Alyson

A FEW WORDS WITH SCOTT SHERMAN

2008-08-18T16:29:19-04:00

On the same day I learned that Alyson Books was moving up the publication date of my novel, First You Fall, a funny, sexy mystery about a male hustler living in New York City, I was elected president of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) at my son’s elementary school.

The contrast was a little stark.

So, what’s a nice suburban dad like me doing writing a steamy mystery about a young hottie who practices the world’s oldest profession?

Let’s start with my deep love of mystery novels. One of my favorite series is by Janet Evanovich. Her Stephanie Plum books feature a plucky, often inept investigator who spends more time on the men in her life than she does solving her cases. I always enjoy how her books combine mystery, humor and romance.

Someone, I thought, should write a gay character whose investigative adventures are as funny and romantic as Stephanie’s. So, I did.

But first, I had to figure out what my lead would do for a living. Stephanie is a bounty hunter living in Trenton, NJ. Her job brings her into contact with a bunch of amusing and eccentric personalities. What could my protagonist do that would lead him to similarly interesting characters?

The idea I kept returning to was: Why not make him a hustler? It’s a profession that’s fascinated me since 1977 when, at the tender age of fifteen, a made-for-TV movie changed my life.

It was called Alexander, the Other Side of Dawn. It’s predecessor, Dawn, came out the year before. Eve Plumb, who, distractingly, I had grown up with as “Jan Brady,” played the titular Dawn, a teenaged runaway who becomes a prostitute.

At the time, there were a bunch of telefilms like this that were meant as cautionary tales for young people who might otherwise fall into lives of alcoholism, drug abuse or crime. The baby-faced Linda Blair usually played the lead, but sometimes other career-challenged former child stars stepped into the brink.

In any case, I loved Dawn. Even as a young teen, I recognized campy melodrama. Like most of the movies of this type, it only served to make me more interested in the illicit activities it decried.

Imagine, then, my delight when I heard that a sequel was being made about Dawn’s boyfriend, who goes to LA to find his missing girlfriend only to, you guessed it, wind up as a prostitute himself. A male prostitute! Who sleeps with other men! My fifteen-year old heart almost beat out of its chest.

I don’t remember much about the movie, but I remember the lesson I learned - that the best way for a kid like me to get laid was to peddle his papayas on the street. Alexander, The Other Side of Dawn was like my instructional manual for The World of Gay.

I’m glad I never actually worked up the nerve to turn tricks. In real life, hooking’s a job for grown ups. But there’s a part of me that remains fascinated by the romantic allure of the male hustler. Why don’t we see more of them?

The archetype of the female prostitute with a heart of gold is well established in books and movies like Pretty Woman, Risky Business, The Owl and the Pussycat and even The Happy Hooker. Depictions of male sex workers, on the other hand, are somewhat harder to come by (I’m sure there’s a pun in that somewhere, but let’s not go there, OK?).

So, I explored that role in my first novel. Kevin Connor, the protagonist of First You Fall, is a smart, savvy sex worker who provides a valuable service to his customers. He’s also sweet, funny and yes; he has a heart of gold.

So, in reality, while I may be a long-partnered father of two living in the suburbs, volunteering at my Unitarian Universalist church and serving on the PTA, in First You Fall, I got to enjoy a very different kind of life. If you’re in the mood for a funny, sexy mystery about a young guy with the kind of job they don’t prepare you for in college (well, at least not on purpose), you can, too.

If you do, will you let me know what you think? You can find me at www.scottshermanonline.com. Thanks!

Mike Pingel Author event!

2008-08-11T13:33:35-04:00

Photos from Mike Pingel's author event at A Different Light Bookstore in LA!

Mike with Q Guide artist Glenn Hanson!

Mike with actor Dylan Fox from "The Lair"

Mike with designer Keoki Tavares from "RIOT"

Alyson Spotlight: Morgan Hunt

2008-07-29T15:07:27-04:00

Morgan Hunt enjoys redefining the mystery genre by walking a fine line of murder and comedy. In the latest installment of the Tess Camillo Mystery series, FOOL ON THE HILL (Alyson Books/February 2008/ 14.95 trade paperback original) Tess returns to solve the murder of folk-rocker Cody Crowne, whose body was found crucified in a San Diego park the morning after his concert. Tess takes the investigation to the buzzing streets of Hollywood where she confronts the most vicious creatures of all: Music producers. But does Tess have the strength to confront the murder before she faces a similar fate?

