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Featured Book: Unexpected Bravery: Women and Children of the Civil War, by A.J. Schenkman
This week’s Featured Book is a fascinating look into lives most of us don’t know anything about: women and children who enlisted to fight in the Civil War. Among them was Albert Cashier, a man we would now call transgender. Born female, Albert spent almost his entire life as a man, beginning in boyhood. His military bravery was so highly thought of that the people around him protected his secret even after many of them knew about it. And this is just one of over a dozen stories told through archival material, letters, and first-hand accounts, of people who may otherwise be forgotten. A completely satisfying read. You can listen to my recent One Thing or Another podcast with the author HERE.
About Women and Children of the Civil War
The American Civil War divided the United States from 1861-1865. During those years, over two million soldiers served in both the Union and Confederate Armies. What is little known is that not only the numerous children, some as young 12, enlisted on both sides, but also women who disguised themselves as men in an attempt to make a difference in the epic struggle to determine the future of the United States of America.
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Featured Book: Multicultural Guide to Caregiving, by Angelica Herrera Venson, DrPH
I’ve been a fan of the work being done at Kapok Aging and Caregiver Resources. Founded by Angelica Herrera Venson, DrPH, their website offers a treasure trove of information, guidance, and resources for the aging population and those who care for them. I’ve been privileged to share some of Angelica’s articles here at LGBTSr, and you can hear my interview with her on the One Thing or Another Podcast HERE.
And now I’m happy to feature her new book, Multicultural Guide to Caregiving: Essential resources to help you balance traditions without losing your mind or money.
About Multicultural Guide to Caregiving
Author and gerontologist, Angelica P. Herrera Venson, DrPH, opens up and shares her family’s personal stories and lessons from her field work and research on aging and caregiving with communities of color and first generation Americans.
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Featured Book: ‘Palm Springs Noir’ Continues Series of Noir Anthologies from Akashic Books
I’m delighted to say my friend and fellow mystery author Michael Craft is among the authors featured in this newest anthology from Akashic Books. (You can listen to my podcast interview with Michael HERE.) Michael is one of the finest writers you’ll encounter, with a skill and delivery that make his name very fitting: a craftsman and a wordsmith whose writing you’ll want to savor. If you’re not familiar with his fiction, you can start now with Palm Springs Noir!
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Featured Book: Accidental Desperados, by Lee Lynch (Bold Strokes Books)
Regular readers of LGBTSr will be familiar with Lee Lynch’s monthly Amazon Trail column. Lee is an icon in lesbian literature, an inspiration and a friend. I’m delighted to share her newest book, Accidental Desperados, as our current Featured Book. If you’re new to Lee’s writing, you’re in for a treat. Sit back, get your bookmark ready, and dive in.
Accidental Desperados
By Lee Lynch
Release date: April 1, 2021
Publisher: Bold Strokes BooksMJ Beaudry, an angry, brilliant, abused runaway, is dumped in Rainbow Gap, Florida, and almost immediately discovers an aptitude for crime. The lesbian cop who catches her expects good-hearted lovers Jaudon Vicker and Berry Garland to save the kid. Although Jaudon’s business has suffered a killing blow and she’s frantic to make it right, she was once a besieged gay kid herself and reaches out, only to find herself in cahoots with MJ.
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Featured Book: Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States, by Samantha Allen
Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States
By Samantha Allen
Print Length: 321 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (March 5, 2019)Ten years ago, Samantha Allen was a suit-and-tie-wearing Mormon missionary. Now she’s a GLAAD Award-winning journalist happily married to another woman. A lot in her life has changed, but what hasn’t changed is her deep love of Red State America, and of queer people who stay in so-called “flyover country” rather than moving to the liberal coasts.
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Featured Book: Shortest Way Home: One Mayor’s Challenge and a Model for America’s Future, by Pete Buttigieg
Shortest Way Home: One Mayor’s Challenge and a Model for America’s Future
Pete Buttigieg
347 pages (hardcover edition)
$16.77 harcover, $14.87 Kindle
Publisher: LiverightI first noticed “Mayor Pete” a few years ago because he was the mayor of South Bend, Indiana. I grew up two cities over, in Elkhart, and my father had a music store for many years in South Bend. I knew the town well, and seeing them elect an out gay mayor was something I took great pleasure in (and no small surprise).
Now Pete Buttigieg is running for the Democratic presidential nomination and he’s turning a lot of heads: the man is smart, extremely well-informed, erudite (does anyone say that anymore?), a policy wonk who doesn’t sound like one, and a man with exceptionally wide appeal on the issues: just ask nervous Republicans.
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Featured Book: Shortest Way Home: One Mayor’s Challenge and a Model for America’s Future, by Pete Buttigieg
Shortest Way Home: One Mayor’s Challenge and a Model for America’s Future
Pete Buttigieg
347 pages (hardcover edition)
$16.77 harcover, $14.87 Kindle
Publisher: LiverightI first noticed “Mayor Pete” a few years ago because he was the mayor of South Bend, Indiana. I grew up two cities over, in Elkhart, and my father had a music store for many years in South Bend. I knew the town well, and seeing them elect an out gay mayor was something I took great pleasure in (and no small surprise).
Now Pete Buttigieg is running for the Democratic presidential nomination and he’s turning a lot of heads: the man is smart, extremely well-informed, erudite (does anyone say that anymore?), a policy wonk who doesn’t sound like one, and a man with exceptionally wide appeal on the issues: just ask nervous Republicans.
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May Featured Author: Sue Katz
Author and Activist Sue Katz Author Sue Katz’s business card identifies her as a “wordsmith and rebel.” A lifelong activist for social justice, she has lived and worked on three continents: first as a martial arts master, then promoting transnational volunteering, and most recently teaching fitness and dance to seniors and elders. She earned her BA from Boston University in 1970, her Tae Kwon Do Black Belt in 1975, and her MA in English Literature in 1985.
Sue’s fiction and non-fiction work has been published for decades in anthologies, magazines, and online. Her journalism includes travelogues, dance reviews, and political commentary. Her two most recent books are her collection of short fiction about the love lives of older people Lillian’s Last Affair and other stories, and her novel about the love affair between two old women in senior housing Lillian in Love. She is now working on a collection of “flash fiction” – extremely short stories.
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Featured Book: From Whence We Come, by Maurice W. Dorsey
Meet the author! Author Maurice W. Dorsey will be at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, May 27 (Baltimore). See details here.I met author Maurice W. Dorsey at the Rainbow Book Fair two years ago. His first book, Businessman First, was the masterful telling of the life of Henry G. Parks. Jr., an African American businessman and entrepreneur. The biography soon became a QBR Wheatley Book Award Finalist.
With the recent release of From Whence We Come, author Dorsey has returned in full force with the story of Seymour Rose, an African American man who is gay and whose life has taught him that coming to terms with family, love, loss, and one’s own identity, can come at high cost.