Two officers. One forbidden frequency. A choice between an unbreakable past and an unassailable future.
June, 1994. Ensigns Alex Ko and Patrick McClellan have just crossed the commissioning stage at Annapolis, survivors of a silent, hidden four-year war against the rigid machinery of the United States Navy. Bound by a secret, fiercely protective love under the predatory shadow of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, they have synchronized every drill, every cadence, and every breath to remain completely invisible to the world.
But the Navy owns their orders, and the continental divide is opening beneath their boots.
While Patrick is bound for a destroyer out in the punishing, isolated winters of Everett, Washington, Alex is dispatched to the hyper-calibrated world of the submarine nuclear power pipeline on the East Coast. Three thousand miles of land, water, and missed landline signals create a suffocating vacuum that tests the structural integrity of their foundation.
When isolation drives Patrick into a dangerous, emotionally compartmented drift in a Seattle coffee shop, Alex's brilliant, razor-sharp mind detects the environmental anomaly instantly. Broken open by a cross-country betrayal, Alex flees back to the safety of his training command, shutting down the loop and severing the link to the West Coast.
Enter Lieutenant James Schoenwetter-a seasoned, deeply operational subsurface officer who reads Alex's grief and steps directly into the storm. Unburdened by the uniform's armor, James offers Alex a level of casual, daylight intimacy and professional validation he has spent years starving for-culminating in the premier Navigator slot on a fast-attack hull running deep beneath the ice.
As Patrick launches a desperate, frantic intercept vector to fight for his husband and repair the hull, Alex finds himself trapped in a high-stakes psychological crosscurrent. To claim his dignity and survive the atmosphere of the fleet, he must run the calculations and make a definitive, real-world choice:
Will he hold the line for a four-year fortress built in the dark, or clear the deck for a brilliant new baseline out in the open daylight?
Early Praise for the The Long Watch:
"What sets The Long Watch apart from standard contemporary romance is its fiercely brilliant, hyper-realistic setting. The author clearly knows the naval service inside and out-the dialogue snaps with the surgical, cold precision of a tactical manual, matching the characters' hyper-rigid discipline. Yet, beneath the starched Service Dress Whites, the engineering loop schematics, and the mandatory protocols, lies a devastatingly raw exploration of self-worth and institutional isolation. The contrast between Patrick's unyielding, legacy-burdened devotion and James's mature, unhurried line-officer authority builds an unassailable tension. It's a compelling, deeply moving read that honors the sovereignty of the heart."
"An incredibly unique voice in military romance. The author uses a highly distinct, mechanical and mathematical vocabulary to map the internal processors of its logician protagonist, Alex Ko. Watching him navigate the ruins of his first love in Seattle and find a brand-new baseline under the ice with James is captivating. The pacing is relentless, particularly during the high-voltage submarine casualty scenes where logistics and passion collide head-on. While the specialized jargon might take a second for readers to decode, the absolute sincerity of the characters' vows will hold you fast to the deck until the final page."
