Memorial Day

Winners of the 22nd Annual Lambda Literary Awards

Congratulations to all the Lambda Literary winners.

Lesbian Fiction
A Field Guide to Deception, by Jill Malone (Bywater Books)

Gay Fiction
Lake Overturn, by Vestal McIntyre (HarperCollins)

Lesbian Debut Fiction
The Creamsickle, by Rhiannon Argo (Spinsters Ink)

Gay Debut Fiction
Blue Boy, by Rakesh Satyal (Kensington Books)

LGBT Children's/Young Adult
Sprout, by Dale Peck (Bloomsbury USA)

Lesbian Mystery
Death of a Dying Man, by J.M. Redmann (Bold Strokes Books)

Gay Mystery
What We Remember, by Michael Thomas Ford (Kensington Books)

Lesbian Erotica
Lesbian Cowboys, edited by Sacchi Green & Rakelle Valencia (Cleis Press)

Gay Erotica
Impossible Princess, by Kevin Killian (City Lights)

Bisexual Fiction - A Tie!
Holy Communion, by Mykola Dementiuk (Synergy Press)
Love You Two, by Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli (Random House Australia)

Bisexual Nonfiction
Leaving India: My Family's Journey From Five Villages to Five Continents, by Minal Hajratwala (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Transgender
Lynnee Breedlove's One Freak Show, by Lynn Breedlove (Manic D Press)

LGBT Anthology
Portland Queer: Tales of the Rose City, edited by Ariel Gore (Lit Star Press)

LGBT Drama
The Collected Plays Of Mart Crowley, by Mart Crowley (Alyson Books)

LGBT SF/Fantasy/Horror
Palimpsest, by Catherynne M. Valente (Bantam/Spectra Books)

Lesbian Romance
The Sublime and Spirited Voyage of Original Sin, by Colette Moody (Bold Strokes Books)

Gay Romance
Drama Queers!, by Frank Anthony Polito (Kensington Books)

Lesbian Poetry
Zero at the Bone, by Stacie Cassarino (New Issues Poetry & Prose)

Gay Poetry
Sweet Core Orchard, by Benjamin S. Grossberg (University of Tampa Press)

LGBT Studies
The Straight State: Sexuality and Citizenship in Twentieth Century America, by Margot Canaday (Princeton University Press)

LGBT Nonfiction
The Greeks and Greek Love, by James Davidson (Random House)

Lesbian Memoir/Biography
The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith, by Joan Schenkar (St. Martin's Press)

Gay Memoir/Biography
Ardent Spirits: Leaving Home, Coming Back, by Reynolds Price (Scribner Books)

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LGBT Authors Making History

Out and Off the Margins
LGBT Authors Making History

Koret Auditorium • San Francisco Public Library • 100 Larkin Street
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 • 6 PM

This year’s kick-off event to San Francisco Pride showcases five Cleis Press authors, and co-publisher Felice Newman in a panel discussing how LGBT writers understand their roles as a part of history. This panel, aptly taking place on San Francisco Pride’s 40th anniversary and Cleis Press’s 30th anniversary, gives the authors a chance to look back at how LGBT writing has changed as the margins of sexual identity have widened and shifted. Authors Ann Bannon (Beebo Brinker, Odd Girl Out); Jon Ginoli (Deflowered: My Life in Pansy Division); Rob Rosen (Divas Las Vegas); Rachel Pepper (The Transgender Child, The Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy for Lesbians); Carol Queen (PoMoSexuals, Real Live Nude Girl); and Felice Newman (The Whole Lesbian Sex Book) address their participation in the explosion of LGBT literature in the last several decades. The Bay Area Reporter’s assistant arts editor Jim Provenzano, a popular novelist himself, will moderate the panel. Come celebrate Pride with today’s most famous and influential local LGBT authors, who brought you your favorite erotica, pulp fiction, essays, and novels!

Event Summary
Title: Out and Off the Margins: LGBT Authors Making History
Location: Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin Street
Time: Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 @ 6 PM
Description: Pride kick-off panel of Cleis Press authors Ann Bannon, Jon Ginoli, Rob Rosen, Rachel Pepper, Carol Queen, and Felice Newman. Moderated by Jim Provenzano of the Bay Area Reporter.



Ann Bannon has been called “The Queen of Lesbian Pulp Fiction” for her landmark “Beebo Brinker Chronicles,” a series of five original paperback novels published by Gold Medal Books in the 1950s and 60s. The books tell the stories of young lesbians in the gay Mecca of pre-Stonewall Greenwich Village. When she started writing in 1955, Bannon was a twenty-two year old housewife living in Philadelphia. Odd Girl Out was Bannon’s first published work, and the second bestselling original paperback of 1957. Bannon followed it up with four others: I Am A Woman, Women in the Shadows, Journey to a Woman, and Beebo Brinker, all published between 1957 and 1962.

