Sensual Travels: Book Launch, August 13, 2013

The Long and Hard Journey to Publish Sensual Travels, edited By Michael Luongo

A long and hard journey is certainly an apt phrase to describe many of the stories in my new book, Sensual Travels, an edited collection of gay travel erotica just released by German publisher Bruno  Gmünder, well known for their Spartacus guides.  But a long and hard journey also is the perfect way to describe how long it took to get this book out to the reading public.

It’s a reincarnation of a nearly published book originally titled Between the Palms Volume II, Put It In Your Hands Again, a follow on to the successful Between the Palms book. I edited both of them for the Haworth Press Out in the World imprint, which I had overseen. The company was bought out in late 2007 by Routledge, and in 2008, Haworth, once of America’s largest publishers of gay books, ceased to exist. The project was killed, leaving me and my contributors disappointed. I don’t think I need to tell you about the dreary state of the country’s economy and publishing, at that time. It was impossible to bring the manuscript elsewhere, in spite of all my attempts.

Fast track to last year and a meeting with Bruno Gmünder publisher Michael Taubenheim during New York’s Book Expo America convention at the Javits Center. The company was seeking to expand its English language holdings, and Sensual Travels was born.

So what have I put into your hands this time around?  Something definitely worth the wait. You’ll find some of America’s’ best known writers in the collection, along with many newcomers and contributors from around the world.  The book is also an example of what I have long called’ literotica.’  Even if the stories did not have sex, the quality of the writing holds through, keeping you fully engaged in the writer’s journey.

Contributors include the legendary Felice Picano, a member of the original Violet Quill group and his fellow Lambda Literary Award winners Lawrence Schimel and Trebor Healey, along with famed erotic writers Simon Sheppard and Sebastian V, the actor Jesse Archer and many more. Stories span the globe, set in Brazil, Spain, Japan, Lebanon, Thailand, Ecuador, France, post-Soviet Russia, war-torn Croatia and many other areas. In this collection, you’ll revisit old favorite destinations and get a chance to explore some far from the usual gay travel itinerary.

If you’re in New York on Tuesday, August 13, come for the book launch at The Bureau of General Services, Queer Division at 7pm on 27 Orchard Street.   I will be reading along with New York contributors Michael Mele and Dominic Ambrose.

Hope to see you there, and Happy Travels!