Book Review: Deep Water, A Sailor’s Passage by E. M. Kahn

Reviewed by Alan Chin
Published by Harrington Park Press
242 pages

Gene lives and works in Manhattan, but he spends much of his free time sailing the waterways in and around that metropolis, from New York harbor, to Long Island Sound, to Martha’s Vineyard. He hires a woodworker, Kevin, to work in his shop, and the two soon become lovers. Kevin is a decade younger, a handsome blond, and emotionally needy. Gene considers himself lucky, and commits to this relationship wholeheartedly, even though Kevin likes to sleep around. They manage a fragile relationship.

Although Kevin does not share Gene’s love of sailing, he acquires a small skiff and learns the sport. As their relationship deepens, so does their love for the sea, and for adventure. Gene trades his nineteen-foot daysailer in on a twenty-two-foot boat so that they can take overnight trips. As the years roll by the boats get more seaworthy and the trips longer. Sailing solidifies their relationship. Their love for each other seems bound to their, now mutual, love of adventure on the water.

This sensitive journey through the comedy and tragedy of life is beautifully written. Simply put, I loved this book. I love any story that opens my heart, makes me believe in humanity, and teaches me how to be a more compassionate human being, and this tale scored a bulls eye on all counts.

It a tale of two loves – love of the sea, love between two men – and both were delightfully intertwined. This is one of those rare books with the wisdom to shed light on my own sixteen-year relationship.

Unlike most books I’ve read that deal with the loss of a loved one to AIDS, this story did not dip too heavily into the pain, frustration and suffering. That part of the story was mercifully brief. This is a love story, a story of survival, and how Gene’s love of the sea play a part in both.

Here’s a taste:
“I felt I had a lot to teach him, not about sex, but about feeling entitled to love, learning to expect it as a regular thing, like the sun and rain, every day. I suspected that he operated from a belief in scarcity, whether of money, good fortune, or love. Loving was like breathing and peeing and it flowed through us like the tides, with its source unstoppable and ever renewed.”

There is another line in this marvelous book that reads “Long live the voices of those who plead for mercy.” Well, I’d like to add, long live the writer who can so masterfully weave a tale of love. Thank you, Mr. Kahn, for sharing your life.

To lean more about this author and book, press here.

Lambda Literary Announces 2010 Writers' Retreat Faculty

FICTION: Nicola Griffith
NONFICTION: Ellery Washington
POETRY: Ellen Bass

The Lambda Literary Foundation is proud to announce faculty for the 2010 Writers' Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices.

"In Nicola Griffith, Ellery Washington and Ellen Bass we have three gifted writers who are also outstanding teachers," says LLF Executive Director, Tony Valenzuela, "This year's faculty will inspire and challenge our emerging writers with an unforgettable week in their careers."

Comments LLF Board President Katherine V. Forrest, "The Writers Retreat has been a invaluable experience for our emerging LGBT writers, proved by all the published work coming out of previous Retreats. It's not only a week-long, full immersion in all aspects of craft with our finest teachers, it means linking up with a peer group and interfacing with publishing professionals. This is one of Lambda Literary Foundation's best and most important programs."

Equally distinguished guest faculty will also be presenting workshops and panels; those names will be announced at a later date.

The Writer's Retreat will be held August 8 -15 in Los Angeles. Applications and scholarship requests are due by May 1.

Fiction: Nicola Griffith

Nicola Griffith is an English novelist, essayist and editor who lives in Seattle with her partner, Kelley Estridge.

Nicola has published 5 novels, numerous stories and essays, and a memoir. She also co-edited the award-winning Bending the Landscape series. Her work has been translated into 10 languages and won 16 national or international writing awards, including the Nebula Award for Slow River, the Tiptree Prize for Ammonite, the Premio Italia, and 6 Lambda Literary Awards (most recently for her multi-media memoir And Now We Are Going To Have A Party).

Her short fiction and essays have appeared in Nature, New Scientist, Out, the Huffington Post, and a variety of "Best Of" anthologies.

Nicola has taught workshops and classes in the US and UK at the beginner, graduate and professional levels in academic, corporate and continuing education settings, including Emory University, the Clarion West Writers Workshop, the Romance Writers of America, and the Arts Council of Great Britain.

Writers she has edited or taught have been honored with the Nebula Award, World Fantasy Award, NEA Award, Stonewall Book Award, Lambda Literary Award, American Academy of Arts & Letters Sue Kaufman Prize, Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, Locus Award, Northeastern Minnesota Book Award, USA Today Notable Book selection, and collection in a variety of "Best Of" anthologies.


Nonfiction: Ellery Washington

Ellery Washington is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Pratt University, in New York City. He has a graduate degree in Contemporary French literature from the Sorbonne University, Paris, France, where was also a lecturer in the graduate comparative literature department.

