Announcements!
Gold Medal, 2012 ForeWord Book of the Year Awards
Finalist, 25th Annual Lambda Literary Awards
Top 10, LaunchPad Manuscript Competition
Finalist, 2013 Rainbow Awards
Finalist, Regional Fiction Category, 2013 Next Generation Indie Book Awards
Finalist, 2012 Pacific Northwest Writers Association Literary Contest
Hardened beyond his nineteen years, Todd Webster Morgan is determined to find gold high in the Sierra Nevadas. But his dream is violently upended. Complicating matters even more, he meets a young Chinese immigrant named Lâo Jian, whose own dreams of finding gold have been quashed by violence.
But life back in Sacramento isn’t any easier. Todd’s mother struggles to make ends meet. His invalid uncle becomes increasingly angry. Todd seeks employment with little success. Meanwhile his friendship with Lâo Jian turns to love. But their relationship is strained as anti-Chinese sentiment grows.
Todd vows not to lose Lâo Jian. The couple must risk everything to make a life for themselves. A life that requires facing fear and prejudice head on.
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For Jeremy Saura, music helps reassure him as he faces challenges from the often frustrating yet exciting uncertainties of life. Friendship, a potential new romance, and especially a favorite song drive him onward.
It’s 1986. A new job. New technology. New fears. It often feels like too much. But there is reassurance in song. One piece in particular touches his soul. Jeremy gets chills as he listens to the lyrics, a beautiful powerhouse of determination over despair that only gains in impact as he replays it. Something he desperately needs to give him the momentum to navigate the trials and tribulations of work life, a complex friendship, and a budding romance.
For Jeremy, music is on the top of his list of the keynotes to survival.
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Barry so eloquently captured the rhythms of the mid-80s – the big changes that were beginning in the role of technology and media in our lives in new ways, the tentative steps being taken by many towards living an authentic life and the horror and fear surrounding the AIDS epidemic. Listening to Jeremy’s inner dialogue and slightly sarcastic nature literally felt like I was stepping back in time. I loved his voice in this story. Once again, I am in awe of Barry’s talent in bringing to life characters in what I can only describe as movie-like story. Read this story. You won’t be disappointed.
—The Armchair Reader
I have a fondness for this author’s books as they often manage to blend the serious with gentle humour. This book was no exception.
Overall, this was a bit of a trip down memory lane for me but was intertwined with a nicely written romance and I’d definitely recommend the story to those who remember the 1980s.
—Jenre for Brief Encounters Reviews
“…a quality short read that delivers humour, a bit of sexy, thoughtful moments, and a positive outlook.”
—On Top Down Under Book Reviews
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An unexpected snowstorm brings about a surprise reunion when two young men find themselves at the mercy of nature’s whim.
Jesse Ostermann’s scenic detour in the family’s new motorcar becomes treacherous when snowflakes start to fall. But a gallant savior shows up to offer assistance. Memories and longings are rekindled as the two hunker down against the howling winds in an Annapolis blanketed in white.
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Finalist, 2013 Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Award
Finalist, 2013 Pacific Northwest Writers’ Association Literary Contest (“Ezra”)
2013 Book of the Year, On Top Down Under Book Reviews
Adrian Stockwell and Ezra Cherevin both battle the fallout from their broken families. Yet each one’s strategy is as different as each one’s past. Adrian’s childhood was left void by apathy; Ezra’s upended by violence. The written word soon becomes their therapy, their escape. This shared passion for literature is the vehicle that brings them together.
But their journey is filled with personal and familial potholes.
Can these two young men carve out a life together by learning to navigate a sea of challenges? And can the people in their lives do the same?
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Finalist for the 2014 IndieFab Book of the Year Awards at Foreword Reviews
Aiden Royce’s journey to an isolated New England hillside raises specters from his past. But a chance encounter alters the course of his future. A future he never dreamt possible.
In the span between the Great War and the Great Depression, Aiden Royce loses both family and fortune. He has nothing left but memories and regrets until a series of letters arrive; ramblings written by a familiar hand that nevertheless offer Aiden some important clues. Months later he’s roaming the grounds of the crumbling Cebren Spa, a once posh destination, but now an empty shell of mystery and menace.
