Van Allen's Ecstasy by Jim Tushinski into a movie

Rob Williams (director of Role/Play, Make the Yuletide Gay, 3-Day Weekend, Back Soon and Long-Term Relationship)'s next project is The Mystic Chord, based on the novel "Van Allen's Ecstasy" by Jim Tushinski. The screenplay has won the NewDraft screenwriting competition at NewFest 2010.

Van Allen's Ecstasy by Jim Tushinski
Paperback: 200 pages
Publisher: Lethe Press (April 12, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1590212169
ISBN-13: 978-1590212165
Amazon: Van Allen's Ecstasy

What if you woke up one day and remembered nothing of your past?

Born into an extraordinarily talented family, 29-year-old Michael Van Allen is the gay son of a well-known concert pianist and an equally famous painter. All his life, he has yearned for the talent and creativity that should have been his birthright but have somehow been denied him. When he wakes up in a mental hospital, his memory gone, his former life erased, his doctor tells him of his screaming breakdown during one of his father's performances. Van Allen's Ecstasy is the story of Michael's journey in search of his former self. As he pieces together his forgotten life, Michael uncovers jealousy, obsession, and secret desires that threaten to destroy his sanity once again.

How could you rebuild your life if all you knew was what other people told you? Could you ever find your way back to being person you once were?

''Tushinski's debut novel is a harrowing and compelling descent into one man's world of interior rage, self-reconstruction, and reconciliation with the world. Tushinski's prose, bold and transformative, demands close reading, and rewards it.'' --Richard Labonte

Van Allen's Ecstasy by Jim Tushinski into a movie

Rob Williams (director of Role/Play, Make the Yuletide Gay, 3-Day Weekend, Back Soon and Long-Term Relationship)'s next project is The Mystic Chord, based on the novel "Van Allen's Ecstasy" by Jim Tushinski. The screenplay has won the NewDraft screenwriting competition at NewFest 2010.

Van Allen's Ecstasy by Jim Tushinski
Paperback: 200 pages
Publisher: Lethe Press (April 12, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1590212169
ISBN-13: 978-1590212165
Amazon: Van Allen's Ecstasy

What if you woke up one day and remembered nothing of your past?

Born into an extraordinarily talented family, 29-year-old Michael Van Allen is the gay son of a well-known concert pianist and an equally famous painter. All his life, he has yearned for the talent and creativity that should have been his birthright but have somehow been denied him. When he wakes up in a mental hospital, his memory gone, his former life erased, his doctor tells him of his screaming breakdown during one of his father's performances. Van Allen's Ecstasy is the story of Michael's journey in search of his former self. As he pieces together his forgotten life, Michael uncovers jealousy, obsession, and secret desires that threaten to destroy his sanity once again.

How could you rebuild your life if all you knew was what other people told you? Could you ever find your way back to being person you once were?

''Tushinski's debut novel is a harrowing and compelling descent into one man's world of interior rage, self-reconstruction, and reconciliation with the world. Tushinski's prose, bold and transformative, demands close reading, and rewards it.'' --Richard Labonte

"I'm From Driftwood" 50-State Story Tour: Collecting and Sharing True LGBT Stories

ABOUT WWW.IMFROMDRIFTWOOD.COM: www.ImFromDriftwood.com collects true LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) stories from all over the world--from the smallest towns to the biggest cities--to help gay youth feel not so alone. The hundreds of written stories and over 50 Video Stories (http://www.imfromdriftwood.com/new-video-stories/) range from the furtive life of a gay man living in Indiana during the ultra conservative, and unforgiving 1950s, to a clandestine underground gay-straight alliance in present day Indonesia. While some stories recount bitter memories of violence, hatred, and intolerance, most are a testament to the most common of human emotions - optimism, love, honesty, and hope. Together, these stories offer rare insight, and lend indisputable humanity to the lives of LGBT people everywhere, giving gay people young and old the world over a sense of community and a reassurance that they are not alone.

