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JIM PROVENZANO
Jim Provenzano - Lambda Literary Award-winning author of Now I'm Here,
Every Time I Think of You, Message of Love, PINS and other novels
Lessons in Teenage Biology a novella
A lot can happen in two days. For Tom Mollicelli, passing out in gym class, being saved from a bully by his sister, getting drunk at a party, going camping with his straight crush, and almost ditching a speech tournament, all lead up to his first kiss from a guy. Set in a small Ohio town at the peak of the 1970s, Lessons in Teenage Biology offers a searingly honest depiction of a gay youth struggling to just get through another day or two.
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Lambda Literary Award-winning novelist Jim Provenzano brings a swift wit to his latest story, which is actually his first. Hand-typed on a manual typewriter in 1986, the author of seven subsequent novels and other works recently rediscovered his early novella in a box of documents, then scanned and converted the pages. While expanding the story, he retained its sense of urgent eccentricity. While fitting for the Young Adult genre, Tom’s wild two days, a somewhat autobiographical coming of age tale, will spark a nostalgic light for readers who remember teen life in the 1970s.
$10. Paperback, out June 1 - $4.99 ebook out May 6
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My seventh novel, Finding Tulsa,
published in September
2020 with Palm Drive Publishing.
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Check out the rave advance quotes
from some of my favorite authors
and filmmakers., and published
reviews More Info here.
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Hidden away for more than half a century, my late uncle’s novel,
The Lost of New York, is finally a book (May 6, 2022).
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So, why did I task myself with the arduous process of converting a faded stack of chapters into an actual book? Mostly because it fascinated me. I also felt a sense of familial loyalty, seeing as my late uncle, John “Butch” Rigney, Jr., preceded me as the first writer in the family, albeit unpublished. His hand-typed writing made its way across country –twice– before being published. The gritty and sad urban tale, set in early 1960s Bronx, New York, may be unfinished, but is a captivating time capsule.
It’s also a revealing roman a clef of Butch’s own life, cut too short in 1967.
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Audiobooks
Every Time I Think of You
and Message of Love
narrated
by Michael Wetherbee
Now I’m Here
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“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, pianist, composer, author of 88x50
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In “Now I’m Here,” a Queen show serves as backdrop to a burgeoning romance: “Brian May’s guitar solos curled about the songs with a rococo flair, and induced by both his sudden passion for David and the pot haze, it seemed to Joshua that May’s flowing sleeves floated like wings. The two boys were entranced…”
In addition to conveying the power of listening to music, Provenzano captures the intensity of making it: When Joshua, a piano prodigy and would-be rock star, sets fingers to keyboard, Provenzano beautifully renders his passionate character’s combination of fugue state and frenzy. (Read more)
“There are so many levels of nuance to Provenzano’s story. Reading about the
clever ways in which they find to spend time together is inspiring and touching.
It’s an exciting voyage of discovery, for them and for readers alike. When the story takes its more serious turn, Every Time I Think of You becomes a tale of heartbreak, courage, and healing. It's a remarkable, uplifting story.” – Windy City Times
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