Fields and Contrails is a story about an election. About math games played in dark rooms, lit by computer screens in late-night chats. About alcohol binding emotions to the glass holding it, with suicide booths on the sidewalk outside. About static hissing in high-end headphones. About ELF actions, anarchy, grant-funded activism, and routes across the national border in the Great Lakes to freedom. About those making their way below concrete-colored skies.

This novel was written to explore relationships under overlapping strains, and the ways that people communicate and conceal themselves while doing so. A critical examination of alcoholism, the male gaze, and privilege. These are the thoughtless choices and random events that define us. This is 2004 in Ohio and George W Bush is running for reelection. This is flyover country.