The University of Nebraska Press is pleased to announce the selection of the next book in the fiction series, Zero Street. I Make Envy on Your Disco by Eric Schnall will be published May 1, 2024.

In Berlin, the past is everywhere: the graffiti-stained streets, the candlelit cafes and techno clubs, the astonishing mash-up of architecture, monuments and memorials. A trip that begins in isolation evolves into one of deep connection and possibility. I Make Envy on Your Disco is at once a love letter to Berlin, a novel of longing and connection, and a coming-of-middle-age story about confronting the person you were and becoming the person you want to be.

“Eric Schnall’s I Make Envy on Your Disco is a gem of a book. Like Ulysses in Dublin, Schnall places his flaneur in Berlin on the cusp of capitalistic change,” said SJ Sindu, one of the series editors and author of Blue Skinned Gods. “The city infuses into the book, and Schnall relates his protagonist’s wanderings in poignant observations and a quiet lyricism that alternatively hypnotizes and shocks. I loved the voice the moment I started reading it. I’m so proud and happy that this will be the second book in the Zero Street series.”

I Make Envy on Your Disco is the second winner of the Barbara DiBernard Award, an annual prize for a book published by Zero Street and named for Dr. DiBernard who is professor emeritus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. As a scholar, activist, teacher, and mentor, Dr. DiBernard has been a pioneer in LGBTQ+ literary studies, women’s literature, and disabilities studies, and a longtime advocate for LGBTQ+ authors and publishing.

“When I read about Zero Street, I was immediately struck by its mission, so I’m thrilled that my novel has found its home there,” said Eric Schnall. “To have also won the Barbara DiBernard Prize is an extraordinary honor. Hilary Zaid’s novel, the inaugural winner, is fantastic and I’m proud that my book will follow in its footsteps. Working with Timothy Schaffert, SJ Sindu and the team at UNP has been a dream. I’m excited to take readers to Berlin, an incredible city that seared itself into my heart and soul.”

Eric has worked on and off Broadway as a producer and marketing director for over 25 years. He won a Tony Award as co-producer of the Broadway revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. He’s also written about techno and electronic music for Billboard and Revolution, profiling DJs and musicians from around the world. Eric is 53 years old and lives in New York City with his partner and his dog. 

Series editor Timothy Schaffert writes, “The novel tumbles together a small group of strangers for only a handful of days, but it is nonetheless epic – it’s a mural of turn-of-the-millennium Berlin, and as I read, I was transfixed by how the narrator, Sam, describes and explores the city, how Berlin’s buildings, its lights, its noises, its outcasts, all come to somehow articulate his own sense of nostalgia and longing and alienation. Musil’s The Man Without Qualities meets Scorsese’s After Hours.”

Zero Street is committed to LGBTQ+ literary fiction with commercial potential, providing LGBTQ+ authors opportunities for a wide readership in the trade fiction market. The series editors are Timothy Schaffert, bestselling author of The Perfume Thief, and SJ Sindu, author of Blue-Skinned Gods. The series seeks LGBTQ+ literary fiction of all kinds, from stories of modern life to innovations on traditions of genre and are particularly interested in BIPOC authors, trans authors, and queer authors over 50.

The submission period for Zero Street is Nov. 1 through Apr. 1. For more information, click here.