Fans of science-fiction and UFO’s can now read the first chapter of Malcolm J. Brenner’s newest novel, “Mel-Khyor: An Interstellar Affair,” for free.
The book is available on Amazon.com and will soon be available as an ebook from Smashwords.
“Wet Goddess” author talks writing, working, life…
Link to an audio interview with Malcolm J. Brenner conducted by Tamara Patzer with Business Innovators Radio Network. Length: 28:41. Brenner talks about the influences on, and audience for, his latest novel, the science-fiction romance Mel-Khyor: An Interstellar Affair, and why it took him 37 years to complete his autobiographical first novel, Wet Goddess: Recollections of a Dolphin Lover.
“Dexter” author interviews Brenner for new TV show by Critical Content producers
(L to R, Jeff Lindsay, Matt Duff, Jeff Parker (producers) and Malcolm J. Brenner.
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. – Visitors to this city’s Ponce de Leon Park might have gotten an earful while they were wandering the mangrove boardwalks today. They might have heard Jeff Lindsay, the author of the bestselling “Dexter” series of suspense novels, interviewing Malcolm J. Brenner, who wrote and published his own novel, “Wet Goddess,” based on his 1971 love affair with a female dolphin.
Filming the conversation were camera operator Jeff Parker and director Matt Duff, both with Luau Studios, a small Los Angeles-based production company working on a reality TV show about strange and unusual people from Florida, the state Brenner and Lindsay both call home.
Co-producers Parker and Duff hope to sell the idea for the series to Critical Content, a new production company that has produced such hits as “Ice Lake Rebels,” “Late Night Chef Fight,” “Sex with Sunny Megatron” and “Catfish: The TV Show.”
Later, they were in Cape Coral, Lindsay’s home town, trying to film the man who danced on top of a police car last year, making Brenner one of only three subjects in the Luau Studios’ demo reel for this project. Duff couldn’t say when the reality show might get the green light, but he hoped it would be soon.
Brenner was also filmed by British TV personality Tim Shaw in June for a similar production from TV4, but hasn’t heard any word on it yet.
Author swaps dolphins for aliens
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release, 10/12/2016
FROM: Eyes Open Media, eyesopenmedia@comcast.net
SUBJECT: New book release, Mel-Khyor: An Interstellar Affair
“Wet Goddess” author swaps dolphins for aliens
PUNTA GORDA, Florida – While writer Malcolm J. Brenner has never met ET in person, or even seen a UFO, his longtime fascination with space creatures inspired his new novel Mel-Khyor: An Interstellar Affair.
“Aliens multiplied during my 1950’s youth,” the author of Wet Goddess: Recollections of a Dolphin Lover said, “whether in monster movies, science-fiction novels or the scholarly works on my father’s bookshelf.” Those included 1953’s Flying Saucers Have Landed, by self-proclaimed alien “contactee” George Adamski and British historian Lord Desmond Leslie, and M. K. Jessup’s sobering 1955 analysis,The Case FOR the UFO (still in Brenner’s possession).
“Although I’m known for my experiences with dolphins, I probably wouldn’t have gotten interested in them if brain researcher Dr. John C. Lilly hadn’t convinced NASA to fund his attempts to teach dolphins English, so that we’d know how to reply to extraterrestrial aliens,” Brenner said. (The 1960’s experiment was unsuccessful because the dolphins had their own ideas, but that’s another story.)
Mel-Khyor: An Interstellar Affair is a fast-paced novel told in four separate, distinct timelines stretching from 1978 to 2004. The stories focus on Susie Louise McGonagall, a shy young college student following her mother and grandmother into teaching. Convinced she is unattractive, Susie works a summer job at a Colorado resort. Awakening one night, she finds a tall man in a silver suit at the foot of her bed. She’s is paralyzed with fear – until she notices he’s injured! Susie follows the silent stranger into the darkness and aboard his damaged spaceship, which has crash-landed near her family’s cabin in the Rockies… or has it? Is this cosmic apparition real, or the product of Susie’s imagination in overdrive?
