An Episcopal priest has a fateful encounter with an Amsterdam teenager who may be a prostitute―or something else entirely. An Iowa supermarket patron repurposes Bible verses for a love note to a handsome cashier, with consequences both tragic and transformational. A disgraced seminarian shows up at his lover’s first Mass, determined to be remembered.

One way or another, the characters in The Master is Here happen to find themselves in a place larger and more interesting than many others can imagine: the intersection in the Venn diagram of Christian and gay experience. Whether there by choice or quite against their will, whether making good decisions or bad ones, whether driven by love or lust or foolishness or faith, their lives are a valuable testament to the complexities and the conundrums of the human experience, and their stories chronicle the reckonings that none of us can avoid.

“The Master Is Here is a literary tour de force: believable characters navigate the universal hazards of the human condition. With exquisite literary skill, Dally brings each story to an adept, honest, solidly satisfying conclusion. The paradoxes and complexities of these lives remain intact, unsullied by cliché or platitude. Life may have no easy answers, but it sure has some terrific questions. ” – Catherine M. Wallace PhD, cultural critic and author of Confronting Religious Denial of Gay Marriage: Christian Humanism and the Moral Imagination.

“The characters in John Dally’s The Master is Here are briefly sketched, yet fully drawn. A few, I wanted to throttle; many, I wanted to embrace. All left me intrigued and wanting to know them better, and that is a mark of beautifully crafted short stories. These glimpses into lives intersecting with gayness and Christianity are for everyone who cares about people and their experiences both unique and universal. They’re for all of us who yearn for beauty, meaning, and connection in this life, and maybe even in a next one.” – Rhonda M. Lee, author of Love and Happiness: Eros According to Dante, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and the Rev. Al Green

“We encounter the ‘thin places’ that join the worlds of Christian faith and gay life in these stories, rediscovering the workings of fate, circumstance, and mystery in the concrete particularities of everyday life. Dally brings a sensuous intelligence and historical imagination to his accounts of unexpected meetings and shared moments. The master is here, whether called or not, and he offers an ‘accidental theology’ for spiritual seekers and nonbelievers alike.” ― William Borden, University of Chicago

“John Dally offers us a masterful and beautifully written collection of stories full of deep insight, passion, humor, heartbreak, faith, and love. Through the depth of his imagination and profound spiritual insights, what emerges is nothing less than the kaleidoscope of humanity in all its twists and turns, joys and sorrows, foibles and faithfulness.” ― The Rev. Tim Schenck, Rector of St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in Hingham, Massachusetts and @FatherTim on Twitter