If you enjoy superhero comic books, then you will probably like this week’s excerpt. Wonder City Stories is a satiral take on the superhero genre, following several viewpoint characters as they attempt to live their ordinary, extraordinary lives.

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Check out the new Lambda Literary website for the best in queer fiction and news.  The site offers reviews, interviews, features, and more.

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This week we have another art excerpt for our tour of cyberfunded creativity.  Nyela is a painter who explores different media, often with Afro-Caribbean, surreal, mythic, and female imagery.  You can find her on LiveJournal as flutterbychild, and her Facebook page is As I Am, Reborn.

The Rebirth of Me by Nyela

The main artistic activity is on the LiveJournal community The Rebirth of Me.  Below is a recent painting, “The Secrets of Growing Things.”  There is a donation button on that page and on some other pages.

Read the rest of this entry »

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This week’s excerpt introduces a fairly new piece of cyberfunded creativity from Cecilia Tan…

Daron’s Guitar Chronicles by Cecilia Tan

DGC is a serialized novel telling the story of Daron, a guitar player trying to make it in the face of a dysfunctional family, internalized homophobia, and the changing face of celebrity in the 1980s. It’s a story of sex, drugs, and rock and roll in the era that brought us AIDS, MTV, and Just Say No To Drugs. It all starts when 19-year-old Daron, playing a low-rent gig in a heavy metal cover band, runs into an old friend, a much older and more successful musician he knew when he was a lot younger, whom he hasn’t seen since the guy got famous and moved away. Read the rest of this entry »

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Nicola Griffith shares this news:

I can’t wait to tell you: the Lambda Literary Foundation has hired a web producer. We’re hoping to launch a brilliant, brand new LambdaLiterary.org within a couple of months. I hope many of you will join us: volunteer to write reviews, do interviews, send us news, tell us about upcoming book releases (and conventions and awards and, well, everything). Eventually we’ll start paying — sooner rather later, I hope.

All the news is here.

I think this is going to change the face of LGBT lit. I really do. Please let others know. I’m really excited.

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Recently I received this announcement from Mitchel McAllister:

I have just posted a new story “Santa’s Other Helper” to my gay fiction site, Prism & Ink, in the Category “Other” (the green button at the top of the page). Please note that this is not erotica. It is gay-themed fiction, and probably fits into the “Contemporary/Modern Fantasy” genre.

I’d like to remind everyone that donations to this site, made in the month of December, will be split half-and-half with the Servicemembers’ Legal Defense Network.

- Mik

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Want to get more writing gigs and make more money?  Try being a man — or taking a male pen name, if you are a woman.

Here is one writer’s story about that.

Why James Chartrand Wears Women’s Underpants

You know me as James Chartrand of Men with Pens, a regular Copyblogger contributor for just shy of two years.

And yet, I’m a woman.

This is not a joke or an angle or an analogy — I’m literally a woman.

This is my story.

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Here are two markets currently calling for submissions:

Mammoth Book of Hot Romance: pays $300, 6K – 10K words, deadline end of February. This will be published by Robinson UK and Running Press (USA).

Queer Light (angels, fallen angels, demons, nephilim): #K – 20K, pays split of royalties collected. This will come out from Queered Fiction, whose previous offerings include Queer Wolf and Queer Dimensions.

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Recently Nicola Griffith shared links to where you can enjoy some of her fiction online:

Two recent blog posts from me which include new fiction. First, a snippet of Hild.  Second, the beginning of a story that will be out next month, plus info on the new Outer Alliance, a group of queer f/sf readers and writers.

Enjoy.

Nicola

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I’ve done a number of panels at science fiction conventions that span sexual orientation, gender identity, and related issues in speculative fiction and gender studies nonfiction. Outer Alliance Pride Day is collecting posts that promote positive representation of GLBT issues in speculative fiction.  So here is my contribution, the master list of recommended reading from all those panels… Read the rest of this entry »

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Below is a typical discouraging post about self-publishing, with a side order of sexism in its illustration.  Yes, self-publishing is difficult and rarely succeeds.  But you know what?  The same is true of conventional publishing, just in different ways.

