Monday's random thoughts.

I came across an interesting quote this morning that I wanted to share. Not only is it inspirational, but it is so beautifully written that I was in awe.

So, then, to every man his chance -- to every man, regardless of his birth, his shining golden opportunity -- to every man his right to live, to work, to be himself, to become whatever his manhood and his vision can combine to make him -- this, seeker, is the promise of America. -- Thomas Wolfe

With that quote in mind, I'd like to pass on some information that came my way yesterday, just incase there is some brave souls out their who dreams of owning/operating their own book publishing company.

GLB is one of the oldest gay publishing houses in the country. The owner, Bill Warner, has been suffering from ill health for some time now, yet somehow manages to keep working. He is looking for a buyer, since the time has come for him to enjoy life without working so hard.

GLB has championed gay writing for more than 17 years, and has a large list of gay titles. A new owner could take GLB in an infinite number of directions. Were my interests in the business end of publishing, rather than creating stories, I might consider it for myself.

Anyone interested or know of anyone who might be, please contact Bill at glbpubs@comcast.com.

Last but not least, I would like to express my joy for the time of year. The US Open tennis tournament started today, and for the first time I'm watching on a 52" wide, HD TV. It's not as good as being court side, which I've done several times, but it's wonderful to watch the matches in High Def. So for the next two weeks, I will be getting much less work done, and spend huge amounts of time watching a little yellow ball flying from one side of the court to the other.

I love this time of year. Let the games begin.

Interview: Matt Rauscher, noted author of The Unborn Spouse Situation

I recently read and reviewed a novel by Matt Rauscher with the quirky title, The Unborn Spouse Situation. I was so intrigued by the novel that I tracked Matt down and asked if he would be willing to do an interview. And, of course, what author doesn’t like to talk about his work?

He agreed and you can read his interview at: http://tinyurl.com/n9bjyc

Cheers!

Book Review: The Unborn Spouse Situation by Matt Rauscher

Title: The Unborn Spouse Situation by Matt Rauscher
Publisher: Lulu
Pages 233

Augie Schoenburg is twenty-two, gay, a senior at college, an aspiring filmmaker, and desperately lonely. When he moves into The Harley Hut, the wildest party house on campus, life gets very complicated because he is constantly surrounded by a bevy of hot, supposedly straight, party boys – or so he believes. Augie’s five new housemates all know he is gay, and, on the surface, are fine with it. But after several weeks of living together, sexual tensions rise as all six men struggle with their inner demons. When Augie falls hard for one housemate, Victor Radhakrishna, his world begins to crumble. The other housemates turn against him, as does several of his friends, pushing him onto a rollercoaster of emotional ups and downs. The funny thing is, Victor seems to enjoy the gay sexual attention. He even gives back as much as he takes. Yes, for a horny, gay boy living with a rowdy straight crowd, life can get very complicated indeed.

When I first saw that this book was published by Lulu, which means it was self-published, I cringed, thinking this would be another poorly written, boring story that wasn’t good enough for conventional publishers. I was pleasantly surprised to find the book is beautifully written in a compelling first-person narrative. In fact, there were a few scenes that touched brilliance. The story is a glimpse into a darkly funny, sometimes sexy, sometimes sad life of a college senior who desperately needs to find his place in the world.

I had a bit of trouble liking the narrator. He often seemed arrogant, egotistical, and self-absorbed, which means Rauscher did an excellent job of creating a believable male college student. It was the wacky situations that Augie continually stumbled into that kept me turning the pages. I found it to be a witty glimpse into one person’s search for love and acceptance while dealing within a turbulent college scene.

I did have a few minor complaints. I felt the narrator spent far too much time describing male body parts. I understand that Aggie was obsessed with showering with his hot roommates, but the body part descriptions grew old after the first thirty pages. Also, in several scenes he describes other people having sex, which in my view was overly crude and not in character. Throughout the story, the narrator did several unsavory things, like taking a great deal of money from a sugar daddy after dumping the guy, which made it difficult to like this protagonist.

Readers under the age of 30 will no doubt relish the fast paced prose, simplistic story line, snappy dialogue, college scene settings, carefree lifestyles, emotional ups and downs, and the sexy exchanges between the main characters. It is a young person’s novel. The bull’s eye target audience for this story is twenty-something and gay. The further you drift from that target center, I suspect, the less likely you are to enjoy this tumultuous coming of age story. But regardless of your age or sexual preference, Matt Rauscher will keep you turning the pages to find out what happens next.

Interview: D. L. King, noted author/editor of lesbian erotica

This week I'm spotlighting an author of lesbian erotic I've not read yet, but her new anthology Where The Girls Are, is working it's way to the top of my to-be-reviewed stack. D. L. King is currently on a whirlwind cross-country book tour called "The Lust, Dust and Leather Tour" and she recently took time to let me interview her. She gives a great interview, so please check it out by clicking here.

