About
Lance is a Brooklyn-based writer whose work explores transformation, identity, and the complexities of the need for belonging. His debut novel, In the Dark All Cats Are Gray, won the Orison Books Prize in Fiction.
Before dedicating himself to writing, Lance built a career in leadership development and executive coaching with organizations including Canon USA, AIG, and TIAA. His experience helping individuals navigate personal and professional change underpins the themes and character journeys that define his fiction.
Lance holds a Master of Education from Capella University and earned his coaching certification through iCoachNY at the Zicklin School of Business (CUNY). In addition to his literary work, he is the creator of The Clever Corporate Navigator™, an online resource that examines the realities of modern workplace culture and career development.
Featured Work
In the Dark all Cats are Gray
While many queer adolescents flee religious fundamentalism, fifteen-year-old Herschel runs toward it. Coming of age in the 1970s, he leaves his homophobic New Jersey hometown to join Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox Hasidic community in the hope that faith might change his sexuality. But instead of finding transformation, he is driven into a double life shaped by failed arranged marriages, conversion therapy, and rejection by both religious and gay communities for refusing full conformity. Drawing on the author’s own experience, this novel explores what communities demand in exchange for inclusion—and what a closeted teenager is willing to sacrifice. Herschel’s journey toward self-acceptance and hard-won liberation from the demands of both religious and secular orthodoxies speaks to the enduring conflict between belonging and authenticity.
Other Works
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Becoming a Man
2020
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The Clever Corporate Navigator™
2017
Awards and Recognition
- Finalist. 2024 Writer's League of Texas Manuscript Contest.
- Winner 2025 Orison Fiction Prize
