Tuesday, January 22, 2013

New Magnus Title: Passionate Attenion of an Interesting Man

 
Guest post by Donald Weise, Editorial Director of Magnus/RAB

I am thrilled to announce that Ethan Mordden’s Passionate Attention of an Interesting Man is now available and I couldn’t be more excited to finally see this knock-out fiction collection in print. For the past thirty years Ethan has been one of our most widely-read and critically-acclaimed writers. I’ve worked with so many notable gay novelists, from Edmund White and John Rechy to Dennis Cooper and Samuel R. Delany, but I’ve not had the pleasure of working with Ethan until now.

Like a lot of guys my age, Ethan’s story collections Buddies and Everybody Loves You were books I read while coming out and for years after. The distinctive Stonewall Inn Editions logo on the spines was something that jumped out on any bookshelf, announcing “gay fiction!” to anyone in the know. At the time this really mattered, since this pre-dated the Internet when identifying LGBT books in stores was more of a challenge. Ethan was one of the first authors, if not the first, in this groundbreaking imprint from St. Martin’s. That’s just one reason why publishing him all this time later is especially meaningful to me.

More than anything, though, The Passionate Attention of an Interesting Man is a clever, fun, sexy read. It consists of a brand new novella and four stories not available elsewhere. While the collection isn’t erotica as one might hope from the title, it’s still hot!—or as Ethan describes it, “Every one of the stories deals with the relationship of a dominant and submissive male, the daddy and his ‘boy,’ the top man and the vassal.” In the novella, for example, a big blond cop and a sophisticated journalist move in together: handsome, sexy, hungry...and straight. As time passes, they become trapped in each other's emotional lives in a symbiotic friendship. The cop grows intense and possessive till, one night, on the edge of violence, the two men must confront the nature of their relationship.
One reason I love Ethan’s fiction so much is the humor. He’s an understated but effective comic writer, which is why the humor works so well. In one of my favorite passages, a character says, “In the first place, Jutter Flexx was not a porn star. He had done some modeling for Colt, and he did become one of their most exploited figures, with his own solo calendar. In the gay world, this is like being elected President of France.” How can I not love a brilliant line like that?

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Best Vampire Steampunk Novel EVER! AVALON REVISITED by O.M. Grey

I read this book when Louise Fury was a newbie agent.  She came into the office breathless and told me she had found a masterpiece.  I decided I'd better read this so-called work of genius, since my name would be going out on it as she submitted it under our agency stationery.  I started after she left, was hooked after the first chapter, and  read it straight though the night.

Now, we shopped it around. Editors LOVED it and called and said they wanted to throw money at us, but then came back and asked why the book had to be in the male vampire's voice.  Couldn't the author change it?  But it didn't work that way because Arthur Tudor is as memorable a vampire son-of-a-bitch as the Vampire Lestat.

They also wanted us to lengthen the book, because it was just about 50,000 words.

So O.M. Grey did that.

And then I started a new publishing company and I begged Louise Fury to let me buy the book.

And she let me because I believe in it so much.

Here it is.

Please, please, please "like" it on Amazon , http://www.amazon.com/Avalon-Revisited-ebook/dp/B00B1J60IK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1358311811&sr=8-2&keywords=avalon+revisited ….
(where it's only $5.99) and you get the extra 20,000 words and the first chapter of the second book in this series, which should blow your panties off.

If you want to buy it from our website, please go here, http://riverdaleavebooks.com/books/20/avalon-revisited-a-novel-of-vampires-murder-and-sex-in-victorian-england

If you are a reviewer, please request it at NetGalley and give us a review.

Look for the Give-away coming soon at Goodreads.

And tell your friends.

Let's make this into the best-seller it should be.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

4 Internship Positions Available

As a graduate of NYU's journalism program (and a participant in the internship program way back then at Savvy Magazine), I would  like to offer these,  internships to college students. 

Riverdale Avenue Books has 4 internship positions available.

The office is in Riverdale in the Bronx. Each position comes with a desk and a computer, and the intern will get the most out of it ifs/he comes to the office once a week.  This is a new expanding epublishing company, so there's also the possibility that I may hire someone as the company grows, so I would prefer someone who can get to the office.  I have hired many of my interns in the past.

I taught journalism and editing at NYU, and have worked with their internship program, as well as two long distance college internships, so I can oversee this internship for college credit, if that works for the intern.

Assistant to the Publisher - all around assistant helping with writing blurbs, author bios, setting up blog tours and author interviews, presentations, panel discussions, reading and evaluating query letters.

Assistant to Editorial Director of Magnus Books - this is our LGBT imprint.  Similar duties as above with more reading and evaluating.

P.R. Assistant - finding new outlets for news about our books and authors, overseeing the company blog, scheduling interviews and perhaps writing drafts of press releases.  We do have a p.r. firm.

Social Media Intern - organizing the company's social media - twitter, facebook, Pinterest, Goodreads - and growing it.

Please contact lori@riverdaleavebooks.com