The Queen of Steeplechase Park

"The Queen of Steeplechase Park is the absolutely, positively, practically, almost-true story of infamous burlesque queen and magic meatball maker Belladonna Marie Donato. Pregnant at fifteen after gleefully losing her virginity to pansexual neighborhood strongman Francis Anthony Mozzarelli, she is robbed of her baby by a pack of nefarious nuns and her embittered papa has her sterilized without her consent (legal in 1935). With the help of a besotted Francis and her top-secret meatball recipe, a devastated Bella embarks on a riotous quest through Depression-era Coney Island sideshows, the tawdry world of peek-a-boo striptease routines, a queer mob marriage, and a tasty collection of wisdom-filled recipes to find her lost child, herself, and maybe even true love. It all leads Bella back home, to the scene of her Original Sin, where she boldly faces matters of life and death, questions of forgiveness, and a holy mess only the healing properties of great Italian cooking can fix"--

About the author

David Ciminello is a Lambda Literary Fellow and the proud recipient of a Table 4 Writers Foundation Grant. His fiction has appeared in the Lambda Award-winning anthology Portland Queer: Tales of the Rose City, Nailed Magazine, and in fine artist Stephen O’Donnell’s The Untold Gaze. His original screenplay Bruno, an Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting finalist, was made into a motion picture directed by Shirley MacLaine and stars Kathy Bates, Gary Sinese, and Jennifer Tilly. As an actor David has guest starred on Seinfeld ("The Barber"), Murder She Wrote, Matlock, and Kojak. David and his husband, photographer and podcast artist Brian Delaney, reside in Portland, Oregon.

Summary

The Queen of Steeplechase Park is the absolutely, positively, practically, almost-true story of infamous burlesque queen and magic meatball maker Belladonna Marie Donato. 

Pregnant at fifteen after gleefully losing her virginity to pansexual neighborhood strongman Francis Anthony Mozzarelli, Bella is robbed of her baby by a pack of nefarious nuns and her embittered papa has her sterilized without her consent (legal in 1935). With the help of a besotted Francis, her newfound family of queercentric outcasts, and a top-secret meatball recipe, a devastated Bella embarks on a riotous quest through Depression-era Coney Island sideshows, the tawdry world of peekaboo striptease routines, a doomed mob marriage, and a tasty collection of wisdom-filled recipes to find her lost child, herself, and maybe even true love. It all leads Bella back home, to the scene of her original sin, where she boldly faces matters of life and death, questions of forgiveness, and a holy mess only the healing properties of great Italian cooking can fix.

Foreword

• Distribution of early galleys and ARCs to media outlets, reviewers, bloggers, magazines, and key booksellers and librarians 
• Reviews targeting Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal, Booklist, Shelf Awareness,  New York Times and others 
• Coverage targeting online literary publications, including The Rumpus, Electric Lit, Literary Hub, and Advice to Writers 
• Bella, the protagonist, will be a featured Mother of the Month at the award-winning Mother’s restaurant in Portland, Oregon, featuring a recipe from the book and a “biography” of the character, likely in May to coincide with pub date and Mother’s Day 
• Coverage targeting publications seeking to amplify queer voices
• Bookseller outreach, including ABA Advance Access, PNBA giveaways, and selected galley mailings to booksellers who have enjoyed other titles 
• PNBA Spring Pop-Up author appearance
• Tour—Pacific NW, New York, Provincetown, San Francisco, and New Jersey—with a focus on bookstores, libraries, and reading series 
• Regional coverage targeting Portland-area media 
• Book club outreach  
• Author interviews: radio, TV, print, and online 
• Edelweiss galley giveaways 
• Social media including interviews, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook 
• Promotions on author's website, to be built, and the publisher's website 
• Publicity and promotion in conjunction with author's speaking engagements
  
  

Product details

• Authors: David Ciminello
• Publisher: External catalogues US
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 07.05.2024, delayed
• EAN: 9781942436614
• ISBN: 978-1-942436-61-4
• Dimensions: 155 mm x 229 mm x 30 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Science fiction, fantasy; FICTION / Friendship, FICTION / Magical Realism, FICTION / Historical / 20th Century / General