That’s the question investigative reporter Toby Parsons tries to answer, seventeen years after Susie’s original experience. They’re engaged when the chance viewing of a TV show triggers her buried memories of Mel-Khyor and the living spaceship that brought him to Earth. As Susie’s story is revealed piece by remembered piece, Toby finds himself torn between wanting to believe her and not daring to, between his conflicting roles as a skeptical reporter and a compassionate husband. Neither of them realizes a U.S. government alien-hunting unit is looking for Susie…
With settings that sweep from the La Plata Mountains of Colorado to the rings of Saturn and beyond, Mel-Khyor is a riveting novel of adult passions and interplanetary intrigue.
Available as a trade paperback from amazon.com, (https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0692775528) $14.95 + S/H and from Sandman Books (http://www.sandmanbooks.com) and Copperfish Books (https://www.copperfishbooks.com) in Punta Gorda. Soon to be available as an audio book on Audible. For a complimentary review copy, or to arrange an interview, contact the author at the e-mail address above. Thanks for your interest!
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Author stars in video “sizzler”
Malcolm J. Brenner, author of “Wet Goddess” and “Growing Up In The Orgone Box,” recently returned from a quick trip to England, where he shot a promotional video for a new television series on Channel 4.
The interview series, to be titled “Tim Shaw Sleeps With…”, features people who have had extraordinary experiences. The 10-minute video, called a “sizzler” in British TV terms, is intended to sell the idea to network video executives. Shaw (below) is a well-known British television and radio host, having worked at numerous programs over a 20-year career, during which he won several awards.
(Above: Tim Shaw, photo ©2016 by Malcolm J. Brenner)
“Tim is a bit of a character,” Brenner said, “but then, so am I. I was initially skeptical about this proposal, but after chatting with Tim a couple of times on Skype and further exchange of emails with his partner Christina Percival and other members of the production staff, I warmed to the idea.”
Shaw’s company, Boring Productions, paid for Brenner’s airfare, passport renewal and some tires for his car (so a friend could drive him to the airport in Tampa, Fla.). Brenner flew overnight to Chertsey, a small village near Runnymede outside London, spent one day recovering from his flight, then spent all day on June 27 filming.
“When I first arrived at the hotel I’d been booked into, it was 9:30 in the morning, and the desk clerk told me they wouldn’t have a room ready until 2 p.m.,” Brenner recalled. “However, when she realized I had nowhere else to go, she had a room ready for me in 20 minutes. They were very accommodating.”
Brenner took a walk through Chertsey, a pleasant village by the River Thames. Later that night, Shaw showed up. “We had a good, face-to-face talk over dinner, and Tim described the format of the program to me,” Brenner said. “It’s really quite original. It consists of Tim driving around in a camper van and interviewing his subject over the course of a day. We ate dinner together, and the last segment involved us bunking down for the night in the van.”
The teaser took a full twelve hours to shoot, but the crew wrapped up on time. Brenner was happy with his appearance, and Shaw said he did very well with the long and at times confusing interview. “Tim and I were on wireless microphones most of the time, so we would be talking about something else, like his car (a Nissan GT-R) and I sometimes wouldn’t realize filming had started,” Brenner recalled.
There were also technical difficulties. “The location Tim had chosen, in a camping park on the edge of town, was beautiful visually, but right under the flight path for Gatwick Airport, so it was rather noisy. We would have to stop filming about every three to five minutes because of a plane flying overhead! It must have driven Chris, our poor sound man, crazy. And Paul, the cinematographer, had problems with the rented tripod, which wasn’t quite steady enough, so he ended up shooting much of the footage handheld, which added to the spontaneity.”
(Left to right, Brenner, Shaw, sound man Chris Travers, cameraman Paul Robinson and Sparky the Wonder Dog! Photo by Christina Percival, Boring Productions.)