More and more creative people — and, vitally important, audience members — are turning away from conventional publishing because it fails to meet their needs.  What conventional publishing has going for it is mass distribution and a bunch of people who might (or might not) do some of the work for you.  When it works, it can work splendidly; when it does not work, it’s just as much of a disaster as self-publishing failures but on a much larger scale.  A new and rapidly growing branch of alternative publishing is crowdfunding or cyberfunded creativity, which cuts out the middlemen between creator and audience.  It shows great potential, using the Internet and social networking in place of conventional publishing’s marketing engine, which significantly reduces one of self-publishing’s main flaws, obscurity; the audience interaction likewise reduces one of conventional publishing’s main flaws, inflexibility.

My advice to creators is: Know yourself, strengths and weaknesses.  Know your work. Thoroughly research your options and decide the best one for you.  Consider, but do not take as necessarily valid, the tons of conflicting advice you will get from other people, few of  whom will be your peers.  In particular, regard with great suspicion anyone on any side of the publishing debate who says or implies that there is “really only one choice.”  There are many, each with its own set of pros and cons.  If at all possible, test the waters with short works through several publication methods and see which plays out the best for you.  Hone your skills always, for you are unlikely to succeed if your work is poor.  Build your fanbase, because that will be useful in all venues.  If you wind up in conventional publishing, your fans will follow you; if you wind up in alternative publishing, your fans will support you.

A View on Self-Publishing

You’re a writer right? A good one. What? The picture is to get your attention. You see you need to be able to publicise yourself if you go into self-publishing – show yourself at your best. Sure you think you can hack that, but the chances are you will fail. Sorry, but you are up against marketing machines fighting for prime space in the retail market – even if you do have the PR gene – the odds are stacked against you. And you should be writing right? The breasts also appeal to base instincts – more of that later.

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The New Book of Goddesses & Heroines by Patricia Monaghan, illustrated with photographs from the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago. Llewellyn Publications, 1997. Trade paperback, 371 pages. ISBN: 1-56718-465-0.  Five stars.

Here is a revised, updated and expanded edition of Monaghan’s popular reference The Book of Goddesses & Heroines. It contains a list of photographs, a preface, an introduction, and a guide to the cultures of the Goddess. Myths of the Goddess form the main body of the book. At the end come symbols of the Goddess, names of the Goddess, and feasts of the Goddess; regrettably these are not indexed as to the pages they appear on in the main body. However, the bibliography is downright awesome. In general, I like this edition much better than the older ones; specifically, the breakdown into several subsections makes it easier for me to find what I’m looking for.

The New Book of Goddesses and Heroines is a must-have for anyone working in a female-positive tradition. Every coven, steading, or other Pagan group should have a copy in their library. Pagan scholars and writers will likewise find it an essential resource. Suitable for all levels and traditions. Highly recommended.

* * *

Uncommon Sense Award

This one goes to Llewellyn Publications for their custom of using returns as review copies whenever practical. Most publishers simply destroy returned books, or allow store owners to do so, a practice I find appalling. This alternative is more respectful of creative products and more environmentally responsible. Let’s give these folks a nice round of applause, and encourage other publishers to institute a similar policy.

* * *

This review was originally submitted to PagaNet News.

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The Faces of Womanspirit: A Celtic Oracle of Avalon by Katherine Torres, Ph.D. with illustrations by Cruz. San Diego, CA: Transpersonal Development, 1999. Boxed set featuring 33 cards and trade paperback guidebook, 196 pages. ISBN: 1-885015-05-4.  Four stars.

In this attractive boxed set you’ll find a beautiful deck of cards and a comprehensive guidebook. Printed on heavy-duty, high-gloss paper, the cards themselves measure 3½ x 6 ¼ inches and have rounded corners for long life. The large size makes them a bit awkward to shuffle if you have small hands, as I do; but it also makes them ideal for use as altar decorations, meditation images, or other uses. Vivid, super-saturated colors give the illustrations great impact; lovely feminine imagery shows powerful women of differing ages and body types.

