The lure of family and the efforts of a university striving toward greater diversity bring Emma Jean Whitcomb to Iowa City. Neither factor dulls the sharp edge of anger Emma Jean feels about racism in America. Can that happen in the arms of a new love?”

Lost in the Black Hologram is both a love story and a story of race in America.  Emma Jean Whitcomb comes to Iowa City with fame for her acclaimed play, The Black Hologram, a powerful expression of her anger related to the racism she experienced growing up in Milwaukee.  She has accepted a position to teach in the theater department at the University of Iowa.  When she meets another Whitcomb living in her upscale apartment complex, she has no idea how profoundly her life will be changed.

Though set in contemporary times, important threads of African American history run through the story.  The novel has received praise as “thought provoking” and “a remarkable narrative” from African American museum professionals with a deep commitment to sharing Black History with the public.

Tom McKay is a historian and museum professional with deep connections to Iowa.  He graduated from Cornell College and later spent five years managing historic sites for the State of Iowa.  This included preparing the public area of Terrace Hill to open for tours in the late 1970s.

Tom began writing fiction for fun in the 1990s.  His novel, Another Life, is set in Iowa and was published by 918 Studio Press based in Davenport.  Lost in the Black Hologram, his most recent novel, was published through River Lights Press in Dubuque.  Set in Iowa City, it is a love story that also address issues of race in contemporary America.

McKay is also the author of the short story collection, Finding Their Way: Short and Longer Stories.  His short stories have appeared in such magazines and journals as Vermont Ink, Downstate Story, the Wapsipinicon Almanac, and So it Goes: The Literary Journal of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library.