In a candid interview, Morgan sits down with Alyson to talk about FOOL ON THE HILL, surviving breast cancer, and which Golden Girls she thinks her characters are.

There seems to be a difference in the ways Tess and her roommate, Lana, solve mysteries. Which do you think is the better approach?

HUNT: Tess and her housemate Lana are very much an [odd couple]. Tess is very bright, very analytical and logical. She majored in math in college so when she approaches solving a murder mystery she digs up clues, she does background searches, she interviews suspects. And Lana is just a total space cadet and lets ideas bubble out from her intuition. She doesn’t care about reading police reports like Tess does and she doesn’t care about all the history of all the suspects. She just floats along the surface and every once in awhile hears a piece of information that resonates something for her and adds her little insight to Tess's. In each book it always takes both of them in some way collaborating together to solve the mystery.

Tess seems like a character that is close to your heart. Do you find any qualities of yourself written into her personality?

HUNT: I decided to draw on my own life for the character of Tess. What this mystery series is really all about is because I became fascinated with how much fun it would be to play off two extreme personalities living under one roof. I think most of us have internal battles…we fight our own hearts vs. mind in our personal life. I thought how interesting it would be to personify that and put these two characters who are their personifications but I try to make them as real and as life like as possible but I intentionally made them be opposite. Its my way of expressing my personal philosophy that none of us is in this world to go at it alone. We need each other. In a sense I think of this as the Golden Girls who solve mysteries. Sort of like having Dorothy and Rose under one roof. Except give Dorothy Blanches’ libido. And Tess definitely has that kind of libido.

We love the Golden Girls here at Alyson! In Sticky Fingers, the romance element was played down quite a bit. Will we be seeing more romance in this one?

HUNT: In the first book I had her undergo something I personally went through which is breast cancer diagnosis and reconstruction surgery. I didn’t do a lot with romantic interest in the first book because, trust me, when you get hit with all that diagnosis and surgery, thinking about sex is not the first thing on your mind. I intentionally set the second book a year later and she has been healed, recovered. She’s feeling good again, she’s strong. She wants a little fling and some fun in her life. And she meets a woman at a party that was hosted by a music producer in Hollywood. I don’t want to give too much away.

That’s incredible you create a breast cancer heroine. How big do you think breast cancer is to women today?

HUNT: Depends on the cup size laughs. I wanted to have a heroine who survived the same things I had. I wanted to write a book that was so much fun that somebody who was in the same situation as I was in, recovering from a surgery in breast cancer could pick up this book and laugh and could just get distracted. Just take their minds into a different world and make them laugh. That was a big part of it.

That’s a beautiful and unique message for a mystery series…

HUNT: Another part of it was to put a message out there that breast cancer survivors live every single day aware of the possibility for reoccurrence of the cancer. It's part of who we are, but it doesn’t have to be a melodramatic part of who we are. Everyone has problems; everybody has something they deal with. We all have these things, but there wasn’t a whole lot out there in the mystery realm that showed it from a breast cancer survivor perspective so I felt I had something to contribute.

Shifting gears for a second, what other qualities separate this mystery from other mysteries in the market?

HUNT: It is what I would consider a romp. It is a romp of a mystery. It’s very breezy. I wrote it to provide just a good summer beach read for the intelligent reader. I don’t write down to my readers. You need to understand certain cultural references and historical references have a decent head on your shoulders to really understand the books. I do that intentionally and I think people appreciate it. Reviewers have commented on the fact I don’t write down to my readers and they like that.

What are some challenges that go with mystery writing?

HUNT: The biggest challenge is to keep things fresh. Often mysteries tend to become very formulaic. There are some basic formulas that I think mystery writers should follow once you’ve established a certain kind of genre. If your book is a whodunit type book, and mine tend to follow that, I try to give enough clues so the reader can solve the mystery from the clues I’ve give in the book. I think the challenge is for the writer to make that formula never get stale. Keep it fresh, keep it exciting. I like that challenge, I enjoy that challenge.

