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Now I'm Here
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"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 the ...more
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 the ...more
Kindle Edition, 372 pages
Published
September 19th 2018
by Beautiful Dreamer Press
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Jim Provenzano is the real deal. If you have read any of his novels or short stories, you know he doesn’t create characters; he creates real people, people you know—or come to know—because he creates—or recreates—a world that you believe in and know. I can only speak for myself, I suppose, but when I read his stories of young gay men coming of age and falling in love, I get sucked in because he gets it just right.
Maybe there is something universal to being gay at a particular point in time—or ma ...more
Maybe there is something universal to being gay at a particular point in time—or ma ...more

Aug 11, 2018
Paul Olsen
added it
A love story, a history-touched gay romance, a realistic yet romantic novel. Any one of these could be a good description of Jim Provenzano’s new book, “Now I’m Here.” And all of them are.
Told from the point of view of two boys, who become two young men in love; and with a narrator to make further connections and flesh out details for us, “Now I’m Here” isn’t your everyday novel. The characters are achingly real, the time and setting solidified by contemporary music references. The details make ...more
Told from the point of view of two boys, who become two young men in love; and with a narrator to make further connections and flesh out details for us, “Now I’m Here” isn’t your everyday novel. The characters are achingly real, the time and setting solidified by contemporary music references. The details make ...more

I very much enjoyed Jim Provenzano's almost epic novel of two young men who fall in love in high school in "Serene," Ohio, a small town in the Midwest. It reminded me of other masters of Midwestern fiction such as Willa Cather and James Purdy, except that Provenzano is more honest in his work and more emotionally available. The story is told by a friend of theirs, Eric, an overweight harp player who plays "cocktail harp" when he's not engaged in local symphony gigs, and augments that with real e
...more

‘Before I die, I want to do something great in this town.’
California author Jim Provenzano joins the great novelists who have written important and lasting novels about men in love, and while he has won prizes for his work it is now, with his publication of NOW I’M HERE that he joins the ranks of the major authors who have had a lasting imprint on our society and the LGBTIQ community. André Aciman, Andrew Holleran, Colm Toibin, Edmund White, Nicholas Sparks, and now Jim Provenzano are important ...more
California author Jim Provenzano joins the great novelists who have written important and lasting novels about men in love, and while he has won prizes for his work it is now, with his publication of NOW I’M HERE that he joins the ranks of the major authors who have had a lasting imprint on our society and the LGBTIQ community. André Aciman, Andrew Holleran, Colm Toibin, Edmund White, Nicholas Sparks, and now Jim Provenzano are important ...more

For those hungry for an emotional read, this book is for you. It is a beautifully rendered tale of boys becoming men. And if that isn't difficult enough, their teenage years are further complicated by same-sex attraction at a time and in a place that challenges them at every turn. As a fellow Midwesterner, the scenes were all too familiar and at times almost difficult to read for the memories they provoked. We have become used to Provenzano creating characters that are hard to forget. In this bo
...more

I thoroughly enjoyed this book which I picked up in San Francisco (where the author lives). It is a sweeping journey of two lives that commence, divert and then reconnect over time. Though the ending is sad it is nevertheless realistic and I particularly enjoyed how the author used Queen songs as headings for each chapter (noting the central role of the band in Joshua’s life). Very enjoyable and hope to read more of this author who clearly can tell a story.

When we think of great epic love stories ("Gone with the Wind," "Doctor Zhivago") they formulaically span multiple decades with significant historical events interspersed among the timeline of events, as one obstacle after another prevents the seemingly star-crossed pair from coming together as one.
Joshua and David, the brave couple brought to life in Jim Provenzano's captivating, unforgettable novel, "Now I'm Here," manage to experience a quintessential epic romance albeit in just a few short y ...more
Joshua and David, the brave couple brought to life in Jim Provenzano's captivating, unforgettable novel, "Now I'm Here," manage to experience a quintessential epic romance albeit in just a few short y ...more

NOW I’M HERE, by Jim Provenzano
Two boys grow up in small-town Ohio in the ‘60s. As teens they fight against their own fears and the forces of lawnorder to forge a relationship. Lawnorder pulls the two boys apart, and we watch each fight his way back to the other, till they create a home. Till death do them part, in the late ‘80s.
No spoilers here: the narrator of this novel tells us from the beginning what will happen. But the emotions we get to experience along with the couple flesh out the plo ...more
Two boys grow up in small-town Ohio in the ‘60s. As teens they fight against their own fears and the forces of lawnorder to forge a relationship. Lawnorder pulls the two boys apart, and we watch each fight his way back to the other, till they create a home. Till death do them part, in the late ‘80s.
No spoilers here: the narrator of this novel tells us from the beginning what will happen. But the emotions we get to experience along with the couple flesh out the plo ...more

In this loving and eloquent homage to 1970s and '80s Midwestern life, the author introduces us to Joshua Lee, a shy budding piano prodigy, who, years after a grade school tussle, befriends farm boy David, who invites him to a Queen concert. The band's music inspires Joshua, who gains popularity with his piano solo performances of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."
David and Joshua's pot-smoking nights together, and at parties, soon becomes a hidden romance, and the two young men find hidden places to m ...more
David and Joshua's pot-smoking nights together, and at parties, soon becomes a hidden romance, and the two young men find hidden places to m ...more
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Jim Provenzano is the author of the novels Finding Tulsa, Now I'm Here, PINS, Monkey Suits, Cyclizen, the 2012 Lambda Literary Award-winning Every Time I Think of You, its sequel Message of Love (a Lammy finalist), and the stage adaptation of PINS (a Bay Area Theatre Critics awardee). His short fiction collection Forty Wild Crushes was published in 2016.
A journalist in LGBT media for three decades ...more
A journalist in LGBT media for three decades ...more
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“Face a man with death, let him come out shining, and you might call his bravery simple. Face a small town boy with fame, love, and death, all before legal drinking age, and you will call it anything but simple.”
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“Face a man with death, let him come out shining, and you might call his bravery simple. Face a small town boy with fame, love, and death, all before legal drinking age, and you will never call his bravery simple.”
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