Jon Ginoli is a guitarist, singer, songwriter, and founding member of Pansy Division, whose albums include Undressed, Deflowered, and Wish I’d Taken Pictures. When not on tour with the band, he lives in San Francisco. His memoir, Deflowered: My Life With Pansy Division has been nominated for a Lambda Literary Award.

San Francisco writer Rob Rosen is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Sparkle: The Queerest Book You'll Ever Love and Divas Las Vegas, which was the winner of the 2010 TLA Gaybies for Best Gay Fiction. He has had short stories published in over 100 anthologies and wrote erotica for MEN and Freshmen magazines for 5+ years. Please visit him at www.therobrosen.com

Rachel Pepper is the co-author of The Transgender Child, The Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy for Lesbians, and The Gay and Lesbian Guide to College Life. An award-winning journalist and editor for many publications, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Dr. Carol Queen is a writer and cultural sexologist with a doctorate of education in human sexuality. Her essay collection, Real Live Nude Girl: Chronicles of Sex-Positive Culture, was published in 1997. Her essays have also appeared in many publications, including Male Lust and The Erotic Impulse. Her erotic stories can be found in Best Women's Erotica, the Herotica anthologies, Libido, and Best American Erotica 1993, 1994, and 2000, and in many other anthologies; her erotic novel, The Leather Daddy and the Femme, was published in 1998 and won a Firecracker Alternative Book Award the following year. She is co-editor of the anthologies Best Bisexual Erotica, Sex Spoken Here, Switch Hitters, and PoMoSexuals; the latter won a Lambda Literary Award in 1998. Queen currently works as staff sexologist at Good Vibrations and runs the Center for Sex and Culture with Dr. Robert Lawrence. For more information see her website: www.carolqueen.com.

Felice Newman is a sex educator and Somatic Coach certified by the Strozzi Institute. She is the author of The Whole Lesbian Sex Book: A Passionate Guide for All of Us, and is a founding co-publisher of Cleis Press. Felice has appeared on Dr. Drew's Love Line, Derek & Romaine Show, and other radio programs, and has spoken to audiences on sexuality in cities across the country. She is the resident sex coach on ClassicDykes.com and has offered online sex advice on About.com, and LesbiaNation.com. Her Whole Lesbian Sex column appears in newspapers across the U.S. She is a member of The American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT).

Jim Provenzano is the author of three novels: PINS, Monkey Suits, and Cyclizen. For ten years he was a syndicated Sports Complex columnists, and he has also served as a guest curator at the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco. He is currently the Assistant Arts Editor for the Bay Area Reporter.

A New Fan of Love and War

Book Review: The Lonely War by Alan Chin

Reviewed by Dan Stone
Published by Zumaya Boundless
Pages: 303

A New Fan of Love and War

I've never been a fan of war stories, but if I thought more of them were anything like Alan Chin's The Lonely War, I would seriously re-evaluate the basis for my longstanding aversion to the genre. In this heartrending and ultimately affirming World War II tale of enlisted sailor Andrew Waters and the American naval officer he falls in love with, all the presumably crucial elements of a good war story are present: interesting historical detail, horrific human drama and tragic loss, wrenching conflict, raging prejudice, and poignant camaraderie.

In The Lonely War, Andy, an enlisted Chinese-American sailor--and a Buddhist--falls hard and fast for Lieutenant Nathan Mitchell, his executive officer, setting into motion a series of events with far reaching consequences not only for them but for the entire crew of the USS Pilgrim. When the sailors become POWs in Changi, a notoriously brutal Japanese prison camp, Andy is faced with unspeakable challenges and with a dilemma that tests his own inner resources and extraordinary courage, in order to save the life of his beloved.

Any war buff able and willing to reconcile a turbulent World War II scenario with a powerful love story between men will find plenty of gruesome and vividly detailed action, but what's also here is a riveting story of passion and sacrifice in the service of friendship and love. It's a tribute to Alan Chin's talent as an author that he can simultaneously provide so much rich and painstakingly researched detail and never once let it detract from the romance and personal awakening that is at the heart of this remarkable book.

This story made turning off my Kindle at night one of the biggest challenges of my day for several days, and although I may not start reading war stories as a result of having read The Lonely War, I will most certainly be reading much more by Alan Chin.

Dan Stone

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Wise Words about Arizona's New Discrimination Laws

I recently received one of those spam emails that float around the net. It was sent from an in-law so I viewed the contents. It was originally sent by a woman in Arizona, showed pictures of clothing and backpacks littering a gully in the desert, and was being used to justify Arizona's new laws that allow police to pull over people of color and demand to see their papers. The just of it was: see how illegals litter our national parks, and they have no respect for out laws.

