What's the story about?
The novel is a love story that focuses on the relationship between two young men: Micah (age 21) and Brendan (age 17), both with LDS backgrounds.  Micah believes the Church is wrong when it says no one should "act on" their homosexual attractions; Brendan is still figuring stuff out.  Through their relationship, Micah realizes he wasn't simply "born gay" and Brendan wonders if Micah is worth giving up everything he knows.  The characters disagree on whether a middle ground exists -- whether one can truly be "gay and Mormon."

What's with the title?
Ockham's Razor is the theory that the simplest answer is usually the correct one.  The idea comes up a few times in conversations Micah has with his mother about homosexuality, except nothing is actually as simple as Micah would like to think it is.

Why a cover with two young men in an embrace?  Who is the intended audience?
I think a semi-intimate picture of two people of the same gender shouldn't automatically be "anti-Church," so the cover is a political statement of sorts.  The image also somewhat defines my audience, as parts of the story might be offensive to some readers.  The audience for this story (as far as I know) is liberal Mormons and ex-Mormons, people into queer young adult stories, people into sexuality/religion and the M/M romance crowd.

How might the story be offensive?
There are explicit sexual scenes between the characters.  This intimacy isn't there just for the sake of sex; it's there for the story.  Also, some of the language at the detox center is potentially offensive.

A detox center?
As one reviewer painted the scenes: Micah works at a detox center with two women who represent two different philosophies about dealing with addiction:  comfortable harm-reduction versus the cruel-to-be-kind hardline approach.  My intention was for these two philosophies to overlay onto the two ways Mormonism takes up homosexuality:  mercy versus wrath.  The novel can be read as addressing who is guiltier of not letting himself make choices:  choosing to be "gay" versus choosing to be "Mormon," but it can also be read in terms of whether the homosexuality/addiction metaphor even makes sense.

Other important themes
In America, the right to "gay marriage" is sometimes related to "civil rights for racial minorities," and in the context of the Church (black priesthood not until 1978), questions of racism and heterosexism can become intertwining topics.  Micah believes the 1978 revelation illustrates the bias of Church leadership, whereas Brendan doesn't consider the revelation to be all that relevant to his choices regarding sexuality.  Race also comes up at Micah's workplace.

There are other important themes, such as society's conflicting meanings of family, love versus duty, and all the angst of youth.

Is this story based on real life?
The novel is based on some true events and people, but which, I shan't say...

Last thoughts?
Worldviews are on the pages for entertainment, provocation and critique, not because I necessarily agree with any of them.  As one reviewer has mentioned:  I'm good at "just portraying the ambiguity and letting it be" rather than having a set agenda.

If you have any questions about the book, feel free to contact me.