He is recipient of the PEN Center West - Rosenthal Emerging Voices Award and the IBWA prize for short fiction. His stories and creative nonfiction have appeared in numerous journals, anthologies, and literary publications, including The New York Times, Ploughshares, the Berkeley Fiction Review, The International Review, Nouvelle Frontieres, Out Magazine, and the Harper Collins/Echo Press National Bestseller State by State, 'A Panoramic Portrait of America'.

He currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.

Poetry: Ellen Bass

Ellen Bass's most recent book of poems, The Human Line, was published by Copper Canyon Press in June 2007 and was named a notable book of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle. She co-edited (with Florence Howe) the groundbreaking No More Masks! An Anthology of Poems by Women (Doubleday, 1973), has published several volumes of poetry, including Mules of Love (BOA, 2002) which won the Lambda Literary Award. Her poems have appeared in many magazines, including The Atlantic Monthly, The Progressive, The American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, and The Sun. She was awarded the Elliston Book Award for Poetry from the University of Cincinnati, Nimrod/Hardman's Pablo Neruda Prize, The Missouri Review's Larry Levis Award, the Greensboro Poetry Prize, the New Letters Poetry Prize, the Chautauqua Poetry Prize, a Pushcart Prize, and a Fellowship from the California Arts Council. She is also co-author of Free Your Mind: The Book for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Youth (HarperCollins 1996) and The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (Harper Collins 1988, 1994), which has sold over a million copies and has been translated into ten languages. She teaches in many beautiful locations and at Pacific University's low-residency MFA Program.

Back to Being Productive

During the four months I was in Asia, I worked almost every day but I didn’t feel that productive. I never got into a standard routine that allowed me focus on my work for long periods of time. And although I’ve been back home for almost a month, I had not, until this week, kicked into high gear. But something clicked this week, and I’m now beginning to feel productive again. I have two projects that I’m on track to finish before the end of this month.

The first is my manuscript, Match Maker, which my literary agent has been trying to sell for the past fourteen months. I received a note from in early March that she was giving up on it. Ok, I thought, I’ll do another rewrite and polish before trying to find a publisher myself. That is what has taken the majority of my time for the past month, rewriting and fine tuning. I’ve been amazed at how much I’ve been able to tighten up the prose, and I’m feeling confident that it is so much better written now that I will be able to find a publisher.

The second project it a screenplay that I’ve been working on for the last six or seven months. It’s a great little story about relationships and dying on your own terms. It is almost complete, and I will start the (hopefully) last polish today. Five polished pages per day should have it finished this month.

So I’m feeling good about closing these two projects and moving on. I’ve got lots more projects to write, and I’m getting excited about them.

Writing Tip #10: The B Subplot Must Influence Your Storyline.

In most novels and movies, there are at least two stories going on – the A story (main storyline) and the B story (a subplot). There is sometimes a C, D and E subplot as well, but lets keep this discussion simple by focusing on just two.

Strangely enough, with most love stories, the actual love plot is normally the B story. For example: one of the great love stories was Casablanca. The main story was what was happening to the letters of transit. They were the only way out of a horrid situation, and people were dying to get them. The love story between Rick and Ilsa was the B story.

In writing a plot, the A and B stories wander along in parallel, like two trains going down different tracks, yet racing in the same direction. But at some point usually near the end, the B story must collide with the A story, and affect it in such a way that neither story will ever be the same.

In the example above, Casablanca, the letters of transit fall into Rick’s hands, yet Ilsa desperately needs them so that her husband, Victor Lazlo, can fly to freedom. Ilsa sacrifices everything, promising to abandon Victor and stay with Rick, if he will only give up the letters. Rick, of course, sacrifices Ilsa and gives her the letters out of love, and loyalty. Ilsa and Victor fly to freedom, Rick joins the freedom fighters.

Another example: To Kill a Mockingbird, the A story leads to Tom Robinson’s trial and the hatred of Atticus Finch by Bob Ewell. The B story is Jem and Scout’s developing relationship with Boo Radley. At the end, the A and B stories collide when Ewell tries to kill the children and Boo stabs Ewell to save the kids.

If you have a B story that doesn’t significantly affect the A story in the end, then rewrite it so that it does, or cut the B story. It’s only function is to boost the A story. If it doesn’t, then it’s dead weight.

Book Review: The Moonlit Earth by Christopher Rice

Scribner; April 2010
368 pages, $25.00
ISBN: 978-0-7432-9407-2

At thirty years old, Megan Reynolds is an outsider in her affluent hometown of Cathedral Beach, California. She has recently come home with her tail between her legs after losing an altruistic job and her free-thinking boyfriend in San Francisco. Living with her mother, with financial help from her cousin, she finally lands a dream job that will allow her to start over.

Half a world away an explosion rips apart a Hong Kong hotel, killing 60 people. Security cameras partially record this apparent act of terrorism, showing a Middle Eastern man leading an American away from the building only moments before the deadly blast. Watching the media broadcasts, Megan recognizes the American as her beloved gay brother, Cameron.

