"Ron Jeremy: The Hardest (Working) Man in Showbiz" is the title, and February 1, 2007 is the scheduled date of release for what could be the mainstream crossover smash of next year from the adult world, the 352-page memoir of the one known as The Hedgehog, AVN Hall of Famer and living legend Ron Jeremy.
The book is being published by Harper Entertainment, a sub-division of Harper Collins, is being handled by top Harper Collins editors Joelle Yudin and Mauro DiPreta, and was co-authored by Eric Spitznagel, who recently penned another adult-related tome, "Fast Forward: Confessions of a Porn Screenwriter" (published by Manic D Press).
"It's an autobiography that was written a long, long time ago," Jeremy told AVN.com in an exclusive interview. "I was dealing with Simon & Schuster and Kensington [Publishing] and a million other people, and I never approached them — I want to make it real clear — I didn't approach them. But a couple of years ago, they approached me, but weren't offering the kind of money that I thought would be fair. I know what people get, so I waited and waited and waited and waited, and finally, HarperCollins [picked it up]."
As far as what readers have to look forward to, Jeremy promised, "We got a lot of new things in this book that people have absolutely no idea about. And there's a lot of great photos. They got 60, 70 pictures of me and famous people, all along with little captions [stating] why I met them and how I met them.
"What makes my book, I guess, kind of interesting," Jeremy continued, "is that the photos kind of back up the story. For example, when I tell a story of how John Holmes, when he read an article that I was like the star of the ’80s in Playgirl magazine, he said, 'Why don't I just retire and become your bitch?' and there's a picture I have of him acting like my bitch in a pose, so it backs up the story."
Other interesting tales related in the book include his mother's stint as a spy in World War II, his uncle's partnership with gangster Bugsy Segal and his work as a monster named "Blister Face" on a Saturday morning kids' show for Disney.
"What I'm hoping for most of all in my book [is] that there'll be about 120 'Holy shit! I didn't know that!' [reactions from the reader]. When people read about my family history, they're gonna take a severe dump in their pants."
Jeremy also noted that, "I'm getting some offers from independent film production companies to pay me a decent-size option for a possible movie based on the book. From some good, decent-size players, too. We're not talking little tiddlywinks, we're talking about some major people."
Whether or not advance copies of the book will be available in time for dissemination at the 2007 Adult Entertainment Expo in January remains to be seen, Jeremy said, but he did comment that, "The p.r. people of the show are aware of the book, and vice versa." He also boasted that, "It's already pre-sold I think close to 30,000 copies, so it's pretty good."
"Ron Jeremy: The Hardest (Working) Man in Showbiz" is available for pre-order at Amazon.com.
