Detours

Joel Patterson should be happier than ever. He's just returned from a two-week vacation in London, where he met Philip, who might be the man of his dreams. Instead, Joel's heading to Maine for his mother's funeral. He quits his job to fulfill one last request for his mother: unload his parents' albatross of an RV by delivering it to an old family friend?in California.

Somehow, Joel's high school "friend" Lincoln has invited himself along on the ride?and into Joel's bed. The other person who's invited herself along? The ghost of his mother, who still has plenty to say about her son's judgment (or lack thereof). Joel has to get the RV to San Francisco, get rid of Lincoln, and get back to Philip. It would also make him feel better if he learned what's keeping his mother tied to this earthly plane. However Joel manages it, the route is likely to be anything but straight.

Jeffrey Ricker is a writer, editor, and graphic designer. A magna cum laude graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, his writing has appeared in the literary magazine Collective Fallout, the anthologies Paws and Reflect, Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction, and Blood Sacraments. Detours is his first novel. He lives with his partner, Michael, and two dogs in St. Louis, where he is currently publications editor at the Missouri Botanical Garden and is working on his second novel. Follow his blog at jeffreyricker.wordpress.com.