Dead Boys of Verona

Elliott is the new boy in school-again. He lives in a creepy house. His classmates ignore him. His bedroom is haunted. And, he just might be losing his mind. Elliott isn't pleased about being exiled from Chicago to the sleepy town of Verona, Indiana, but he's determined to make the best of it. He meets Marshall, who is undoubtedly the most bizarre boy in school, but who is the only one, other than his grandmother, that Elliott can trust not to be freaked out by the ghost in his bedroom and the strange dreams that might not be dreams at all. Marshall introduces Elliott to a mismatched lot of companions-a jock, a skater, a bookworm, and a boy who dresses as if it's still the 1930s. Elliott is delighted to have friends at last, but there's something rather odd about Derrick, Cory, Jared, and Keaton. Nothing is quite as it seems in Verona, Indiana-in the present or the past.

Mark A. Roeder is the author of the Gay Youth Chronicles. He has published over three-dozen novels as well as scores of columns and articles. He currently resides in Bloomington, Indiana.