My Books
ABOUT RICTOR J. S. RIOLO's BOOKS
VEHEMENCE and WAR BONDS
I wrote War Bonds because I was furious. During the Bush Administration, I watched Christian Nationalists weaponize faith against gay and lesbian people, acting as though eternal life were a private club with a velvet rope and a very selective guest list. I refused to accept that narrative. At the time, mainstream media offered almost no portrayals of queer love that rose beyond the physical, love that endured, transcended, and reached something divine. So I wrote the story I needed to see. War Bonds is my declaration that queer love is not temporary, not sinful, and not excluded from greatness.
My second novel, Vehemence: The Story of September 11th, was completed in 2004 but held close for fourteen years before I was ready to release it. Some stories require courage twice, once to write them and once to share them. When it finally became available, it marked not only a publication but a personal reckoning with grief, history, and voice.
Both novels feature prominent LGBTQIA+ characters. Afterall, we write what we know.
I am a teacher, artist, podcaster, filmmaker, and television personality who appeared on The Ten Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty. I have published these two novels and am already plotting my third... because silence has never suited me.
