Somewhere in Nowhere

by Steven Gellman

Coming out is hard, especially when you have two gay moms. At least it is for Simon Bugg. He doesn’t want the world to think that having gay parents has turned him gay. And he certainly doesn’t want anyone to know about the alien in his stomach that’s trying to kill him.

It’s Simon’s senior year and his world just turned upside down. When his mom scores a dream job, Simon lands at a new school away from the only friends he has ever known. Now, his mom is overworked and chronically stressed, and his deadbeat dad is back on the scene. Navigating a new school and new friends is a challenge for a neurotic overthinker, and Simon finds himself turning to his rescue cat and a local barista for support. But when Simon meets the handsome PJ in drama class, he gets talked into a date that he derails in spectacular fashion.

With a little help from his friends—new and old—Simon finds his way back to PJ. But how can he have a real relationship with the boy of his dreams when he’s convinced he’s going to die? No one knows about the nightly alien attacks at 11:22. Why then, and why do they keep getting worse? Simon must face a dark secret inside before he loses his chance with the boy he loves.

Genres: Young Adult, LGBT

293 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication April 14, 2026

About the author

Steven Gellman is an award-winning songwriter turned author. Inspired by his early reading of Judy Blume’s groundbreaking stories, Steven has found his passion for writing coming-of-age fiction that centers LGBTQ+voices and the real-life challenges of navigating adolescence in an ever-changing world.

Steven has long championed authentic queer storytelling — first through song, now through fiction. Billboard Magazine once praised him as one of the ‘out-queer tunesmiths [...] making waves along the coffeehouse circuit.’ His debut album Photobook was nominated for Debut Album of the Year by the Gay/Lesbian American Music Awards (GLAMA). His latest release, All You Need, was a finalist for four Wammie Awards and earned a silver from the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest for “Twenty-Nine.”

When he’s not writing, Steven can be found sipping a cup of Dark Rose tea and plotting new adventures for his book club, Tea & Peril. Now in its tenth year, the club has hosted a growing number of New York Times bestselling authors including Travis Baldree, Sarah Beth Durst, Emily X.R. Pan, Eleanor Brown, and William Kent Krueger.

His debut novel Somewhere in Nowhere will be published by NineStar Press (April 14, 2026). Steven lives in Maryland’s Piedmont region with his husband and a houseful of rescued companion animals.

Reviews

[Livvy 𝜗𝜚 {semi ia} · Rating 2 out of 5]

𝕊𝕡𝕠𝕚𝕝𝕖𝕣 𝔽𝕣𝕖𝕖

𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝟑𝟎%

୨ৎ 𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 <3

˙ ✩°˖👽 ⋆｡˚꩜

.𖥔"𝐇𝐞𝐲 𝐒𝐢𝐫𝐢 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐢 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐫" ݁ ˖

⋆⭒˚.⋆🔭

"𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒶 𝓅𝒽𝑜𝓉𝑜 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒾𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝒷𝑒𝒹, 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝐼 𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓀 𝒶𝓉 𝒾𝓉, 𝐼 𝓈𝓂𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓈𝒸𝑒𝓃𝓉"

⋆˙⟡ 14+

✴︎ Romance 4/10 {Crushes, innuendo, this kid talks about feeling… things… I’ll go into more detail later}
✴︎ Cussing 3/10 {F*ck, sh*t, a*s, d*mn, h*ll}
✴︎ Violence 2/10 {He has a alien in his stomach}
✴︎ Tw’s {Absent parent}

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

"𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒷𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒹𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝓃𝑒𝒸𝓀, 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓌𝑒𝒾𝑔𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒹𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓈𝓉"

🛸 ୭˚. ᵎᵎ 𝓞𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀

⋆˚࿔🌕⋆˚࿔Oh boy guys 😮‍💨 I had such a hard time with this one. I was REALLY wanting to like this one but I was ALARMED by the things that this kid thought and felt. I get that people might actually feel this but the way it was described made me want to chuck myself off the face of the earth. I had my sister come in to tell me I wasn’t crazy for feeling disturbed and I was not crazy it was SO cringy 😭🔫 he was always talking about how “things were moving in his pants” and I’m just sitting here reading it trying SO HARD to see it for what it is and get around it but then it happened AGAIN. I get that this kid was trying to figure out his sexuality and I don’t know how that feels cos I’m not a guy but IF A MAN FEELS THIS AROUND ME ISTG I WILL KMS. Like we get it the kid is hot but the amount of times he felt horny after seeing him made me feel so icky *gags*



