Jake Biondi's Boystown book series connects with fans

Chicago, IL - "Boystown," a new book series set in Chicago's famed gayborhood, is gaining momentum as fans await the release of the second installment, due to hit shelves sometime this spring. Inspired in equal parts by the style of TV serials and soap operas and the serial style literature of the Victorian era, author Jake Biondi's riveting and racy tale tells not only the story of several individuals living in Boystown, but the story of the modern serial -- of the ways in which technology connects audience to author and how that relationship can inform writing in a modern world.

"Studying English we read Charles Dickens. A lot of his books were serialized...they were released in installments that always ended in cliffhangers to keep his readers coming back for more," Biondi told ChicagoPride.com. "I thought that would be a fun way to do a story and to have it focused in Boystown because it's what I know. And God knows there are enough characters and interesting personalities in Boystown -- where anything can happen."

Growing up in nearby Oak Park, Biondi fell in love with the Windy City at a young age. He's been a lifelong Chicagoan, other than four years spent studying English at Notre Dame, and a resident of Boystown for the last 20 years. Biondi has been writing his entire life, calling it a sort of stress reliever in the past -- something that ebbed and flowed with his mood.

He's also been a longtime fan of TV serials and soap operas like Dynasty and Knots Landing, and more recently shows like Revenge and Nashville that continue the same storytelling tradition of powerful families, conflicted and dynamic characters, plot twists and cliffhanger endings. Borrowing also from the Victorian era's serialized literature, such as Dickens' "The Pickwick Papers" or Alexander Dumas' "The Three Musketeers" and Oscar Wilde's "Picture of Dorian Grey," which were initially released as installments in magazines, Biondi sat down at his computer last June with no idea that less than a year later, his story would not only be a published book, but in the hands of TV producers.

"I thought I would just put an episode online -- my goal was to do one installment a month," Biondi said. "But people started emailing me right away, saying that they liked the story, they liked the characters and they wanted to know what was happening with the cliffhangers at the end... basically, could I please speed it up."

"Boystown" was initially launched on several free websites where authors and amateurs alike can post their writing, including GayAuthors.org, GLBTBookshelf and JustUsBoys.com. Biondi also made a Facebook page, and later a Twitter account, with links to the stories and before he knew it, his page had gained something like 2,000 likes in only a month. The websites and social media outlets he utilized provided him with a direct connection to his readers, who were not at all shy about presenting the author with their suggestions for his stories, so Biondi started to listen.

"I started writing more and more frequently and also listening to their suggestions, which was sort of fun because people were like 'why don't you have this character with this one instead of that one' and sometimes I'd thought about that on my own, but sometimes I'd not and it was like 'oh, i could try that,'" Biondi said. "So it's fun to be interactive with people that are reading it... I can change storylines based on what people have said."

Just as soap opera plotlines can grow or shrink based on the reaction of their devoted and often fanatical audience, the serial nature of "Boystown" allowed Biondi to edit his storylines and characters based on direct feedback.

While many of the characters and story arcs, he says, have been planned from the beginning, others popped up in response to plot needs, audiences suggestions and, occasionally, just to spice things up. For example, Biondi established a solid couple at the beginning of "Boystown," but after his audience decreed them too boring, one character's dark past came to the surface and the two went their separate ways.

By November, Biondi had written 11 installments in the "Boystown" series -- way ahead of his initial one-a-month schedule. It was then that a friend suggested publishing his wildly popular stories instead of leaving them online, so Biondi turned the first 10 episodes into a book and "Boystown: Season One" was born (borrowing again from TV, each chapter is dubbed an episode and each book a season).

The book came out around Thanksgiving and Biondi says sales have been doing well ever since -- he's currently in the midst of Chapter 16, with the second season in the series due to be published around April.

"It's been fast, but I guess that's just the reality of social media, is that everything's fast," Biondi said. "These people reading and messaging me are from all over the country -- in the old days there wouldn't really be any way to reach them."

While Biondi's new contract required him to take the now-published chapters off the Internet, he didn't want to abandon the serial style he'd developed and especially the audience feedback he was receiving and reacting to. Biondi's audience wouldn't allow it either.

To keep his fans from going crazy with angst and also benefit from their opinions, Biondi has been leaking episodes 11-16 to select and especially persistent fans who have been helping promote his book. He's been overwhelmed at the amazing devotion of his readers thus far, from those who write him simply to express their adoration to others who have gone the extra mile to provide him with connections to further his writing career.

"Living in Boystown, as I do, it's hard to capture the spirit of this bustling neighborhood," commented fan Adam Bogucki. "But this book manages to do that. The cast of colorful characters drew me in and wouldn't let me go. I devoured this book and couldn't wait to turn the page and see what was going to happen. Part romance, part mystery, part biography of my neighborhood, I wanted to take the day off of work just to finish. The only downside was finishing and knowing I would have to wait to see what would happen until the next 'season.'"

