held out his hand. “My name’s Benjamin Johnson.”
“I am Christopher Dunn,” I replied, taking his hand and then indicating the place beside me on the bench, “You may join me if you wish.” I had to find out if what I had seen was indeed there.
Benjamin sat beside me, looking down at his hands while I looked at him. Looking up, he seemed about to say something and then stopped.
“Yes?” I prompted.
“Yes, what?” He stammered.
“Sorry, I thought you were going to ask me something.”
“Um, I was, but never mind.”
“No, please. Tell me what you were going to say,” I said, giving him a small smile of encouragement.
“Well, and I know this will sound ridiculous, but I had this weird feeling that something led me to you. God, I’m sorry. That sounds like some bad pickup line,” Benjamin said, laughing to cover up his embarrassment. Even with his dark skin, I could tell he was blushing.
“I do not think it sounds crazy at all.” I turned to face Benjamin, giving him my full attention. “Tell me more about this feeling.”
“I don’t know that there’s anything more to tell.”
“I think there is and would like to hear it,” I said, staring intently into his eyes, still amazed by what I saw there. What were the chances that I would meet someone like Joseph here in Balboa Park, seemingly by chance? But no, Benjamin had been guided to me if his statement was true.
“Um, okay, well, I was walking through the park and felt this pushing sensation against my back whenever I stopped to look at anything. It continued until I saw you.”
“Has there ever been another time you felt this?” I asked, not moving my eyes from his face.
“No, I don’t think so.”
“I see.” For some reason, I did not believe him. “I take it you just moved to San Diego.”
“How did you know?”
“Your accent, for starters.”
“Oh, yeah. I guess that is a giveaway. I keep forgetting that here, I have an accent. I moved here in mid-January from Atlanta.”
“Was there a special reason for the move?”
“A job.”
His words surprised me. “Oh. Had you been looking for a new job?” I said, recalling that I had moved to San Diego for a similar reason.
“Actually, no, I hadn’t been looking. I got a call from a recruiter and . . .” Benjamin paused.
“And?”
“Sorry. I just remembered that when I got the call about the job, I felt something was compelling me to take it. Kind of like what I described to you just now about being guided to you. But that must have been my imagination as well.”
“I see. You felt yourself being pushed to move here, and you felt the same sensation leading you to me,” I said, more to myself than to him.
“Crazy, isn’t it?”
“On the contrary, Benjamin, I find it very plausible.”
“Are you saying that I felt that desire to take the job here in order to meet you?”
“It is entirely possible,” I replied, still marveling at the coincidences of our experiences.
“But what possible reason could there be?”
“That remains to be determined.”
Stephen Hardy was born in the San Francisco Bay Area but grew up in the Pacific Northwest. His career as a fashion designer took him back to San Francisco before he headed to New York City, where he met his husband of twenty years. Tiring of the hectic pace of the fashion industry, Stephen gave up his career to become a stay-at-home dad for his and his husband’s two adopted sons and a quiet life in Connecticut. Now residing in Phoenix, Arizona, and with the kids grown, Stephen returned to university, where he rediscovered his love for writing. His focus is on contemporary fiction, examining social issues regarding gender, sexuality, and relationships. Search for Complete is his first novel.
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