I did like kinda how he had 2 moms! I thought that was a cool way to represent and I really liked how he met the guy in the coffee shop but other than that I was utterly confused and I was trying to not die from the fact that he was CONVINCED he was going to die at 11:22 pm. That was so freaking insane to me because he was practically spazzing out over the fact that it was 11:22 and I get it bro you have an alien inside of you but… calm down. I don’t really see how that was really necessary to him coming out and stuff and I thought that was supposed to be a big part and the alien distracted us from that idea! But since I didn’t read the whole thing I can make up my own ending: “Boy falls in love with alien that tries to eat him alive” and I literally hear Casual by Chappel Roan playing in the background 💀 I really REALLY think that this book had SUCH GREAT POTENTIAL and some people will love this but it just wasn’t for me! I wasn’t totally sold by the alien idea and his horniness was scary to me haha….⋆｡°✩

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

"𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒶 𝓅𝒽𝑜𝓉𝑜 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒾𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝒷𝑒𝒹, 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝐼 𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓀 𝒶𝓉 𝒾𝓉, 𝐼 𝓈𝓂𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓈𝒸𝑒𝓃𝓉"

🛸 ୭˚. ᵎᵎ 𝓟𝓵𝓸𝓽

⋆˚࿔🌕⋆˚࿔This plot was so um interesting… I didn’t read it all so I am not a super great judge but I think I got this from it: “horny boy has an alien in his stomach and he is trying not to smash guy from school” so… I don’t know I feel SO BAD cos I genuinely think I was the issue here but I was just not feeling it. I had a hard time deciding what plot we were going to stick with. It is SOOO hard to have two main things that will contribute to the plot and for a debut author it is especially hard! There was the aspect of Simon finding his sexuality and also Simon growing an alien in his stomach. Atp wtf was Simon eating!? It was the tea 😫 I knew it. It was just very confusing for my mind to comprehend what I should focus on! If I had finished this book I might have a different view but I felt pulled to put it down because it wasn’t for me. Overall, it was just very confusing. ⋆｡°✩

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

"𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒷𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒹𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝓃𝑒𝒸𝓀, 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓌𝑒𝒾𝑔𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒹𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓈𝓉"

🛸 ୭˚. ᵎᵎ 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓼

🪐 ⋆⭒˚.⋆ 𝓢𝓲𝓶𝓸𝓷

⋆˚࿔🌕⋆˚࿔I didn’t really connect with him for obvious reasons and imo he was annoying asf sometimes 😫 He really scared me with all the talk of his horniness this is th main thing I can’t get over cos it was so disturbing 😭 like its ok if he says that he feels things but THE WAY HE DESCRIBED THEM 😭🔫⋆｡°✩



He was ok when he was with his friends but that was really the only time I liked him. When he was texting the coffee shop guy I was so pissed because of the way that he texted him!? It was very abrupt and not very emotionally in depth. I love books that have a lot of emotional maturity and Simon did not have that. He was just not my ideal character! I also have a hard time with books from a guy's pov. ⋆｡°✩

🪐 ⋆⭒˚.⋆ 𝓟𝓙

⋆˚࿔🌕⋆˚࿔Ok I think it was so cute how he introduced himself and I think he was a really cute and sweet guy! All up until Simon started talking about his leg hair in a sexual way… EWWWWW help guys I have ptsd. He was WAY better than Simon imo but he wasn’t there a whole lot of what I read. He was kinda insane for making a move on him the day he met him… I was like oh no lets not please 😭 He wasn’t there enough for me to fully judge him.⋆｡°✩

🪐 ⋆⭒˚.⋆ 𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓰𝓾𝔂 𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓢𝓽𝓪𝓻𝓫𝓾𝓬𝓴𝓼

⋆˚࿔🌕⋆˚࿔I stayed for him istg. He was a really chill and emotionally there character! He wasn’t there a whole lot but I loved his story about how he wasn’t accepted and now he wanted to help people feel accepted. It was so cute! He is why this is rated 2 stars! I love him.⋆｡°✩

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

"𝒲𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓁𝒶𝓎 𝒶𝓌𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝒶𝓉 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉, 𝒹𝑜 𝐼 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝒸𝓇𝑜𝓈𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓂𝒾𝓃𝒹?"

🛸 ୭˚. ᵎᵎ 𝓦𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰

⋆˚࿔🌕⋆˚࿔This writing was not for me. It was very Gen Z esque and even though I’m part of the Gen Z era I literally could not stand the way that Simon talked 😭🔫 it wasn’t ATROCIOUS tho. So we have that for us…⋆｡°✩

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

"𝒞𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒸𝓇𝑜𝓈𝓈 𝓂𝒾𝓃е, 𝒹𝑜 𝐼 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝒸𝓇𝑜𝓈𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓂𝒾𝓃𝒹?"