ABOUT THE ROAD TRIP: LGBT people are everywhere. IFD is going to prove it.

In September 2010, IFD Creator Nathan Manske, and Video Director and Editor Marquise Lee, will set out on a four month tour of the US, traveling by van to all 50 states (they'll fly to Alaska and Hawaii) with the goal of bringing IFD off the computer screen and into America. Along the way, they will meet the many faces of LGBT America, and through both Video Stories, Audio Stories and written word, bring their stories to the world.

Along the way, they will have Reading Events at cafes, bookstores, bars, community centers, college campuses and other venues where they will read stories from IFD and talk about the site and its purpose. They will also have days devoted to filming and recording Video Stories and Audio Stories.

They'll add a regular blog page to IFD chronicling their adventures. Marquise will film their journey and will make short YouTube videos about their progress. They will publish regular Video Webisodes as well as written updates about their journey.

To help them please follow this link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/manske/im-from-driftwood-50-state-story-tour-collecting-a

they collected more than 14.100 $ and have still 4 days to collect the remaining 900$.

Nathan Manske is the creator and editor of the LGBT, true-stories blog "I’m From Driftwood" and a freelance copywriter. He is indeed from Driftwood, Texas, but has lived in Brooklyn, New York since 2003. For creating IFD, Manske was selected as one of The Advocate's "Forty Under 40". His inclusion, along with the others on the list of "young activists, artists, and other standouts" was described by the publication as “proof the qualities that make a leader are often innate—and that the gay movement is still in good hands.” IFD also gained notable recognition from other on- and offline media outlets including The Austin Chronicle's "Best of 2009", Instinct Magazine, NPR, AfterElton, Andrew Sullivan, Towleroad, Queerty, Houston Press, and The Austin American-Statesman.

Before creating I’m From Driftwood, he spent 4 years as a full-time copywriter, working first at Hanft Raboy & Partners, then Berlin Cameron & Partners, and has fortunately been able to combine his personal passions with his profession. His Chemistry.com television commercials raised awareness as well as eyebrows by taking on eHarmony’s discriminatory policies towards gays and lesbians. eHarmony has since changed their policies. He also found a way to actually get paid for being a geek by writing the third X-Men film’s interactive website for 20th Century Fox. Other work has included Match.com, in the U.S. and the UK, Lincoln, VitaminWater, Sony, Comcast, Howard Johnson’s, Diet Pepsi, Hertz, and Showtime. Nathan received an Advertising degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

"I'm From Driftwood" 50-State Story Tour: Collecting and Sharing True LGBT Stories

ABOUT WWW.IMFROMDRIFTWOOD.COM: www.ImFromDriftwood.com collects true LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) stories from all over the world--from the smallest towns to the biggest cities--to help gay youth feel not so alone. The hundreds of written stories and over 50 Video Stories (http://www.imfromdriftwood.com/new-video-stories/) range from the furtive life of a gay man living in Indiana during the ultra conservative, and unforgiving 1950s, to a clandestine underground gay-straight alliance in present day Indonesia. While some stories recount bitter memories of violence, hatred, and intolerance, most are a testament to the most common of human emotions - optimism, love, honesty, and hope. Together, these stories offer rare insight, and lend indisputable humanity to the lives of LGBT people everywhere, giving gay people young and old the world over a sense of community and a reassurance that they are not alone.

ABOUT THE ROAD TRIP: LGBT people are everywhere. IFD is going to prove it.

In September 2010, IFD Creator Nathan Manske, and Video Director and Editor Marquise Lee, will set out on a four month tour of the US, traveling by van to all 50 states (they'll fly to Alaska and Hawaii) with the goal of bringing IFD off the computer screen and into America. Along the way, they will meet the many faces of LGBT America, and through both Video Stories, Audio Stories and written word, bring their stories to the world.