I responded to this email, pointing out that it was a weak attempt to justify the obvious bigotry festering in Arizona. My response was posted on several email lists, and I promptly received numerous emails that were basically personal attacks. I did receive two supportive emails, and I was so moved by one I asked the owner if I could post it here. He agreed. Please enjoy his response:

Alan,

I've been enlightened by the conversation going back and forth on Arizona and specifically about Mexico and its citizens. Unfortunately, from what I’ve gathered, some exchanges have become personal and hateful. My belief is that when people have to stoop to name-calling and making personal and derogatory remarks, they can’t support or justify their views and positions with valid arguments.

What people are forgetting is the new Arizona law, when and if enacted, does not specifically target Mexican-Americans or Mexican illegal immigrants. The people on your distribution list appear to be majority Asian and Asian-American. We and they are affected by this proposed law. Because asking people with "reasonable" cause for their papers, will not effect Mr. Straight White Conservative Republican. It impacts people who are different and it gives law enforcement, where a good number are racist, homophobic and sexist, carte blanche to stop anyone for "reasonable" cause.

This is discriminatory because we all know that the illegal immigrant from Sweden probably won’t get stopped because of a blown out tail light and will not cause alarm as much as if the driver was Mexican (legal or not), or dare I say, Black or African-American. Whenever laws are passed that only target a certain or specific segment of the population, all minority people should be alarmed. Proposition 8 is another example. Legal and constitutional experts said everyone should be alarmed that the State Constitution was amended to limit the rights of tax-paying and law-abiding citizens by a simple majority of the voters. As the late Dr. Martin Luther King said, if there is injustice to one, there is injustice to all Americans.

I am reminded of the following from Father Martin Niemoller:

First they came for the Jews

and I did not speak out

because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists

and I did not speak out

because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists

and I did not speak out

because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me

and there was no one left

to speak out for me.

As an educated, open-minded, and gay Chinese-American with a vast and diverse network of friends and colleagues, I surround myself with people who don't rely on the blogosphere or have the "my way or the highway" attitude. These are people who can think for themselves and don't rely on talking points from radio or television commentators. Everyone I know is against this proposed law because we are singling out people, it does nothing to stem or stop illegal immigration, it doesn't protect our borders, and everyday citizens like you and me can and will be potentially stopped and we have to defend ourselves and our existence. These types of laws create animosity towards those it is targeting and provides justification to a certain mindset that it is okay to hate and possibly take physical action against them.

It's a sad state when so many assumed the worst about the people who left their backpacks, clothing, etc., in the desert. Think about it these people don't know that they are destroying a National Park. I doubt many of them even know what a National Park is. The National Park Service confirmed, “They are unaware they are crossing a national monument, a place dedicated to preservation for present and future generations.” Do people really think they've lugged a backpack clear across the border which probably contains their only possessions, just to dump it and move on?

The photos of the desert were taken by Lance Altherr, the Tucson Chapter Leader of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. He explained the prevalence of backpacks and clothing as follows:

“The illegals have walked over 25 miles into our country when they get to this spot. At this spot they can see the lights of Ammado (AZ), and they know they are within a few hours of getting picked up by the local vehicle which will take them anywhere in the country. When they come they carry backpacks with clean clothes and food in them; when they get to the layup spot, they change out of their dirty clothes and into clean clothes so that they will blend in better once they get to town. They will cram as many as 20 people into the cab of a pickup truck or 30 people into a van or SUV, so there is no room for any backpacks or extra clothing. We find a lot of brand new clothes and good backpacks which we donate to local schools.”

So, the discarding of backpacks and clothes, probably their only life’s possessions, is not because of a disrespect of our laws, but simply as a means of survival.

I remember hearing the stories told by my father when he arrived in this country of the prejudice and discrimination against him simply because he was different. He was Chinese and spoke very little English. I’m certain a lot of the people on your distribution list suffered these same cruel actions, or their parents, grandparents, etc. The lack of compassion and empathy are disheartening to say the least. History shows that when we as a people who have suffered, overcame obstacles, and become successful, forget about the past. In other words, we think we have arrived and we are one of “them.” That’s fine and dandy but I hope people are ready for a rude awakening, because it will happen. We all can be knocked down so quickly and easily with a “Chinaman,” “Chink,” or “Faggot.”

Lastly, there are reasons why these types of communication are sent and forwarded, especially when incomplete and inaccurate information are given. In this case, it may have been the best of intentions, but It’s typically self-serving and usually because of a personal agenda. It serves no useful purpose, it doesn’t benefit anybody, and It hopes to keep mistruths and lies as real as possible…after all, the more something is repeated, and the more people hear it, the truer it becomes. President Obama being born in Kenya is a good example. It is shameful that others keep this and other “articles” alive, without verifying the accuracy or completeness, and blindly forwarding it to others. Before the advent of the PC and the worldwide web, we always made sure we had our facts before we talked to someone in person, on the phone, or via snail mail. I think we all owe it to family, friends, and colleagues to speak the truth via the internet also.

