Month: September 2012

Kristi reviews Chasing by Sonje Jones

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In Chasing by Sonje Jones, Cornelia Osgood (Oz to her friends) is a PI working her way through cases — and her clients. She is dealing with a singer who is receiving increasingly uncomfortable letters from a mystery fan; a nosy wife who wants tabs kept on her philandering husband; and a few other drop-in clients. If only work could keep her busy enough to stay out of the path of her mother and sister, both whom are getting married in just a few weeks. Of course, with her mom living across the street and at work every day as her secretary, Oz cannot escape the plans or the guilt. As the family shenanigans ramp up, so does her client’s stalker, leading Oz to tackle a case that goes from business to personal in more ways than one.

I was expecting to have the “carousing investigator” stereotype turn me off, but Jones makes Oz both strong and vulnerable. Using her womanizing ways to hide from loneliness and avoid two weddings she doesn’t want to be involved with, Oz is only slightly larger than life. Multiple supporting characters bring light to the different facets of a woman that I wanted to learn more about. A lot of plot is contained within this short book (only 139 pages), but since it’s the first of a series, I expect to be seeing a lot more Oz in my future.

Danika reviews First Spring Grass Fire by Rae Spoon

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From about the first page of First Spring Grass Fire, I was already frustrated, for three reasons: 1) it is very well-written, 2) it is very short, and 3) it is, at the moment, Rae Spoon’s only book. I was dreading getting to the end of the book pretty much the moment I started it.

I first discovered Rae Spoon’s music by their tour with Ivan E. Coyote. I adore Coyote’s storytelling, and Rae Spoon’s music was a great match. I still listen to their music all the time, especially “We Become Our Own Wolves” and “Come On Forest Fire Burn the Disco Down”, so when I heard that Spoon was coming out with a book, I was really excited. First Spring Grass Fire does not disappoint. In a lot of ways, their writing does remind me of Ivan E. Coyote’s. Both talk about fictionalized (?) short stories from their own lives. Both have very easy-to-read, casual styles that simultaneously are deeply moving. Both discuss growing up queer in rural environments.

But Rae Spoon has a style all their own, as well. There are moments of almost poetry in their work. There is also a rawness and urgency to First Spring Grass Fire that is far away from Coyote’s usually positive remembrances of her childhood. Rae Spoon describes growing up trans and queer in a very conservative environment, but that pales to their childhood with their abusive and schizophrenic father. It is definitely, as the back cover says, “quietly devastating, heart-wrenching. . . “, but of course there is also a strength and hope to their memoir, knowing that Spoon escapes and thrives.

This book is intensely personal. Rae Spoon invites the reader into the most painful and difficult moments of their childhood, and shields very little. We get moments, quickly jumping from time to time and location to location. They are incredibly evocative, but they are only brief excerpts. As I have said, it makes me eager to read more of Rae Spoon’s work. I very much hope that they will be writing more, because from this slim collection alone (along with their beautifully written music), Rae Spoon has already been added to my list of favorite, just as emily m. danforth managed to do with her debut book. In case it isn’t obvious, I highly, highly recommend this one, especially for Ivan E. Coyote fans and for people looking for more stories of trans young adults.

Link Roundup: Sept 18-25

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The Advocate posted Lesbian Authors on Alcoholism, Abuse, and Acceptance.

AfterEllen posted Kate Kane is a baby dyke in “Batwoman #0” and AfterEllen.com Book Club #1: Let’s Talk About “Tipping the Velvet”.

Casey the Canadian Lesbrarian posted The Word on the Street is Queer: Also, Watch for a Rae Spoon Book Launch Near You.

Elisa posted Literary Heritage: Anne Lister (April 3, 1791 – September 22, 1840).

F/F Fan Fiction Reader’s Corner posted If you are looking for a good carpenter or perhaps a woman with a toolbelt.

      

Lambda Literary posted

lesbian meets book nyc posted Two Lesbian Writers Who Rock: Sarah Diemer and Malinda Lo.

The Outer Alliance posted Coming Out #9: Cat Rambo on Near + Far.

Women and Words posted Dreams by Maggie Morton – Guest Blog & FREE BOOK.

      

“Lazy Sunday: Celebrating LGBT History Month” was posted at Bonjour, Cass!

Sarah Diemer (aka Elora Bishop) posted that her book Hallow’s Eve is going out of print.

Malinda Lo posted All around the web…

Catherine Lundoff‘s Silver Moon was excerpted at SheWired.

Starting From Here by Lisa Jenn Bigelow was reviewed at Bonjour, Cass!

One In Every Crowd by Ivan E. Coyote was reviewed at Vancouver Desi.

