Month: June 2011

Weekly Link Round Up

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The big les/bi/etc lit news of the week is the Washington Blade article, “Publishers ignoring lesbian writers.” Go! Form an opinion!

The BookDyke posted How I discovered lesbian fiction.

Elisa posted LGBT Ebook and Print Releases June, 2011 and Rainbow Awards: Current Submissions 81-90.

Lambda Literary posted

prettyqueer posted The Calling of the Goddess: Queer Feminist Magic and My Writing Practice (by Amber Dawn).

Readings in Lesbian and Bisexual Women’s Fiction posted Readings with Lori Lake and Readings with Baxter Clare.

“Standing Up To Be Counted” was posted at Red Room.

“Zoe Whittall’s Contemporary Queer Fiction List” was posted at Canadian Bookshelf.

Ivan Coyote posted a new article, “I will,” at Xtra.

Andi Marquette posted JD Glass rocks! And she’s got a new project!

Layce Gardner was interviewed about her book Tats at Tahlequah Daily Press.

Malinda Lo posted .

Rachel Spangler posted GCLS Recap – Day 1.

Sarah Waters was interviewed about the TV adaptation of The Night Watch.

The Promise of Happiness by Sarah Ahmed was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

Queer (In)justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States edited by Michael Bronski was reviewed at the feminist librarian.

Getting the Mercury Out by Áine Ní Cheallaigh was reviewed at the Rainbow Reader.

Appalachian Justice by Melinda Clayton was reviewed at Bosom Friends: Lesbian Historical Fiction.

Persistence: All Ways Butch & Femme edited by Ivan E. Coyote and Zena Sherman was reviewed at For Books’ Sake.

Loving My Lady by Penelope Friday was reviewed at Bosom Friends: Lesbian Historical Fiction.

Loving Liz by Bobbi Marolt was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

The End by Nora Olsen was reviewed at Stella Matutina.

365 Days by K.E. Payne was reviewed at the Rainbow Reader.

Darkness Embraced by Winter Pennington was reviewed at the BookDyke.

Far from Xanadu by Julie Anne Peters was reviewed at The Novel Nymph.

Deux: The French Kiss Chronicles Book 1 by Em Petrova was reviewed at Loving Venus – Loving Mars.

Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule was reviewed at Red Room.

Sarah, Son of God by Justine Saracen was reviewed at Out in Print Queer Book Review.

It Should Be a Crime by Carsen Taite was reviewed at Loving Venus – Loving Mars.

The River Within by Baxter Clare Trautman was reviewed at the Rainbow Reader.

Hellebore and Rue edited by JoSelle Vanderhooft & Catherine Lundoff was reviewed at the Rainbow Reader.

The Gifted Ones by Lisa Vaughn was reviewed at Bibrary Bookslut.

My West by Patricia Nell Warren was reviewed at Out in Print Queer Book Review.

Oranges are not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson was reviewed at Diva Magazine.

Have you ever thought to yourself, “Is there any way I can be more lesbian?”

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I mean, sure, we watch lesbian TV shows and movies, read lesbian books, hang out with lesbians, and date/have sex with women… but is that enough? Isn’t there any way to do more things gay? Not to worry, I am here to help.

Lesbian cooking!

The Lesbian Erotic Cookbook by Ffiona Morgan

the butch cookbook by Lee Lynch (Author, Editor), Nel Ward (Author, Editor), Sue Hardesty (Author, Editor, Illustrator), and Marion Moir (Illustrator)

Cookin’ With Honey: What Literary Lesbians Eat edited by Amy Scholder

The Queer Cookbook: A Fully-Guided Tour to the Secrets of Success in the Homosexual Kitchen! by Donna Clark (Author, Compiler), David Shenton (Illustrator)

Okay, so you’ve mastered the art of lesbian cooking/eating. You know how to make gluten-free, fair trade, vegan chocolate-chip cookies. But there has to be more! Of course there is.

Lesbian travel!

Lesbian Travels: A Literary Companion by Lucy Jane Bledsoe

The Queerest Places: A National Guide to Gay and Lesbian Historic Sites by Paula Martinac

Queens in the Kingdom: The Ultimate Gay and Lesbian Guide to the Disney Theme Parks by Jeffrey Epstein and Eddie Shapiro

The Rough Guide to Gay & Lesbian Australia edited by Neal Drinnan

Lesbian photography!

