THE DISCO WITCHES OF FIRE ISLAND is a smart, sexy story of love, romance, magic, and the power of community, sure to captivate readers of Alexis Hall, Casey McQuiston, and Madeline Miller.
THE DISCO WITCHES OF FIRE ISLAND
by R. B. Fell
Alcove Press, May 2025
It’s 1989, the height of the HIV/AIDScrisis, and Joe Agabian has hopped on the ferry to spend his first summer in Fire Island Pines, a popular beach destination for young gay men. Joe is grieving the death of his boyfriend Elliot, who died two years earlier from AIDS. Though Joe is HIV negative, he remains lost – in nearly every sense – and hopes spending the summer away from NYC will help him find his way.
He quickly finds himself enmeshed with a group of long-time locals, including an older couple – Howie and Lenny – who may or may not have mystical powers, and a gorgeous ferryman – Fergal – who can’t keep his eyes off Joe. When Joe begins seeing a mysterious figure – whom he refers to as Gladiator Man – around the island, Howie and Lenny grow fearful, certain Gladiator Man’s presence, which somehow only Joe can sense, is a harbinger of terrible things to come.
Howie and Lenny are longtime protectors of the island and its inhabitants, and that protection has never been more needed. But now that one member of their coven has fallen ill with AIDS, they aren’t strong enough to use their powers to full effect, and Joe is the one caught in the metaphorical crossfire.
Blair Fell, writing as R.B. Fell, writes and lives in New York City, where he has been an ASL interpreter for the Deaf since 1993. His acclaimed debut novel The Sign for Home was published by Simon & Schuster in 2022. Fell’s television work includes Queer as Folk and the Emmy Award-winning California Connected. He’s written dozens of plays, including the award-winning plays Naked Will, The Tragic and Horrible Life of the Singing Nun, and the downtown cult miniseries Burning Habits. His personal essays have appeared in HuffPost, Out, Daily News, and more.
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