E.J. Calderon
Queer coming-of-age, messy first love, hard homes, soft landings, brave choices, and becoming yourself before you feel ready.
E.J. Calderon writes stories for readers who like tender chaos, complicated families, safe adults, awkward crushes, sports boys, weird humor, and courage that starts small but still changes everything.
Currently Becoming
New releases, messy first loves, hard choices, and stories about becoming yourself before you feel ready.
For Safety, Wear Goggles
A funny, tender queer sports romcom about hazardous eye contact, fake dogs, and bigger courage.
Theo Santoro is a senior water polo player who’s spent his life looking easygoing, normal, and impossible to question. Mason Grey is the openly gay baseball player with weird jokes, sharp edges, and no interest in being anyone’s secret. What starts with classroom notes and a fake dog named Waffles turns into something messy, sweet, and impossible to ignore.
Project Wolfie
Standalone YA Paranormal RomCom
Fall 2027
When homesick werewolf Santi Rios moves from Albuquerque to California for senior year, he expects to spend the year missing home—not falling for the strange, sharp-tongued witch in his art class.
Lacey Hart is quiet, weird, a little magical, and entirely too good at making Santi forget he was supposed to hate California. Between art projects, track meets, choir rehearsals, old cars, family dinners, and one increasingly opinionated wolf, friendship turns into something much harder to leave behind.
A cozy, funny coming-of-age story about first love, finding home, and choosing the person who feels like one.
Project In-Between
Standalone YA Liminal Horror
Spring 2028
After a paranormal investigation goes horribly wrong, eighteen-year-old Tansy wakes trapped in the In-Between—a moss-choked version of her world filled with masked spirits, silent creatures, and rules she doesn’t understand.
Her only human ally is Jude, a shadow-touched boy with too many secrets. But when Tansy discovers her missing best friend may still be alive, she’ll have to decide which monsters are actually dangerous—and which ones have been trying to protect her.
Project Bear & Butterfly
Standalone YA Coming-of-Age
In Progress
A tender, complicated coming-of-age story about pregnancy, first heartbreak, hard choices, and learning that loving someone isn't always enough to build a life with them.
Pip and Oso are young, in love, and trying desperately to hold on. But when an unexpected pregnancy turns fear into real consequences, Pip begins to realize she can't keep waiting for the boy she loves to become the partner she needs.
Sometimes growing up means building a life that still belongs to you—even when it means letting go.
Reader Notes
E.J. Calderon books are written for young adult readers and may include emotional coming-of-age themes, identity questions, anxiety, family conflict, divorce aftermath, bullying, hard homes, pregnancy, fear, and characters trying to become themselves in imperfect circumstances.
The stories are soft-hearted, but they may still touch tender places.
