THE FANTASIES OF FUTURE THINGS

In this powerful debut reminiscent of Barry Jenkins's Moonlight, two men in Atlanta reconcile their human dignity against the price of their professional ambitions working for a real estate development company displacing Black residents in preparation for the 1996 Olympics.

At face value, Jacob and Daniel are completely different. A recent Morehouse graduate and Brooklyn transplant, Jacob fears that accepting the truth of his sexuality will disappoint the hopes his parents have for him to lead a respectable life. Grieving the death of his mother while searching for answers about a father he has never known, Daniel, an Atlanta native, has resigned himself to the reality that men who love men don’t have happy endings. 

Because both men are grappling with the seeming distance of lives they’d prefer, their daily interactions are laced with sexual tension and uncertainty.  Meeting a social worker, Jacob is presented with the possibility of living life free from his parents’ expectations, forcing Daniel to confront the source of his emotional longing and reach for the love he’s always wanted.

This lacerating, bold, and moving novel deftly explores our need for intimacy, the havoc homophobia reeks, the restrictive masculinity so often required of Black men, and ultimately asks what Black men are willing to do for themselves, for one another, and for their community.