NEW YORK — Berkley Books, an imprint of publishing giant Penguin Group, has acquired the erotic novels "Gabriel's Inferno" and "Gabriel's Rapture" from fan-fiction author Sylvain Reynard and indie publisher Omnific Publishing for a "substantial" seven-figures.
According to THR.com, Berkley is now handling all publishing for the novels, including eBook and the forthcoming paperback run, for which it will print 500,000 copies.
Like E.L. James' record-breaking "Fifty Shades of Grey," "Gabriel's Inferno" — previously titled "University of Edward Masen" — was initially written and posted as "Twilght" inspired fiction on sites such as FanFiction.net.
Omnific Publishing, an independent publisher specializing in romantic fare, retitled the novel "Gabriel's Inferno" and made it available as an eBook in April of last year. Very little is known about the books' author, other than he is Canadian and has published non-fiction works in the past.
"Gabriel's Inferno" and its sequel, "Gabriel's Rapture," follow the romantic and sexual relationship between Professor Gabriel Emerson, a handsome and hedonistic Dante scholar and his "sweet and innocent" graduate student.
