Tenths

by Shawn Stewart Ruff

Aitch Kramer is a Cannabis Cup-winning marijuana grower who donates his crop to an illegal dispensary in Upstate New York. While in route to a donation drop-off, he befriends a young gay kid and his mother living in the drug-infested projects. The two soon fill the space left by the tragic loss of Aitch's wife and child, helping to heal the heart and soul of the retired teacher and poet.

78 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 25, 2013

About the author

Lambda Literary Award winner Shawn Stewart Ruff is the author of the novels Days Running (2025), GJS II (2016), Toss and Whirl and Pass (2010), Finlater, and the novella One/10th (2013). He is also the editor of the landmark anthology Go the Way Your Blood Beats (1996).

FYI: Cliffy Douglas, the young star of Finlater, gets a long-anticipated encore in Days Running, Ruff's most recent novel, published by DOPAMINE BOOKS in partnership with Semiotext(e) and MIT Press.

Reviews

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruff has made important contributions to LGBT literature with both his coming-of-age novel, Finlater, and his work on
Go the Way Your Blood Beats: An Anthology of Lesbian and Gay Literary Fiction by African-American Writers. In this short piece, he finds yet more molds to break, trenchant observations to make, and new characters who manage to draw us into their lives, flaws and all. How these MCs viewed their present through a lens tinged by past experiences and how they defined their relationships to one another felt fresh, unsettled in a good way.

[Sarah Weathersby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book, not knowing what it was about, but it was free.
I still don't get the title, but it was an interesting read for a short story.