Many Are Invited by Dennis Cuesta
Available October 6, 2022
Hardover; E-book; Audiobook
A housewarming party ends in tragedy. . . Steve Galanos, a native Midwesterner, reflects on his time in Northern California during the 1990s, a time when the two-digit year emerged as the Y2K problem, the burgeoning Internet fueled the expansion of the New Economy, the dot-com bubble created unseen prosperity and real estate frenzies. Yet it’s a housewarming party, held in late 1999, that affects him the most.
At the request of John Goertz, a group of technology managers and executives gather in a conference room. Listening to the presentation is Steve Galanos, who is suspicious of Goertz’s approach and the dramatic way he describes the problem. Goertz tries to convince his audience that a disaster awaits them unless they immediately address the two-digit year in the company’s distributed systems and compiled code. It’s 1994, well before anyone has heard of the term, Y2K.
A promotion to run the newly-created year 2000 compliance program earns John more skepticism and envy from Steve, yet the two have much in common and soon become good friends. A few years later, John leaves for a startup and their lives trend in different directions.
By the time John cashes out from a successful IPO, gets married, and buys a house in Los Gatos, his friendship with Steve has waned. It’s at John’s housewarming party where latent animosity and lingering distrust finally come to a head.
Under the Red, White, and Blue by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Published February 2021
Under the Red, White, and Blue was F. Scott Fitzgerald's final title for the novel we all know as, The Great Gatsby. This particular edition aims to achieve Fitzgerald's last known wishes for the novel, if such a thing exists.
This book contains the entire novel. The emendations in this edition are mostly inconsequential to the overall scope of the novel. The updates include minor corrections (e.g., "irises" instead of "retinas" in descrbing the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg) and style choices closer to Fitzgerald's holograph draft (e.g., "living room" instead of "living-room").
The Introduction discusses Fitzgerald's struggle with the title as well as the influence of the original cover art and its artist, Francis Cugat.
Stuck in Manistique by Dennis Cuesta
Near the midpoint of the Upper Peninsula, along a Lake Michigan bend of shore, is the town of Manistique, Michigan. Mark had never heard of Manistique before the death of his estranged aunt, but as sole beneficiary of Vivian’s estate, he travels there to settle her life’s account. As Mark tours his aunt’s house for the first time, the doorbell rings…
Days after graduating medical school, Dr. Emily Davis drives north, struggling with her illicit rendezvous on Mackinac Island. She never makes it—on the highway near Manistique, her car collides with a deer, shattering the car’s windshield. Stranded for the night, Emily is directed to a nearby bed and breakfast.
Maybe it’s a heady reaction, the revelation that his aunt, an international aid doctor, ran a bed and breakfast in retirement. Or perhaps he plainly feels pity for the young, helpless doctor. Regardless, Mark decides to play innkeeper for one night, telling Emily that he’s merely stepping in temporarily while his aunt is away.
As a one-night stay turns into another and more guests arrive, the ersatz innkeeper steadily loses control of his story. And though Emily opens up to Mark, she has trouble explaining the middle-aged man who unexpectedly arrives at the doorstep looking for her.
Will these two strangers, holding on to unraveling secrets, remain in town long enough to discover the connection between them?
Published October 2018