And how do you as an author do that?

HUNT: One of the things this book is about—and it is no secret cause its in the back cover— is that the murder method is a crucifixion. And that’s something you don’t pick up everyday and read a book about a murder done by crucifixion so that in itself is a way of keeping it fresh. The other thing about writing mysteries that can be difficult—especially for a novice mystery writer—is at some point when you’re writing a murder mystery you’re going to start getting in touch with the evil of the world, the darker sides of life. And I think for each writer you need kind of deal with that in yourself and reflect on that and come to terms with it and understand we all have a dark side.

How do you deal with your dark side?

HUNT: I bring my dark side out on ink on paper. Some people bring their dark side out on blood splattered wall. So I prefer my way of dealing with my dark side.

Janine Avril on here! podcast

2008-06-17T15:38:20-04:00

While in her twenties Janine Avril learned a shocking family secret--a secret that her family created to protect her from the truth about her past much in the same way a parent uses a nightlight to protect their child from the dark. When Janine was twelve, growing up in the New York suburb of Roslyn, New York, her mother was diagnosed with a deadly cancer and died three years later. While a junior at Cornell University, Janine learned that her father was terminally ill. Five years later she receieved an unexpected phone call from her uncle, forcing her to re-evaluate her childhood and to not accept things as they appeared on the surface.

Below, Janine talks to here! about her family secret and memoir. Click here to hear what she has to say about the dark corners of her past she had to explore and the illuminating truth she discovered.

http://www.heretv.com/APodcastDetailPage.php?id=1

Submission call for Ultimate Gay & Lesbian Erotica Stories 2009

2008-06-17T14:19:02-04:00

Submission call for Ultimate Gay & Lesbian Erotica Stories 2009

Alyson Books is pleased to announce that we are currently seeking stories for both our Ultimate Gay Erotica Stories 2009 and Ultimate Lesbian Erotica Stories 2009 anthologies.

There is no specific theme, so just let your imagination run rapid. We want only the hottest and provocative LGBT stories that show a side of human attraction in its rawest and truest form.

Please submit all original stories to paul.florez@planetoutinc.com with name and pseudonym, as well as contact info and an author biography. In the subject line, add the name of the anthology for which your story is intended.

Story length: 3,000 – 4,000 words
Deadline date: July 18th, 2008

Boys in the Band

2008-06-11T15:12:36-04:00

The Boys in the Band

A Play by Mart Crowley

40th Anniversary Edition

Join us for a book signing/discussion with playwrights Mart Crowley, Tony Kushner, David Greenspan, and other guests. Moderator Peter Filichia (The Star-Ledger).

Portions of the event are to be filmed for Making the Boys, a feature-length documentary on the importance of the play, by Crayton Robey (4th Row Films).

Thursday, June 12th at 7:30pm

Barnes & Noble Booksellers

Lincoln Triangle

1972 Broadway

New York, NY 10023

212-595-6859

The Boys in the Band in 1968 was the first commercially successful play to reveal gay life to mainstream America. Alyson Books is proud to release a special 40th-anniversary edition of the play, which includes an original introduction by playwright Tony Kushner, along with previously unpublished photographs of the playwright and the original cast of the play.

Lambda Literary Awards

2008-06-11T15:09:23-04:00

Alyson Books would like to congratulate our authors who were recipients for 20th Annual Lambda Literary Awards!

LGBT SCI-FI/FANTASY/HORROR
The Dust of Wonderland, Lee Thomas
(Alyson Books)- WINNER

GAY DEBUT FICTION
A Push and a Shove, Christopher Kelly
(Alyson Books)- WINNER

MEN's MYSTERY
Murder in the Rue Chartres, Greg Herren
(Alyson Books)- WINNER

Alyson Books on Myspace

2008-06-10T11:57:43-04:00

Visit Alyson Books on Myspace.com!

www.myspace.com/alysonbooks

What Do You Call That Guy?

