Project Chartreuse

Don’t mess with the hothead—or he might just mess with you. Slater Ibáñez is only interested in two kinds of guys: the ones he wants to punch, and the ones he sleeps with. Things get interesting when they start to overlap. A freelance investigator, Slater trolls the dark side of Los Angeles, rooting out insurance fraud, not afraid to use whatever means necessary to get things done, and not about to hold back with his fists. A queer antihero for a new age, Slater walks the line between ordinary life and the frayed fringes of society, keeping his balance with the back-channel support he gets from his idiot cop ex-boyfriend, Conrad, and regular squeeze Andy.

On an insurance job, Slater’s hunt for missing beneficiary Daniel takes him from wrangling the hardscrabble grifters of Skid Row to infiltrating the sleazy pieds-à-terre and private jets of the city’s moneyed elite. Eventually the quest takes Slater to New Mexico, where he rents an old pickup and revisits his equestrian past in pursuit of a shadowy group dedicated to flying saucers. Galliform, an old quarry, pops up in the sprawling desert, and Slater has to navigate around law enforcement, not quite willing to collaborate with them but intent on not winding up in the hoosegow. Hooking up with all the wrong guys and drinking way too much, Slater gradually starts to see what’s really going on. As Galliform increases the pressure and things heat up, Slater has to decide between doing what’s right and preserving his own neck.