Going the Distance: Ashland's Rhodes Twins' Coming Out

When reality coincides with my fiction in a good way, it's slightly amazing, like when a young cross country athlete comes out to his father. Such is the case with Reid Conniff, the narrator of my Lambda Literary Award-winning novel (I still love typing that) Every Time I Think of You. 

In reality, the popular Rhodes twins came out to their father in a very modern way, and of course became an internet sensation.

While I was aware of the twins as they came out online (their now-famous video has been viewed more than 15 million times), I wasn't aware of the connection beyond the fact that the two young men, like my fictional character Reid, who were cross country athletes in high school.

Hot Dudes Reading...my books?

It's been around for a while, but once some under-inspired blog-intern on Huffpost regurgitates it, it's viral: it's Hot Dudes Reading! Leave it to New Yorkers to turn something as basic as reading a book on a train into a "trend."

Some say it's a bit creepy to snag random pics of people in public. Some say it's cool. How retro! How analog to not be hunched over one's phone/toy/device!