The guidebook explains the preparation and use of the cards, their design, and related matters. The subsets of the deck are “The Faces in the Moon” (which correspond to thirteen sacred Celtic plants), “The Feminine Face of the Planets” (eleven heavenly bodies), “The Journey to Other Worlds” (four levels of being), and “Women of Time” (the classic three phases of Maiden, Mother, Crone) plus one card each for “The Face of WomanSpirit” and “The Honored Face of Self.” Each card entry gives a description of its general energy and meaning, followed by lots of correspondences and interpretations like color, stone, lunar phase, animals, deities, key words of empowerment and challenge, etc. Featured layouts include the traditional Celtic cross used in Tarot, the Right of Power, and Daily Card for Contemplation. At the end comes a glossary of terms and a nice bibliography.

The Faces of WomanSpirit makes a nice alternative for folks who don’t feel attracted to the Tarot but would still like to explore divinatory cards. It holds maximum appeal for followers of the Avalonian path or other Celtic traditions. This deck has a pronounced feminine feel, too; if you like the Motherpeace Tarot, then you’ll love this. Suitable for all experience levels. Highly recommended.

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A subsequent revised edition of this book is also available.

Earth Magic: A Dianic Book of Shadows by Marion Weinstein.  Earth Magic Productions, 1998.  Trade paperback, 142 pages.   ISBN: 1-890733-00-8.  Three stars.

             This fourth edition of Earth Magic by noted Pagan Marion Weinstein is a beautiful little book, with gold lettering embossed on a textured brown cover.  Originally published in 1980, it offers a fine introduction to Dianic Wicca.

            Overview: Part One covers primary work.  Chapter 1 introduces belief and perception, chapter 2 goes over the basics, chapter 3 covers alignments and deities, and chapter 4 explains the tools.  Chapter 5 discusses coven dynamics.  Then chapter 6 delves into the holidays and chapter 7 explores moon work.  The next few deal with different types of magic: chapter 8 deals with cord and string, chapter 9 with psychic help and visualization, chapter 10 with contacting the departed, and chapter 11 with protection.  Chapter 12 takes a general look at ritual and chapter 13 discusses serving the community.  Part Two covers advanced work; chapter 14 investigates aspects of self, chapter 15 presents working magic in the castle, and chapter 16 takes a detailed journey through advanced manifestation.  Part Three wraps up the book with some concluding thoughts; chapter 17 explores morphogenetic fields, chapter 18 compares the role and the true self, and chapter 19 ponders ethics. 

            Features: This book breaks down into a lot of little pieces.  Inside, you’ll find a variety of lists, quotes, poems, ritual material, and other tidbits to help you in your study of magic and Wicca.  Photographs and diagrams illustrate some of the more important points.  There’s also a brief bibliography at the end, with some ideas for further reading.  No index, alas.

            Recommendations:  Earth Magic is a good starting place for anyone interested in Dianic Wicca, whether you plan to practice it yourself or you’re just curious about how it works.  If you liked Weinstein’s Positive Magic, then you’ll like this one too.  Recommended.

          This review was originally published in PagaNet News.

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Hunger Pains: The Modern Woman’s Tragic Quest for Thinness by Mary Pipher, Ph.D.  Ballantine, 1995.  Trade paperback, 120 pages.  ISBN:  0-345-41393-8.  Four stars.

             Some studies suggest that as many as one out of four American women will develop an eating disorder during her life.  If you or your friends have ever struggled with this type of problem, you should read this book.  You’re not alone. 

             Overview:  Pipher draws from her extensive experience in treating women with eating disorders.  She speaks eloquently of the challenges they face in reclaiming a more normal lifestyle.  She also speaks out in sharp, detailed criticism against the social pressures that drive women into unhealthy habits, including eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia.  Her composite characterizations of women she has known give new depth and personality to these problems.  Her insights reveal how and why eating disorders and other body-distortion problems arise, and how to cope with them.

             I enjoyed the constant invocation and refutation of certain cultural rules, behavior patterns, and “things that everyone knows” which turn out not to be so.  Pipher does an excellent job of dispelling the illusions — and delusions — of modern society regarding beauty, power dynamics, and the female body.  Best of all, she does more than just blow the whistle on rampant problems; she offers numerous recommendations for combating each one and then continues to suggest replacement values and habits which should prove more beneficial.