Touch Me Gently by D. Jackson Leigh was reviewed at The Rainbow Reader.

Amazons: A Love Story by E.J. Levy was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

Love, In Theory by E.J. Levy was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

      

Bobby Blanchard, Lesbian Gym Teacher by Monica Nolan was reviewed at Okazu.

Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule was reviewed by Casey the Canadian Lesbrarian.

Before the Rain by Luisita López Torregrosa was reviewed at Bonjour, Cass!

The Legend of Bold Riley by Leia Weathington was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

Danika reviews Haunted Hearths & Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories edited by Catherine Lundoff

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This book was not what I was expecting. Which isn’t a fault of Haunted Hearths & Sapphic Shades, I don’t think, but it was surprising. I picked up Haunted Hearths expecting… ghost stories. You know, campfire, spooky, ghost stories! In fact, there aren’t very many stories in this collection that are very scary, or that even try to be. Catherine Lundoff’s introduction is a must-read for this collection. She carefully explains that “ghost stories” are not, in fact, one genre. Ghost stories can be romances, or horror, or comedy. A ghost in a story can serve all sorts of purposes. In fact, the genres recommended for this book on the back cover are “Lesbian Fantasy / Romance”, and that gives you a much better indication of what to expect from this collection than the usual connotations around “ghost story”.

Haunted Hearths offers a variety of different tones in the stories contained here, from a rampaging ghost horse to a grumpy lesbian ghost housemate and a vengeful dead ex. These stories also offer different explanations for their dead characters’ refusal to move on from the physical world. It was interesting to see all the range of places authors could go with the topic of “lesbian ghost story.” My favorite topics, because I am obviously a big book nerd, were two, “A Quiet Love” by Suzan Tessier and “Focus of Desire” by Elise Matthesen, that explored the idea of falling in love with someone from a another time. They both explore two women who, in their study of a long-dead historical figure, become obsessed with them and try to somehow join them.

In a complete different tone, another story I appreciated was “The Dyke You Know” by Selina Rosen for its humor. This is the story with the dead lesbian roommate, and (spoiler) the protagonist eventually concludes that her wailing ghost roommate is easier to live with than the live lesbians she dates.

Overall, there were some interesting stories in this collection, and I appreciated the variety, though there weren’t really any that made me want to rush out and read the author’s other works. If you’re looking for a spooky Halloween read, overall I don’t think this is the book for it, but if you’re curious about how the concept of “lesbian ghost story” can be stretched and interpreted, Haunted Hearths & Sapphic Shades is worth checking out.

Casey reviews Dare, Truth or Promise by Paula Boock

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I read New Zealand author Paula Boock’s young adult lesbian novel Dare Truth or Promise (1997) in one day, practically in one sitting.  I have a soft spot for queer YA anyway, but I really loved this book for its sweet, simple style.  Boock writes in a very straight-forward, deceptively plain way that is reminiscent of New Zealanders themselves, at least what I learned about them when I was there for four months a few years ago.  In fact, I’d say this book is a lot like Kiwis and Kiwi culture: humble, charming, quietly proud, and not inclined to boast of its own merits but rather to simply display them as if reassured of its own value.  (Side note: for those readers not familiar with Kiwi culture or English, there is a glossary of terms at the beginning of the book).

Dare Truth or Promise is essentially a teenage love story.  Willa is the bold red-headed daughter of a former-country star-turned-pub-owner, an aspiring chef, and a loving dog owner.  Louie is a charismatic, self-assured actress, stellar student, and frequent poetry quoter from a well-off Italian family.  Boock makes a few interesting (and in my opinion great) choices: she makes Louie Willa’s second same-sex relationship; Willa already knows she’s gay, even though she’s still a bit confused about it.  She also makes the girls come from notably different class backgrounds, which is something I haven’t seen dealt with very much in YA fiction.  Both Willa and Louie have a feminist sensibility about them as well: for example, Willa threatens to cut off the “goolies”—balls—of her work supervisor who tries to pretend patting her on the ass is no big deal—awesome!
I love how the book opens with their first meeting, but presents a little realist twist on the love-at-first-sight trope: “There was a moment, later, that was a lightning strike.  But the first time Louie saw Willa she had just begun the coleslaw.”  Louie and Willa meet, you see, while working at a takeaway (that’s Kiwi speak for fast food restaurant).  The understated way that Boock tells their love story makes the revelatory moments in it stand out all the more:

“I’m in love with that girl,” [Louie] said out loud in amazement, because she knew that this was a life-changing thing and life-changing things should be said aloud, should have a moment in time, and a place in the air, some molecular structure to make them real. I’m in love with that girl, she heard as it reverberated inside her head. And it was a truth, she realized, as things are which you don’t think, but discover have always existed.

