Collin Kelley is a novelist, poet and playwright from Atlanta, Georgia. His poetry collections include After the Poison, Slow To Burn and Better To Travel, which was nominated for the 2003 Georgia Author of the Year Award, Kate Tufts Discovery Award and Lambda Literary Award. He is a multiple Pushcart Prize nominee and a recipient of the 2007 Georgia Author of the Year/Taran Memorial Award from the Georgia Writers Association at Kennesaw State University for poetic excellence and his work as co-editor of the Java Monkey Speaks Anthology series from Poetry Atlanta Press. His poetry, essays and interviews have appeared in magazines, journals and anthologies around the world. His play, The Dark Horse, was the recipient of the 1994 Deep South Festival of Writer's Award for Best Play from the University of Louisiana and the Georgia Theatre Conference Award in 1997.  Kelley has been a journalist for more than 20 years. Conquering Venus is his first novel.

Collin's Website

Conquering Venus  by Collin Kelley

In the summer of 1995, young American writer Martin Paige agrees to chaperone a group of high school seniors on their graduation trip to Paris as a favor to his best friend, teacher Diane Jacobs. Diane hopes Europe will act as a catalyst to lift Martin from his grief following the suicide of his lover, Peter. But the trip proves to be more than either of them bargained for. Martin finds himself falling in love with one of her students, David McLaren, who is unprepared to cope with his burgeoning sexuality. He also meets a mysterious Parisian woman, Irène Laureaux, who is debilitated by agoraphobia and spends her days spying on the hotel guests across from her apartment. Martin and Irène discover they have a logic-defying connection: a small tribal tattoo on their left hands that means “equal but opposite.” This is same tattoo that Martin’s lover and Irène’s husband had inked into their skin.

All the characters lives are irrevocably changed in a horrifying terrorist attack on a Paris metro station. Liberated by the blast, forced from her own self-imprisonment, Irène learns her husband’s death was not an accident, and dares Martin to acknowledge the role he played in Peter’s suicide. Diane, harboring her own secrets and a hidden agenda, takes a drastic step to force David out of the closet and admit his feelings for Martin.

From America to England to France, the globe-hopping story places fictional characters amidst historical events such as the Nazi occupation of Paris, the student/worker riots of 1968 and the terrorist bombings of Paris in 1995. Grounded in reality, Conquering Venus is a mystery, a love story and a journey of self-realization.

Conquering Venus

Conquering Venus

Video Trailer 

Special thanks to:

Video Producer/Editor: Tim O'Donnell
Music: "Heart of Wax" by Vanessa Daou, from the album Joe Sent Me.

Used by permission of Daou Records. http://www.vanessadaou.com

Conquering Venus