YOUNG OFFENDERS

REMEMBER WHEN GAY MEN'S PRESS folded several years back, leaving the United Kingdom without a dedicated gay publisher? I do. It was grim - not just for budding authors (ahem...), but readers too. A case of one and one makes five.

Can you forgive her? Maybe. After all, everyone has a different point of view. It's reassuring to learn that somebody's doing more than just dreaming of the queen, complaining bitterly about the lack of LGBT publishing. (Don't look at me.) Young Offender was a song on the frighteningly good Pet Shop Boys album Very. It's also inspiration for the name of a new LGBT publishing house, the brainchild of author and blogger Eric Arvin. He's one in a million, that one.

I wouldn't normally do this kind of thing, but to speak is a sin - so the company's mission statement has been pasted below, making this article look longer than it is, and saving me the job of writing more than I have done. Liberation, you might say.

"Young Offenders Media is a multimedia company with a focus on GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual) and other types of alternative fiction by both established and brand new authors. Our objective is to give authors all the tools they need for their books to be successful without taking away all of their control. While we ask them to work hard on their own behalf, we will also support them with a wide array of promotional materials, cooperative advertising and publicity events, plus the chance to collaborate with musicians, videographers, artists and other writers to cross-promote and get in touch with a much wider audience. We print and distribute to order to save money and trees, and the savings goes straight back to our authors in the form of higher royalties and better promotional opportunities. While publishing is our main emphasis, we also promote, produce and market on behalf of visual artists, musicians and (soon we hope) independent video and filmmakers both alone and in cooperation with other media companies. We plan to release our first titles in the Spring."