Overview

From the 2025 League of Utah Writers Diamond Quill Award-winning author of Tales of Weirderland comes THE FIXER, THE MAKER, THE DRAG ENTERTAINER: A Queer Romance. Set in the gritty, artistic pulse of New Brunswick, NJ, and the fading legacy of a family orchard, this unique story features a backdrop of art, music, comic banter, and loving representation. Contemporary, funny, and quietly ferocious, this upmarket queer romantic comedy blends found-family warmth with a gentle speculative twist, because not all love stories follow straight lines. Mark Williams is a fixer of broken things-stubborn printers, messy lives, and the New Jersey apple orchard his widowed mother refuses to lose. He also has a problem he can't troubleshoot: he's in love with two people. There is Elijah Cohen, his sharp-witted best friend and magnetic drag queen, and Viktoriya Soroka, a visionary Ukrainian designer and baker building a life far from home. Mark is used to sacrificing his own needs, which makes him the perfect target for the meddlesome, ancient, asexual, non-corporeal entity he impulsively releases from a bronze lamp: Eros. Eros can't grant wishes, but they can cause trouble-nudging conversations, arranging coincidences, and narrating Mark's emotional story with dramatic flair. Mark's selfless nature fascinates Eros. They don't just watch, they curate. To a being who has seen empires rise and fall, Mark's quiet pining is a masterpiece of human stubbornness-one Eros is determined to 'edit' into a grander finale. They decide to play Cyrano by subtly guiding Mark toward happiness, but at Elijah's show, Mark is so focused on his charged night with Viktoriya that he misses the real message in Elijah's performance: a glittering confession meant for him. When Elijah finally drops the persona and admits he's in love, Mark realizes the impossible is already true-he loves them both. Across six breathless weeks of miscommunication and broken promises, Mark's people-pleasing turns his relationships into a slow-motion pileup. When pressure from a predatory developer escalates to the breaking point Mark is pushed into an impossible position. To keep his home and his found family, Mark has to stop choosing what's ""easier"" and build a polyamorous future that doesn't fit a single box, one honest conversation at a time. Meanwhile, Eros is facing the consequences of their actions for the first time by staying with the mortals who have, impossibly, made them feel like they belong. This cozy rom-com features dual narration between a practical ""Fixer"" and an ageless, dramatic entity, blending Mark's tactile, wry realism with Eros's elevated, almost-mythic register. It finds unique textures in fully realized worlds: drag as art, fashion design as engineering, orchard work as heritage stewardship, and relationships as labors of love-a nuanced, ""ethical non-monogamy"" journey that eschews simple answers.

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Author Information

Kyle Steenblik is an award-winning, queer, neurodivergent writer whose work explores the complexities of identity and belonging. Based in Utah with formative roots in New Jersey, Kyle crafts character-forward fiction that blends humor, emotional intimacy, and the fantastical.His debut collection, Tales of Weirderland, was awarded the 2025 Diamond Quill Award for Book of the Year by the League of Utah Writers. Drawing on his Shakespearean background, Kyle's storytelling balances wit and absurdity with a ""quietly ferocious"" emotional truth. He is particularly drawn to stories about people navigating systems not built for them-finding ways to bend rather than break.Lived experience informs every page: from growing up with ADHD and autism to his journey as a husband and father of two. Whether he's in a library or a drag club, Kyle is an observer of beauty in unexpected places. He writes with a sense of generosity, hoping his work leaves readers feeling a little lighter, braver, and more fully seen.

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