Nothing but the Girl: The Blatant Lesbian Image edited by Susie Bright and Jill Posener

Stolen Glances: Lesbians Take Photographs edited by Tessa Boffin and Jean Fraser

Lesbian writing!

Lavender Ink – Writing and Selling Lesbian Fiction by Fran Walker

Putting Out: The Essential Publishing Resource for Lesbian and Gay Writers by Edisol W. Dotson

Lesbian gardening!

Garden Variety Dykes: Lesbian Traditions in Gardening edited by Irene Reti and Valerie Jean Chase

Lesbian sports!

Strong Women, Deep Closets: Lesbians and Homophobia in Sport by Pat Griffin

And, of course, you need your mandatory lesbian haircut.

The History of Lesbian Hair by Mary Dugger

Now go! Gay up your life! I love that obscure lesbian books like this exist.

Kristi reviews Jukebox by Gina Noelle Daggett

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Harper Alessi is the little rich girl being raised by her grandparents in Arizona; Grace Dunlop is the precocious English-born debutante. Fast friends from age eleven, Grace and Harper grow even closer as they get older. What’s love got to do with it? Everything.

This is Harper’s story–her story of meeting Grace for the first time in 1984 during tennis camp and of going to private school in Arizona, raised more by her grandparents than her world-traveling parents. Her world revolves around Grace, and most of the time she doesn’t even realize it. Harper knows she loves Grace, and as they pursue college and summer trips together, they finally admit their love for each other. Yet it is a love in denial: of course they love each other, of course they are intimate, but that doesn’t mean they are lesbians!

Or does it? As Harper slowly comes into her own identity, she finally admits the truth of her love. Can she and Grace take that final step to truly be together, or will their own privileged circumstances keep them apart?

Sometimes when a story features rich kid characters, it is hard to get in the mood. The privilege of Grace and Harper’s early years really sets the tone of most of the story. The money, the private school, the lack of financial issues in college, the summer trips abroad. It both scrapes at my nerves with the sense of entitlement that all the characters seem to have from the beginning and makes the story that much more believable when conflicts arise with Grace’s mother and boyfriend, and surrounding Grace’s trust fund.

While the start of Jukebox deals with the back story from their childhood to the fateful evening that Harper declares her love and identity to Grace, the second half of it is set twelve years later, in 2005, as both Harper and Grace deal with the choices and feelings of the past. For me, this was the hardest part of the book to connect with. While some of the underlying feelings are completely believable (who hasn’t pined for a lost love?), the way that Daggett set up and broke various plot lines and characters in the story were rather hard to read without rolling my eyes. I also struggled to feel any empathy for Grace. She reminded me of those brash, assuming men in the Harlequin romances that turn the woman inside out and then say, “Hey, guess what, even though I shredded your heart and disappeared for twelve years, I do love you!” Um, no thank you.

On the plus side, I did connect to Harper’s struggle with her love for Grace and denial of her sexual identity. I also enjoyed Daggett’s scene-setting throughout the years. As a girl of the 80s who loves a working jukebox, that was a big draw for me. It was the songs in the jukebox that let Harper first express herself, from “Lost In Your Eyes” to “I Hate Everything About You.” Chapters are not numbered, instead they are titled with expressive songs through the years. Any woman who has made a mix tape for her love will enjoy the weaving of music through the book.

Gina Noelle Daggett was a 2011 Golden Circle Literary Award finalist as a debut author for Jukebox.

Link Round Up

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I am a little late posting, but it is here on the right day, at least!

AfterEllen posted The secret (and sometimes gay) identities of female writers and Sarah Waters suggests some summer reading.

Bella Books posted A Bella Books Moment – Bad Commute?

Elisa posted Rainbow Awards: Cover Contest – Round 1 – Slot 8.

GLBT Reading posted May in Review.

Kool Queer Lit posted Taking Pride in What I Do – Lara Zielinsky.

Lambda Literary posted

Lesbian Fiction Reviews posted Del Robertson, Carrie Carr, and Winter Pennington Audio Reviews Now Posted!