As the media and the FBI line up to embroil her brother in a terror campaign, Megan is the only one who seems to know he didn’t’, couldn’t, do such a thing. But no one can find Cameron. He has gone underground. Playing the role of White Knight, Megan flies to Asia to find her brother and prove his innocence. Her journey pits her against her mother, her estranged father, a wealthy tycoon, a royal family, and the FBI.

With the clock ticking and bullets flying, Megan uncovers the last thing in the world she was looking for, family secrets so shocking that it will rock her entire universe.

This is the first Christopher Rice book I’ve read, and I must say I am impressed with the author’s skill at creating tension. Rice delivers action, suspense, international intrigue, and sympathetic characters that have true depth. What amazed me most was the intricate plot, and the way it unfolded. He weaves a convincing tale that kept me more than entertained; it kept me turning pages well into the night.

It is a story of devotion and love. Not romantic or sexual love, but the love of two siblings who have shared the same upbringing and know the same pain. It makes a powerful statement about how secrets and a parent’s obsessive love for their children, can destroy a family. And yes, it is a story of bravery and integrity. I love stories with emotionally strong heroines, and The Moonlit Earth did not disappoint. I was slightly annoyed at the minimal amount of gay threads in this plot, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment.

I did have two issues with this book, and both occurred in the latter parts of the story. The first happened when the author introduces a rather long flashback in order to fill the reader in on some needed back-story. This managed to halt the story’s forward motion, stalling the story for a considerable time. I felt it killed the story’s momentum.

My second issue came after the heroine had completed her quest. The story felt like it was basically over. Certainly the action/suspense threads had been neatly put to bed, but then the author kept going for another 50 or 60 pages to reveal yet another layer of this tightly woven plot. I felt that that portion of the story, although interesting, simply droned on far too long. Getting quickly to the point would have made, in my opinion, a stronger, more satisfying ending.

Still, even with my two minor issues, this was a terrific read. One that I enjoyed immensely, and I’m sure I will gladly re-read this book in the future, but only after I’ve read some of his earlier novels.

For more info on this book, press here.

Lambda Literary Announces Pioneer Award Recipients

The Lambda Literary Foundation has named Larry Kramer and Kate Clinton as this year's recipients of its Pioneer Award, to be presented at the Lambda Literary Awards Ceremony on May 27th, 2010 in New York City.

The Lambda Literary Foundation bestows its Pioneer Award on individuals who have broken new ground in the field of LGBT literature and publishing. Established in 1995, the Award honors those who, through their achievements and passionate commitment, have contributed to the LGBT literary community in significant and tangible ways: through works of literature, or by establishing publishing houses, publications, archives, bookstores, or other institutions.

This year's Pioneers are powerhouse trailblazers in the LGBT community as writers, commentators and unstoppable activists. "There are very few individuals in our LGBT community whose enormous talent, political consciousness and professional achievement have had as great an impact as those of Larry and Kate," says Tony Valenzuela, Executive Director. "We are thrilled to honor their enormous contributions to our community at the Awards ceremony in May."

"Over the years," comments LLF Board President Katherine V. Forrest, "the voices of these two extraordinary Pioneers have rung through our literature and our culture to combat the forces aligned against us--Larry Kramer with his relentless and necessary rage and confrontation, Kate Clinton with her exhilarating, surgical wit that continues to heal us with laughter. It will be a joy to raise our own voices in honor and celebration of these two great individuals."

Smack Dab Open Mic

WED APRIL 21, 2010

Smack Dab open mic
hosted by Kirk Read and Larry-bob Roberts
8pm, open mic signup starts at 7:30

Featuring Daniel Owens
Daniel Owens grew up in San Deigo and lives in San Francisco. His music borrows from multiple music traditions such as rock, early R&B, folk, jazz and classical. He is known most for his emotional performances, song craft, and his ability to combine personal stories with a broader socio-political message. He is influenced by the likes of all the great early R&B artists, Elton John, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, and Claude Debussy. He's won awards from the West Coast Songwriters Guild. In 2008, he released his debut full-length album entitled Stargazer. He is currently working on another full-length album and is performing regularly. All ages, all genders, all the time.

If you'd like to perform at the open mic, please bring five minutes of whatever you want to share. Musicians, one song. Prose writers: that's about two and a half double spaced pages of prose. We’re the friendliest open mic you’ll find but we pay attention to time so that nobody accumulates further open mic-related PTSD.

At Magnet, your neighborhood queer health center, 4122 18th Street between Castro and Collingwood. www.magnetsf.org

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Presented by Army of Lovers, a project of the Queer Cultural Center with support from the San Francisco Arts Commission, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Horizons Foundation, TheatreBayArea and the California Arts Council