Author of Contemporary Gay Romance
I am extremely pleased to announce that we have reached our fundraisng goal of $1000 for homeless kids in Atlanta.
We’ll be continuing our fundraising efforts and you can still donate to either of the groups below.
Thanks to everyone that supported our efforts!
I’m bisexual; I lean gay. Whenever there was ever any hint of same-sex romance in the fiction I was exposed to while growing up, I eagerly fixated upon it. Books, movies, live theater–I vividly remember the moment in high school when I was so inspired by the idea that one could think about Holmes and Watson as a couple that I stayed up all night writing songs about them. (And this was way before the internet made slash easily accessible to young people!)
However, sometimes heterosexual fiction likes to play with us, and evoke us to titillate without ever actually giving us representation. Specifically, I’d like to address the trope of situational crossdressing.
By situational crossdressing, I mean the plot device in which a cisgender, heterosexual character is crossdressing not for the sake of their own gender expression or even for fun, but because of something like “if I dress as a man, I will be able to find employment in a traditionally male field” (which is probably the most common.) Examples of this trope are Mulan from Disney (and Chinese legend), Eowyn from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Yentl from Singer’s Yentl the Yeshiva Boy. Cisgender heterosexual women can also crossdress for other non-gender-expressive reasons, as does Leonore in Beethoven’s opera Fidelio. Her disguise gets her a job in the prison where her husband is being unjustly held for political reasons, and she winds up saving his life. [Read more…] about Situational crossdressing and the LGBTQ audience
To those who have come to expect more frequent postings from me, I apologize for failing to post anything of substance lately. Simply put, it’s been one of those hectic periods in which the demands of life have left little time for blogging, writing, or simply keeping fans updated.
So here we go, an update to keep you updated because I have no time to update regularly.
Within the next few weeks I’ll be sending it to the beta readers, editor, and cross-checking facts with my consultants. I expect the novel to come out mid-October, but we may hold it until after GRL.
I won’t be there. In fact I won’t be in town at all. I had planned to meet many of the authors I talk with regularly and several fans that asked about having coffee/lunch. This will not be possible. Pride is also a nonevent for me.
We are just shy of having sold 10k books. As an indie writer with no time, no Facebook page, and no marketing budget, I think this is phenomenal. Each one of those sales is directly due to the encouragement and persistence of my fans. They have helped spread the word and have aided us in raising awareness (and $$$) for homeless LGBT kids. Thank you so much.
Readers have asked me about putting a special page up for WIPs. If you’d be interested in seeing this, let me know. The main reason I don’t have one now is that I have many WIPs in various stages. I do not know when (or if) they will come to market. Both the muse and the demands of life dictate on what gets worked on and when.
However, next year I plan to have at least one of the LGBT Sci-fi series novels available. I will be backing off on the MM Romance for a while, but the muse really wants me to work on a romance story based in Croatia. (She usually gets what she wants first.)
To date, fans have helped raise over $3000 for homeless kids through various programs related to my writing/books. We also have a new fundraiser going on through Razoo with a long term goal of $25K. Some have said this is an unrealistic, I don’t believe that. There are too many people who still don’t know about the plight of homeless lgbt and the fundraiser is just as much about educating them as it is about raising money. Currently, we’re just $146 short of our short-term goal of $1000. Donate.
I have discussed submitting future work to an established publisher with J. Time currently spent on other aspects of self-publishing could be better spent actually writing, and working with a publisher would free up a lot more time for me. J and I are still looking into it.
If you have questions or comments the best place to ask is in our Goodreads group. If I’m not around, my fans are always happy to engage. [Caution: They’re a feisty bunch. 🙂 ]
Great artist, great voice, and this song in particular (below) asks a pertinent question. Check out his CD CARDIAC ARREST at BandCamp
For the most part I abhor seeing LGBT characters only being portrayed as complete demons, doormat pacifists, or squeaky-clean goody-two-shoes. Those depictions are not what I know, or have lived. The rainbow is too complex for that. I came across this short film while researching and it struck a chord.