Your local bookstore may not be the first place you’d expect to take in the latest Falcon/NakedSword release, but that could soon change as the gay adult film studio turns the page with FalconINK, a full-service publishing venture offering original fiction in print, e-book and audiobook formats.
“We’ve always believed great storytelling goes beyond what’s on screen,” says President and CEO Tim Valenti. “Launching a full-service publishing house is a natural next step for us.”
The new division spans three imprints inspired by the company’s flagship brands: Falcon Books, NakedSword Books, and Raging Stallion Books. Its opening lineup includes Riley Parks’ steamy baseball romance “Hard Ball” and “Wild Game: Open Season,” an original prequel to NakedSword’s XMA-winning feature “Wild Game.”
FalconINK also arrives at a moment when titles like “Heated Rivalry” are bringing gay passion to mainstream audiences and proving that compelling queer romance can travel well beyond its traditional fan base.
For Valenti, that growing appetite creates an opportunity to build upon the company’s long-standing approach to storytelling.
“Our mission has always been to create worlds and characters that resonate with our audience, and FalconINK allows us to continue doing that while expanding our storytelling into new markets and reaching new demographics,” he says.
Co-Chief Content Officer and Chief Creative Marketing Officer Ben Rush says the timing also reflects how freely audiences now move among different forms of entertainment.
“Today, it’s a 360-degree experience spanning films, streaming, television, podcasts, books, novellas, audiobooks, gaming and social media,” he explains. “It gives us the opportunity to go deeper into our stories, explore characters in greater detail and connect with new audiences who want to engage with content seamlessly across formats and platforms.”
Rush believes Falcon/NakedSword’s catalog of established characters and storylines gives the company an advantage across those channels, while FalconINK creates opportunities for writers and new voices to bring fresh perspectives to the brand. Together, those familiar worlds and emerging talent offer more room to tell gay stories and discover where they might lead next.
“At its core, this is about continuing to invest in storytelling,” Rush affirms. “Publishing isn’t a departure from what we’ve always done. It’s the next chapter in our evolution.”
Coming to a Bookshelf Near You
With FalconINK entering mainstream bookstores, readers who might once have headed to an adult retailer for the latest Falcon/NakedSword release could instead stumble upon the brand while wandering the aisles in search of self-help, recipes or true crime.
Erotic M/M romance will anchor the venture, while its three imprints will also explore fiction, memoirs, photography and other creator-driven projects reflecting the many facets of gay life and culture.
“What ties our books together isn’t a specific genre,” Rush affirms. “It’s emotional honesty in storytelling. We want to publish stories with characters who are at once complicated and relatable.”
That blend of heat and heart is central to how the company hopes to meet new readers. For Rush, the new project also fits into a larger vision for the brand.
“This isn’t about changing who we are,” he says. “It’s about expanding on the legacy we’ve built. We’re growing into a true multimedia entertainment company that gives creators more ways to share their stories and audiences more ways to experience them.”
Hard Hits and Forbidden Desires
FalconINK’s opening pair serves up two very different games of desire. In “Hard Ball,” rival shortstops Mateo Ruiz and Chase Whitaker find their competition on the field giving way to a secret romance that could jeopardize both players’ futures, with Eddie Burke lending his voice to the audiobook edition.
Meanwhile, “Wild Game: Open Season” turns inward, following Derek Kage, a closeted married man whose seemingly secure life is disrupted when a chance encounter with a construction worker awakens desires he has spent years suppressing.
Kage, who portrayed his namesake character onscreen, returns to narrate the audiobook, drawing on previous voice acting experience and training. He even used gestures and facial expressions while recording to bring more feeling to his delivery.
“I am a performer at heart,” he says. “I feel just as at home behind a microphone as I do in front of a camera. The main difference was that I didn’t have to take my clothes off for this role.”
Beneath that playful distinction lies a deeply personal connection to the material. To capture the character’s inner struggle, Kage drew upon his experience growing up closeted in conservative Alabama.
“Not only did I use my character’s experience in ‘Wild Game’ to guide my acting, but I also drew on my own experiences to give the character more gravitas,” he says. “I remember what it was like to suppress my desire for men. I felt the shame and torment of not being able to be myself and doing anything I could to hide that part of me. My character is the embodiment of my past self when it came to being in the closet and having an intense desire for something I felt was shameful.”
For Kage, the opportunity to channel that history into a new performance reflects a broader commitment to expanding the possibilities of gay adult storytelling.
“If it weren’t for Ben Rush, the opportunity to turn these poignant stories into audiobooks would not exist,” Kage says. “It really is a testament to his love and passion for storytelling, as well as his commitment to improving the gay porn industry.”
More Readers Between the Covers
As queer romance continues its crossover streak, FalconINK sees an opportunity to draw more women, including straight and queer readers, between the covers while keeping gay men at the heart of the brand.
“Great stories are bigger than labels,” Rush says. “Readers connect with compelling characters, authentic relationships and emotional depth, regardless of their own identities or orientations.”
Rush points to a growing readership of women hungry for LGBTQIA+ stories filled with romance, drama, humor, eroticism, and representation.
“We’re thrilled to create books that resonate with them without compromising who we are,” he says. “If those stories introduce new readers to Falcon/NakedSword, that’s a win because we’ve widened the conversation.”
Those stories could eventually move beyond the covers, as Falcon/NakedSword envisions books as the beginning of a two-way creative pipeline extending well beyond the bookshelf.
“A novel or novella could become a film, a memoir could inspire a documentary, or a character readers fall in love with could evolve into an entirely new series,” Rush explains. “That’s the kind of creative ecosystem we’re building.”
In other words, today’s steamy beach read could become tomorrow’s production slate. For Rush, that possibility is part of a much bigger vision.
“Success isn’t measured just by book sales,” he concludes. “It’s about creating material that resonates, introducing new voices and building intellectual property that can grow across multiple platforms.”
FalconINK’s debut novellas, “Hard Ball” and “Wild Game: Open Season,” are available now. The company will host a book signing, photo opportunity and mixer at 5 p.m. Aug. 29 at Book Soup in West Hollywood.