             Features:  Besides an in-depth look at both bulimia and anorexia, this book also offers new perspectives on obesity and why diets don’t work.  You won’t find a lot of fat-critical comments in here; in fact, the author points out in exquisite detail how dieting can actually damage your health!  She also presents compelling material on social issues, obesity in children, and necessary cultural changes.  Many chapters end with a list of suggestions for coping with specific challenges, such as “Learn to dress comfortably rather than fashionably” and “Compliment girls and women on other things besides their physical appearance” in Suggestions for Feeling Good About Your Body (page 21).  There is no index, though, and while the suggested reading list mentions many fine books, it omits The Beauty Myth — a bad one to leave out, since both books touch on many of the same issues regarding society’s brutal attacks on the female body and psyche.

             Recommendations: Highly recommended for large women and girls, but also for women in general because of the powerful social theory and actionable suggestions; feminists will love it.  A must for women struggling with body image or eating disorders; also ideal for therapists and health workers who assist them.  Give a copy to a young girl you know who is struggling to maintain a healthy personality and life amidst a somewhat hostile cultural atmosphere.

           This review was originally submitted to Radiance.

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The new Poet Laureate of Great Britain is Carol Ann Duffy.  This is the first time a woman has held this prestigious seat.  Carol Ann Duffy writes both prosaic and speculative poetry, and has fans around the world.  Hopefully her visibility will aid other female poets in gaining recognition for their talent.

After 341 Years, British Poet Laureate Is a Woman

LONDON — The writer Carol Ann Duffy was appointed Britain’s poet laureate on Friday, becoming the first woman to take a 341-year-old job that has been held by, among others, Dryden, Tennyson, Wordsworth, Cecil Day-Lewis and Ted Hughes.

Ms. Duffy, 53, is known for using a deceptively simple style to produce accessible, often mischievous poems dealing with the darkest turmoil and the lightest minutiae of everyday life. In her most popular collection, “The World’s Wife” (1999), overlooked women in history and mythology get the chance to tell their side of the story, so that one poem imagines, for instance, the relief that Mrs. Rip Van Winkle must have felt when her husband fell asleep, finally giving her some time for herself.

Who are some of your favorite British poets?  Female poets?

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Earthtime Moontime: Rediscovering the Sacred Lunar Year by Annette Hinshaw.  Llewellyn Publications, 1999.  Trade paperback, 301 pages.  ISBN: 1-56718-396-4.  Four stars.

             Annette Hinshaw passed into the Summerland before this book reached the shelves, but I’m sure she’d be happy with the results.  I knew her through the Pagan Leaders mailing list online and we worked side by side on several projects.  She was a wonderful person and I’m delighted to present this particular piece of her legacy. 

            This book focuses on timekeeping, the art and science of calendars, the importance of the Moon, and related motifs.  Chapter One covers time before timekeeping, the rise of lunar influences, and the power of myth.  Chapter Two covers time and timekeeping, methods of solar and lunar calendars, and why you should bother with a lunar calendar.  Chapter Three offers definitions, cosmology, and other background.  Chapter Four explains how to use the Moon chapters.  Chapters Five through Seventeen introduce the Death, Birth, Milk, Fasting, Seed, Courting, Mating, Journey, Mother’s, Father’s, Nesting, Harvest, and Sorting Moons.  Each of these gives the opposite Moon, the stage, the range of dates, the mood of the Great Mother, images, related energies, primary energies, manifestations, tips on meeting challenges from this Moon, notes on people born during this Moon, journal ideas, and healing processes.  Chapter Eighteen tells the lunar story in several different ways.  Chapter Nineteen considers the similarities and distinctions of “opposite” Moon pairs.  Chapter Twenty covers the Wheel of the Year.  A hefty appendix section offers Moon summaries, primary energies of Moons, Moon pair focuses, Moon mirrors and stages of development, New Moon dates, and seasonal festival dates.  An annotated reading list and a very nice index complete the package.

            Earth Time, Moon Time chronicles the other side of timekeeping, the spiral path of the Moon rather than the linear path of the Sun.  Most suitable for those studying women’s mysteries, but men may enjoy it too.  Intermediate level for the most part, it is still accessible for beginners yet interesting to more advanced students.  Perfect gift for a young girl approaching womanhood.  Highly recommended. 

