The Angels Came to Sodom in the Evening

A novel that dares to take on some of the fiercest forces of our times—ones that use Biblical language to cast minorities as evil. Rory's life is built on secrets—from his childhood playing a Crusader in the vanishing woods of Memphis, through his passionate, hidden bond with his friend Drew, to his eventual life as a prominent megachurch pastor. When his carefully constructed world begins to collapse, Rory embarks on a reckoning that takes him from the pulpit to underground queer spaces, from respectability to radical honesty. The Angels Came to Sodom in the Evening is an audacious exploration of desire, faith, and the price of living authentically in a world that demands conformity. With echoes of Flannery O'Connor and James Baldwin, Paul Russell crafts a devastating portrait of American masculinity, religious hypocrisy, and the liberating power of embracing one's true self—no matter the cost.