Recently, Biondi appeared as part of the radio show Soap Central Live to talk about "Boystown" as a written version of a television serial and after a very successful chat with host Dan J Kroll, was invited back for future shows. One of the highlights of his Soap Central experience was a call-in from the woman who is probably his biggest fan and most helpful supporter -- it was the first time they'd ever heard one another's voices.

Taneesha Freidus, who goes by Tee, is a mother of three from Worcester, Mass. who has been blogging about books for the past 10 years (currently you can find her at adiaryofabookaddict.blogspot.com). Freidus stumbled on "Boystown" in her quest for more M/M (man on man) books to read after it was suggested by the website GoodReads. Though she admits it was the hunky cover model who grabbed her attention, Freidus became an instant fan of Biondi's writing and fell for his characters as well as for Biondi himself, "who, by the way, is my favorite author because he contacted me back... anyone who meets or talks to Jake will fall in love with him because he is so open and answers any and all questions without hesitation," she said.

"Jake took a story and has weaved a crazy dramatic reality show that readers can follow along and cheer for their favorite character," Freidus continued. "I have read quite a few M/M books and I have to say that Jake has really captured my heart with his writing. It reminds me of sitting with my grandfather when I was younger watching novellas -- man, all that drama and angst all wrapped up into one... I look forward to reading more from Jake and helping him out in any way I can."

Freidus organized a virtual book tour for "Boystown" that started Monday, February 3 and runs through all of this week, in which 18 bloggers are promoting Biondi and his book in attempt to spread hype and word-of-mouth. She's especially proud of the bloggers (all women) who were unafraid to post what some see as a controversial genre on their blogs. Biondi's hope is that the book tour will reach out to a more diverse audience and help people realize that "Boystown" isn't just a book for a gay audience.

"Even though the core characters are gay, there are still straight characters in there as well," Biondi said, mentioning that his first responses to "Boystown" were actually from women, with men chiming in a little while after. "I feel like Boystown, even since I've been living in it, has changed a lot from being only the gay neighborhood to now where a lot more straight people live here, people with kids and families, and it's grown ethnically and racially too... so I try to make characters in the book reflect that... to keep it more realistic and interesting."

"Boystown" is styled so that it reads a lot like a TV show, with a fast-paced plot, lots of dialogue, cliffhangers ending each episode and an even bigger cliffhanger closing out the first book. It has been described by audiences as "50 Shades of Gay," referring largely to Biondi's sex scenes, a couple of which appear in every episode. The scenes are fairly explicit, but Biondi counters that the same graphic description is used for the shooting that closes book number one.

The storyline itself focuses around the three brothers of the Mancini family: the youngest, Emmett, who is in a gay relationship, the middle, Derek, who is married, but having affairs with men on the side and the oldest brother, Justin, a more mysterious and questionably malicious character who doesn't appear until near the end of the first book.

The characters span decades, genders, races and types, including Derek's wife, the beautiful nurse Joyelle, recent college graduates Cole (one of Derek's trysts who follows him to Chicago) and his roommate Jesse as well as an interracial gay couple, a Latino Chicago cop and more. The second set of episodes will introduce readers to the Ciancio family and especially the Ciancio twins ("let your mind go where it wants with that one," the author joked.)

"I think the characters are fun, I think people can connect to them," Biondi said. "They're all sort of realistic with a little bit of fantasy stuck in -- there's got to be a few over the top people or its not fun."

"People always ask me 'oh, are the characters your friends,'" Biondi continued. "And I guess to a certain extent every writer's characters are based on their friends, but they're completely fictionalized versions of people I know."

One such friend is Aaron Savvy, Biondi's former trainer who appears on the cover of "Boystown: Season 1." Biondi had Savvy in mind while writing the part of Cole, one of the story's core characters. After reading Biondi's book, Savvy, who now lives and works in Hollywood, encouraged his friend to pursue avenues to have "Boystown" translated to the screen. The two have been approaching Showtime, HBO and other TV producers and production companies to gage interest in the story.

"It's not what I had initially written it for, but I could see how [the style] would lend itself to that," Biondi told ChicagoPride.com. "We're at the very preliminary stages, but the feedback so far has been really good... so, we'll see."

"Boystown" is available online as well as in stores, with Biondi especially plugging the Unabridged Bookstore, at 3251 N Broadway near the intersection with Aldine, for their continued support of his book. At Biondi's request, the local bookstore stocked five copies of "Boystown" around its release in November and after those sold out they continued to order more, with the author offering to sign all of the store's books as an extra incentive for readers to support the small, local business.

"They've been really helpful and I think small businesses are important, especially when it's in the neighborhood," Biondi said. "So even Taneesha, who lives out East, she called and had them ship it there, which is great."

For more information about Biondi and "Boystown," including an excerpt, links to the virtual book tour and more information about how to buy your copy of Boystown, visit his newly launched website www.jakebiondi.com.