Flying Without a Net By E.M. Ben Shaul
Flying Without a Net By E.M. Ben Shaul
SUMMARY
Dani Perez, a secular Israeli working as a software engineer in Boston, has never had trouble balancing his faith and his sexuality—until he meets Avi Levine, a gay Orthodox Jew and sign language interpreter. As they fall in love, Dani finds himself wanting Avi in his life, but he can’t understand how Avi reconciles what his religion demands with what his body desires. And although he wants to deny it, neither can Avi.
Despite the risk of losing Avi forever to a religious life that objects to their love, Dani supports him through the struggle to find an answer. Will they be able to start a life together despite religious ideology that conflicts with the relationship they are trying to build?
Excerpt
(NOTE: FLYING WITHOUT A NET includes several prayers, including the following two excerpts.)
Tefilah: Blessed are You, Who Has Such Phenomena in His World
We say, Hashem, that you created humans in Your image. Yet we believe with complete faith that You have no corporeal body.
If You did, and it looked like Dani’s, well, then.
Is it chillul Hashem—desecration of Your name—to say, Good going? He is…gorgeous. And I finally perhaps understand what people mean when they talk about human beauty. I mean, I’ve appreciated good looking people before. But this is the first time I’ve been literally up close and personal with another man’s body. With Dani’s body, specifically.
And he is… amazing.
Dani is as beautiful on the outside as he is on the inside. And while I knew that he was a very handsome man, I had not thought about what that might mean for his physique. He is the physical embodiment of the fantasies I did not know I had. As Shlomo HaMelech—King Solomon—wrote in Shir HaShirim, “As an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the sons; in his shade I delighted and sat, and his fruit was sweet to my palate.”
I understand Shir HaShirim, the Song of Songs, much more now. I can relate to the lover who is basking in the beauty of their beloved, who is so struck by the appearance of the one who is in their heart that they wax poetic, that they write the most epic of love songs.
“My beloved is mine, and I am his, that feeds among the roses.”
I have never completely understood all the blessings we have for all the random occasions of life, but the one for seeing a beautiful person or creature now resonates with me. Baruch atah, Hashem, Elokainu melech haolam, she’kacha lo ba’olamo—blessed are you, Hashem our God, King of the universe, who has such phenomena in His world.
Character Bio:
VBT: Flying Without a Net—EM Ben Shaul
Hello, and thanks for hosting a tour stop for Flying Without a Net. This is my Interlude Press debut novel, and it’s very close to my heart, as well as to my home.Flying Without a Net is a love story about two Jewish men—one a secular Israeli and the other, an Orthodox sign language interpreter, who must find a way to balance their feelings for each other with their respective views of faith. As an Orthodox Jew and writer of gay fiction, Dani and Avi’s story is so important to me. I live in a simultaneously Jewish-friendly and gay-friendly neighborhood just outside of Boston, and I hope to share a better understanding of my faith, as well as the challenges it can present for two men in love.
What is your character’s name? Does the character have a nickname? Daniel Moshe Perez. Daniel is pronounced “DAH-nee-el,” the Hebrew way. His friends and family call him Dani (DAH-ni).
What is your character’s hair color? Eye color? Dani’s eyes and hair are both brown. His hair is close-cropped in the summer and slightly longer on top in the winter. His eyes are chocolate brown.
Where was your character born? Where has he lived since then? Where does he call home? Dani was born in Jerusalem, but he and his parents moved to Newton, Massachusetts, when Dani was one. He grew up in Newton, and after high school he returned to Israel for his army service. He lived in Israel on a kibbutz in the north of the country for his three years of army duty, and then he returned to Massachusetts for college. He now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, near the border with Somerville, Massachusetts.
What is in your character’s refrigerator right now? On her bedroom floor? On her nightstand? In her garbage can? Dani’s refrigerator is well stocked. He’s got some Swiss cheese and some goat cheese for general snacking, and he has some feta for when he wants to make green-and-white pizza. His vegetable drawer is stocked with baby spinach, baby carrots, grape tomatoes, and small cucumbers. He has apples and clementines in the fruit crisper. There’s some leftover lasagna in the refrigerator, as well as ingredients to make macaroni and cheese. There had been some chicken salad, but he took it to work yesterday for lunch. Drinks include a couple of bottles of flavored seltzer, some sports drinks of various colors, and apple juice. His bedroom floor is pretty clean, because otherwise he runs the risk of tripping over things on his way to the bathroom before he’s fully awake. His nightstand has his eyeglass case, a tissue box, a lamp, and a stack of books. His bedroom trash can has used tissues in it and not much else. His kitchen garbage can has the unrecyclable parts of the packaging from last night’s dinner ingredients. All of the food garbage went into the composting bin or down the disposal, and all the recyclables are in the recycling bin.
Look at your character’s feet. Describe what you see there. Does he wear dress shoes, gym shoes, or none at all? Is he in socks that are ratty and full of holes? Or is he wearing a pair of blue and gold slippers knitted by his grandmother? If it were possible, Dani would wear his Naot sandals every day, all year round. Unfortunately, that is not reasonable in Massachusetts, especially as the weather begins to get cold. In the colder weather, Dani wears black Converse Chuck Taylor All Star high-tops or a beat-up pair of dark brown Sperry Topsiders.
It’s Saturday at noon. What is your character doing? Give details. If he’s eating breakfast, what exactly does he eat? If he’s stretching out in her backyard to sun, what kind of blanket or towel does he lie on? Six months ago, Dani’s answer would have been that he was getting ready to leave for his weekly squash game with his brother Dave (whom he calls Dudu, a now-hated childhood nickname). But ever since Dani started dating Avi, his Saturday afternoons are spent at Avi’s house in Brookline. Avi gets back from synagogue somewhere between 12:30 and 1, so by noon Dani is on the subway heading from Cambridge to Brookline. Avi will be walking home from synagogue, so sometimes Dani times it so that he gets off the train in time to meet up with Avi for the last few blocks of the walk. Other times Dani gets dressed up and meets Avi at his synagogue, which gives him a chance to say hello to Avi’s friends at the light meal after the service ends. He usually gets some cake or some kugel to eat, though he knows that Avi will be serving a large lunch, so he doesn’t usually want to eat too much.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
E.M. Ben Shaul lives in many communities. An Orthodox Jew and writer of gay fiction, E.M. lives in the simultaneously gay-friendly and Jewish-friendly Boston area with her husband and twin daughters. A technical writer by day and freelance editor by nights and weekends, E.M. likes to knit, cook and coin neologisms. E.M. seeks to explore the seeming conflict between religious teachings and the heart’s desires.
Flying Without a Net will be published by Interlude Press on November 17, 2016. Connect with author E.M. Ben Shaul at embenshaul.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/EMBenShaul and on Twitter at @embenshaul.
Category Fiction, Romance, LGBT, Jewish, M/M
BISAC FIC046000 FICTION / Jewish
FIC027190 FICTION / Romance / LGBT / Gay
FIC026000 FICTION / Religious
SBN (Trade) 978-1-945053-11-5
ISBN (eBook) 978-1-945053-12-2
Publication Date November 17, 2016
Trim 6×9 Trade
Pages 224
Price $16.99 print/$6.99 multi-format eBook
Publisher Interlude Press
Cover Design CB Messer
Flying Without a Net
By E.M. Ben Shaul
Contact
Candysse Miller
Director, Marketing & Communications
cmiller@interludepress.com
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Jacqueline Murphy
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Distributor
Ingram
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