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Tairi Blair is a Portland/California-based writer and academic who believes that stories—like people—are rarely simple. With a background in nonfiction and teaching, she now writes fiction that explores queer resilience, longing, faith, and the quiet courage it takes to choose joy after loss.
Her upcoming books, both releasing in Winter 2025/26, include California Wheelin’: A Rollmance—a novel about rediscovery, desire, and two women on bikes—and Shades of Indigo: Stories Inspired by The Girls, a collection of short fiction rooted in the music of The Indigo Girls and the lives it continues to touch.
Tairi publishes free weekly short stories and excerpts at tairiblair.substack.com, where she shares work that celebrates connection, queer identity, and the unexpected beauty in everyday moments.
After many years as a caregiver, she is re-learning joy, one page and one day at a time. She still participates and leads a weekly writers’ group, sings, practices Pilates, and finds hope in both memory and possibility.
Coming Winter 2025/26
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A & Z Series
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Adrien’s got a lot riding on California Wheelin’. As the lead organizer of the cross-state cycling event, she’s juggling safety plans, emotional teens, and an executive director who seems determined to sabotage her. What she didn’t plan on? Zander—a staff hire with a mysterious air, a tendency to wander off during breaks, and a girlfriend of three years back home.
Despite a rocky start, Zander turns out to be calm under pressure, quietly competent, and impossible for Adrien to ignore. She's also deeply faithful—something Adrien distrusts. As sparks fly between them, so do questions about belief, integrity, and the risks of letting someone in.
Then there’s Savannah—a whip-smart, wounded teen in Zander’s unit, wary of adult promises and carrying more than her share of secrets. With Zander as her steady anchor and Adrien as a surprising source of backup, Savannah begins to trust again—just as Adrien starts wondering if it’s too late to risk her own heart.
California Wheelin’ is a tender, funny, and emotionally layered novel about queer longing, spiritual dissonance, the rollercoaster of adolescence, and the ache of falling for someone who might not be yours to keep.
California Wheelin’: A Rollmance
Book One in the A&Z Series
by Tairi Blair
A two-week bike adventure. Thirty-six teenage Girl Scouts. One stressed-out leader—and the woman she wasn’t expecting to fall for.
"Tairi Blair’s first novel is a gorgeously written story about finding your truth, even when it means letting go of everything safe." ~author Lori L. Lake, Oregon.
Shades of Indigo: Stories Inspired by The Girls
by Tairi Blair
What happens when a book of short stories is sparked by song, soaked in queer longing, and grounded in love, grief, and grit? Shades of Indigo brings together sixteen powerful tales inspired by the music of the Indigo Girls—each story an echo, a challenge, or a love letter to the lyrics.
You’ll meet:
— A Civil War nurse who falls for a soldier with secrets in Let It Be Me, a sweeping historical romance about survival and impossible love.
— Two middle-aged women with power tools and a history of heartbreak in The Building Season, a sexy, screwball comedy about starting over.
— A climate refugee chasing justice and connection in The Borderline, a speculative queer fable set along the broken edges of a future America.
From roadside diners to haunted motels, these stories celebrate resilience, laughter, and queer joy in all its complicated forms.
If you’ve ever healed through music, rebuilt after loss, or whispered closer to fine into the dark—this book is for you.
The Ghost of Clara Willoughby is “heart achingly beautiful.” ~ Rose Grumbine, Illinois referring to the short story in Shades of Indigo collection.
“I may not be lesbian, but I still enjoyed the story. Sweet funny, caring loving. Definitely a good read.” ~Becky Crowe, Nevada. “Laugh out loud funny. We all need to level up.” ~Anne Odgers, California, referring to The Building Season in Shades of Indigo.
Coming December 2026
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Another Option
Book Two in the Adrien & Zander Trilogy
(Literary Fiction / LGBTQ+ / Family & Identity)
What does it mean to build a family in a world that tells you you can’t?
In 1988, Adrien’s brother and his girlfriend are killed in a mass shooting, leaving behind their premature infant daughter in the NICU. Adrien and her partner Zander long to adopt the baby—but they’re told, in ways both cruel and quiet, that two women are not suitable parents.
What follows is nearly a decade of longing, heartbreak, and resilience. Adrien and Zander face false hopes, failed fertility treatments, complicated family loyalties, and the raw ache of miscarriage. They navigate hospitals and home studies, queer foster parent trainings and international adoption red tape—fighting for the right to love and raise a child in a system built to exclude them.
Set against the backdrop of late-1980s and early-1990s California, Another Option is a deeply personal story about grief, hope, and queer perseverance. Told with emotional precision, dry wit, and literary grace, it is the second installment in the Adrien & Zander trilogy—a love story unfolding across decades, from desire to devotion to legacy.
Coming December 2027
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The Only Thing Left
Book Three in the Adrien & Zander Trilogy
Literary Fiction / LGBTQ+ / Grief & Caregiving
What do you hold onto when the love of your life begins to disappear?
After raising two daughters and weathering decades of prejudice, Adrien and Zander finally enter the quiet of retirement—only to find themselves navigating a new and devastating chapter. What begins as forgetfulness soon spirals into disorientation, denial, and the slow, relentless progression of early-onset Alzheimer’s.
While Zander retreats into confusion, Adrien faces impossible choices, invisible labor, and the heartbreaking solitude of caregiving. As support systems falter and friends fail to understand, Adrien clings to one thing that hasn’t left her: the memory of their love.
A meditation on queer aging, anticipatory grief, and enduring devotion, The Only Thing Left is a tender, unflinching portrait of what remains when memory fades.
What Reviewers are Saying
"As a queer person of faith, I didn’t know how much I needed this story until it held me. California Wheelin’ reminds us that God shows up in quiet moments, unexpected touches, and the courage it takes to choose love—even when it’s complicated. It’s a tender, holy ride."
Rev. Vickie Miller, Florida
"Wow!! I just read your writing in Substack app about apricots and sent it to a ton of friends. Damn!!
Lauren Bennett, UFMCC general conference coordinator
“One circle, one chapter is complete. But wait, there's more..... I’m looking forward to it.”
~Jenni Nichols, Los Angeles, after reading Fifty-Two Dollars and Sixteen Cents, a short story from the unfinished manuscript collection, Wandering Hearts
FAQ
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Tairi Blair is a former university professor who taught MBA students about human behavior in organizations—always sitting in a circle, because she believes learning should be shared. Now, she writes emotionally layered fiction about love, identity, and the messy beauty of being human. Her stories draw on years of listening, observing, and asking the kinds of questions that don’t have easy answers.
Bonus fact. She draws people interacting. Can you find the drawing on her website?
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Tairi is pronounced like “Terry.” She chose the spelling with “AIR” to echo her last name, Blair—giving her name a little lift and a touch of poetry.
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Tairi draws on a rich life experience. She has backpacked off trail in the Sierras, and led canoe, rafting, backpack, and bike trips.
View her stories at TairiBlair.substack.com
Click here for Exclusive Updates. It’s Free.
What You’ll Get (and When)
🕰 How often she’ll post:
Once a week-ish. Sometimes more. Never spammy.
Usually on Fridays or Saturdays—good days for stories.
📬 Free subscribers will get:
Weekly stories
First access to excerpts from Shades of Indigo
Updates on what she’s working on (and probably overthinking)
Paid subscribers will get:
Full access to Shades of Indigo (serialized)
Bonus material including journal entries, early drafts of stories, reflections, invitations to meet-ups
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