One saving grace in this perplexity is the handsome Sebastian Desmond, a descendant of the spa’s founders. He rescues Aiden from a storm, but in doing so opens up a different sort of tempest when secrets unravel and both men’s lives are torn asunder.
Can decades-old questions be answered, onerous mysteries solved, and a burgeoning and venturesome romance prosper in the shadows of a once restorative wellspring?
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Finalist, 24th Annual Lambda Literary Awards
Finalist, 2013 National Indie Excellence Book Awards
Honorable Mention, 2011 Rainbow Awards
3rd Place, 2010 PNWA Literary Contest
Best Surprise of 2013, Boys in Our Books
Micah Malone is just an average college student with an ordinary life and big dreams. And an intense passion for film and TV. And a Greek Chorus in his head.
His friends create more drama than a soap opera. His love life needs a laughtrack.
Can Micah ultimately find the direction he needs?
Let the cameras roll. Micah’s quirky story has begun filming
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Finalist, 2013 USA Book News Book of the Year Awards
Finalist, 2013 National Indie Excellence Book Awards
Finalist, 2012 Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Awards
A small French city. A park near Tokyo. The Czech countryside. London at night. Lost loves and found loves. Fear and courage. Reflections. Rejections. Reconciliations. Romance.
These interconnected stories follow the adventures of Brian, Ondrej, Yuji, Jason, and others as they navigate the tumultuous path of life and love.
Featuring:
Shin-Kiba Park (Pushcart Prize nominee; from Gival Press’s ArLiJo)
Nagasaki (Dana Award finalist; from Polari Journal)
Unfinished (from SNReview)
Ficelle (from SNReview)
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Finalist for the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT Fiction in the
27th annual Triangle Awards
2015 Co-Book of the Year, On Top Down Under Book Reviews
Finalist and Runner-Up, 2015 Rainbow Awards
Finalist for the 2014 IndieFab Book of the Year Awards at Foreword Reviews
In the land of snow monsters and steam baths, complex characters as diverse
as the Japanese terrain experience lust, loss, and love.
A young boy performs a daring rescue. A woman loses her old life to face an uncertain new one. A teenager suffers through a cataclysmic event. Unusual bonds form at the Tokyo Olympics. A rent boy’s hardened heart melts when he meets a sexy, buoyant stranger.
Much like the Japanese islands themselves, there is commonality to be found among myriad differences. The poet, the musician, the artist, the tortured mother, the bankrupt father, the protective brother—they all know that there’s a new day awaiting them after the moon slips sideways down the sky.
This is another wonderful book by Barry Brennessel; Paradise at Main & Elm was my Book of the Year in 2013. Sideways Down the Sky now joins it on my list of all-time favourites, and while Adrian and Ezra hold a special place in my heart, so do several of the characters in this book. I loved Akio and his enduring love for Genkei. I thought it was fitting he ran into Kazuki, their understanding of pain and the special relationship that was forged from that. Then there are Yuji and Toru, two rent boys who Aiko sees so much hope for, a project that gave him so much – an ‘ending and a beginning’. Sideways Down the Sky is well named and evocative; it resonated with me, and if you like Barry Brennessel or the sound of the book, I cannot recommend it highly enough. 5 Stars!
––Kazza for On Top Down Under Book Reviews
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When his father leaves Thái Nguyên City for the northernmost reaches of French Indochina, Bùi Vân Minh must shoulder new responsibilities to help keep the family afloat. His mother’s blindness and his uncle’s caustic personality add to the young man’s challenges.
A chance meeting with a captivating youth, Ngô Công Thao, throws Minh’s life off-kilter in a most exciting and confounding way.
The young men soon discover their feelings for one another transcend mere friendship. But the struggles under French colonial rule and the effects of the Great War alter their lives to a degree they never could have imagined.
This novella expands and significantly develops a story that first appeared in the highly acclaimed anthology A PRIDE OF POPPIES. The author’s screenplay adaptation of the story received an honourable mention and was a finalist in the 15th annual American Zoetrope Screenplay Contest, judged by Francis Ford Coppola, and also won the Best LGBT Feature Screenplay category at the New Renaissance Film Festival, Amsterdam 2018.
