The origin of Antinous Editions goes back to 2010, when a friend of Andrew Carlson encourages him to publish his writings. Andrew did it, on Wattpad and by putting online his own website: contesdegays. A site that has continued to evolve since then to finally promote MM literature, books that tell us beautiful love stories between men.
In the meantime, the stories Andrew publishes on Wattpad are becoming more and more popular. Today thousands of people have read what he shares. Along the way he also met Sebastien Chevrey, an author on the same site, and Kenneth Wayd, whom he in turn encouraged to publish his writings.
These friendships between authors gave birth to the idea of Antinoüs éditions.
A publishing house to distribute MM literature in a professional way. Because it’s not as simple as Wattpad, to offer stories to readers you need to proofread, go through corrections, call a professional for the cover, layout… The three of them feel strong enough to take up the challenge. In 2020, during the confinement in France, they decided to get down to work.
They wanted to take the time, to do things right. So it wasn’t until 2023 that Antinous really emerged. They need a logo, a beautiful website, and to prepare the first publications. It is a huge task but one that they obviously enjoy, because it is their baby and they encourage each other. They are still a few steps to go, but soon you will be able to discover the result…
Antinous represents perfectly our editorial line. His life remains a mystery, history having retained only the fact that he was the favorite and lover of the emperor Hadrian. At the age of 20, he dies drowned in the Nile. Hadrian evokes an accident, but it could have been a voluntary ritual sacrifice, either to prolong Hadrian’s days, or for other divinatory practices.
The Egyptians deified him, seeing in him one of the servants of Osiris, going so far as to found a city on the river: Antinoupolis. The Greeks saw in him an avatar of Hermes. This is how the artistic representations of Antinous multiplied. Most of them are statues identifiable by the attitude of the young man: head turned and bent, eyes fixed downwards. He became a personification of ideal beauty.