Thanks and enjoy.

Saints and Sinners GLBT Literary Festival Short Fiction Contest

The Saints and Sinners GLBT Literary Festival's First Annual Short Fiction Contest is soliciting original,unpublished short stories between 5,000 and 7,000 words with GLBT content on the broad theme of "Saints and Sinners."

The contest is open to authors at all stages of their careers and to stories in all genres. The entry fee is $10 per story with a 3 story limit per author.

One grand prize of $250 and two second place prizes of $50 will be awarded. In addition, the top stories will be published in an anthology from QueerMojo, an imprint of Rebel Satori Press. There will also be a book release party held during the 8th annual Saints and Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans May 13-16, 2010. The deadline for the receipt of manuscripts is January 2, 2010.

Contest details at a glance:
Theme: Saints and Sinners
Entry Fee: $10 US per story. Limit three stories per author.
Deadline: January 2, 2010
Word Count: 5,000 to 7,000

Send 2 copies of each story with a completed entry form. Submissions should be in standard manuscript format. Your name and contact information should
NOT appear on the manuscript.

Entry forms available at: http://www.sasfest.com

Book Review: Smash the Church, Smash the State

Title: Smash the Church, Smash the State
Publisher: City Lights Books

Smash the Church, Smash the State is an impressive collection of essays, memoirs, poems and pictures celebrating the explosive period in the Gay Liberation Movement from pre-Stonewall, to deep into the AIDS crisis, to today – forty years of battling oppression. There are fifty works submitted by the people who were there on the front lines while the bottles and purses and wigs were flying. From the first high heel thrown at Stonewall, to the birth of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, to performances by Sylvester and the Cockettes, to the political rise and fall of Harvey Milk – it’s all there in beautifully written prose by some of the most influential people in the Gay Liberation Movement.

These stories are written by, and are about, the lesbians, gay men, and transgender people who battled oppression on many fronts. These writers share their unique perspectives, ideological ideas, personal memories, and their own celebration of revolutionary spirit that shaped the movement.

Reading these different perspectives, it became clear that the Gay Rights Movement was a slow, often painful progression that started with properly dressed “homophiles” marching around Independence Hall, and grew in anger and volume to a rowdy bunch of militant drag queens, long-haired hippie militants and lesbian feminists.

The times were ripe for revolt in the late 1960s, when Stonewall erupted. People were protesting the Viet Nam war, groups like the Black Panthers were leading the Civil Rights Movement, and the Women’s Movement was underway. From this fertile ground sprung the Gay Liberation Front, who’s statement of purpose read:

“We are a revolutionary group of men and women formed with the realization that complete sexual liberation for all people can not come about unless existing social institutions are abolished. We reject society’s attempt to impose sexual roles and definitions of our nature.”

Interesting that today gay rights organizations fight for acceptance in the military and sex-sex marriage, which moves gay men and women a step closer to living like heterosexual couples, where as in the sixties, seventies and eighties, they were militant and wanted to destroy anything that stood in their way of being flamboyantly themselves and expressing their sexual identity.

This book is a proud testament to the radical activists who stood their ground, took their knocks, and showed love and bravery and solidarity in the face of hatred and violence. Their spirit and struggle inspired me, educated me about a little-known part of my own history, and made me even more proud to be a gay man. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

A look at A Different Light Bookstore in San Francisco

A Different Light bookstore in the heart of the Castro in San Francisco has been a bookstore, a gathering place, a cornerstone of the gay community in San Francisco for three decades. It is a storehouse of gay literature, and gay history. It is a source of pride for all gay San Franciscans. As a gay published author, I can say that there is no other bookstore in the Bay Area that can compare with ADL’s gracious treatment of local authors. Last week I convinced John Gonzales, manager if A Different Light bookstore, to answer a few interview questions. I think you’ll find his answers as interesting as I did.

Q: John, I’ve lived in and around San Francisco for over forty years, and I can’t remember a time when A Different Light Bookstore wasn’t in the heart of the Castro. How long has A Different Light been open, and how long have you, personally, been managing the store?
JG: A Different light has been around since the late 70’s. The First A Different Light Bookstore opened in 1979 to be exact, in Silver lake California, we actually turned 30 this year!
I have been managing the store in S.F. since October 2007.

Q: With the advent of Amazon, it seems the whole publishing world is changing. From a retail perspective, what are the most significant changes that you have seen in the last 10 to 15 years?
JG: In the past 15 years there has been a significant change in the retail customer base. The younger generation in our GLBT community does not have the same history with our store as the generation of 30 years ago. Although we have a terrifically loyal audience, the assimilation of GLBT’s into the world social order has removed the “Buy GLBT” mantra from the past. As such, because we remain a GLBT product oriented store and other mainstream stores sell GLBT literature; we have seen a drop off in our core audience.