Frank Woo

Book Review: L.A. Boneyard by P. A. Brown

Reviewed by Alan Chin
Published by MLR Press
Pages: 348

Detective David Eric Laine has a new partner at work and a string of beautiful, pregnant women who turn up murdered. The partner, Jairo, a sexy young Latino who has a wife and kids, has a crush on David. As the two work together, the case unfolds into a situation that involves prostitution, human trafficking, and illegal arms sales to street gangs. If dealing with these issues weren’t bad enough, Jairo’s heavy flirtations become a constant distraction for David. And David, not as strong as he likes to think, is sorely tempted.

That occupies David’s days while his lover, Christopher Bellamere, does everything possible to make David comfortable at home. Chris and Dave have been together for four years, but can their relationship stand the test of Jairo trying to steal David away? And can David hold his relationship together long enough to solve the crime? David seems to be doing fine until he lets down his guard, and a moment of weakness threatens to blow his whole world away.

This is a tense, complex, well-written tale that focuses as much on the crumbling relationship between David and Chris as it does on solving the crime, which is as it should be. David and Chris are great characters, although I wish Chris could have had more page time to deepen his character another notch or two. The complexity of their relationship drew me into their world, and the fact that they are opposites kept me interested in their interactions. I was rooting for them all the way. Although I must say that there were places where the circumstances in the relationship seemed a bit contrived, but certainly not enough to detract from my enjoyment of the story.

The writing is strong, gritty, and the procedural detail is top notch. Brown skillfully weaved together a tapestry of forensics and solid police work to create an interesting story, even as the complexity continued to grow far beyond my expectations. Yet, for all its complexity, there were few dropped threads, and the pace remained even with plenty of action and suspense that kept me turning pages.

This is the third of a series with David and Chris, and unfortunately I have not read the first two, but I was able to easily understand all the nuances of David’s work and home life. This book stands well on its own. My one complaint about this entertaining story is that I felt the resolutions, both for solving the crime and for David and Chris’s relationship, was too hastily wrapped up after such a long drawn out labyrinth of twists and turns. It felt a bit too easy, or perhaps I wanted the story to keep going longer.

Overall this is an engaging read that I highly recommend.

You can read more about P.A. Brown and her work at: www.pabrown.ca

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Writing Tip # 15 Elements of a Romantic Comedy

For the past three weeks I’ve been trying to finish everything on my plate so I can focus on a new screenplay that my script-writing partner and I have begun. I’m almost there. And because the script we are writing is a romantic comedy, one of the things I’ve been doing in my spare time is researching what makes romantic comedies different from other types of stories. And although I’m focused on screenwriting, the principles apply to novels and short stories as well.

So far I’ve found six distinguishing elements that separate romantic comedy from the rest of the field. They are:

1) The main character (Hero) must pursue some sexual or romantic interest. This sounds like a no-brainer, but a writer could decide to have the love interest be someone other than the hero. However, as with all successful stories, the most important character is the hero, with whom the reader or audience most strongly identifies with, and in romantic comedies it must be this character who is pursuing (or being pursued by) some compelling romantic desire. That’s what makes it a romantic comedy – the hero must desperately try to win (or win back) the affections of another character.

2) The hero must pursue an additional goal. Simultaneously chasing two or more goals (often goals at odds with each other) adds complexity and originality to the story, and also accelerates the pacing.

3) The characters are desperate to achieve their goals, and fight apposing conflicts with tenacity. They should never think they, or the situation, is funny. It must be deadly serious to them. Strangely enough, the comedy grows out of the hero’s pain and loss. The plots of the most successful comedies deal with cheating spouses, disease, physical abuse, humiliation, unemployment, suicide and death. The humor arises from the way the hero overreacts to these situations.

4) Although most romantic comedies almost never show actual sex, they are sexy. There is always lots of flirting, and the hero must confront his/her sexual desire. If the hero and love interest do slip into bed together, the audience must see everything leading up to that hot embrace before the bedroom door shuts in our face.

5) The plot resolves around a deception. For instance, the hero is pretending to be someone he’s not (Mrs. Doubtfire, Tootsie, The Birdcage), or is lying to his beloved about his feelings or intentions in order to pursue the relationship. Dishonesty is a necessary element to increase the conflict and humor, and also to force the hero to confront his/her inner conflicts and deceptions. Only by facing the truth about themselves are they able to arc into someone better.

6) It must have a happy ending, or if the hero doesn’t get the boy, the reader feels that the resolution is the most appropriate or satisfying ending for the hero.