Oct 25 2017

Books picked up on my travels

Whenever I’m in Vancouver (which isn’t that often, the last time was three years ago), I like to pop in to Little Sister’s Book and Art Emporium. When I mentioned this to two lesbian friends of my mother, one of them said, “Oh, do they sell books?” (I guess they’ve only shopped in the ‘Art Emporium’ part…I didn’t know what this was a euphemism for until my first visit.)

I do just go in to look at the books (Really, Mum!). This time, however, they were in the midst of re-organising the bookshelves and a lot of the books were in boxes waiting to be put on the new shelving. But I did manage to find a few treasures. In the used book section, there was this oldie by Bonnie J. Morris, The Question of Sabotage. I have recently read her latest non-fiction book, The Disappearing L, in which she devotes a large portion to the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. So I was able to relate to this novel with a deeper understanding of the politics of the whole event. Told from the viewpoint of a first time ‘festie’ goer, the story is a delightful mix of humour and pathos.

bonnie

Then I couldn’t resist picking up the lovely reprints of two even older stories. I’m looking forward to revisiting these classics.

beebo

My mother and I attended a poetry reading, one of the many events (no. 61 out of 93 in fact) at the Vancouver International Writers Festival. It was wonderful – all four poets reading did a great job. But two really stuck out – and from opposite spectrums in terms of their writing careers. New Zealander, Hera Lindsay Bird, read from her award winning debut book of poetry. Her performance was impressive and we thought no one else would top that.

poets

But the last to read was Eileen Myles who has had over twenty books published. And really knows how to ‘perform’ poetry. If you haven’t read or heard any of Eileen’s work, I can recommend that you look it up…now! (There are clips on YouTube.)

As we left the theatre my mother commented that no one could say poetry was boring after listening to these poets. We’d heard more about f**king and orgasms than you would get in an hour-long erotica symposium.

While I was in Victoria, I popped into Russell Books, mainly to pick up a used copy of Hamlet that my mother wanted. She’s reading the play with a group of friends; all taking different parts and didn’t want to take along her hefty complete works of Shakespeare. Anyway, after finding Hamlet I thought I would see if they had a lesbian and gay section, and I did locate it (a few shelves, next to Gender Studies). This book caught my eye and I thought it would be good to educate myself on some earlier lesfic.

friends

How did these writers find ways to write about lesbianism which wasn’t even considered viable at that time? Well, they used coded messages of passion and desire between women and the stories were published because, really, the idea that two women could have a sexual relationship just couldn’t be true.

So I’ve come back from my two weeks in Canada with a lot of reading material and not a lot of time to process it all before the end of this month. The first few days of November are going to be busy.

November 1^st sees the release of my 7^th novel published by Affinity Rainbow Publications: Changing Perspectives (Read the first chapter here).

And on the same day the collection of stories, essays and poems collated by S. Renée Bess and Lee Lynch is released: Our Happy Hours, LGBT Voices from the Gay Bars. My short story in this collection is called Gateway to Heaven.

Then on 3^rd November I’m off to the inaugural Diva Literary Festival. The Awards ceremony is being held that evening and I’m delighted to say my book, Running From Love, is shortlisted in the Romance category. (You can vote here for books in all the categories) I will also be doing a reading on the Sunday afternoon, 5 November, at 2:15. Wendy Hudson and A.L. Brooks are joining me. So, do come along if you’re attending the festival on Sunday.

Taking a deep breath now…time to get in some reading.

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Buying Links:

Running From Love: Affinity Rainbow Publications / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books / Smashwords / Apple iTunes

The Circle Dance: Affinity eBooks /Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books/Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Christmas at Winterbourne: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK /Barnes & Noble /Bella Books / Smashwords /Apple iTunes

The Starling Hill Trilogy:

Starting Over: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books /Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Arc Over Time: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books/ Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Carved in Stone: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books/ Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Oct 8 2017

November news

Originally this blog was just going to be about my new novel. But there’s a lot happening over the next few weeks, particularly at the start of next month and before that I’m visiting my mother in Canada.

