Some of the Parts — T. Cooper

In sparse, evocative prose, T Cooper tells the story of four splintered lives: Isak is a "gender freak" to the world at large. Taylor is so simultaneously perfect, yet useless, that she is paralyzed. Her mother Arlene is lonely and pill-popping, while Arlene's brother Charlie faces the unexpected -- even unwanted -- prospect of being healthy with HIV. Fractured lives in various forms of exile eventually join to re-forge a definition of family from the ashes.

T Cooper received an MFA in fiction writing from Columbia University. For some time, T doubled as T-Rok, a member of the heart-throbby Backdoor Boys performance troupe. T's work -- both fiction and non-fiction -- has appeared in a variety of magazines, journals and anthologies. This is a first novel.