Cage Free

From GLAAD Media, Stonewall Book, and Lambda Literary Award winner Bill Konigsberg comes Cage Free, a midlife coming-of-age story that bursts with the heat of a Florida summer.

Kurt is staring down his fiftieth birthday when he walks into his Manhattan apartment and discovers his longtime partner Wally in a highly compromising position ... with a husky gentleman dressed as Santa Claus. Just like that, Kurt’s tidy (perhaps too tidy) life implodes.

Devastated but determined, on his phone Kurt drafts a Post-Wally Recovery Plan: 1) Find out if I’m still desirable to men. 2) Get laid.

Armed with fond memories of youthful mischief, Kurt flees New York for Florida, hoping to soothe his wounded pride—and maybe score a little action—at a run-down, clothing-optional motel for men. Instead, his hookup with the check-in guy ends abruptly when the poor man drops dead well before a happy ending. Through a combination of confusion, embarrassment, and terrible timing, Kurt then becomes the acting manager of Palatial Palms.

Running a ramshackle gay nudist resort wasn’t exactly part of his Recovery Plan, but Kurt soon finds himself surrounded by a colorful new cast of quirky characters: a taciturn caretaker, a trippy neighbor, a crew of younger, woker friends, and a hunky daddy who just might be boyfriend material—if Kurt can get out of his own way.

Just as his new alternative life begins to feel like home, Kurt becomes the target of extortion by an overly tanned, permanently amped-up musclehead. As the situation escalates, his new ragtag circle rallies around him, and Kurt discovers that the path to happiness sometimes requires losing everything—including your clothes.