Readings in Lesbian and Bisexual Women’s Fiction posted Readings with Sapphic Signs.

Women and Words posted Samplings.

Stella Duffy posted a guest post at Bett Norris’s blog.

Malinda Lo posted Four things on a Wednesday and A message to my adult readers.

Unbreakable by Advocate (aka Blayne Cooper) was reviewed at F/F Fan Fiction Reader’s Corner.

Sappho Sings by Peggy Ullman Bell was reviewed at Bosom Friends: Lesbian Historical Fiction.

A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer was reviewed at Kissed By Venus and Loving Venus – Loving Mars.

The Side Door by Jan Donley was reviewed at The Lesbian News.

Queer America: A People’s LGBT History of the United States by Vicki L. Eaklor was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

The Sensual World Re-emerges by Eleanor Lerman was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith (aka Carol by Claire Morgan or any combination of those titles and authors) was reviewed by Malinda Lo.

Ash by Malinda Lo was reviewed at Amythest Daydreams.

Retirement Plan by Martha Miller was reviewed at Queer Magazine Online.

Final Rest by Mary Morell was reviewed at Three Dollar Bill Reviews.

365 Days by K.E. Payne was reviewed at The Rainbow Reader.

Kissing the Rain by Larkin Rose was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

This Is Not For You by Jane Rule was discussed at writerjenn.

The Night Watch was reviewed at A Book Blog of One’s Own.

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters was reviewed at Three Good Rats.

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf was reviewed at Notes from the North.

allis reviews Maye’s Request by Clifford Henderson

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When I read the summary for this book I was highly intrigued by this part “[Brianna] parents form a perfect triangle: Mom, Dad, and her mother’s lover—who also happens to be her Dad’s twin sister”. From this, I gathered that the story was going to be quite unusual and promised to be at least interesting if not good. I was a bit worried about that actually. The premise was so intriguing and unusual that I feared the story could turn out to be really bad. But, to my great pleasure, it has not been the case.

I really enjoyed the start of the novel. We follow the narrator Brianna (a.k.a. Bean) through her way back from Mexico to the USA, where she is going to meet back with her Aunt, Dad, and mom who has contacted a very rare possible fatal illness. The writing is smooth and easy to read. The voice of the narrator is really pleasant and natural. As we travel with Brianna, we slip back from thoughts to actions really easily, as if we were traveling with her, lost in thoughts with her, getting introduced to all the background information about her family we need from her thoughts. At no moment does it feels forced. It’s the natural process of loosing oneself into ones thoughts while traveling.

When we reach the point of meeting with her family, we discover that the story is actually divided in two parts. The present with all of the characters, and the past which focus on the twins. Throughout the rest of the novel we are constantly balancing between the present with Bean’s point of view of the situation, and flash-backs from the past of her dad and aunt. But again the transitions are smooth and natural, and we switch from one period to the other very easily. The change of narration and tense helps a lot and make things easier for the reader, making sure he doesn’t get confused about when he is in time. Thanks to those flash-backs we slowly understand why her family is acting the way it did and still does. Placing the reader as a witness through the eyes of Bean was a really good idea. We are just as confused as her about the situation and just as eager to understand.

Plus, Bean is funny and feels very real which makes it easy to identify with her. She is not only guiding the reader through the present, she also have a life of her own with full development. She is very easy to rely to and make it uncomplicated to connect with the novel very rapidly, diving in from the start and only getting out at the end.

Another thing I really appreciated about this novel is the fact that it’s exactly what the cover says. It’s a story about love, longing, and family. It is the story of how Maye, but particularly Jake and Jen learn to live with each other again and learn to understand their history and past better, to leave it behind and move forward. But this is also the story of Bean and how she got caught in the mess the adults in her life created and how she is trying not to repeat the same mistakes and accept love. Some of the characters happen to be lesbians (Jen, Maye – though she is more bisexual than lesbian, and Bean). But there is no emphasis on it, it’s not the centre of the novel of even the point of it. That’s just part of who the characters are, who they love. I really appreciated that fact.

All in all it was a really good read and I am now planning to read other books from the same author. I definitely recommend this book. Some of the subjects treated are dark, but the tone is always real with a touch of humour which makes it very enjoyable to read.

