One Pulse Anthology, a Response to Orlando by Dev Bentham

One Pulse Anthology, a response to Orlando.

Love triumphs over every obstacle. That’s the message of the One Pulse Anthology and I believe it’s true. Magic happens when we approach each other with our hearts open.

In my story, Perfection, I wanted to explore the difference between internal and external obstacles. External obstacles are tough and it takes grit and stick-to-itiveness to get through them. I’m thinking of things like job discrimination, economic hardship and physical barriers that make it impossible to live out our dreams. We still have a long way to go, but over the years, we’ve made great progress in pushing through many of these. In some ways, they’re more satisfying to tackle because something can be done. Laws can be drafted. We can take the bad guys to court and force them to do right. We can build a bridge and sail on over.

Internal obstacles are something else entirely. Changing them requires a revolution of spirit and a cleansing of the soul. We can make marriage legal for everyone but we can’t make everyone happy about it. We can fight against someone else’s hateful acts, but it’s harder to deal with our own internalized hatred. And yet, it’s against these internalized obstacles that love is not only the most effective, but the only effective weapon. When it comes to the obstacles we’ve erected in our souls, love really does conquer all.

What in the world does all this have to do with a romantic short story? Well, you know how it goes with romance writers. When I think about anything with two aspects, I start to wonder what it would be like if characters who embodied them fell in love.

And so was born the story of Kevin and Ty, two men who couldn’t be more different. Kevin is a white bi guy in his late twenties who has lived in the same rural town for most of his life. He works with his father, tries to be a good dad to his daughter and is friends with his ex-wife. He thinks of himself as an open minded guy for whom person is more important than gender when it comes to love. He’s content, or would be if he could only fall in love. Nothing in his life has prepared him for the way that Ty challenges everything he believes about himself.

Ty is a brave guy who’s all about facing down challenges. An ex-soldier, he’s an African American gay man who’s moved to a small town where those things don’t make him particularly welcome. But he thinks he deserves to live wherever he wants and he wants to live where he can wake every morning to the sound of the wind in the trees and loons calling from the lake. It’s hard to keep track of all the external obstacles Ty’s been able to blaze through. The question is whether he can, or will even want to, push through Kevin’s internal blockade.

That’s Perfection. I hope people find the characters and the issues as compelling as I did. I’m excited to be part of Dreamspinner Press’s One Pulse Anthology. It’s an exciting project, with proceeds to benefit LGBT organizations in Central Florida.

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Meet the author:

I write contemporary gay romance. My characters are flawed and damaged adult men who may not even know they’re looking for true love, but when they meet their bershert, their true love, their lives are transformed. My stories are set in the real world where gay men have gay friends, families who do or don’t accept them, personal histories they’re not necessarily proud of and a myriad of experiences that have made them who they are.

I live in Northern Wisconsin with my Boston Terrier and Chicago spouse. I’ve published short stories, poetry, newspaper articles and academic papers and have worked in nearly every profession from restaurants to retail to open-water diving and now write m/m romance out of my fascination with love, courage and gender.

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