The Vanilla Gigolo Prescription - Novel Promo Film

My friend Jim Eshom whacked up some footage from both readings and an interview with me to create this promo video for the novel. I think it looks terrific; thanks very much to him, Jessica Amal Rice, Lamont Webb, and Alec Sherrie for helping put it together.

Please share with others, and remember - there's a discount available for those who want to buy the novel on the Sophisticated Rogue website - just check out the Store page...

Bricks and Mortar, Bricks and Mortar...

Up on the "Los Angeles & California" shelf at Skylight Books on Vermont Avenue in Los Feliz. I think the only reasonable course of action, should you find yourself in the area, is to go into the store, ask for The Vanilla Gigolo Prescription, and then demand to know why they only have one copy at this point. Go forth?

Love Can Be Bitter

Hey, just so you know (if you didn't already) - writing a novel is a bitch. It's day after day of staring at your boots, trudging forward, obsessing over commas, and berating yourself for having the hubris to think you could do such a stupid thing. But while you’re doing it, most everyone who hears about the task is supportive. You get the respect of someone who's announced he's climbing a mountain, running a marathon, or putting a deck onto their house. Then you put it out there, and things get a little trickier.

People mean well. But “support” can be a tricky thing. These are the Top 22 “supportive” things I heard the day The Vanilla Gigolo Prescription was officially put into the world. An artist can experience the high of accomplishment with the low of irrelevance within the span of a co-worker's offhand remark.

1. "Do I get a discount?"

2. "Is it available on Kindle?"

3. "Is this worth it?"

4. "Why isn't it available on Kindle?"

5. "Is it going to be a movie?"

6. "Twelve bucks?! You gotta be kidding me! (pause) C'mon, I was kidding. (pause) Stop staring at me."

7. "WHEN will it be available on Kindle?"

8. (holding book in hand) "Wow. This seems like a lot of work."

9. "Is it any good?"
10. (holding book in hand) "How many pages is it? (listens) Really? Wow."

11. “This isn’t the one you wanted to write, though, right?"

12. "Is it funny?"

13. "Congratulations! I don't really read much..."

14. "Is this gonna be anything like the plays you write?"

15. "How much money do you get off each copy? (hears answer) That's it?"

16. "I read somewhere the average book in America sells only 500 copies."

17. (overheard, a co-worker on the phone with her friend) "Yeah...Right...So I'll buy it for you, you read it, and then you critique it so I can tell him."

18. "A novel? What's next - you gonna get a job at a newspaper?"

19. "You think this is gonna get you laid? 'Cause it won't."

20. "Can you imagine how many copies Stephen King sells on the first day he releases a book?"

21. "How much money have you invested to put this out? I mean, not even including all the actual work you did. (listens) What, is that a rude question?"

22. "Wow, you seem pretty happy. Write another one so you stay like this."


Despite all of it, I intend to follow #22...

Yeah, so...

I'll start doing this too...even though every time I spend more than two minutes trying to come up with something to put online, the dominatrix in my brain, a lithe raven-haired beauty dressed in black patent leather, cleavage gaping, digs her boot heel into my skull, snaps the cat o' nine tails against my left ear, and commands, "Back to real writing, wretch. Back to real writing."

I write plays. I write scripts. Now, I write novels. Blogging seems like scribbling in wet cement...

But when in Rome...And the Internet is Rome. So until Rome burns because some 13 year-old boy figures out how to kidnap the web 'cause he wants to impress some girl in pre-Algebra class...I'll toe the line. Put some stuff up here. Try to build a voice...

Thoughts, updates, sundries, occasional artistry...

There will be no rhyme or reason. It won't be polished. It won't be perfect. Bear with me while I build this. I'll bumble. I'll drift away - the dominatrix, again...

But (shrug). So if you like, tell someone. Christ, tell someone. Forward. Link. "Like". If you're intrigued, buy the book (points to the sidebar).

-billy

Newest Latest

This is the cover of the novel I'm publishing. This will be available for purchase on Tuesday, July 24th. Here is a brief description:

"Sean Harrigan's a writer on the fringe of Hollywood, stuck in two relationships going nowhere: one with his girlfriend and one with his improv troupe, The Vanilla Gigolo Prescription. When movie star Finn Brooks, the former fifth Gigolo, enlists his help in dealing with a blackmailer, Sean must use his improv skills in ways he's never imagined, in a plot that isn't what it appears. Soon enough, Sean is faced with choices about how far he's willing to stray from his troupe in order to help a successful friend who's burned him before."


I hope this intrigues you enough to purchase the novel.  Use the links on the right over there, or click through on the "Store" page to get your hands on a copy or get your eReader's "hands" on a digital copy. Take a look around the site and get a sense of what it's about, too.