The way Boock describes Louie’s sudden realization is so authentic and lovely, don’t you think?  The description of their first kiss is also moving and genuine:

When Willa turned and kissed her, Louie thought in her head, this is my first kiss.  It wasn’t, of course, she’d kissed a number of boys, and done more too, but she’d never, ever felt as if she were falling off a cliff.  She’d never felt before as if her body were being turned to water from the inside out, or as if they were both whirling through space into an airless black vortex.  Louie felt all of these things, and, above all, a disbelief, a wild, terrifying disbelief that this should be happening—no, not that she was in love with a  girl, for it seemed suddenly absolutely natural that she should be in love with this girl—but that, god only knew how, this girl should love her back!

There’s just something that Boock really gets about first love, regardless of gender, that really shines through the whole novel.  I also really loved the realism of the secondary characters’ reactions to the girls’ relationship, in that there were those that were negative and (sometimes surprisingly) those that were positive.  I was especially delighted—spoiler alert!—that Louie’s Catholic priest actually ends up being her ally and that Willa’s mother is supportive from the get-go.  In the end, the book really sustains the idea that teens having to lie about their sexuality and hide who they are is what is harmful to their relationships with their families, not their actual queerness.  Although this is obvious to older LGBTQ folks, it’s a really important lesson for teens just coming out, and for the straight folks around them, and it’s one that Boock puts forwardly firmly but eloquently in this poignant novel.

Link Round Up: September 11-18

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AfterEllen posted Queer Book Roundup: September.

Autostraddle posted Listling: Reasons You Should Read Santa Olivia Immediately and How About a Little LGBT History With Your Theater.

Casey the Canadian Lesbrarian posted My Fall Reading List: New Books by Mariko Tamaki, Rae Spoon, and Emma Donoghue.

Lambda Literary posted a mini link round up.

The Outer Alliance posted OA Podcast #24: Changing the Conversation (Recorded at WorldCon).

Queeries posted Forbidden Love 20 years later.

     

Sarah Diemer posted about the sexualization of lesbian fiction and Melusine, a Free YA Short Story — Part of Project Unicorn (A Lesbian YA Extravaganza).

Jewelle Gomez was interviewed at Curve Magazine.

Malinda Lo posted her Adaptation booktour schedule and was interviewed at Dorothy Surrenders.

Gayle Pitman, author of Fringe: On the Edges of the Mainstream Gay Community, was reviewed at Shelly’s LGBT Book Review Blog.

One In Every Crowd by Ivan Coyote was reviewed at Vancouver Desi.

Plenitude magazine was reviewed by Casey the Canadian Lesbrarian.

Out of the Past by Glenda Poulter was reviewed at Terry’s Lesfic Reviews.

Outlaw Marriages: The Hidden Histories of Fifteen Extraordinary Same-Sex Couples by Rodger Streitmatter was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

As always, check out even more links at the Lesbrary’s twitter feed!

Bottle Rocket Hearts by Zoe Whittall was discussed at Bonjour, Cass!

Laura reviews Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

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So, I know that Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters is, like, the lesbian book. But I’ve got to be honest with you: I really wasn’t all that into it. Terrible, I know! But hear me out.
 
Background:  Tipping the Velvet is set in Victorian England in the 1890s. It’s a coming of age “lesbian romp” involving singing drag kings, prostitutes, sugar mommas, and suffragists. Just about every type of lesbian activity you can imagine is portrayed in this book. (And I don’t mean that in an erotic sense, although there’s quite a bit of that, too.)
 
This book’s 1998 publication and subsequent literary reception and commercial success paved the way for many other lesbian books. And I am so, so happy about that. But the actual content of this book didn’t do much for me. Here’s why:
    1. The main character, Nan, was completely awful. The way she treats other people is totally wretched. Her irrational behavior is so unrelatable. I really just wanted to smack her. Repeatedly. Ugh.
    2. The plot just sort of… rambled. And on the one hand, that’s sort of how life is, right? Directionless? Unexpectedly veering off into weirdness? A little smutty? I would say yes. But on the other hand, books are not real life. And I prefer books with a little more structure.
    3. Oysters. Before she left home to fulfill her lesbian destiny, Nan’s favorite activity was sucking on juicy oysters. Which, I mean, really? Really?
I’m not saying this was the worst book ever.Tipping the Velvet was okay (and in fact, much better than many other works of lesbian literature I’ve read). I just felt let down after hearing so many great things about it! And after having read Fingersmith, I had really high expectations! All dashed!
 