Along the way, they will have Reading Events at cafes, bookstores, bars, community centers, college campuses and other venues where they will read stories from IFD and talk about the site and its purpose. They will also have days devoted to filming and recording Video Stories and Audio Stories.

They'll add a regular blog page to IFD chronicling their adventures. Marquise will film their journey and will make short YouTube videos about their progress. They will publish regular Video Webisodes as well as written updates about their journey.

To help them please follow this link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/manske/im-from-driftwood-50-state-story-tour-collecting-a

they collected more than 14.100 $ and have still 4 days to collect the remaining 900$.

Nathan Manske is the creator and editor of the LGBT, true-stories blog "I’m From Driftwood" and a freelance copywriter. He is indeed from Driftwood, Texas, but has lived in Brooklyn, New York since 2003. For creating IFD, Manske was selected as one of The Advocate's "Forty Under 40". His inclusion, along with the others on the list of "young activists, artists, and other standouts" was described by the publication as “proof the qualities that make a leader are often innate—and that the gay movement is still in good hands.” IFD also gained notable recognition from other on- and offline media outlets including The Austin Chronicle's "Best of 2009", Instinct Magazine, NPR, AfterElton, Andrew Sullivan, Towleroad, Queerty, Houston Press, and The Austin American-Statesman.

Before creating I’m From Driftwood, he spent 4 years as a full-time copywriter, working first at Hanft Raboy & Partners, then Berlin Cameron & Partners, and has fortunately been able to combine his personal passions with his profession. His Chemistry.com television commercials raised awareness as well as eyebrows by taking on eHarmony’s discriminatory policies towards gays and lesbians. eHarmony has since changed their policies. He also found a way to actually get paid for being a geek by writing the third X-Men film’s interactive website for 20th Century Fox. Other work has included Match.com, in the U.S. and the UK, Lincoln, VitaminWater, Sony, Comcast, Howard Johnson’s, Diet Pepsi, Hertz, and Showtime. Nathan received an Advertising degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Unleashing Angel by Mel Spenser

This is probably the most “ordinary” gay paranormal romance I have ever read; when you deal with werewolves and full moon and mating rituals, well you are expecting for the story to be a bit unrealistic, for sure not to be almost a pictorial journal of your modern gay man.

At the beginning of the story Brian is just dumping is cheating boyfriend. Brian is a bit of an oddity among his friends, all party boys always searching for the last flavour of the month; Brian wants a long-term relationship, a steady boyfriend, commitment and exclusivity included. So when he is offered a 5 weeks job in rural Arizona, he takes it as a chance to break up with Sam, the cheating current boyfriend, and clean the field for when he will come back home to West Hollywood, Los Angeles, maybe then it will be the good time to find his Mr Right.

Brian is not expecting to find it in Arizona; Angel is up to his name: young, pretty and petite, he has also a clever mind to top a fine little body. Unruly dark curls and sexy tattoo in enticing places, Angel is Brian’s wet dream comes true. At the beginning the slightly younger man (29 against 22) seems not interested in Brian, but then it comes out that Angel is simply not experienced in the love games: he is still a virgin, to men or women alike. Apparently, even if now Angel is studying at Caltech, near Los Angeles, having spent all his life in a small town where he was the only gay guys deprived him of a lot of chances. Then maybe the little detail that Angel is a werewolf and he will undergo his first shift once he will have sex, well maybe dumped his mood to try it with the first one passing near him.

While I clearly understand what Brian finds in Angel, and why he is interested in the guy, I think Angel was more interested in having the experience and less with whom, at least at the beginning. I had the impression that: a) Angel was at home, same small town with no gay men in the neighbourhood b) Angel had really nothing to do for all the summer c) Brian was there and willing.

