Exceptional GLBT authors Jordan Castillo Price and Josh Lanyon are back with a new collaboration, a set of very loosely related, very brief short stories released under the blanket title “Petit Morts”.  This five story compilation is available as a package deal, or as individual purchases.

Tommy Roth is shy.  Painfully shy.  So shy that it’s nearly impossible for him to force out a simple “No thank you” to the disturbingly hot guy manning the counter at Sweets to the Sweet.  There to meet Sister Norma, a color annalist and therapist, Tommy is desperate to find a way to break through his distressingly blue aura and move into the yellow.  Like sunshine.  Once Sister Norma is on her way, leaving Tommy with a daunting reading list and the advice to check Amazon Chance, the aforementioned hot barista, chimes in his two cents worth, sending Tommy to a psychologist customer, purely on a whim.  But then, Chance has learned to trust his whims.  At the psychologists office, Tommy is faced with yet another reading list, and a lollipop licking window washer dangling outside the doctor’s fifth story window.  A chance meeting (if by chance you mean window washer Nathan stalked him to the restroom) leads to a date, which leads to much, much more.

Hue, Tint and Shade is a mini-story told in Jordan Castillo Price’s signature minimalist style.  Somehow, in a few short words, she manages to convey Tommy’s soul-deep angst, Nathan’s lazsi faire attitude, and even Chances lonely and mysterious ambivalence.  I found myself cheering each step Tommy took toward confidence and self respect, and hoping that opposites truly do attract as he became more and more entranced with the flamboyant Nathan.  I also found myself fervently hoping for more glimpses into the enigmatic Chance.  Arguably the strongest of the five vignettes, Hue, Tint and Shade is definitely a yellow book, and Castillo Price is a red author.