2008-06-10T10:14:05-04:00

By: Neil Plakcy

Writing about the issue of gay marriage in MAHU FIRE made me think about the words that gay men use when we talk about that special guy. I don’t mean those little terms of endearment—sweetie, honey, baby. I wonder what you say when introducing him, or referring to him in conversation. Because the term you use says a lot about who you are.

It seems that the terms we use parallel those straight women use at the start—a date, then a boyfriend, for example. But then things change.

I know a lot of gay men in their fifties, sixties and above who say things like “My lover and I lived in New York then,” or “Joe and his lover came to dinner.”

To me, the word lover carries a hint of illegitimacy. I think of married men and women who take lovers on the side. Maybe that’s why that term was adopted so many years ago, when gay men were first fighting to step out of the shadows and into the mainstream of American life. They were defying convention, so the word they chose was defiant.

When I was dating, before anything got serious, I used the term boyfriend, even though my friends were far from being boys. There was a light, casual tone to that term. It called up the innocence of youth—high school dating, furtive kisses in cars, gossip about who had a crush on who.

The term significant other is too antiseptic for me, reminding me of tax forms. There was a little rhyme coined when the census first tried to identify same-sex couples: persons of the same sex sharing living quarters, or POSSLQ:
“Come live with me, and I with you,
And I will be your POSSLQ.”

It’s also clunky to introduce someone that way. “This is Marc, my POSSLQ.” Sometimes, in joking, I’ll call him my insignificant other—but never when he’s around. (I also sometimes call him the Jewish American Prince of Darkness, but you know I’m kidding when I say that, right?)

I’m most comfortable with partner. We’ve created a partnership, I believe, sharing our home, our lives, our hopes and fears and dreams. And our dog, though he doesn’t care what we call each other as long as there are treats involved for him.

My cousin, though, has been using the term husband for years, long before it was ever legal anywhere. He’s a respected journalist, so I know he pays attention to words and their meanings. At the time he first started using it, husband was a term full of political weight. He and his husband had a commitment ceremony, so he felt he was entitled to use that term.

But today, with the legalization of same sex marriage in Massachusetts, and in certain foreign countries, should we reserve that term for those who have been legally joined? My mother’s cousin, a widow in her seventies, began dating, and then living with, a widower of a similar age. After a while, she began introducing the man as her husband, probably because she was embarrassed that they were “living in sin.”

They weren’t legally wed, any more than my cousin and his husband. But to me, Lucille was lying when she called Stan her husband—because she had the opportunity to marry him, and chose not to. If same-sex marriage becomes legal in Florida, will I start to feel that Ric and Steve should take that formal step, if they want to keep using the term?

In MAHU FIRE, my hero, Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa’aka, begins to date a guy who might be a keeper. By the end of the book, you might call them boyfriends. And who knows, if gay marriage becomes a reality, they might even be husbands someday.

One of the many things that gay and lesbian people have learned from the civil rights struggle is that words matter. In the choice of what you call that guy you love, our words matter just as much.

Neil Plakcy is the Lambda-nominated author of Mahu Surfer; his new book is Mahu Fire, which Publishers Weekly calls “engrossing… a sharp whodunit.”

Sex and the City Author Event!

2008-06-02T10:40:47-04:00

Join Alyson Books and author Robb Pearlman at BookCourt Bookstore this Saturday, June 14th at 6pm to discuss all things Sex and the City but most of all come for the FREE Cosmos.

163 Court St.,Brooklyn, NY 11201(nr. Pacific St.) 718-875-3677

The Sex and the City movie opened at number on its opening weekend. Anyone suprised? Now that you've seen the movie, re-live the series with Alyson's Q Guide to Sex and the City, an essential accessory for anyone going out on the town or staying in to watch their favorite episode. Get the inside scoop, go behind the scenes, learn fun facts, and tantalizing trivia. BUY NOW and recall why Sex and the City will forever be your true love.

FOUR FABULOUS WOMEN conquer Manhattan in this HBO classic series. Sex and the City redefined the concept of female empowerment and showed that being single in the Big Apple meant having a pair of Manolo Blahniks strapped to your feet and a savory Cosmopolitan in your hand.

Author Robb Pearlman is an editor of Pop culture and entertainment books. He currently lives in New York.