Laura Mandanas reviews Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

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A few weeks ago, I decided to bring a book into the tub for a relaxing bubble bath. When the temperature was right, I gingerly picked up the paperback and eased my way into the frothy suds, cautiously avoiding the slightest splash. I took careful pains to hold the book a deliberate 6-8 inches out of the water. I even piled up towels at the edge of the tub in case of slippery-fingered emergency. It didn’t matter; within 20 minutes the book was completely waterlogged. The culprit? Not bathwater, but tears. Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg had me weeping by the end of the first chapter.
Stone Butch Blues is a beautifully written novel. The main character, Jess, is a young Jewish butch coming of age in the late ‘60s. Drowning in loneliness, Jess finds companionship in the queer community frequenting working-class gay bars. In this pre-Stonewall era, however, their mere existence is enough to prompt brutal attack from all sides. As the story unfolds, each of these characters weather hardships of an enormity I can barely comprehend.

Jess is a complicated character, and the book (thankfully) never backs away from this. I particularly appreciated the range of characters shown throughout in the book. “Butch” identity is not reserved strictly for lesbian women that present themselves in traditionally masculine ways; men, straight and bisexual women, and transgender people can all lay equally legitimate claim to the identity.

 Stone Butch Blues is the winner of numerous literary awards, and its clear to see why. This book is an essential read — and not just for the person who “doesn’t identify as a man and is at least some of the time attracted romantically and/or sexually to others who do not identify as a man” (ha). This is a book for anyone with a soul.

Stone Butch Blues is one of the most widely read pieces of LGBT literature, and appears on the shelves of many major retailers.

Casey reviews In Another Place, Not Here by Dionne Brand

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For readers unaccustomed to the Black Caribbean vernacular that begins Dionne Brand’s 1996 novel In Another Place, Not Here—like me—there’s a bid of an initial hurdle to leap over to sink into this book. But trust me, it’s worth it; and sink in you truly do. Brand is an exhilarating poet and although this is a novel, it’s definitely a poet’s novel. There is something deliciously seductive about the language, which rolls, rises, falls, and flows its way throughout the narrative. The rhythm and feel of the words are seductive to the point that their meaning at times seems secondary and, in fact, purposely elusive—a quality that might be frustrating for some readers. If you can give yourself over to the novel, though, make yourself vulnerable in a way that one of the main characters Verlia struggles to throughout the text, In Another Place, Not Here is a really rewarding read. Devoting each half of the novel to the story of one of the two women around whom the novel centres, Elizete and Verlia, Brand weaves an emotionally charged narrative that at times hits as hard as a physical assault, at others as softly as a warm wind. You read not so much to ‘find out what happens’ but rather to ride the tumultuous wave of both women’s intertwined emotionally and spiritually fraught journeys.

Elizete, whose story begins the novel, is an exploited sugar cane field labourer living in Trinidad—Brand’s mother country, though she is now a long-time Torontonian—who meets the revolutionary Verlia, also a native of Trinidad but recently returned after an emigration to and residence in Canada. There is an immediate attraction between the two women and a following relationship; Elizete describes her feelings for Verlia breathtakingly: “I sink into Verlia and let she flesh swallow me up. I devour she. She open me up like any morning. Limp, limp and rain light, soft to the marrow” (5). Erotic passages such as this are stunning, almost as if you had stumbled upon a scene truly not meant for anyone except the lovers’ eyes. Their intensity of feeling, however, collides with the seemingly insurmountable obstacles before them: racism, the legacy of slavery, misogyny, homophobia, and capitalist exploitation. Verlia has committed herself to political activism, having been part of the 1970s Black power movement in Toronto, but even her increasing radicalism cannot sustain her in the face of the placelessness and lack of belonging that plague her. Elizete too, feels this diasporic suffering: in search of meaning behind her loss of Verlia she journeys to Toronto from Trinidad but is told there by Verlia’s ex-lover Abena to “Go home, this is not a place for us” (230). There are no answers, let alone easy ones, to both Verlia and Elizete’s search for another place, not here, but their stumblings along the path looking for such a place are gorgeous, both in their sensuous highs and their devastating lows. Such a stumbling, difficult journey makes, in the end, a more worthwhile, truthful novel than a straightforward, but simplified, one would. Highly recommended!

