Forty Wild Crushes stories by Jim Provenzano

Forty Wild Crushes cover art: Kenney Mencher

Catching up on this old blog after forgetting numerous password, and kinds not caring, but anyway; three acclaimed books later...


2016: Forty Wild Crushes
 A pretty neat collection of stories, 
some which I had to scan from printouts, 
the old Word versions kaput.
It got some nice reviews,
including this, from Edge Media:


"Jim Provenzano, author of the Lambda Literary Award-winning romance novel, "Message of Love," assembles sixteen new and previously published short stories in "Forty Wild Crushes," an enticing, poignant and highly engaging collection that presents men and relationships of all ages and from all walks of life, some of whom we can all relate to and others we would just as soon avoid.

The author starts things off on a lighter note with the titular entry, a terribly clever and particularly amusing recollection of fourth grade adventures, told in the first person and complete with footnotes containing a brief history of each identified "crush." Those eighties children who remember the song "88 Lines about 44 Women" will especially appreciate this one.

The more serious subject of divorce is tackled in "U-Haul," the touching portrait of a young suburban boy from an all-white neighborhood adjusting to life in the city, and a divorced dad prepares for a visit with his son in the tear-jerker, "Quality Time."

AIDS is touched upon in "Brush with Fame," an entertaining tale about an artist involuntarily reminded of his former relationship with a musician, and in "Funeral Rights," which reads almost like a journal entry of family history, as the narrator fondly remembers his Uncle Manny and cousin, Chris.

Select stories that are noticeably brief but still pack an emotional punch include the haunting "Split Lip," where a bashing victim recounts his attack, "Reps," a brilliant exploration of the health club cruising ritual, and "Un Coin de Table," a rousing retelling of a French sex club fantasy.

Because I'm a theater fan, I couldn't get enough of Brad from "A Toast to Rocky," who thinks back to his days at Kent State in 1979 and his infatuation with fellow performer, the scantily clad Todd (as "Rocky" in the cult classic), and then there's the audacious high school teen in "The Lair of Light" who spends more time in the lighting booth than he ever anticipated just to get close to his crush, Dick.

There's something for everyone among the compelling stories in "Forty Wild Crushes," featuring colorful characters, rich story lines and profound messages."

I thank Chris V. for that lovely review, and reproduce it because it's buried under a lot of other web results for this book that, because of new distribution conglomos, is available everywhere.

Apparently, it's even available at Wal-Mart.
So, my participation in the  revolutionary act of red state queer infiltration is a virtual success.

Also, enjoy music playlists from a few of my novels,
and original theme songs performed by Eric Himan and Dudley Sanders.

PINS, the audiobook on Audible

Patron saints, headlocks, 

thrash metal, crash diets, 

dogpiles, nutpulls and only the occasional assault. 

PINS, my acclaimed debut novel,

narrated by Paul Fleschner. 

www.Audible.com and www.Amazon.com

2012: Buh-bye.

 The year in review, edited by Ryan James Yezak.

Solsticyclizen

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Evolve and Learn Before You Die

Spencer Cox, one of more eloquent, sassy and self-taught scholars of the AIDS activist community, died today. If you didn't know him, I feel sad for you. I feel sad, period.

Here is the ACT UP obituary.

Here is Treatment Action Group's In Memoriam.

Here is Spencer's eloquent essay in POZ Magazine, "I See Dead People."

Here is a Towleroad post about Spencer (replete with inane comments from a few total jerks whom Spencer could have withered with a single remark!)

An example: "So World AIDS Day is on Saturday -- has everyone finished their shopping?"
 
Here is a Pink News obituary. Excerpt:

Spencer Cox, one of the most significant AIDS activists in America has died aged 44 of AIDS related causes.

Fa la la la la...

...and buy my books. Rather fitting for the holidays, doncha think?

...and scene.

Bikes of New York

Why do you hate cyclists?

Slate explores the facts and figures of this antipathy towards cyclizens. You hate them when they disobey traffic laws. You hate them when they cut you off. But did you know that cyclist-caused accidents have dramatically decreased in the past several years?

A recent study by researchers at Rutgers and Virginia Tech supports that hypothesis. Data from nine major North American cities showed that, despite the total number of bike trips tripling between 1977 and 2009, fatalities per 10 million bike trips fell by 65 percent. While a number of factors contribute to lower accident rates, including increased helmet usage and more bike lanes, less aggressive bicyclists probably helped, too.

Vocality

My BARtab interview with Dead Can Dance vocalist Lisa Gerrard, HERE.

Booked

Oh, by the way, you may have noticed a dearth of posts here, if you check this blog. I've pretty much focused on the new one, jimprovenzano.blogspot.com, which includes posts about my Lambda Literary Award-winning novel (I love typing that), Every Time I Think of You.

Please go there for updates.

And please buy my books, on Amazon.com (paperback and Kindle), Barnes and Noble (paperback and Nook), and select independent bookstores.

