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I wrote Kaleidoscope to shine a different spotlight on rape. Rape is not only a woman’s issue. Though statistically it is far more likely to happen to women, it is more common among men, especially gay men, than is generally believed.

Kaleidoscope is a story of the ongoing trauma of male rape and how it affects not only the victim but his friends and family.

The romance genre may seem odd given the subject matter, but I want to show that even though there is trauma, there can be hope, healing and love.

Carey Johnson’s life collapsed after a vicious gang rape six years ago. He struggles with panic attacks; intimacy with a man is impossible. He’s taken with Brandon’s kindness, and later his willingness to take things slowly.

Brandon Parker wants to change his empty, unfulfilling life. A dysfunctional family, who abandoned him, and his synesthesia, defined as one sensory stimulus triggering another, have left him with an inability to commit to a relationship. Brandon has the unique ability to see emotions as colors. He sees Carey’s fear (bright orange), his nervousness (light orange), his sadness (lavender), but doesn’t know why he’s seeing these emotions, these colors, nor does his ability tell him what happened.

The two lonely men become friends. Both want more, but Carey’s fear, and Brandon’s past make this difficult. They must resolve their personal demons to develop the trust necessary for the committed relationship they both crave.

Trigger warnings: death of parents, the death of a sibling, and suicide (all in the past), panic attacks and nightmares about rape, and a chapter where Carey shares the night he was raped with Brandon.

My short story, Last Conversation, was published in Creative Wisconsin, (October 2025), the magazine of the Wisconsin Writers Association.

Top photo by Mạnh Ngô on Unsplash