🛸 ୭˚. ᵎᵎ 𝓞𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓵𝓵

⋆˚࿔🌕⋆˚࿔This book was not for me but I ENCOURAGE others to try it out! Thank you so much to the author and congratulations on the publishing of your book!!!⋆｡°✩

˙ ✩°˖👽 ⋆｡˚꩜

2★

💫💜 Pre Read:

Omg so I was so excited for this one at first but now I'm actually terrified cos um... alien attacks? Wish me luck guys I'm trying to be positive 😭

[JD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhere in nowhere is an emotional YA of a teen and his struggles to "come out"

Having moved towns for his mum new job Simon struggles with moving schools for his final year and having to form new friends. We go on a journey with Simon, with the "Alien" in his tummy, making new friends, meeting PJ and realising he is gay. We see the moment he finally opens up to hes friends and comes out to his mum and step mum. We go through the heart ache of losing his mum. Life starts moving forward for Simon and then with PJ's help he gets help for the "alien" and finds out what is really going on.

I loved how moving this story was, how supportive everyone in Simons life is.
I loved how Hector instantly took on a big brother role for Simon giving him the relationship help and advice he needed.

While at first the "Alien" felt odd to me by the end it all made sense. Although I feel like that part of the story felt rushed for me. I can understand why the "event" wasn't dug to deep into, I would have loved to have seen justice and an understanding to the Aunts silence when told about the "event".

All in all it was still a very enjoyable story and would read more by Steven Gellman in the future.

Thank you to Steven Gellman and netgalley for a copy of this arc to review.

[CJ Enfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️s
‘To my surprise, he spoons in behind me, wrapping his arm across my chest, but the tears won’t stop. I shake, and he holds me tighter. I feel loved.’

A beautiful and heartfelt story about finding yourself and choosing to surround yourself with the people who will help you get there, and will choose you too. It was wonderful to follow Simon as he did this for himself, slowly building a bigger support network to lean on and then getting to see those people be there for him in a way that truly warmed my heart.

Thank you to NetGalley and NineStar Press for providing me with an ARC!

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a 2.75/5 stars for me - it's a book I could recommend to others, but there were qualms I had with it that mean I likely won't reread it.

"Somewhere in Nowhere" features awkward teen Simon Bugg as he navigates senior year, first queer loves, and loss. I'd requested the arc because its blurb reminded me of "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson. After having read it, I'd comp it to WATA and "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," with slight hints of Becky Albertalli and L.C. Rosen.

It was enjoyable, although I did predict the big twist. That's a good thing, though, I think - it didn't feel out of the blue. Honestly, that was the best foreshadowing in the book. I would feel comfortable recommending this to upper YA readers, as discussions of a more sexual nature were obviously more educational/meant to display healthy behaviours vs. meant to gratify the reader. They were handled well, in all honesty.

There were quite a few issues where we were shown instead of told. Like, when Simon comes out to Hector, there was a lot of dumping of information we could have found out naturally, instead of having it dumped on us at the 25% mark. It also weakened some of the effects of the big reveal later, in specific regard to Simon's sexuality. Not a huge fan of insta-love either, which this felt like. Simon new PJ for a DAY and said he loved him (I feel like this isn't a spoiler; the blurb introduces him as a RI). The GSA scene also felt off to me (Spanglish and crying), but I appreciated the characters introduced there and the long-lasting relationships they apparently formed - although I wish the characters there were more fleshed out, less 2D semi-caricatures.

My main issues lie with the voice in this book. Simon speaks like he's much younger with a voice I feel would be more suited to Middle Grade than YA. It follows the characters into their dialogue, too. A lot of dialogue felt awkward and bulky in an unintentional sort of way, and it frequently broke my immersion in the story. At first, it was Simon who felt remarkably young (which immediately made me think of "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," somehow), but after seeing more characters speak, I realized it wasn't a POV voice issue but an every-character issue, adults included.

There were also a few times where Spanglish didn't feel natural or forced - calling Simon "mijo" makes plenty of sense to me, but multiple characters dropping "loco" didn't feel as real. Still, I appreciate Gellman's drive to bring a diverse cast into the story, and all in all, I feel he did admirable work in that regard.

I was also confused somewhat by Simon's age, as I don't know any seniors who turned seventeen after the start of the New Year, especially seniors who were born on U.S. soil and never attended school elsewhere. I love a good "Edge of Seventeen" bit as much as the next girl, but I couldn't figure out why. In Maryland, students must be "5 years old on or before September 1st of the year they enroll in kindergarten," so his age didn't make much sense to me, unfortunately. Simon might have made more sense as a junior.

