In case you missed the announcement from July 2026, I have a new book out!
Set in 1979, Randy & Rini is the quirky road trip adventure of two teenagers who get into all sorts of shenanigans. It’s available in both paperback and Kindle version on Amazon and bookshop.org.
Here are a couple of decent reviews:
Love is Strange
by Jeff McCulley (retired Publishing Editor at The Wall Street Journal)
An aimless pair of fresh high-school grads embark on the fly for that renowned honeymoon hot spot Niagara Falls in this exuberant road-trip novel. Randy and Rini might not know precisely where they’re going, right now or with the rest of their lives, but they’ve got plenty of opinions. Aptly named Randy is obsessed with getting Rini into bed, but worries her flaky demeanor might be a sign she’s really one of the parasitic pod people from “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” Rini’s no ditz, though—her good looks and insouciance help her see the way through their progressively complicated circumstances. She just wants to save all the animals in the world. And maybe photograph them.
Author Julie McCoy has set this breezy summer tale in 1979, back in the days of pay phones, cash and passport-free incursions into Canada, and soundtracked it with radio favorites from the era like BTO, Joni Mitchell, Supertramp and the Eagles. It’s transporting, but I kept hearing “Love is Strange,” the 1956 hit by Mickey & Sylvia that runaways Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen dance to in Terrence Malick’s “Badlands.” Wistful and suffused with humor, “Randy & Rini” isn’t malevolent like Malick’s story, and closer to Wes Anderson’s sweet “Moonrise Kingdom” and its pair of teens on the lam. McCoy’s lovers (and her readers) may hope the road goes on forever, but what do they know? Love is strange indeed.
Review August 2026 from The BookLife Prize
Plot/Idea: In McCoy’s lively offering, young couple Randy and Rini take an impulsive 1970s roadtrip to Niagara Falls that ends with Rini’s cryptic disappearance. Along the way, they experiment with drugs, reflect on their future, and work through the pangs of early adulthood. The result is an intimate view of a coming-of-age journey that leaves the narrator, Randy, changed in unexpected ways.
Prose: The story unfolds through Randy’s point of view, in informal, chatty prose that gives readers front row seats to his unique perspective.
Originality: The narrator has a clear voice, and his reflections strike a nice balance between introspective and the superficial assessments one would expect of someone on the cusp of adulthood.
Character/Execution: Randy is believable for an 18-year-old, particularly in the “awakenings” he has at the story’s end—epiphanies that arrive in symbolism rather than concrete observation. Rini is a free spirit from the start, which endears her to Randy and readers, though it causes problems for the couple’s dynamics and ultimate outcome. She’s somewhat of a loose cannon—shoplifting, stealing Save the Animal jars they encounter throughout their trip—and Randy never knows what to expect from her.