Anh Sang (Screenplay) won Second Place in the 2018 Write Brothers Feature Screenplay Competition, Canada International Film Festival; and was named Best LGBT Feature Screenplay in the 2018 New Renaissance Film Festival Screenplay Competition, Amsterdam!
Anh Sang (Screenplay) was named the Winner, Feature Screenplay, in the LGBT Feedback Film Festival in Toronto!
Now available:
Modern LGBTQ+ fiction
of the Second World War
Seventeen stories, thirteen authors, a second war. Once again Manifold Press’s writers explore the lives of LGBTQ+ people and their war-time experience in cities, towns and countryside across the world.
Amidst war and peace, in the thick of violence or in an unexpected lull, these stories of the Second World War take the reader far and wide: through Britain, Europe, Asia and South America, from loss and parting to love and homecoming. As for home, it may be an ordinary house, or a prison camp, or a ship: but it is, in the end, where you find it, however far you have to go. Read this book, and make the journey yourself.
An anthology edited by Heloise Mezen and featuring authors:
- Julie Bozza
- Barry Brennessel
- Charlie Cochrane
- Andrea Demetrius
- Adam Fitzroy
- Elin Gregory
- Sandra Lindsey
- JL Merrow
- Eleanor Musgrove
- R.A. Padmos
- Michelle Peart
- Megan Reddaway
- Jay Lewis Taylor
This is a companion volume to our well-received charity volume on the Great War, A PRIDE OF POPPIES. All proceeds this time are going to the British Refugee Council (Registered Charity No. 1014576).
Anh Sang (Screenplay) was named the Grand Prize winner of the 2017 Rhode Island International Film Festival Screenplay Competition!
Anh Sang (Screenplay) won the Silver Prize in Drama in the 2017 Hollywood Screenplay Contest and was named a Quarter-Finalist in the 2017 ScreenCraft Drama Screenplay Contest!
Sideways Down the Sky (Screenplay) was named a Finalist in the 2017 Contest of Contest Winners Competition, and won 9th Place in the 86th Annual Writer’s Digest Competition!
The Celestial was named to the Top 10 in the 2017 Launch Pad Manuscript Competition!
The Celestial (Screenplay) was named a Finalist in both the Global Script Challenge and the Best Overall Concept categories in the 2017 Oaxaca International Film Festival!
Anh Sang (Screenplay) won 1st Place in the June-July 2017 edition of The Monthly Film Festival Screenplay Competition!
Anh Sang (Screenplay) is a Finalist in the 2017 TeaDance Film Festival Screenplay Competition!
Screenplay news!
Sideways Down the Sky (Screenplay)
(Grand Prize Winner, Barren Branches LGBTQ Screenplay, Rhode Island International Film Festival;
Semi-Finalist, 14th Annual American Zoetrope Screenplay Contest;
Top 75, 2016 Tracking Board Launch Pad Feature Screenplay Competition;
Finalist, 2016 Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation Competition;
Semi-Finalist, Carmesi House International Screenplay Competition;
Finalist, Great Gay Screenplay Contest;
Finalist, TeaDance Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Screenplay Contest;
Finalist, Cannes Screenplay Contest)
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Paradise at Main and Elm (Screenplay)
(Finalist, TMC London Film Festival;
Finalist, Great Gay Screenplay Contest)
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Sideways Down the Sky was named
2015 Co-Book of the Year at On Top Down Under Book Reviews!
Sideways Down the Sky received 3rd Place in the
2015 Rainbow Awards in the Gay Historical category!
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The Celestial, Reunion, and Nagasaki were all chosen as
Finalists in the 1st Annual TeaDance Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Screenplay Competition!
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The Simpsons: A Spoonful of Medicine Helps the Medicine Go Down was named the Grand Prize winner and The Simpsons: What a Revoltin’ Development was named a Silver Award winner in the American Movie Awards Screenplay Contest!
The Celestial, The Simpsons: A Spoonful of Medicine Helps the Medicine Go Down, and The Gifted: The Calling, Episode 1 are all Finalists in the Las Vegas Screenplay Contest!
The screenplay version of “Nagasaki” is a nominee in the Toronto International Film and Video Awards!
2014 IndieFab Book of the Year Awards Finalists
Sideways Down the Sky and Wellspring are Finalists in the 2014 IndieFab Book of the Year Awards at Foreword Reviews
Sideways Down the Sky is a Finalist for the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT Fiction in the 27th annual Triangle Awards.