For the debut novel of someone who only started writing in COVID, "Somewhere in Nowhere" is a great start in writing Queer YA. I'd be happy to recommend this book to friends or acquaintances I think would benefit from/enjoy it. Gellman shows a lot of promise as a writer - there are just certain elements of his craft that need sharpened before he publishes again. This book was well-plotted and, in all honesty (aside from a few points), well-paced (when you consider the build-up to the twist, at least, which is really the backbone of the story), which is difficult for a lot of newer writers. I think a couple more books under his belt, and he'll master some of the dialogue issues that made it hard to sink into the story.

Also, TW for trans readers: there were a couple of Harry Potter references in the text.

~~~

Thank you to NetGalley and NineStar Press for the ARC!

[Roroblu'sMum]

3.5* Surprisingly heartwarming despite the sadness, though it skimps on some detail.

This is a tale that gives an impression of a rebellious teen at the start, only to show him as someone a little insecure; a little out of place; a little bit of a stranger to himself; and a decent boy, son, friend and boyfriend. He grows during this tale that feels like it takes place over a few weeks, 2-3 months at most, and we find out about the alien and the significance of 11:22pm and why he thinks he's going to die. The latter is where the book falls a little apart, as a bombshell is dropped, a visit to a place of...'potential reparation' - trying not to spoiler here - takes place, then the tale cuts out. I'm not too sure I believed that part of the tale, as the author didn't make it feel organic enough, maybe because of rushing? It felt like this couldn't be left on a cliffhanger.

What was nice, though, is that parents mostly lived and let live: the Hindu mum, the Italian doctor father, the English dad and the lesbian mums. Maybe because this book feels far away from the influence of the toxic tangoed twat that's currently supposedly in charge in the USA. The loss of someone close to the lead felt abbreviated, yet the traditions went on and on, almost as if the author was out to educate, but for me as a non-Jewish person, it was a bit 'lots of words and descriptions but not telling me about the whys'. I'd have liked to know more about the traditions, not just hear about the copious amounts of food. I'd have liked to learn about the job shrouded in secrecy that meant the lead's mum spent very little time at home, but there was only an anticlimactic partial reveal.

It felt like the tale needed a little fleshing out in parts and a little reining in in others. But it's got the bones of a feel-good one.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Ninestar Press for my reading pleasure.

[Badger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somewhere in Nowhere is a sharp, tender coming-of-age novel that blends humor, anxiety, food, and first love with a lot of heart. It's a novel that captures how disorienting it can be to be seventeen, when feelings are loud, fear feels physical, and connection feels both terrifying and essential. This is an honest, queer, and quietly hopeful story that will stay with you long after the final page.

A hallmark of the book is the sensitive way it addresses the complex intersections of teen identity—family, friendships, culture, sexual identity, and mental wellness to name a few. When LGBTQ+ representation is under attack as being “woke,” Somewhere in Nowhere is a breath of fresh air that shows how wonderful, and messy, it is to be young and finding one’s way in a beautifully complex world.

Thoughtful, heartfelt, and achingly human, Somewhere in Nowhere is a meaningful read for anyone who has ever felt out of step with their own life and wondered how to find solid ground again.

Disclaimer: I read an advance copy of this novel.

[Bookie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buckle your seatbelt! Rarely does a book capture all my emotions but Somewhere in Nowhere had me laughing, crying and feeling the emotions right along with Simon Bugg. Simon’s coming of age story shares his experiences through his senior year in High School. The serious family and medical challenges of this year help him grow and reinforce the importance of family, friends - and love..

In addition, I loved the cat dinkuses, geographic references, and Mags.

A great read. It will touch your soul. It surely touched mine..

[_Kayreads_ · Rating 3 out of 5]

First Thank you Netgalley and Ninestar press for allowing me to read this arc!

An engaging, heartfelt read that I truly enjoyed! The plot was interesting, and I loved seeing a story where a kid is scared to come out despite having supportive same-sex parents—it made the character journey feel authentic. The characters were well-developed, and the first-love aspect was sweet. While a few plot points felt a little rushed, it’s a wonderful short read that I highly recommend. I look forward to picking up more by this author.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somewhere in Nowhere is a book that demonstrates relentless faith in our ability to be good to one another, even in the face of trauma and loss. It’s a book about friendship and, yes, love, in that word’s most multifaceted sense. Most of all it’s a book that I love for reminding us to accept hope from the people we choose to be our family.

[Steven Gellman · Rating 5 out of 5]

My debut novel. A bit biased, obviously!