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The Cosmic Tribe Tarot by Stevee Postman, text by Eric Ganther.  Destiny Books, 1998. Boxed set containing 80 full-color cards plus trade paperback guidebook with black-and-white illustrations, 208 pages.  ISBN: 0-89281-700-3.  Five stars.

             Looking for a new Tarot deck to guide you into the next millennium?  Consider this one.  Featuring the famous artwork of Stevee Postman, which has graced the covers of Magical Blend  and Gnosis,  it draws on ancient archetypes yet casts many of them in contemporary modes.  In particular, the art is a captivating blend of photography and electronic image manipulation — computer wizardry at its finest — thus giving the entire deck a sense of the real and the surreal.  I find many of the pictures striking.

             The cards themselves are printed on light, flexible cardstock with rounded corners; a remarkable ultra-high-gloss finish makes them as durable as heavier cards.  It also makes them slippery as can be; they shuffle like a dream, far better than most decks I own.  Measuring 3″ x 5″ these cards fit comfortably in my rather small hands.  The back design reprises all five Elements including Spirit in a collage of images.

             Turn them over and you take a journey through a psychedelic world of archetypes and symbolism.  The creators have thoughtfully recast some cards into highly original imagery.  The Six of Swords, traditionally a card of ceremonial magic and orderly mechanics, features a piece of computer motherboard.  The Ten of Disks depicts a Willendorf-esque goddess figure, typical of several cards in this set which display size-positive pictures reflecting the wide range of human body types.  The Queen of Cups appears as a mermaid emerging from a sea anemone.  The Ten of Wands features an ass-headed man carrying a bundle of burning staves.  Some of the minor arcana are fully illustrated, others are fairly basic pip cards with more simple imagery.

             Moving into the major arcana, the pictures become more elaborate.  The Universe again blends all the Elements around a seated mage, with a kundalini serpent rising from a spiral galaxy below.  The Tower, hysterically apt, shows a man falling from a pyramid of blaring television sets.  Strength is one of the changes I don’t care for — it shows a man standing over a sleeping lion, and it’s not as dynamic or subtle as the original.  The Chariot is an Amanita mushroom pulled by butterflies with eyes on their wings, quite lovely. 

             But it’s the Lovers that really set this deck above the competition.  There are three  different versions of this card to choose from!  One features two women cuddling under a hovering female cupid.  One features two men cuddling under a male cupid.  The third features a man and a woman cuddling under an androgynous cupid.  In all three cases the couple is ringed in dancing flames, surrounded by water and clouds, and bracketed by eyes representing wisdom.  Take your pick, folks; no matter your choice of partner, you will find a reflection of yourself in this deck.

             Now comes the guidebook.  First, an introduction explains the origins of the deck, recurring imagery, and some tips on use.  Subsequent sections provide interpretations of the major arcana followed by Swords, Wands, Cups, and Disks.  Each card’s entry features a reproduction of its picture, a snippet of relevant poetry, a detailed description of the symbolism, and finally a look at divinatory meanings.  There are no separate interpretations offered for the reversed mode. 

             At the back lies a substantial chapter on working with the cards.  This includes such useful things as getting acquainted with your deck, doing readings, and alternative uses for the cards such as therapy and meditation.  In addition to the classic Celtic Cross, the creators offer several interesting new spreads.  There is a one-card meditation spread, a two-card either/or spread, and a three-card interactive spread.  You have two choices for five-card spreads: the goal-oriented “Door of Perception” and the methodical “Situational Progression.”  Finally, there is a nine-card “Cosmic Eye Meditation Mandala.”

             In working with these cards, I found them more adjustable than the average deck, more responsive to situational cues.  So, this is a good deck for coping with modern life; unlike more traditional decks, this one isn’t readily confused by questions pertaining to contemporary issues.  I also got it to shift perspective in accordance with which of the Lovers cards I put into play; your mileage may vary, but in my judgment this is the most on-target deck for Gay and Lesbian reality tunnels.  It handles the heterosexual reality tunnel just fine too.  The pervasive tribal, shamanic, and psychedelic motifs resonate throughout the deck and give it considerable appeal for anyone working in those areas.