There is indeed a bit of rush from Brian’s side, wanting to touch home as soon as possible, and almost trying to bind Angel in a relationship without even the guy knowing it. Even if not so young in age, Angel is indeed young at being in a relationship, and he would be probably happy to have boyfriends like relationship more than committed partners. Until they are alone in the woods, there is really no difference between them and what they want and it’s interesting to see them amidst the gay community of WeHo: Angel is a fish out of water, and suddenly the age gap between Brian and him is wider, probably even more than what is actually. The little interlude in the WeHo community is nice, and it gave you the idea of how an apparently good relationship, with all the premises to work, can be easily destroyed if partners don’t talk.

In all of this you are probably wondering how Angel being a werewolf influenced the event… that is what I said at the beginning, it didn’t. Actually the whole werewolf thing is only accessory to the story, and it’s really downplayed; Angel could have been a werewolf or anything other that made him a little out of ordinary, and it would have been the same. Even the whole “virgin” waiting to be “unleashed” with sex thing was only a nice accessory, and nothing really out of the world happened when Brian finally debauches the “angel”.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2638

Amazon: Unleashing Angel

Amazon Kindle: Unleashing Angel

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Unleashing Angel by Mel Spenser

This is probably the most “ordinary” gay paranormal romance I have ever read; when you deal with werewolves and full moon and mating rituals, well you are expecting for the story to be a bit unrealistic, for sure not to be almost a pictorial journal of your modern gay man.

At the beginning of the story Brian is just dumping is cheating boyfriend. Brian is a bit of an oddity among his friends, all party boys always searching for the last flavour of the month; Brian wants a long-term relationship, a steady boyfriend, commitment and exclusivity included. So when he is offered a 5 weeks job in rural Arizona, he takes it as a chance to break up with Sam, the cheating current boyfriend, and clean the field for when he will come back home to West Hollywood, Los Angeles, maybe then it will be the good time to find his Mr Right.

Brian is not expecting to find it in Arizona; Angel is up to his name: young, pretty and petite, he has also a clever mind to top a fine little body. Unruly dark curls and sexy tattoo in enticing places, Angel is Brian’s wet dream comes true. At the beginning the slightly younger man (29 against 22) seems not interested in Brian, but then it comes out that Angel is simply not experienced in the love games: he is still a virgin, to men or women alike. Apparently, even if now Angel is studying at Caltech, near Los Angeles, having spent all his life in a small town where he was the only gay guys deprived him of a lot of chances. Then maybe the little detail that Angel is a werewolf and he will undergo his first shift once he will have sex, well maybe dumped his mood to try it with the first one passing near him.

While I clearly understand what Brian finds in Angel, and why he is interested in the guy, I think Angel was more interested in having the experience and less with whom, at least at the beginning. I had the impression that: a) Angel was at home, same small town with no gay men in the neighbourhood b) Angel had really nothing to do for all the summer c) Brian was there and willing.

There is indeed a bit of rush from Brian’s side, wanting to touch home as soon as possible, and almost trying to bind Angel in a relationship without even the guy knowing it. Even if not so young in age, Angel is indeed young at being in a relationship, and he would be probably happy to have boyfriends like relationship more than committed partners. Until they are alone in the woods, there is really no difference between them and what they want and it’s interesting to see them amidst the gay community of WeHo: Angel is a fish out of water, and suddenly the age gap between Brian and him is wider, probably even more than what is actually. The little interlude in the WeHo community is nice, and it gave you the idea of how an apparently good relationship, with all the premises to work, can be easily destroyed if partners don’t talk.

In all of this you are probably wondering how Angel being a werewolf influenced the event… that is what I said at the beginning, it didn’t. Actually the whole werewolf thing is only accessory to the story, and it’s really downplayed; Angel could have been a werewolf or anything other that made him a little out of ordinary, and it would have been the same. Even the whole “virgin” waiting to be “unleashed” with sex thing was only a nice accessory, and nothing really out of the world happened when Brian finally debauches the “angel”.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2638

Amazon: Unleashing Angel

Amazon Kindle: Unleashing Angel

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle