Lessons in Teenage Biology, in stores soon. Buy the ebook now. It's in the syllabus.

 

 It's a book! 

It's really amazing how much work goes into doing such a thing even when it's a small project. If I only knew I would have so much technology to conquer back when I wrote this story in 1986 I might not have even bothered.

 Raise a hand if you're one of those antiquated old-fashioned people who actually used a manual typewriter back in the 1980s. And then there was remembering all the events from the 1970s and trying to get it right.

What followed was the manuscript of my first long short story (I don't think I even knew what a novella was back then!), moving it around from box to box until sometime in the 1990s I decided to scan it. I only had a photocopy as a back up. I think I had to wait until they were scanners.

Then, with the text, I read it and re-wrote it a few times, but put it aside. Many books later, I thought I had learned all there was to learn about publishing, specifically self-publishing where you get to do all the work yourself (Yay?), make a little bit more money than a small press would pay in advance (Yay!), but not much because you don't have an army of editors, publicists and distributors, and begging for agency is off the table.

But I thought I'd learned all the tricks in the book; personal website, migrating content, layout code on my website, domain linking. But there were so many new things to try. I decided to crank up the old Mailchimp and only sent out about 100 press releases. Three replied, so far. I'm told that's a good rate. I don't know anymore.

I have yet to send out stuff other than a few social media spots. A book trailer's on its way, not that I think it leads to sales, but it's fun to do. And I know how to do it.

Then of course, is looking at a multiple series of PDF proof and making correction after correction after correction. And then you find out that the Library of Congress only sends out your control number after you've approved the final interior PDF (It's 2024909132, by the way).

Now I'm Here, new novel, new website

Now I’m Here

a novel by Jim Provenzano

Beautiful Dreamer Press

ISBN-13: 978-0998126265

Release date: September 19, 2018

“Here is a novel of such sweep and breadth that to call it simply a love story is inadequate, even while the love of David and Joshua at the heart of the book resonates so deeply that I could not stop reading their tale. Provenzano is one of our masters; like his character Joshua he is a kind of musician. The instrument he plays on is the heart, and the story of these men rings true for all of us who lived through these years.”  
– Jim Grimsley, author of Dream Boy and Winter Birds

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"Jim Provenzano has again created characters that a reader can’t help but fall in love with. This is an epic story, a tale as captivating as a favorite piece of music.”  
– Mark Abramson, author of Minnesota Boy

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“A haunting page turner;  Provenzano fearlessly navigates, with wit, unflinching candor and a detective’s tenacity, that deepest mystery: first love, with all its euphoria, madness and wreckage. Gorgeously written, Now I’m Here stands alongside the best of Edmund White and Andrew Holleran. I could spend a year with each sentence.” 
– Adam Tendler, concert pianist, author of 88x50: A Memoir of Sexual Discovery, Modern Music and The United States of America

So, yes! My sixth novel is available for pre-order on Amazon.com in ebook and paperback editions. It will be in bookstores in September.

And to jazz up this little celebration, I got a new website: https://www.jimprovenzano.com/
Visit, scroll around and let me know what you think.

Call and Irresponsibility: Online Censorship and Attacks on Gay Authors

As we dive butt-first into a new year, I was going to repost one of the lovely retro New Year's Eve scenes from my past two books, Every Time I Think of You and Message of Love. 

But you'll have to check my older posts, or read the books themselves, to enjoy those. It's not that I'm being cautious, but more justifiably outraged by the level of Orwellian idiocy now taking place when authors dare to share their political views.

The simple act of publishing one's thoughts and opinions these days has taken on an absurd level of what I term 'call and irresponsibility.'

Author Kevin Sessums achieved headline news when his post critiquing Trump supporters was only hours later deleted, and his use of Facebook withheld by the bot-like underlings of the social media behemoth.

An excerpt of Sessums comments:
“Matthew Dowd who holds Trump and his followers to the standards of any other politician and hers. But as those who do hold Trump to the standards of any other person have found out on Twitter and other social media outlets these Trump followers are a nasty fascistic lot. Dowd is lucky he didn’t get death threats like Kurt Eichenwald. Or maybe he did and refuses to acknowledge them. If you voted for Trump and continue to support him and you think you are better than these bigoted virulent trolls, you’re not. Your silence enables them just as it did in the racist campaign that Trump and Bannon ran. In fact, hiding behind a civilized veneer in your support of fascism I consider more dangerous. We’re past describing you as collaborators at this point. That lets you off the hook. You’re Russo-American oligarchical theocratic fascists.”

Judging a Book by its Cover: Rainbow Awards' best...and some others that aren't

The book cover for my new short story collection, Forty Wild Crushes, is among the many, many candidates for the Rainbow Awards annual competition. Please vote for mine, which features an original painting by Kenney Mencher, a Palo Alto-based artist.

The contest is run by the prolific blogger, book reviewer and author Eliza Rolle. Her books include the encyclopedic yet totally readable Days of Love, which chronicles the lives of hundreds of LGBT couples though history.

Along with reviewing many books, (including a few of mine), Rolle also runs the annual multi-category Rainbow Awards, which generates a lot of attention for the many LGBT-themed books published each year.