Changing Perspectives, published by Affinity Rainbow Publications, is due for release on 1 November. On the same day, Our Happy Hours: LGBT Voices from the Gay Bars (see previous blog) is also coming out. Then I will be attending the Diva Literary Festival the first weekend in November where Running From Love has been shortlisted in the Romance category for the very first Diva Literary Awards (Vote here). It’s all very exciting!

dlf_awards_shortlist

On to book number 7:

Changing Perspectives is different from my other six novels. For one thing it is set in 1993. That’s when I started writing the story. So it has been with me for a long time. When I submitted it to Affinity earlier this year, I wasn’t sure how it would be received. Luckily the beta readers liked it

You see, one of the main characters is a Masochist, definitely with a capital ‘M’. And although she projects a tough exterior image, I know her vulnerabilities. Dani Barker is one of my all time favourite creations. As is her opposite number in the story, Camila Callaghan. Getting these two together has taken twenty-four years…but it has been a labour of love.

Back of the book blurb:

London, 1993

Art director, Dani Barker, lives life on the edge and getting into a fight in a lesbian leather bar on a Friday night isn’t an unusual occurrence.

Camila Callaghan, finance director for a large company, feels satisfied with her life in most respects. She enjoys her job and thinks it’s necessary to stay in the closet to maintain the position she’s worked hard to achieve.

When Dani and Camila meet, they both sense an attraction, but is it merely curiosity with each other’s contrasting lives? Dani hopes that Camila can be the partner she has longed for since her earliest forays into SM. The boundaries of Camila’s settled world start to blur as she questions her own feelings for Dani and what she represents.

Will their differences make a long-term relationship achievable? A change of perspective for both women is needed if they are to reach this goal.

So, a bit of a departure from my previous romances. I just hope readers will enjoy the story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Portrait woman

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Buying Links:

Running From Love: Affinity Rainbow Publications / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books / Smashwords / Apple iTunes

The Circle Dance: Affinity eBooks /Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books/Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Christmas at Winterbourne: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK /Barnes & Noble /Bella Books / Smashwords /Apple iTunes

The Starling Hill Trilogy:

Starting Over: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books /Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Arc Over Time: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books/ Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Carved in Stone: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books/ Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Oct 1 2017

Our Happy Hours…coming soon!

A year ago I saw a submission request for short stories, memoirs, or poems for an anthology to celebrate and commemorate the importance of gay and lesbian bars in our community. The book’s collators are S Renée Bess and Lee Lynch.

As Renée explains in her recent blog for Women and Words, the idea came to her while thinking about the The Pulse Nightclub tragedy in Orlando and whether or not many people outside the LGBTQ community would grasp the idea of what a place like this means to us.

I really wanted to contribute a piece for the book but my experience of bars is fairly limited. However my wife was a regular visitor to the Gateways club in London when she moved to the city from Scotland in the 1960s. Her memories of that time gave me the germ of an idea for a story.

What struck me was how difficult it was in those days to find out where to go, how to meet people. Closeted lifestyles meant you had to be very careful. The available publications at the time had names that gave nothing away: The Minorities Research Group produced a monthly journal, Arena Three. Kenric was set up as a network of social groups throughout the country and published a newsletter. My wife had to pay for a Post Office Box so that she could receive these publications without arousing the suspicions of her landlady or employers.

In writing my piece for the anthology, Gateway to Heaven, I tried to capture the thrill of discovery for a young woman in 1968 venturing into a lesbian bar for the first time. I was extremely thrilled when the story was accepted.

I’m looking forward to reading all the other contributions in the book: Our Happy Hours, LGBT Voices From the Gay Bars. And it is due out on 1 November, published by Flashpoint Productions.

ourhappyhours_cover