Anyway, I think you should still read this. Or at least watch the BBC miniseries adaptation. But don’t expect it to be life changing or whatever. This is more like homework, so that you can converse intelligently with other people on the subject of queer media. Because if most people have only encountered one lesbian book in their lives, it’s probably this one. (Sigh. Can we change this? Can we all get together and take a vote? Where are my lesbian literati at? Call me, ladies.)
 
Tipping the Velvet has also been reviewed for the Lesbrary by Ami and Danika.

Laura Mandanas Reviews A Fucking Brief History of Fucking by Janet Mason

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Dedicated to the author’s “wide ranging tribe of friends, accomplices, and cuntpatriots,” A Fucking Brief History of Fucking is a chapbook of poetry by Philadelphia-based writer Janet Mason. And it is so, so lesbian. In one poem, a former dancer gives another woman a musculo-skeletal overview of how pasties are twirled; in another, two women autograph tampons and throw them around the bar. So fucking great.

Though there are some lovely sad and serious poems in this collection, I find that Mason is at her best when she’s at her silliest. My favorite was “The Cunt Sonnet.” Opening lines: “The cathedral of my cunt is a real cunt-nundrum: what and who it wants often I do not.” Love love love the ridiculous cunt puns. So will you. You should own this.A Fucking Brief History of Fucking is available for $5 at Giovanni’s Bookstore in Philadelphia. Some of Mason’s other chapbooks (When I Was Straight and a woman alone) are also available on her website, www.amusejanetmason.com.

Alyssa reviews Women on the Edge of Space

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Women on the Edge of Space is a chapbook of four sci-fi, erotica short stories. While it is billed as an anthology, it is neither long nor consistent enough for that to be an accurate descriptor. It contains the following four works:

1. “The Many Little Deaths of Cicilia Long” by Shanna Germain
2. “Fair as the Moon, Clear as the Sun” by Laurel Waterford
3. “Adrift” by Kaysee Renee Robichaud
4. “Unfolding Her Wings” by Elizabeth Black

There is a bit of a disconnect in the subject matter. The first short story is what I wanted this collection to be, considering the ambitious presentation of the chapbook: science fiction in essence, with erotic content that is integral to, but not the overall point of, the story. In the latter three short stories, while science fiction is present—the stories are set in the future, in space, and contain multiple instances of zero- or low-gravity sex—sci-fi is largely used as a backdrop for erotic fiction. The fourth story works with this, though, showcasing human normalcy and family amid futuristic technological advances.

All of the relationships portrayed in this collection are woman-on-woman. I was particularly pleased with the fourth story for including committed polyamory, and a pregnant woman in an erotic narrative without fetishization; and with the first story, for the central character’s lesbian relationships taking a back seat to her relationship with the cosmos, i.e. nature, which is presented in an erotic manner. As such, I vastly preferred the first and last stories in this collection. The second story is enjoyable, but the characterization is somewhat unrealistic. The third story is decent, but reads essentially like Star Trek fanfiction. This isn’t essentially a bad thing, but does not lend well to originality.

I would not go out of my way to recommend this collection, but if you’re looking for sci-fi lesbian erotica, it will be worth the three dollar ebook price on Amazon.

Anna K. reviews Elissa Janine Hoole’s Kiss the Morning Star

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In Elissa Janine Hoole’s Kiss the Morning Star, Anna takes a roadtrip with her best-friend-for-years, Kat, to find proof of God’s love. It’s a few weeks before Anna’s 18th birthday, and a few months after her mom died in a house fire and her pastor father stopped preaching, and speaking altogether. A lesbian, Young Adult, coming-of-age novel centering on faith? you ask. Yep. And it’s good.

I was skeptical at first, waiting to get hit over the head with moralizing. But that doesn’t happen (excepting a couple less-than-ecstasy-inducing drug experiences and a nearly PG sex scene). Katy Kat and Anna babe, as they call each other, use Jack Kerouac’s The Dharma Bums as a guide by choosing their next move with closed eyes and a finger on a random page. They get tattoos, get caught in a Mexico-bound bus full of missionaries stalled on train tracks, meet the shaman (a musician/spiritual leader), and have an encounter with a bear while backpacking. Along the way, Anna mourns the loss of her mother, tries to mend her relationship with her father via text message, begins to let go of some her burdensome fears and limiting routines, and recognizes that she is in love with Katy.

They find God subtly–the reader is left only to suppose they succeed–and falling in love with each other is a huge step of their journey. This sweet, teenage road novel is so satisfying I only wish I could have read it when I was a teen, but it’s just as fulfilling as an adult.