Islay reviews Raven Mask by Winter Pennington

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Raven Mask is the second in Winter Pennington’s series featuring the adventures of ‘preternatural investigator’ werewolf Kassandra Lyall, and I would most certainly recommend reading the first before the second as Raven Mask picks up fairly seamlessly from where the first novel leaves off. It is, however, an enjoyable romp told with flare and good humour and scattered with a decent number of extremely intense sex scenes which should keep any lover of Sapphic fantasy fiction very happy.

The plot is fast-paced and intriguing, and if it occasionally feels somewhat disjointed it’s more than made up for by their being a juicy love scene within the first couple of chapters to wet the reader’s appetite for what’s to come. This is the first of several love scenes between Kassandra and her vampire lover Lenorre scattered throughout the novel, which all manage to be both erotic and entertaining without overcrowding the plot. It’s somewhat unfortunate that here in Britain ‘Lenore’ is actually the name of a leading brand of fabric softener and couldn’t be less vampiric sounding if it tried – but I’m prepared to forgive Pennington that given that this book was clearly written with an American audience in mind.

Kassandra Lyall is a likeable, sympathetic and frequently funny heroine, and Pennington sets her up well amongst a brace of other quirky, intriguing characters – I developed a particular soft spot for the Beta werewolf Rosalin. The cast of vampires, however, feel a little over-egged: I for one think we’ve really moved past the point where blood suckers must all be faux-Gothic cartoons who dress like bastardised Victorians and speaks with British accents. We now live in the age of True Blood and Being Human, after all, and those shows have been so successful at re-popularising vampire fiction because they resist the Anne Rice style of vamp that permeated 80s and 90s cult lit. Pennington might be a little more successful at getting me to take her vampire characters seriously if she wrote them in a style that didn’t feel so dated.

However, I can’t be completely sure she isn’t doing so with a wink and a nod anyway – her tone is characterised by a slightly tongue-in-cheek mischievousness which shows most clearly in Kassandra’s wry wit and commentary on outrageousness of the situations she gets into. Pennington can just about get away with pantomime vampires where a less skilled author wouldn’t, because her narrative voice is so appealing.

Kassandra does occasionally stray into feeling like an insert for Pennington herself, however. Not only is she a gutsy lesbian werewolf, but a Celtic pagan witch with a particular affinity with ravens. This would be fine if the fact of her being a witch had any bearing on the plot whatsoever – but it doesn’t, and left me wondering why such a detail kept being shoe-horned in. Being a Hellenic polytheist myself I wont criticise the respectful inclusion of a Pagan belief system – neo-Pagans are sorely lacking representation in any kind of popular literature – but it does feel somewhat convenient that Pennington’s blurb mentions that she too is a pagan on a Celtic path with a great fondness for ravens and crows. No author separates themselves from their characters entirely, nor should they have to, but the tongue-in-cheek style which allows Pennington to get away with her vampires is missing from her descriptions of Kassandra’s spirituality and that leaves those sections feeling a little forced and out of place. She doesn’t need to be a witch on top of everything else – there’s no benefit to the narrative – and as such Kassandra being a Celtic pagan feels self-indulgent and jars the reader somewhat.

That being said Kassandra remains an appealing narrator and Raven Mask an entertaining novel – highly recommended to anyone looking for a sexy, funny, escapist bit of fluff to bury themselves in for an afternoon.

Link Round Up

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Bella Books posted Look for the Bella with Attitude! – New Books for June.

Curve Magazine posted Jodi Picoult on Her New Lesbian-Themed Book.

Elisa posted Rainbow Awards: Current Submissions 61-70.

F/F Fan Fiction Reader’s Corner posted Ramble – Real life or Fiction ?

Gay YA posted

GLBT Promo Blog posted June is GLBT Month! Save 30% on all e-books!

GLBT Reading posted My fave lesbian books.

Ladylit.com is looking for lesbian short stories to post!

Lambda Literary posted

Queeries posted Remembering Siren magazine and Siren magazine covers.

