“It’s people like Mama and me, I guess, who like to make the regular happenings in our town—like what happened to Joshua and David—sound like myth. There are those who doubt the veracity of my words. But I know. I was there.”

So begins the voice of Eric Gottlund in Jim Provenzano’s latest novel, Now I’m Here, as he begins his tale of how two boys discovered, lost, and then found each other again in the small town of Serene, Ohio, in the 1970s and ’80s.  It is both pointed and poignant. As the town’s history is slowly erased by fading memories and encroaching suburbia, Eric brings back to life the two friends who showed him what true courage is. Fighting religious intolerance, small-mindedness, “rehabilitation therapy,” the lure of fame, and the heartbreak of AIDS, the two boys grow into men before our eyes. And through their love of each other and rock’n’roll—and the English rock group Queen in particular—Joshua and David breathe life back into their home town, if only for a while. 

Out on bail, Bob Coffin meets Nancy, a shy and pretty girl, on a warm summer night at a Bronx dance hall in 1963. Their chance meeting sets off an intimate drama of desperation, petty crimes and betrayals in the streets and tenements of New York City. Captured in muted colors with poignant lyricism, The Lost of New York is the work of John "Butch" Rigney, Jr., an unpublished writer who died in 1967.

Abandoned for decades before being discovered in the attic at the childhood home of author Jim Provenzano (Rigney''s nephew), the hand-typed manuscript has been meticulously scanned and edited. Based on Rigney''s own life that included reform school, jail time and drug addiction, the varied stories weave a somber tapestry of urban despair with a glimmer of hope. 

Stan Grozniak, the once-rising star of 1990s gay cinema, almost self-sabotages a prestigious directing gig with writer-producer (and soon to be ex-boyfriend) Barry, after casting his rediscovered teenage summer stock crush. Still haunted by the death of Rick Dacker, the sexy star of his cult favorite action trilogy, Stan attempts a romance with actor Lance Holtzer, his ''Tulsa'' from a small town Ohio production of the musical Gypsy. When Jason Daw a gay adult video star, invites him to direct an epic porn feature, he risks it all while finding the means to confront a long-lost and once overly affectionate uncle. Discovering more about himself than he wants to admit, he traces his recent success with past obsessions. Framed through a visit to Stan''s boyhood home where he made short films with his brother, the tale of his rise to cinematic success, and the sacrifices he made, captures the passion and heartache of making love, making movies, and the occasional riot.

“It’s people like Mama and me, I guess, who like to make the regular happenings in our town—like what happened to Joshua and David—sound like myth. There are those who doubt the veracity of my words. But I know. I was there.”

So begins the voice of Eric Gottlund in Jim Provenzano’s latest novel, Now I’m Here, as he begins his tale of how two boys discovered, lost, and then found each other again in the small town of Serene, Ohio, in the 1970s and ’80s.  It is both pointed and poignant. As the town’s history is slowly erased by fading memories and encroaching suburbia, Eric brings back to life the two friends who showed him what true courage is. Fighting religious intolerance, small-mindedness, “rehabilitation therapy,” the lure of fame, and the heartbreak of AIDS, the two boys grow into men before our eyes. And through their love of each other and rock’n’roll—and the English rock group Queen in particular—Joshua and David breathe life back into their home town, if only for a while. 

Out on bail, Bob Coffin meets Nancy, a shy and pretty girl, on a warm summer night at a Bronx dance hall in 1963. Their chance meeting sets off an intimate drama of desperation, petty crimes and betrayals in the streets and tenements of New York City. Captured in muted colors with poignant lyricism, The Lost of New York is the work of John "Butch" Rigney, Jr., an unpublished writer who died in 1967.

Abandoned for decades before being discovered in the attic at the childhood home of author Jim Provenzano (Rigney''s nephew), the hand-typed manuscript has been meticulously scanned and edited. Based on Rigney''s own life that included reform school, jail time and drug addiction, the varied stories weave a somber tapestry of urban despair with a glimmer of hope. 

Stan Grozniak, the once-rising star of 1990s gay cinema, almost self-sabotages a prestigious directing gig with writer-producer (and soon to be ex-boyfriend) Barry, after casting his rediscovered teenage summer stock crush. Still haunted by the death of Rick Dacker, the sexy star of his cult favorite action trilogy, Stan attempts a romance with actor Lance Holtzer, his ''Tulsa'' from a small town Ohio production of the musical Gypsy. When Jason Daw a gay adult video star, invites him to direct an epic porn feature, he risks it all while finding the means to confront a long-lost and once overly affectionate uncle. Discovering more about himself than he wants to admit, he traces his recent success with past obsessions. Framed through a visit to Stan''s boyhood home where he made short films with his brother, the tale of his rise to cinematic success, and the sacrifices he made, captures the passion and heartache of making love, making movies, and the occasional riot.