The Oaktown Series
Attic.doc and Days of Daisies celebrate their characters’ sexy queer lives over the course of one year in their beloved Oakland, California—with jaunts into Berkeley, San Francisco, and Portland—while also diving deep into themes of death, identity, and belonging.
Attic.doc
by Teja Rhae Watson
On sale Monday, December 22
In January 2010, after an unmentionable incident, Nara flees Kamakura, Japan, for a communal Victorian on the Oakland/Berkeley border. In a Word doc, she tracks the half-truths she’s telling her new roommates, Lily and Asha, along with her field notes on their queerdo hippunk vibes.
In February, Nara accidentally tosses Lily’s sourdough starter. In March, Nara crushes on Asha. In April, she escapes all the drama, isolating in the attic. In May, when the house hosts a naked party, Nara falls hard for the new butch next door.
But come June, Nara’s past catches up with her. Then, in July, tragedy strikes. Can Nara reassemble her house of cards before year’s end?
A thriller–turned–love story that delves deeply into death, Attic.doc details the divide between self-delusion and authenticity, the dangerous decisions we make to survive our trauma, the fine line between codependence and selflessness, and the liberating power of letting go.
“A fun, weird, queer read … with butoh dancing!”
Days of Daisies
by Teja Rhae Watson
On sale Monday, December 22
Oakland, California. 2013.
Anna is single mama to Phoenix, a teacher at the public school where he’s starting kindergarten. In a Berkeley creative writing course, Anna meets Sam, a local tattoo artist and skateboarder who blogs about being gender-queer.
Anna and Sam quickly fall in love, and the three become a family. But soon, Anna is given a death sentence: just six months to live. Wanting to enjoy the last of their time together, Anna decides to keep her brain tumor a secret from Sam and Phoenix.
The family travels to Portland for the summer, so Anna can access death with dignity—Oregon’s physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill, a humane way out if the pain gets too bad. When Sam agrees to adopt Phoenix, Anna is relieved, though she hides her reasons why. All she wants is to slow down and savor every minute.
As a way to live on with Sam and Phoenix—as her time with them leaks away as if from a broken hourglass—Anna starts writing a folk tale of their story. She would have liked for it to be longer, but in the end, they were only together for mere days….
“A nuanced exploration of a modern queer family, from all three perspectives.”