Pride and Persistence

Singlets & Secrets
Pride and Persistence

What are we fighting for if not each other?

After a roller coaster of ups and downs last year, Aiden Rothe starts sophomore year on a high. After all, he's dating the boy of his dreams. What else matters? But Aiden's hopes for a drama-free school year are thrown aside when a new student captures everyone's attention: Michelle, an incredibly athletic, transgender black belt.

Fearing a repeat of last year's bullying, Aiden's karate club reaches out to Michelle, hoping to recruit her. To their surprise, she already has a team. Michelle is training with local police Captain Decker at his MMA studio, the epicenter of LGBTQ+ hatred in and around Washington High. Soon after, Decker and his notorious partner, Washington High Wrestling Coach Krake, announce a new tournament with a $25k college scholarship as the grand prize. For some, like Mateo, it's a crucial opportunity-he lost his scholarship chances when he came out and quit the wrestling team the year before.

Can the true meaning of martial arts heal the divisions in this town, or will fighting only make things worse? A rousing story of love versus hate, where hidden truths and life-altering decisions lay behind every corner, Pride and Persistence celebrates the indomitable spirit within us all-the fighter that refuses to stay down, no matter how many times one falls.

Published: August 27, 2024
Publisher: Mad Cat
Genres:

Romance, YA

Tags:

LGBTQ fiction, sports

About the Author

Joe Chianakas

Joe Chianakas has been an educator for 21 years, the first half as a high school English teacher, the last half as a professor of communication at Illinois Central College. He's published several novels, including his horror series Rabbit in Red, and is working on a new adult horror series, Darkness Calls, with Oghma Creative Media. Under his pen name, NC Nest, he's published a series of LGBTQ YA contemporary books, including Looking for Derek. His next YA LGBTQ series is titled Singlets and Secrets, which will be published by Young Dragons Press.

When he's not teaching or writing, he enjoys spending time with his mini Australian Shepherd, Bailey. Joe loves the outdoors, fitness, reading (of course!), martial arts, travel, and binge-watching TV. He lives in Peoria, IL, with his husband, Brian.

Other Books By Joe Chianakas

Series: Unveiling Aiden

Singlets & Secrets

Pride and Persistence

Twice Upon a Crime

When Hollywood burns you, it’s time for a rewrite.
Fiona Moore is done playing nice with Hollywood. A former screenwriting star now sidelined by ageism and a biting sarcasm problem, she finds herself jobless, friendless, and left with only her dog and an impressive stash of disdain for the industry that’s ditched her. Enter Jack Reynolds, a bright-eyed, thirty-year-old film student with a boundless love for classic cinema—and a very distracting smile that makes Fiona question if a twenty-year age gap is really such a big deal. Despite her attempts to keep him at arm’s length, Jack is determined to help Fiona reclaim her place in the spotlight, and together they embark on a passionate, if snark-filled, quest to write the next great blockbuster.

But when their hard work is stolen by a sleazy Hollywood producer, Fiona and Jack decide to go off-script. Armed with a screenplay about the perfect crime, they set out to pull off the heist of a lifetime—one that’s clever, classy, and just this side of legal. As their partnership heats up on and off the page, they’ll discover that while Hollywood may be all about illusions, their feelings just might be the real deal.

Fast-paced, funny, and full of twists, Twice Upon a Crime is a madcap caper that will leave you cheering for this unlikely duo—because revenge is sweet, but falling in love is even sweeter.

The Long Goodnight

We’re not troublemakers. We’re trouble finders.
Step into a world where shadows hold secrets and cryptids rule the night. Ruby’s dream of exhilarating adventures takes a spine-chilling twist when she becomes an apprentice at The Goodnight Agency. But the supernatural underworld she thought she knew proves far more treacherous—and thrilling—than she ever imagined.
Goodnight is a hub for all things enigmatic and bizarre, a haven for creatures straight out of tabloid tales. Yet, as Ruby soon learns, mysteries are not merely stories. When an innocent old woman narrowly escapes murder, Ruby becomes a suspect .

Amidst the chaos, Ruby finds herself entangled with the Skohlars, a clandestine race of intelligent rats, entrusted with secrets potent enough to reshape reality itself. And as if that’s not enough, a group of kidnapped Sasquatches unravels a feud among The Scene’s own Guardians, leaving the agency in a perilous struggle.

The Long Goodnight is a pulse-pounding adventure where friendships are tested, mythical creatures come to life, and the line between reality and fantasy blurs.

Little Red Wraith

A tyrannical queen. A rising rebellion. A choice that will change everything.
All Anna wants is to grieve her sister in peace. But peace is the last thing she’ll get. After the tragic accident shatters her world, her life takes an even darker turn when her father is imprisoned in the castle and her mother is summoned by the ruthless queen. Terrified of losing what’s left of her family, Anna demands to go with them, despite the dangerous path ahead. As a shapeshifter who can’t transform, she’s already a target under the queen’s brutal laws—and the castle is the last place she wants to be.

Enter Redford, her sister’s former fiancé, with an offer she can’t ignore—join the Rising, a rebel force determined to tear down the queen’s rule. Redford promises refuge, but when a ghost from Anna’s past shows up with a twisted opportunity to serve the queen, the lines between right and wrong begin to blur.

Anna faces an impossible choice—join the Rising as their poison maker or stay at the castle and create a weapon so monstrous, it could change the kingdom forever.

Roan & Weatherford