Singlets & Secrets

Singlets & Secrets
Pride and Persistence

Editions:ebook, Paperback

When Aiden Rothe falls in love with wrestling captain Mateo Hernandez, Aiden doesn’t expect that one day the two will fight in the school’s biggest match in history. But that’s exactly what happens when Aiden’s romantic dreams backfire.

Aiden’s life is full of secrets, and his sexuality is only the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, his high school wrestling team views gay and strong as mutually exclusive, but Aiden is determined to prove them wrong. It’s time for a gay athlete to take top prize, if only Aiden wasn’t in love with Mateo, the best wrestler in the school.

Outside of the wrestling room, Aiden finds a mentor in his English teacher, Mr. Samuels. Samuels has a martial arts background, and he teaches Aiden and Mateo private lessons to give them an edge over the other athletes. When Aiden’s honesty backfires with some homophobic teammates, Mr. Samuels steps in to protect him and creates a club for other outsiders. Once word gets around, there’s an exciting new challenge on campus: the state-winning wrestling team against the new martial arts club. And for the main event—Aiden versus Mateo. How can Aiden ever fight his first true love?

Published: August 29, 2023

Publisher: Mad Cat

Genres:

Mainstream

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

Stand-Alone Books

Sorted First to Last

Darkness Calls

Series: Unveiling Aiden

Sorted First to Last

Singlets & Secrets

Pride and Persistence

Forgotten Fayetteville and More Hidden Histories from Washington County

Washington County has nearly two centuries of stories to tell, and many of them have been forgotten.
In this follow-up to Forgotten Fayetteville, local historians J. B. Hogan and Susan Parks-Spencer uncover more of the people, places, and events that shaped Fayetteville and the surrounding county. Explore the violent early years of Evansville, revisit the shocking murder that led to the execution of the Burnett family, and discover what made April 1864 one of the deadliest months in Washington County history. You’ll meet John Rollin Ridge, the first Native American novelist, learn the story of Rebecca Brown Tollett’s life in slavery, and examine the tragic lynching of Reverend Anthony Bewley.
From vanished towns and frontier churches to forgotten cemeteries, pioneering families, and overlooked chapters of Native American, Black, and immigrant history, these stories reveal a richer and more complex past than many realize. Woven together, they form a portrait of the lives, triumphs, and tragedies that shaped this corner of the Ozarks and the communities that call it home.
Whether you’re a lifelong resident, a newcomer, or simply a student of Arkansas history, Forgotten Fayetteville and More Hidden Histories from Washington County invites you to look beyond familiar landmarks and rediscover the people and events that helped shape the Ozarks.

Owl Dreams

SARAH BIBLE HAS spent most of her life cleaning up after her mother, Marie. College in faraway New Mexico was supposed to be her escape.
When her boyfriend is sent to prison back in Oklahoma, Marie spirals and is committed to a psychiatric hospital. But before Sarah can bring her home, she is abducted by a mysterious Choctaw psychiatrist named Hashilli, a man rumored to be a shapeshifting witch who can steal your face as easily as your identity.
The police dismiss Sarah’s fears. Every lead disappears into a maze of false names, missing records, and dead ends. And the deeper Sarah digs into southeastern Oklahoma, the stranger the world becomes.
Her only allies in this quest are an imprisoned ex-con, a schizophrenic patient who may know more than anyone realizes, and Big Shorty, an enigmatic cemetery caretaker locals whisper about like he’s already dead himself.
To save her mother, Sarah must orchestrate an impossible breakout, unravel a web of kidnapping, murder, and identity theft, and hunt a predator who hides behind borrowed lives.
From the backroads of Choctaw country to the wild Kiamichi Mountains, Owl Dreams is a haunting supernatural thriller filled with danger, dark humor, folklore, and desperate people fighting for one last chance at redemption.

Almost the End of the World

The Apocalypse Called. It Wants a Do Over.
Seventeen-year-old Corey Walker was fully prepared to die. An asteroid the size of Texas—Perses—was supposed to wipe out everything. No college apps, no student loans, no awkward graduation speeches. Just… boom.
Then the last-minute save actually works. Earth survives. So does Corey.
Yay?
Turns out, staring down extinction leaves scars. The government’s toast, the economy’s in a coma, and nobody knows what to do next. Turns out, staring down extinction leaves scars. The government’s toast, the economy’s in a coma, and nobody knows what to do next. Corey returns to Augustus Boarding School at the insistence of his mother and finds a weird new student cult—The Refuge—targeting the most scared and vulnerable on campus, including those closest to him.
When Corey meets the fiery Paige, he finds himself with an ally against The Refuge. She’s the first person who makes him feel awake again. Together, they start pushing back. That’s when things get messy. Fast.
Now, Corey’s a reluctant leader, with enemies, followers, and a target on his back. Whether he likes it or not, he’s being forced to answer the question everyone’s been avoiding:
If the world didn’t end… what now?

Roan & Weatherford