“And then one thing led to another …”

Max Fuentes, colorful hero of The Long Trip and The Grind, has been a lot of things in his young life: a lovestruck teenager, a conman, a reporter, an enabler, and a lover of women. Many, many women. Eventually, he will settle down, but to get there, he has a lot of growing and learning to do. Follow him through his early days as a child in New Mexico, through college, his early years as a journalist in New York City, to finally being a real boyfriend.

In “A Brief History of a Boy in the Desert,” Max grows over ten years, scheming and falling prey to his hormones. In “Spin the Bottle,” Max gets his dream—Seven Minutes in Heaven” with the cutest girl—only to find out it isn’t what he expected. In “Bupkis,” Max learns an important lesson about romance in college. In “Some Assembly Required,” newly graduated Max has to use his charm and swindling skills to find a new apartment and a job. In “Brouhaha,” it’s Max versus a food cart. In “All Wounds,” Max comes face-to-face with a ghost from his past he’d much rather forget. In “Old Acquaintance,” Max celebrates New Year’s with an actual girlfriend, which comes with celebrities and side effects. “And finally, in the novella “Decisions Decisions,” young reporter Max Fuentes explores his options, while someone is exploring him as an option.