Harmonic Dissonance

by Gordon Blitz

Harmonic Dissonance is about two married couples -- (straight) Elle and Patrick and (gay) Corey and Noah. Patrick and Noah have dementia and are at the same Memory Care facility. During their stay, Patrick and Noah form a sexual relationship even though Patrick is straight. Both no longer recognize their spouses. The novel explores the impact on Elle and Corey as they confront the impact of Alzheimer’s on their marriages; the way their roles have changed. Elle and Corey are forced to form a bond with each other—as a coping mechanism. Elle ponders whether her husband has been a closeted gay man during their marriage. Corey and Noah’s adopted son is missing in Afghanistan, making Corey deal with another potential loss in his life without the support of his husband, Noah. Music is used as a backdrop because the auditory system of the brain is fully functional at 16 weeks. We appreciate and understand music before anything else. With dementia, music is the last brain function to die. In other words, first in and last out.

Inspired in part by the late Supreme Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and her husband. As his memory faded, he no longer recognized his wife of more than 50 years and struck up a romance with a fellow Alzheimer’s patient, poignant events the O’Connor family shared publicly. Author Gordon Blitz credits his late friend, novelist Steve Neil Johnson, for sharing their story with him.

Harmonic Dissonance is part of The Shortish Project, celebrating short novels at theshortishproject.com.

185 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 27, 2023

About the author

After forty years as an accountant, Gordon Blitz retired in 2017 and became a passionate writing machine. As a senior LGBTQ+ man, he has a unique perspective on the many facets of being LGBTQ+ for the last fifty years. He is a multi-media creative artist, novelist, playwright and performer.
In 2023, his play, Reflections of A Gay Jewish Boy, had a reading at the Region 8 Kennedy Center American Theater College Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada and became a finalist for the National Festival in Washington, D.C. A Homeless Thanksgiving had a reading in 2025 as part of the Talking It Out Festival at the Spit & Vigor Blackbox Theatre in New York City. His short play, The Aftermath, was published in the June, 2025 issue of Mini Plays Review. Additionally, his play, Climate Change, was selected for the Climate Action New Play Collective at DePaul University. His monologue, Transplant, has been accepted into 321 Plays for Trans Futures, and his monologue, The Important Things We Keep Hidden, was published in the Summer, 2025 issue of The Soliloquist. His play, Reflections of A Teenage Jewish Lesbian, had a reading in September, 2025 as part of the Tiger’s Heart Festival. His monologue, Caged, won the Go Write a Play competition given by the Kumu Kahua Theatre in Honolulu, Hawaii in conjunction with Bamboo Ridge Books. The Spokane Falls Community College Spartan Theater included his play, Scared Ethel, in their Fall, 2025 New Works Reader’s Theatre Festival.
In 2021, his novella, Shipped Off, was published by Running Wild Press in Novella Anthology, Volume 4, Book 1. Since 2021, he has published six novels: Stretched Love; Murder Times Three: A Waverly Place Mystery; Transformation and Acceptance; The Hermaphrodites; Harmonic Dissonance It’s No Laughing Matter and Converso Jews: A Hidden Family Story

In 2025, a documentary about his life called Walk in the Park: A Life Rewritten was produced. The movie is available for viewing on a link in his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MrGblitz

Reviews

[B. Valdez · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that I didn't know I needed. I've read another book by this author (called Transformation and Acceptance) that I did enjoy, so I thought I'd give this one a shot. The characters in this book are dealing with cognitive decline. We are given the perspective from both sides (the characters who are relatives of the impaired and the patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's). It resonated with me as I have had family members who experienced severe cognitive decline and no longer recognized us as well as I currently have a very close relative facing the beginnings of this kind of impairment. It is nice to see the struggle represented in literature. Bonus points for featuring gay main characters as well.

What makes this book fall short for me is the way the plot is wrapped up. The ending feels very abrupt and there are a lot of unanswered questions that are still lingering. Some of the main characters aren't very likeable either, specifically Elle (wife of one of the patients). While she and Corey are engaged in the same struggle (having a partner diagnosed with Alzheimer's), I feel that Elle portrays herself in a much more "woe is me" fashion than Corey. I know it is a hardship that they are dealing with, but I would have liked to see Elle grow as a character more fully with a completely realized character arc. I think the beginnings of it are there in the last three pages, making the ending feel even more rushed.

For all of these reasons, I would give this book a 3.5 star if possible.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually listened to the Audible recording and received access to that as a gift for being a Patreon follower of the narrator Andrew Schulz. Both the story and the narration were excellent.

More a novella than a novel, the work is a touching tale of two marriages, one gay and one straight, rent by Alzheimer's. The two men struck with the illness meet and bond in a care facility. Meanwhile their respective partners are confused by and angry at the apparent "infidelity" of their spouses.

The story is told from the POV of each of the 4 characters, but that of one of the caregivers. While it is easy to keep track of whose thoughts we're experiencing, it is difficult to reconcile all the strands. And, that may be the author's point. For, in the end, I came away understanding and sympathizing with each of them, even though their wants and journeys are not ultimately compatible.

[Charlie Becker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gordon Blitz gives us his new novel, Harmonic Dissonance, by weaving together several love stories and then blending them into one fine koan.