             The Cosmic Tribe Tarot blends past and future into a unique tool for getting a grasp on the present.  This is not the best deck for a novice, who would probably be better off with something a little more stable the first time around, but for intermediate and advanced Tarot readers it offers unparalleled flexibility you can put to excellent use.  Suitable for most traditions, but especially modern and eclectic ones.  Most highly recommended.

 >>>  Uncommon Sense Award  <<<

             This award goes to the creators and publishers of The Cosmic Tribe Tarot for their thoughtful and positive depiction of human diversity.  In this deck, you can choose from three different Lovers cards in the major arcana: one featuring a Lesbian couple with a female cupid hovering above, one featuring a Gay couple with a male cupid, and one featuring a heterosexual couple with an androgynous cupid.  All are lovely, allowing users to select a card that reflects their own lifestyle, whatever that may be.  Moreover, several cards depict large-bodied people in positions of power, most notably the Lesbian Lovers card, the Ten of Disks, the Princess of Disks, and the Queen of Disks.  The other cards also show varied body types.  So here’s a round of well-deserved applause for the visionaries who made this deck possible.  Maybe now some others will follow in these footsteps and give us more divinatory tools that reflect us the way we really are.

          This review was originally published in PagaNet News.

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Today I received this notice about the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards:

Just a final call out for nominations for the 2009 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards.  Any work originally published/released in calendar year 2008 in North America is eligible for consideration.  The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards recognize outstanding works in speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc) with significant positive gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content.  We recognize novels, works of short fiction, and works in other categories – with a cash prize presented to winners in the Best Novel and Best Short Fiction categories.  There is no cost to nominate and we encourage fans, authors, editors and publishers to nominate any relevant works, including their own.

Our annual list of winners and short list honorees includes authors well known and new, publishers big and small, and works from across the speculative spectrum.

Nominations are open until April 15, 2009, and our judges wll begin reading and discussing all nominated works beginning shortly thereafter.  Awards will be announced in October at Gaylaxicon 2009 in Minneapolis.

To nominate: http://www.spectrumawards.org/nomform.htm

For more info: http://www.spectrumawards.org/

We hope to see your nominations!

 

- Rob Gates

Gaylactic Spectrum Awards

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Falling to Earth: A Novel by Elizabeth Brownrigg.  Firebrand Books, 1998.  Trade paperback, 174 pages.  ISBN: 1-56341-100-8.  Three stars.

             I’m not Christian, but I have a fondness for angel stories, perhaps because angel stories are always fish-out-of-water stories in one direction or another.  This one manages to encompass both directions at once: an angel moving towards mortality, and a mortal moving towards angelic realms.  Phoebe starts out ethereal and becomes progressively more practical and earthy, while Alice starts out very real and practical but gradually becomes less corporeal.  In the meantime they go through some pretty interesting adventures together. 

            The Lesbian culture depicted in the novel comes across very well, including the strange dichotomy between “dyke space” and “everyday space” that divides Alice’s life.  The peculiarities of the author’s angel concept also held my attention well.  When Alice and Phoebe begin collaborating on an intricate matrix of stories together, their antics provide a great deal of amusement.  One favorite scene, from page 57, goes like this:

             I lay in bed for a long time the next morning, drifting in and out of sleep.  Suddenly, my covers disappeared.

            “Hey!”

            Phoebe had yanked the blankets and sheets onto the floor.  “Get up,” she said.  “Write.”

             My, how familiar!  The whole book has that same quirky humor.  My only regret is that it suffers from a flaw common to many stories from the non-heterosexual literature field: the ending doesn’t hang together well.  The characters just kind of wander offstage, instead of bringing matters to a solid conclusion.  Real life often dribbles off in just this fashion, but readers expect better from fiction.  Perhaps it’s a side effect of the “mainstream” society’s tendency to snatch happy, coherent endings away from non-heterosexual folks.  Despite this flaw, the novel covers a lot of ground, examines some interesting issues, and provides a lot of amusement along the way.

             Falling to Earth is an entertaining piece of Lesbian contemporary fantasy.  Those of you who collect angels will definitely want to read it.  Recommended.

          This review was originally submitted to Spicy Green Iguana.

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