The screenplay version of The Celestial was named a Quarter Finalist in the Bluecat Screenplay Competition, Features category:
http://www.bluecatscreenplay.com/blog/2015-quarter-finalists-features/
Modern GLBTQI fiction of the Great War
Ten authors – in thirteen stories – explore the experiences of GLBTQI
people during World War I. In what ways were their lives the same as or different from those of other people?
An anthology featuring authors:
- Julie Bozza
- Barry Brennessel
- Charlie Cochrane
- Sam Evans
- Lou Faulkner
- Adam Fitzroy
- Wendy C. Fries
- Z. McAspurren
- Eleanor Musgrove
- Jay Lewis Taylor
65,000 words/TBC pages
Publication 1 May 2015
Please note: All proceeds will be donated to The Royal British Legion.
The screenplay version of the The Celestial received Honorable Mention in the Canada International Film Festival/Write Brothers Screenplay Competition:
The screenplay version of The Celestial was selected to the top ten percent in the Bluecat Screenplay Competition, Features category:
The screenplay version of “Kill Them With Kindness” (from A Special Kind of Folk) was selected to the top ten percent in the Bluecat Screenplay Competition, Shorts category:
The screenplay version of Reunion advanced to the Semi-Finals in the Marquee Lights Screenplay Competition:
My teleplay The Simpsons: What a Revoltin’ Development was named a Finalist in the Beverly Hills Screenplay Competition.
The screenplay version of Nagasaki was named a Quarter Finalist in the Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition.
The screenplay version of Reunion was named a Quarter Finalist in the Marquee Lights Screenplay Contest.
The screenplay version of The Celestial was named a Finalist in the Great Gay Screenplay Competition; won First Place in the 2014 Rhode Island International Film Competition; and was nominated for the Diversity & Inclusion Award and the Humanitarian Award in the Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition!
The screenplay versions of Reunion and The Celestial won awards in the 1st annual International Independent Film Competition!
A Special Kind of Folk and Paradise at Main and Elm were named Finalists in the 2013 ForeWord Book of the Year Awards!
Finalist, 2013 ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Awards
Finalist, 2013 ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Award
Paradise at Main & Elm named 2013 Book of the Year at On Top Down Under Book Reviews!
Reunion was named a Finalist in the 2013 USA Book News Book of the Year Awards!
Finalist, 2013 Pacific Northwest Writers’ Association Literary Contest (“Ezra”)
My spec TV script for the Mary Tyler Moore Show was named a winner in the October 2013 Wildsound Screenplay Competition!
The Mary Tyler Moore Show: Branching Out
(Winner, WILDsound October 2013 Screenplay Contest)
The Celestial in a Finalist in the 2013 Rainbow Awards!
The Celestial won a Gold Medal in the 2012 ForeWord Book of the Year Awards!
Reunion and Tinseltown are Finalists in the 2013 National Indie Excellence Book Awards!
The Celestial and The Sulphur Cure are both Finalists
in the 2013 Next Generation Indie Book Awards!
The Celestial is a Finalist in the 25th Annual Lambda Literary Awards!
The Celestial picked as one of October’s favorite books, and and one of October’s favorite covers, at Joyfully Jay Reviews!
A review of Reunion at Lambda Literary:
http://www.lambdaliterary.org/features/08/25/book-lovers-reunion/
Tinseltown is a Finalist in the 24th Annual Lambda Literary Awards!
Tinseltown received an Honorable Mention in the 2011 Rainbow Awards!
A nice review of Tinseltown on Elisa Rolle’s blog!
These arrived in the mail today! They’re kind of suitable for framing, methinks. Sure–why not?
Two of my scripts, Tinseltown and The Simpsons: A Spoonful of Medicine Helps the Medicine Go Down, placed in the top 100 in the 80th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition!
The screenplay version of Tinseltown has made it to the Final Rounds in the WriteMovies International Contest #27!!
The screenplay version of Tinseltown has made it to the Semi-Final rounds in the WriteMovies International Contest #27!!
MLR Press Author Charlie Cochrane interviews…moi:
Charlie Cochrane’s Live Journal Blog
www.barrybrennessel.com 
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