forthcoming 2026 from punctum books

The Fire Trees is a hybrid collection of nonfiction that explores the intricate connections between the body, mind, and nature. Challenging conventional notions of self and environment, the book examines how we can integrate sensualism, pleasure, and joy into our daily lives. Through autobiography, theory, and philosophy, The Fire Trees examines the profound ways in which the places we inhabit shape our intimacy, relationships, and sexuality by taking the reader through a diverse landscape of subjects—from queer ecology to wilderness to bi-sexuality and psychedelics to contemporary sex clubs and Roman brothels.

Inspired by bell hooks’ definition that queerness is about “finding a place to thrive,” the book envisions a relationship with the earth that embraces the intimacy, complexity, and expansiveness of queerness. The book prompts us to reconsider the ways in which physical environments influence bodies, challenge conventional language, and ultimately lead us to a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us. The book also subtly touches upon the themes of motherhood, bi-sexuality, and feminism.

Subjects range from kinship with and queer ecology of the Siskiyou Mountains, the influence of nature on sexualities, wilderness and beauty, contemporary sex clubs and pleasure houses, historical Roman brothels and graffiti art, bi-sexuality and the performance of sexuality in nature, an auto-fictional story on existential love in opposition to capitalism, masks and self-portraits as influenced by surrealist photographer Claude Cahun, intimacy as explored through sex and eroticism, and the exploration of psychedelics and sex.