Novels

Joel was once obsessed with the book High Fidelity and all the romantic/pop culture allusions it offered in his youth. As a young adult, his carefree life in Chicago comes to a halt when his father dies, and he is forced to become an adult, far sooner than he would have preferred. 

After stumbling upon a pop song from childhood, he decides to create his own personal soundtrack in an attempt to resolve his detachment from life, which lead him to questions he never considered before: Did he become what his dad had hoped? How do you decide who to spend your life with? Is it a crime to occasionally listen to Phil Collins? 

Through debates with his friends about music, memories of his father, and an attempt to finding his path with no flashlight---The Soundtrack reminds us of the relationship between our head and heart, how music can shape our life narrative and the emotional power of nostalgia.

Based on my series of online blogs published in 2017, The 39th Year is a collection of thoughts, ancedotes, and revelations about turning the corner on mid-life—- dissecting the significance of how I spent ‘the first half.’ The 39th Year is a collection of mid-life tales for a lost Generation—-sandwiched between the Baby Boomers and Millennials.

Starting over from square one as a young adult, After Party is a snapshot of a year in the life of a 24-year-old narrator who lives around the fast-paced nightlife in Chicago—as he goes against the grain and decides to stop drinking. With the long nights and emotional hangovers that come after, cynical humor becomes his only defense, laughing at the world while cursing it out, knowing that the world might have the last laugh. 

Over the course of a year, he embarks on a series of dry experiences: reliving adolescence with the exact same people, ruminating on love/loss over cheeseburgers, and calculating that precise moment in time when one starts to consider the concept of growing up. By giving up alcohol, he starts to recognize the endless possibilities in his life and more importantly, hope.