Portions of the interview were shot in the van, in the campground, an open field, and the bath house at the campground. Shaw asked questions about Brenner’s personal history that led to his zoophilia and about his experiences in the early 1970’s with Dolly the dolphin while attending New College of Florida.
“In the end, everybody seemed to be quite satisfied,” Brenner said. “I’m eagerly anticipating the results of this shoot, because if Tim gets the funding he said he’d be coming to interview me in the U.S.A. next time, and I look forward to introducing him to some wild dolphins in Charlotte Harbor!”
(Left to right, director Simon Tucker, producer Graham Stuart and interviewer Tim Shaw. Photo ©2016 by Malcolm J. Brenner.)
London calling…
It’s official: “Wet Goddess” author Malcolm J. Brenner will be in London in late June to film the pilot for a new television interview series about people who have had extraordinary experiences. The host will be well-known British television and radio personality Tim Shaw, and the series is to be called “Tim Shaw Sleeps With…”, a reference to the fact that the show features a late-night interview in a specially equipped trailer, where the majority of the interview (and some drinking) will take place. The pilot episode will air on Channel 4, a commercial network in the United Kingdom, and may be broadcast at a later date in the USA. So Television Ltd. is the production company.
“I’m delighted to have been given this opportunity to tell the world about dolphins and my experience with them,” Brenner said. “In my phone conversations with Tim, he has been very cheerful and respectful, and seems sincerely interested in learning more about my relationship with Dolly the dolphin and what she taught me. I’m looking forward to meeting him and to our interview.”
Brenner was previously interviewed in 2014 by filmmakers Kareem Tabsch and Joey Daoud, of Miami-based Coffee & Celluloid Productions, for the short film “Dolphin Lover,” which won several awards. He has also appeared on numerous radio programs and podcasts, including “Bubba the Love Sponge” and “The Howard Stern Show.” But let’s not talk about that, shall we?
Awkward Human Survival Guide
A link to Malcolm J. Brenner’s interview on the podcast, “The Awkward Human Survival Guide,” episode 113, posted on May 10, 2016. He comes on at 1:04:52 and runs through 1:28:40.
Radio show appearance
Wet Goddess author Malcolm J. Brenner will appear on Michael Haymans’ radio program Building A Zoo from 11:05-12 noon on Thursday, May 19, 2016. The program airs on WCCF, 1580 AM in Port Charlotte, Florida or at http://www.iheart.com/live/news-radio-1580-wccf-5229/http://www.iheart.com/live/news-radio-1580-wccf-5229/
“Dolphin Lover” now on YouTube
The award-winning 2015 short documentary film “Dolphin Lover,” chronicling Malcolm J. Brenner’s 1971 love affair with a dolphin named Dolly, is now available on YouTube, the film’s producer said Thursday.
Joey Daoud announced the distribution arrangement on Facebook. In honor of National Dolphin Day, interested viewers can see the film for free Thursday, April 14 at Coffee and Celluloid’s web site.
“April 14th is recognized around the country as National Dolphin Day, a time to celebrate the beloved and brilliant marine mammals,” Daoud said. “In honor of this occasion, ‘Dolphin Lover,’ the controversial award-winning short documentary on the incredible true story of Malcolm J. Brenner and his summer-long love affair with Dolly the dolphin will be released free to audiences everywhere via YouTube.”
Co-Directed by Daoud and Kareem Tabsch, “Dolphin Lover” premiered at the 2015 Slamdance Film Festival, where it won Honorable Mention for Best Documentary Short Film. It went on to play a multitude of festivals around the world, garnering critical acclaim and awards, including the top prize for Documentary Short Film at the Los Angeles Film Festival. The film’s controversial subject entered the popular zeitgeist and led to significant media attention, from Howard Stern to Rush Limbaugh, @midnight with Chris Hardwick on Comedy Central, Watch What Happens Live on Bravo, and on media outlets like Vice, New York Post, Huffington Post, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror and countless others.
