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Just nine months after “Heated Rivalry” premiered and became a worldwide phenomenon, gay adult entertainment company Falcon | NakedSword is getting into the book business.<\/p>\n
The San Francisco-based company is launching FalconInk, a publishing house with a focus on erotic fiction, Variety<\/em> has exclusively learned. The publisher will consist of three imprints: Falcon Books, NakedSword Books and Raging Stallion Books.<\/p>\n More from Variety<\/strong><\/p>\n FalconINK has debuted two novellas: “Hard Ball,” an original sports romance from Falcon Books, and\u00a0“Wild Game: Open Season,” a prequel to the gay adult film\u00a0“Wild Game,” from NakedSword Books, releasing Sept. 10.<\/p>\n “This exciting venture reflects our commitment to expanding beyond our traditional audience while staying true to the storytelling and sexuality that have defined Falcon for more than five decades,” Falcon | NakedSword CEO Tim Valenti said in a statement Monday morning. “For the first time, we’re also creating content for one of the largest audiences in the M\/M romance space: women. No company is better positioned to tell accessible romantic and erotic stories than the one that has been doing it so successfully since 1971.”<\/p>\n The company’s co-chief content officer Ben Rush said, “Beyond publishing, FalconINK will serve as an incubator for future film and television adaptations, both mainstream and adult, and further expand the Falcon | NakedSword universe through original and existing IP. We’re proud of how the company continues to evolve while remaining committed to the freedom and acceptance we’ve represented within the LGBTQIA+ community for 55 years.”<\/p>\n “Hard Ball” tells the story of Mateo Ruiz, a professional baseball player in the minor leagues who sparks a romance with his rival, a fellow shortstop named Chase Whitaker.<\/p>\n In “Wild Game: Open Season,” Derek Kage appears to be happily married to a woman when his life is turned upside down after meeting construction worker Adrian.<\/p>\n Both titles are available as trade paperbacks, ebooks and audiobooks. Written by Riley Parks and Ben Rush, the audiobook edition of “Wild Game: Open Season” is narrated by adult entertainer Derek Kage; fellow porn star Eddie Burke voices the “Hard Ball” audiobook, written by Parks.<\/p>\n A launch party for the publishing house is set to take place at Book Soup in West Hollywood on Aug. 29.<\/p>\n The launch of FalconINK comes alongside several major milestones for Falcon | NakedSword, including an induction of “Hard Ball” and “Wild Game: Open Season” into the Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library, the premiere of the industry’s first-ever SFW vertical micro-drama and an upcoming underwear design collaboration with Skull & Bones.<\/p>\n The television series adaptation of “Heated Rivalry” is based on the “Game Changers” book series<\/a> by Canadian author Rachel Reid. Season 2 begins filming in August. In March, show creator Jacob Tierney told me he was trying not to feel pressure to live up to Season 1<\/a>. “I think I realized a little while ago that what I have to do is go back to where my head was at the first time I wrote, which was love these books and try to make the smartest thing I can make of it,” he said at the GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n