As those of you who follow me on Twitter might have seen this weekend, I released the first video promo for SENDING LOVE LETTERS TO ANIMALS AND OTHER TOTALLY NORMAL HUMAN BEHAVIORS (December 3rd!). It’s a super sweet video that The Lion Fish Press created featuring the song Leave Me Alone that Punk Ass Unicorns graciously allowed us to use.
Shout out to A.J. Urbanek, my sibling from another parental unit who is the bassist for Punk Ass Unicorns! A.J. is also now my imprint sibling, having just signed a publishing contract with The Lion Fish Press!
I’m so proud to have this video as part of my promo package for SLLTAaOTNHB (it’s a long title, let me have this)! I think it perfectly captures the angsty/fuck-off attitude that goes along with one of the characters of the book. There’s also an emo/angsty attitude to another character, but that will come in a later video promo…
Regardless, I thought I’d do something a little out of character today and give a more in depth synopsis of the book.
In SENDING LOVE LETTERS TO ANIMALS… (another shortcut), Ryan Offsteader is a gay teen whose family accepts and loves him–even if his older sister treats him like an older sister is wont to do. His school is LGBTQIA friendly. His friends love him for who he is, even if they’re all imperfect. He does pretty well in his classes, belongs to the Journalism Club, loves Broadway musicals, and is leading a fairly average American high schooler’s existence.
Ryan spends his free time with his Dad–when forced–and hanging out with his best friend, Jules. Most nights, Ryan and Jules watch horror movies–or movies his other best friend, Davud, recommends. Some nights, if their friends apply enough pressure, they hang out at the Low Key Cafe, an all-ages club that plays songs that have been popular on TikTok, serves drinks like Boba Tea, La Croix, and Ramune, and has decor that is “Instagrammable.” Everyone hates the club because it’s so trendy, but they all low key love it. Hence its name.
All in all, it’s a pretty mundane, yet typical, experience.
One day, Ryan’s journalism mentor, Ms. Tabatabai switches up all of the assignments for the 6 members of the Journalism Club. Then, she assigns buddy projects in her English class. That would be fine for Jules and Ryan, since they normally partner up for those types of assignments. However, due to an odd number of students, and the fact that Ms. Tabatabai decides she will pair up students herself, Ryan finds out that Jules will not be his partner. When the new student arrives in a few days, he will be paired up with them.
Again, Ryan decides that this is fine. It’s just another day in his boring high school experience. However, when the new student shows up, he realizes that this new student is not a stranger. His high school experience suddenly goes from boring, to terrifying. This new student knows a secret about Ryan and absolutely hates his guts.
As if things weren’t falling apart fast enough for Ryan, Ms. Tabatabai signs him up to help the Drama teacher, Mr. Melvin, with the spring singing recital – A Night on Broadway. Even if Ryan wanted to focus on figuring out how to deal with this new hiccup in his life, he might be too busy.
Before he knows it, all of his friends are begging for more of his time, he’s struggling with his new Journalism Club assignment, and his new partner is doing everything he can to make the project impossible to complete.
Unless Ryan can confront his history and right a wrong, his whole world could fall apart. Will he choose to confront his past, or will history repeat itself?
SENDING LOVE LETTERS TO ANIMALS AND OTHER TOTALLY NORMAL HUMAN BEHAVIORS is a story about confronting our past and present, and deciding who we want to be in the future. Because we may not be able to control a lot of things, but we get to decide who we are.
More information to come on pre-order dates, formats, and the like–but the official release date is December 3rd, 2021! I can’t wait to share this story with all of you!
Tremendous Love & Thanks,
Chase
Chase Connor Books 