QUEERLY BELOVED BOOK CLUB with author Portia Elan

Hosted by R.LMerrill.

About the book: It’s 1983 and Becks can’t wait to get the hell out of Cincinnati. She’s nineteen, blasting her

Walkman, and hiding from the fact that her beloved uncle, the only person who understood her,

is dead. But she has work to do: he left her a half-finished game to complete—one last collaboration to find her way out of loneliness.

Little does she know, what Becks is making will echo far into the future and shape the lives of a scientist, a sentient automaton, and a flinty sea captain in ways she cannot imagine. All are bound together by their search for connection—and by a futuristic traveler on a mysterious mission through space.

Portia Elan studied history at Stanford University and earned an MFA from the University of Victoria before returning to California, where she has worked as a waitress, bookseller, teacher, and public librarian. She is a former Lambda Literary Fellow and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her wife and an abundance of cats.

R.L. Merrill: Award-winning author and Bay Area native R.L. “Ro” Merrill (she/her) is an advocate for social justice, a sucker for rescue pets, and a spinner of compelling stories. A veteran public school educator, parent of two brilliant young adults, and wife of a patient collector and fellow bookworm, she was raised on a steady diet of eclectic music and campy horror. She writes quirky and relatable queer and heterosexual characters that know how to use their words and are willing to work hard for their happily ever afters. Readers who dig swoony contemporary romance or shivery supernatural suspense will find themselves right at home in her extensive catalog. Her books contain killer soundtracks, generous amounts of spice, and enough laughs to get readers out of their heads and into their feels. When she’s not writing, you can find her cruising in her Bronco, adding to her vinyl and skull collections, or head-banging at a rock show.