Readings in Lesbian and Bisexual Women’s Fiction posted Readings with Amy Briant.

Women and Words posted

Alison Bechdel posted i’m a fellow!

Gabriella Goliger gave a presentation about her book Girl Unwrapped.

Malinda Lo posted What I learned on the Diversity Tour.

Bett Norris posted Bookstore Reading/Signing: There will be Chocolate.

Sara Schulman was interviewed at Xtra!

Lara Zielinsky posted Congratulations to the 2011 Goldie Winners.

“Book Thoughts: Suspension of Disbelief, featuring Huntress by Malinda Lo and Captain America” was posted at Bookish Blather.

A giveaway of Oranges are not the Only Fruit (and more) is at Sleepless Nights.

Shadow Point by Amy Briant was reviewed at The Rainbow Reader.

Missed Her by Ivan Coyote was reviewed at Cate’s Bookshelves.

The Slayer by Nadine LaPierre was reviewed at Kissed by Venus.

Huntress by Malinda Lo was reviewed at Queeries.

Parties in Congress by Colette Moody was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

My Soldier Too by Bev Prescott was reviewed at The Rainbow Reader.

Just a Little Romance by Mary Jane Russell was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

Soft Swap by Paisley Smith was reviewed at Loving Venus – Loving Mars.

She’s My Dad by Iolanthe Woulff was reviewed at Three Dollar Bill Reviews.

Mfred reviews Piece of My Heart by Julia Watts

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Can a poor end to an otherwise okay book truly ruin the entire reading experience?  This is the question I have been pondering since reading Julia Watt’s Piece of My Heart.

Jess Hamlin starts grad school just out of the closet and broken hearted.  Pining for her former (yet still straight) roommate, she begins a series of gay adventures, like going to lesbian bars, making queer friends, dating actual lesbians… Only to end with the book participating in some seriously transphobic “hi-jinks” that made me rethink everything I had considered enjoyable about the book.

Here is what happens (TOTAL SPOILER ALERT):  At the very end of the novel, when Jess has finally let go of her fear, met a great lady, and started a happy lesbian life, Julie Watts brings in a villain.  Grady, one of Jess’ students, makes romantic overtures of the unwanted “I love lesbians because of the 3somes!” variety.  Michelle, Jess’ new girlfriend, gets pissed and plots vengeance– her male-to-female dominatrix friend Chastity will trick Grady into gettin’ freaky with her, only to reveal herself as the man she really is!  Hilarious, right?!!

These are sarcastic exclamation marks, by the way.

When Jess and her lesbian friends meet Chastity, they spend pages and pages goggling at her inexplicable feminine beauty.  Their gazes linger, ooh-ing and ahh-ing over her face and breasts.  To prove just how incredible it all is, Michelle whips out pre-transition photos of Chastity and shows everyone, also telling them her former name, without her permission.  One character asks her, over dinner, whether or not she has had bottom surgery.  Aside from being humiliating, it’s also downright rude and ill-mannered.  The point is made, clearly and explicitly, that Chastity isn’t really a woman, no matter how feminine she may look on the outside.

But we haven’t even gotten to the comedy yet!  After all the plotting, Grady is, of course, completely and utterly emasculated by the sight of a trans woman’s penis, and runs from the room.  All of the lesbians die of laughter and high-five each other for finally evening the score with conservative heterosexuals everywhere.  No one seems to appreciate that they have made a mockery of Chastity at the same time.

Watts and her characters fetishize Chastity the exact same way Grady objectifies Jess and her girlfriend.  Chastity’s sole purpose is to be a horribly attractive freakshow that can both entice and humiliate anyone who looks at her.  The way the characters treat her, from outright staring at her body to the rude questions about her genitals, sickened me.  The way Julia Watts wrote Chastity as a totally defined by the state of her genitals also sicked me.   A trans person’s body is not  a punch line.  It is not public property, for everyone to gawk at and use.  The more I think about it, the angrier I get, and unfortunately, I cannot detach from these feelings.

It might not be fair, but how the book ended completely colored my opinion of the entire book itself.  I can’t divide the good from the bad.  I also refuse to make excuses for the book:  it’s not that old, it’s not that funny, and someone writing a queer book for queer readers should have known better.