Set in 1971 on the Southwest coast of Florida, “Dolphin Lover” tells the incredible true story of Malcolm J. Brenner, a college student who lands his first professional gig as a freelancer photographing the marine animals at Floridaland, a tourist trap disguised as a roadside amusement park. The experience would launch Malcolm’s career as a photographer and introduce him to his one true love while changing his life forever. The assignment sent Brenner on a year-long romantic and sexual love affair with Dolly, a captive bottlenose dolphin. Brenner chronicled his relationship in a novel, Wet Goddess, which served as inspiration for the short film. The film features an in-depth interview with Brenner as well as archival footage and animation to tell of Brenner’s unique experience.
“Since we made the film we’ve been getting countless requests asking us where to see it, we thought there was no better way to share the film with the world than to release it on National Dolphin Day as a gift to dolphin lovers everywhere” Daoud said. The film is currently available for purchase or rental via iTunes but will be released free online via YouTube.
“Audiences at film festivals have really championed the film at every screening we’ve had, so we’re really eager for the film to be seen by a wider audience and hear what they think. One thing’s for certain, you won’t be able to stop talking about this story,” added Tabsch.
Viewers can watch the film starting on April 14th for free at dolphinlovermovie.com.
“Wet Goddess” published in Russia!
PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release, 04/02/2016
From: Eyes Open Media
(415) 640-5013
PUNTA GORDA, Fla./NIKEL, Russia — The interspecies romance novel that shocked America is now available in Russia.
Thanks to a unique international collaboration, “Wet Goddess: Recollections of a Dolphin Lover,” which author Malcolm J. Brenner self-published to international publicity in 2010, has been published in a Russian language edition by its translator, Anton River. He is distributing the book via social media and on Amazon with Brenner’s permission and encouragement.
“Wet Goddess” tells the story of Zachary Zimmerman, a young male college student who falls in love and has a sexual relationship with a female dolphin in an amusement park. Brenner, a self-described zoophile, admits the story is largely based on his experiences while attending New College of Florida in 1970 and ’71.
River, 27, lives in Nikel, Murmansk Oblast region, an industrial town about 12,000 in Russia’s far northwest, near the border with Norway. “Anton contacted me on Facebook in early August last year to let me know he had purchased a copy of ‘Wet Goddess’ and translated it into Russian so his family and friends could read it,” Brenner said. “I was impressed by the amount of effort he put into it. ‘Wet Goddess’ is filled with 1970’s American slang, puns, regional accents and out-of-this-world scenes. It took him about six months to translate all 341 pages of it, a mammoth piece of work. So I suggested we form a partnership to publish the book in Russia.”
River further showed his multiple talents by laying out the book and re-doing the cover, which was designed by Brenner’s daughter Thea Boodhoo, in Cyrillic.
“We had difficulty finding a publishing company in Russia that would handle ‘Wet Goddess,’” Brenner said. “The first one Anton tried was a ‘vanity press’ that wanted $6,000 to publish the book. The second said they couldn’t do it because the book was pornographic, even though there are exceptions in Russian law for works of literary and artistic merit. We finally found a company, Editus, that would handle the manuscript as I had written it, and I’m very grateful to them for not exercising any censorship.”
Brenner’s book has sold about 1,350 copies in 18 countries. “I hope ‘Wet Goddess’ sells well in Russia, as the country has an active industry capturing and selling dolphins and whales for entertainment,” Brenner said. “If there is a message from my book, it is that dolphins are the non-human people of the sea, and they deserve to be treated like such and left in freedom.”
To obtain a copy of “Wet Goddess” in Russian, contact River at asterite@icloud.com.
For more information, or to schedule an interview, contact Brenner at (415) 640-5013 between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. on east coast DST.
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Malcolm J. Brenner 