Q: What does a brick & mortar bookstore need to do to attract buys in an age when online giants like Amazon and B&N are so dominant?
JG: We see the real question as what has been the impact of the Internet on socialization in general. I, for one, enjoy being out and embracing the opportunity to be with people and absorbing the energy that an active community provides. The Internet may make shopping easier, but it cannot provide that human contact and energy you get when you are out. We are not sure we know the answer to your question. We are putting more effort into bringing authors into the store for readings and signings and trying to inventory stock that is more consistently in demand.

Q: Other than helping support local, gay owned and operated businesses, what advantages are there for readers to buy from ADL rather the Amazon or B&N?
JG: This is a great discussion point. Since 1979 ADL has been solely focused on GLBT writers and their books. Our effort is about preserving an uncensored avenue for all GLBT writers and publishers. Amazon and B&N carry many of the same products as we do, but you can rest assured that they review and choose carefully what they will actually sell.

Q: Being in the heart of the Castro, you always seem to get lots of foot traffic into the store, but I know you also have a handy website. Can you tell us where the greatest source of book sales comes from, store or web, and what do the percentages look like?
JG: Our website (www.ADLBooks.Com) has been a transitional business since 2002. Our store is the still foundation of our business. A majority of our sales still come through our store, and the website business has been building and constant since it’s inception. We consider our site as a value added feature for our customers. There is a misconception that the Internet business must be cheaper to run and fewer overheads. The hidden expense is the technical expertise required to keep it updated and trouble free. We are fortunate to have a benefactor in that area that has made it possible to keep this part of our business going; when under different circumstances we might have had to reconsider it’s financial viability.

Q: Do you feel that the growing popularity of ebooks are hurting the independent bookstores?
JG: Our customers are bibliophiles. I say this with the sincerest level of respect. For many of our customers, the gift of books is the ability to create their own libraries and actually hold a book and sense it’s value physically. If ebooks are impacting our business, we have not had anyway to really measure that.

Q: Are the customers of today looking for the same sorts of things they did, say, ten years ago?
JG: I would say yes. However, we have expanded our product line to include movies, apparel along with our books and magazines. With the advent of the cellular phone and the Internet, we have seen a reduction in the purchase of cards and calendars.

Q: How has gay literature changed over the years, and who are the most popular gay writers, based on ADL sales?
JG: I am not sure it has changed that much. GLBT fiction, non-fiction and humor has been focused on the trials and tribulations of our GLBT lives. In a sense it has documented our history and represented us in ways that has uplifted our self awareness, self esteem and our normalization during a very tumultuous history.
Many authors have now reached beyond those dynamics and the genre has become more generalized.

Q: When my novel, Island Song, was released, A Different Light was by far the most helpful bookstore in the Bay Area in terms of stocking my book, placing it in highly visible areas, and arranging books signings. Do you always go out of your way for local authors or are you truly that helpful with all gay authors?
JG: We do our best to help out as many of our local authors as we can, though we are equally helpful with all gay/lesbian authors in general. I will have to say though we have encountered some authors local and otherwise who feel they are some what demanding or feel entitled just because they are local or gay/lesbian. Granted they are few and far between but I have to say, yes we go out of our way to help as many authors as we can but , authors also need to approach bookstores in a positive manner as well.

Q: How often do you host events like book readings/signings by authors? And do you ever host events where two or more authors share the spotlight?
JG: Well our goal is to have as many as we can, which of course helps our foot traffic. It also depends on what’s new or up and coming, and who we are able to schedule, as you can imagine it is sometimes difficult for smaller independent bookstores to schedule big name authors because we don’t have the buying power like some of the bigger chains. And of course its not just books we have events for, when also do events such as calendar signings, magazine release events and so on.
We have on occasion have had events with multiple authors, it sometimes is the best way for newer up and coming authors they may not have a big following yet, to get their names out there or if we are doing an event with a certain genre, for instance we have an event coming up in October with a few mystery/suspense authors.

Q: Can you tell us the names of some of the local authors who regularly do events at ADL?
JG: Of course Alan Chin, Armistead Maupin, Kemble Scott, who BTW has a new book coming out in Sept, Michael Thomas Ford, Michel Tea just to name a few.

Q: If an author wants to schedule a book reading/signing at your store, who should they contact to arrange that?
JG: They can call us or come on in and talk to anyone of our booksellers, myself or Oscar our Events Guy or send us an email at adlsfevents@gmail.com.

Q: Where can readers go to find out what upcoming events are scheduled?
JG: We have them posted in the store on our community board as well as online at adlbooks.com, click on events tab.

Q: Is there any information, John, that you would like to add?
JG: Well, if you have never been into our corner of the Castro take some time to come on by, you’ll never know what you will find. If you are one of out Loyal Customers, we always appreciate your continued business and hope to see you soon.

Thank you, John, for taking the time to answer my questions.