Tackling the Tight End — Tara Lain

A Novel in the Long Pass Chronicles

Everyone wants the best for SCU student and tight end Raven Nez―and they know exactly what that is. Enter the NFL draft, become a big football hero, promote his tribe's casino, and make a lot of money to help people on the reservation. Just one problem. Raven's gay and he  really wants to work with gay kids. Plus he figures a gay Native tight end will get flattened in the NFL. Then the casino board hires a talented student filmmaker to create ads for the tribal business and asks Raven to work with him. But the filmmaker is Dennis Hascomb, a guy with so much to hide and a life so ugly it's beyond Raven's understanding. Still, he's drawn to Dennis's pain and incredible ability to survive. Captivated by Raven's stories of the two-spirited and by the amazing joy of finally having a friend, Dennis knows he has to break free from everything he's ever been taught was good―but that's a struggle that could kill him and Raven too. Is there a chance for “the great red hope” and the “whitest guy on earth”? A future for the serpent and the raven?