- So you do other books besides horror books.

In 2023, "Singlets and Secrets" came out.

Tell us about that one.

- Oh, this is my baby.

This is, I don't know, one of my favorites.

It's hard to pick a favorite.

They're like your children or something, I guess, but I don't have kids, so that's not fair.

But "Singlets and Secrets" is my gay "The Karate Kid" story.

And if you think about even just a few things I started telling you about, I got into the martial arts when I was a kid.

I'm a gay man.

I, you know, like anybody else.

I have my trauma, my stories, my bullies, things like that.

I turned to martial arts to try to get a sense of confidence and strength.

Plus, I always was obsessed with "The Karate Kid" movie, if I'm being honest.

- Who wasn't?

- Yeah, I mean, I warped the VHS tapes of all of those back in the day, and last fall, I'm such a fan.

I paid to go to the Cobra Kai Convention.

So I got pictures and autographs with Ralph Macchio and William Zabka and Peyton List and so many more.

But I'm a huge fan of that series.

And all that to say what I wanted, "Singlets and Secrets" came about because I wanna write the story that I always wanted to read.

Or another way sometimes I look at it is I wanted to write the story that only I could uniquely tell.

For me, teaching and writing, where this really connects, especially with "Singlets and Secrets," is this idea: this isn't an original idea with me, but this is what motivated me.

It is hard to become what you cannot see.

So as a student in the classroom, when I was in high school and college classes, I didn't have any out educators at that time.

Right?

When I was taking karate lessons to try to get tougher, I hate to say it, but I encountered some homophobic instructors who made jokes, and maybe they didn't mean any harm, but you know, there's a difference between intention and impact.

And that's something I talk about in my communication classes.

All of those factors came about.

Plus then you think about how much I love "The Karate Kid" and "Cobra Kai" and all those series and those types of shows.

But I looked at them through the lens of an LGBTQ perspective and I said, "Where are these characters?"

You know, diversity and representation in story, it's not a trend.

I'm a real human being and there are so many others like me and other people who deserve to see themselves on the page or on the screen.

And so this idea came about, it's like, "I'm gonna write my own 'Karate Kid' story from an LGBTQ perspective."

And that's really what it is.

In fact, it even got endorsed, it got a blurb from the creator of "Cobra Kai."

So one of my favorite moments of all time was when Jon Hurwitz wrote me and just said the nicest thing about my book from an LGBTQ perspective.

So it's like I felt part of the conversation.

I think that's what I always wanted to be.

It's not meant to be an egotistical thing, but if I go back to that, it's hard to be what you cannot see.

What's changed in me since this book came out is now I need to be visible for my students, for my readers, for my community.

And the more that we can push that conversation, and the more that we're just a part of the conversation, then that opens the door up for everyone else to follow.