Evolved

“Over the course of several years, as I talked to friends and family and neighbors. When I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I about those soldiers or airmen or Marines, sailors, who are out their fighting on my behalf yet feel constrained, even now that don’t ask don’t tell is gone, because they’re not able to commit themselves in a marriage; At a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm I think same sex couples should be able to get married.”

- President Barack Obama

ABC News

Huffington Post

Revolution

MOSCOW — As a bloody skirmish between police and opposition activists in central Moscow was drawing to a close on Sunday a small boy on a tiny bicycle pedaled through the crowd and approached a line of hulking riot police.

He sat there for a moment, balancing on his training wheels, staring at the menacing troops who were decked out in blue camouflage uniforms and full riot gear, nightsticks at the ready.

A group of protesters who had been heckling the cops began jeering, “Here’s the guy that will storm the Kremlin. Be ready boys! Here he comes!”

Julia Ioffe, the Moscow correspondent for The New Yorker and Foreign Policy magazine, happened to be standing right behind him. She whipped out her iPhone and snapped a picture which she tweeted out to her over 6,000 followers with the caption “Russia’s Tianamen (sic) image.”

Read more on ABC News.

8

Watch the live taped staged reading of Lance dustin Black's "8," with Martin Sheen, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Jane Marsh, Kevin Bacon, Chris Colfer, Matt Bomer and many more stellar actors!

Life. Cycle.

Sh*t Cyclists Say

Shelved?

Lots of people are talking about who the online book shopping experience has hurt independent bookstores.

For example, Toronto's Glad Day Bookstore is facing its end after decades of service as a pioneering store.

The Toronto Star reports that John Scythes, who bought the store from founder Jearld Moldenhauer in 1991, has put a sign on the counter inviting anyone interested in buying it to contact him. According to a staff member, he began looking about a month ago, reaching out first to friends and customers first.

Glad Day first opened in 1970, operating out of Moldenhauer’s apartment in downtown Toronto, and was a hub for the city’s burgeoning queer community. (Giovanni’s Room, the oldest gay bookstore in the U.S., opened in 1973.)

So, it was with particular concern that I developed Every Time I Think of You and its marketing campaign, as well as its sales availability.

Well, now you can buy it from Giovanni's Room, the historic LGBT bookstore in Philadelphia. It's the oldest bookstore in the USA, and it holds a particular place in my heart. Giovanni's Room hosted the first reading of PINS, my first novel, and it snowed that day, most of Philly's gay wrestling team came by, plus it was my birthday.

Anyway, there won't be an East Coast reading tour this time around. So buy my books and others through their website and they get a share of the sale. (Sure, it's still the big conglomo I published it with, but you get the idea.)

Every Time I Think of You, now at Giovanni's Room's online store!

Every Time I Think of You

It's a new book, it's a new blog, it's a new day ... and I'm feelin' fine.

Every Time I Think of You, my new novel.

Paperback ($14.95; 260 pages)

Kindle edition ($6.99)

Nook edition ($6.99)

Trailer music performed by Eric Himan!

It's Time

This clip has had nearly 3 million views worldwide. Julian Shaw, the guy in the video, is not only cute, but an accomplished filmmaker.

Eat Me!

'Dark' Matter

My second interview with Thomas Jane!

(The first one never got published because I misplaced the cassette with my interview after a screening of Stander in 2009. D'oh! I found it later, but here's the new one).

Taking a break from his role as a male hustler on the HBO series Hung, Thomas Jane will be at the Castro Theatre this Friday for a rare screening of his 2009 directorial debut, Dark Country, a noir-horror 3D thriller in which he also stars.

Jane shared his lifelong appreciation of the noir and horror film genres in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter.

"As a first film, I wanted to explore some of the things that inspired me to get into movies in the first place," said Jane in a phone interview from Los Angeles. "I used to watch The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits on TV as a kid; Saturday matinee movies, EC comic books with the twist ending; they heavily influenced me as a young man. So I wanted to tackle something that would pay homage to that. Dark Country also merges horror with noir, another genre I love. As a teenager, my other friends were listening to Wham and Prince while I was reading Dashiel Hammett."

It was at that time that the young high school student and aspiring actor was swooped up from his Bethesda, Maryland upbringing by a roving Indian film crew. At 16, Jane starred as the non-Indian male romantic lead in the odd 1987 film Padamati Sandhya Ragam that is viewable on YouTube.

"I played myself at 16 and 40," said Jane. "They put a wig and mustache on me and I phonetically learned Telegu (yes, that's Jane speaking his own lines, although they're often dubbed)."

Living in India for half a year, Jane traveled around the United States with the film crew in vans and RVs on a guerrilla filmmaking trek. He recalls the difficulties, wonderful meals and camaraderie of the project, calling it "one of the most formative experiences of my career."

READ MORE at www.ebar.com