New book announcement/statistics for June

MANIFOLD PRESS is on its travels again today, so we're bringing you both the new book announcements and the month-end statistics a fraction early. Our two books for 1 August publication are Julie Bozza's BUTTERFLY HUNTER and Jane Elliot's ABOVE ALL. Julie is absolutely indefatigable and is turning out new work at a truly phenomenal speed; BUTTERFLY HUNTER is the tale of two young men brought together by chance - or is it? - by a gentle but nonetheless life-changing adventure in the Australian outback. Jane is returning to us after a taking break to deal with other matters, and ABOVE ALL, her book this time, focuses on a clash of temperaments between eccentric genius Jasper and Brian, the homeless man he takes responsibility for after an accident brings them together. We are very happy once more to have two such diverse and intriguing books to present to you, and we're certain that they will both prove to be very popular! To conclude, here are the sales statistics for June; there was no overall best-seller from the website this month, with UNSPOKEN and THE WALLED GARDEN selling in precisely equal numbers - which is just as it should be! Average response time was respectable enough at three hours and 48 minutes.

First review of 'Unspoken'

The good people at Speak Its Name have done us proud with another carefully-considered review, this time by Michael Joseph who reports on R.A. Padmos's new book UNSPOKEN.

We're bound to agree with the reviewer when he says:

This is a hard book to categorize, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes it hard to suggest who the audience might be. It’s hard to call it romance, given the angst-ridden nature of the main character. You certainly wouldn’t call it erotica. The descriptions of the men’s many sexual encounters are as quick and furtive as the encounters themselves. It’s decidedly un-erotic. As history, much of it rings true...

It's far from a straightforward book, as the reviewer says, but we believe it provides a fascinating and valuable insight into a little-known aspect of gay history.

Statistics for May

There was no overall best-selling title in May; to our delight, UNSPOKEN and THE WALLED GARDEN sold in precisely equal numbers - and we can also report that FOX HUNT has been selling like hot cakes through our distribution partners. Average response time was a steady five hour and 39 minutes. Both the books for publication on 1 August are now back from their proof-readers and we are ready to move on to the next stage with them. Meanwhile, progress is also good on our titles for 1 November publication and we are already starting to make some tentative plans for next February - where does the time go? (Actually, we can testify that we spend at least 90% of it sitting at various keyboards ... )

First review of 'The Walled Garden'

Erastes at Speak Its Name has just posted the first review of F.M. Parkinson's THE WALLED GARDEN, which we're sorry to see is a little less than wildly enthusiastic. However impressing a specialist reader of historical m/m fiction was always going to be a challenge, and we hope that in due course F.M.'s book will find its audience amongst those more general readers who enjoy their fiction with a leisurely pace.

Hop Against Homophobia draw winner

We put all the names in a hat - well, it was actually a box - and we asked Cruncher, our accountant, to close his eyes and pick one out. The winner was Gaycrow, who entered the draw via the Press's LJ; we'll be contacting her immediately to find out which Manifold Press book she'd like to receive. Thank you to everyone who took part, and who helped to make this Hop so successful.

Hop Against Homophobia

Since we're taking part in the 'Hop Against Homophobia', we thought this would be a good moment to say a little about discrimination and prejudice as we've experienced them personally.

As you've probably gathered, most of the people involved in Manifold Press are significantly over the age of 21 and have been reading and writing M/M fiction for a considerable number of years. During that time we've encountered quite a lot of anti-gay sentiment, one way and another, and we've had our literary preferences described as 'dirty', 'perverted' and just about every other epithet you can imagine. Even though most of our output is not especially steamy, we are often shunted into the genres of 'erotica' or 'adult' work simply by virtue of the participants being men and the presumption that sex between men is somehow less acceptable to the general taste than heterosexual sex.

Whilst we're quite prepared to believe that the majority of the world is heterosexual - or at least thinks it is - we don't feel that in any way invalidates the lifestyles of those who are not. We've been told some utter falsehoods about gay people in the past, by people who thought they knew what they were talking about - that gay men don't kiss, for example, or that gay sex is always rough and painful and always involves violence. We hope these ill-informed views are on the decline, and we're trying to do our little bit towards promoting understanding through our books.

To us, gay men are neither disgusting creatures to be reviled nor wondrous beings to be fetishised; they're just men who happen to be gay. They live, love, laugh, work, eat and sleep just like anybody else; they have the same everyday concerns as the rest of the world - money, health, their own safety and that of others, the list is endless. That we choose to read and write about them should be of no greater importance than if we chose to read and write about cooking or art or dogs or railway engines; this is simply what we know about and what we like to do.

The prejudice encountered by M/M authors is a pale shadow of that encountered by people who are gay, although it's part of the same phenomenon. We have never understood why genuine love and affection - or indeed the honest exchange of sexual pleasure without emotional commitment - should be anybody's business but that of the people involved. We do not consider ourselves politically-minded in any way, and we are certainly not a campaigning organisation, but when we're given an opportunity like this to be part of a protest against homophobia we are only too glad to stand up and be counted.

Please comment on this post to enter a draw to receive the free Manifold Press book of your choice, the winner to be announced on 20 May.

ETA: If you have difficulty leaving a comment here, please leave one on the equivalent LJ post and we'll include them all in the same draw!

Two blog postings you may enjoy

Chris Quinton talks to F. M. Parkinson about THE WALLED GARDEN, and R.A. Padmos introduces UNSPOKEN on Fearless, Fast-paced Fiction.