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6 Questions for Author Kate McLachlan
I recently happened upon Kate McLachlan’s new book, Ten Little Lesbians, on the “hot new releases” list for LGBT mysteries on Kindle. I loved the cover and soon found myself thoroughly enjoying the story of ten women stranded at the lesbian-owned Adelheid Inn in the Cascade Mountains after a mudslide closes the only road out. Murder and mystery ensue in a delicious Agatha Christie homage with a distinctly lesbian twist.
I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather pose ‘6 Questions’ to than Kate. A double Goldie Award winner from the Golden Crown Literary Society and a Lambda Literary Award finalist, Kate shares her experiences, work and insights into the writing life. – Mark
MM: You’ve written a good number of books, including the RIP (“Rip Van Dyke”) time-travel series, mysteries, and the romance “Christmas Crush” that was a Lambda Literary Finalist in 2014. Have you always been a writer? What trajectory has your writing taken over the years? (That’s a twofer.)
KM: I’ve always been a writer in the sense that I’ve always written something, whether it was diary entries, journal entries, poetry that NOBODY ever saw, or the beginnings of stories without end. I wrote my first novel when I was in my mid-30’s, a historical adventure book for middle-school kids. I was teaching at the time, and I wrote the book to try to make ancient Rome come alive for my 6th graders. They seemed to like it, and I sent it off to some agents. This was in the mid-90’s. Publishing companies wouldn’t even read your query letters if you were unrepresented, and expensive vanity presses were the only choice for self-publishing. I had no luck finding an agent, so I stuck the book in a drawer, and there it still sits. I had proved to myself that I could finish a book, though, so I continued on that path. I decided to write what I enjoyed reading, so I wrote a few mysteries. Three of them still sit in that same drawer with my children’s novel, but two of them–after many intervening years filled with law school, career change, and coming out–have since been extensively rewritten and published as Hearts, Dead and Alive and Murder and the Hurdy Gurdy Girl. -
6 Questions for Author Maurice W. Dorsey, PhD
Author Maurice W. Dorsey was recently nominated for a QBR Wheatley Book Award for Businessman First, his biography of Henry G. Parks, Jr.
I had the pleasure of meeting Maurice at this year’s Rainbow Book Fair – and now the double pleasure of asking him ‘6 Questions.’ His book, Businessman First, tells the story of Henry G. Parks, Jr., a successful African American businessman. Maurice was as nice and engaging as his book is fascinating – a story that both needed to be told, and that Maurice promised to tell. He has, in spectacular fashion.
MM: Congratulations on being nominated for a QBR Wheatley Book Award. Can you describe those awards and how you came to be nominated?MWD: QBR The Black Book Review, the Harlem Book Fair are partnered by the Columbia University, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the New York Public Library, Literacy Partners, Inc. and C-Span Book TV. The Harlem Book Festival is the largest and most respected African American literary festival. I was recommended by a friend in Washington, DC.
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6 Questions for Author Marshall Thornton
Marshall Thornton If you’re a reader of gay mysteries, you’ll inevitably come across the name Marshall Thornton. His Boystown detective series is among the more widely known and admired series in the genre. The series received two honorable mentions and was a runner-up in the Rainbow Awards, and has twice been a finalist for the Lambda Book Award – Gay Mystery. He’s currently re-releasing the series, with Boystown 7: Bloodlines set for release in March.
Marshall’s a prolific writer, with books that include Desert Run, My Favorite Uncle, and The Ghost Slept Over, to name a few. Somehow he found time to answer ‘6 Questions’! And here they are … Mark McNease/Editor
MM: I was looking at your bio. Having lived in Los Angeles in the 1980s, I’m wondering: why Long Beach? What got you there?
MT: Like many decisions in life, moving to Long Beach was a bit random. In my early thirties I decided to go back to college to finish my B.A. I applied at both Cal State Northridge and Cal State Long Beach and got into both. The deciding factor was that the Cal State Long Beach brochure said that you could see the ocean from campus—and, if you go to the top of the tallest building you can. Looking back, that’s a ridiculous reason to choose a college. But I’ve been here about twenty-two years. It’s really a great city. -
6 Questions for Author Jean Ryan
I’ve recently had the pleasure of getting to know Jean Ryan, a gifted writer and generous spirit whose story, Manatee Gardens, opens the collection Outer Voices Inner Lives. Jean has since kept up a correspondence with me and had several of her blog posts featured here at lgbtSr. Her collection, ‘Survival Skills’ (Ashland Creek Press) is available for anyone interested in superb writing and stories with deep insight into the human experience. I couldn’t think of anyone better for a 6 Questions feature. – Mark/EditorMM: It’s been really good to get to know you more since we “met” through the Outer Voices Inner Lives collection. Can you tell readers a little about Jean Ryan? Native Vermonter, now in Napa, CA …
JR: I was born and raised in Vermont. After college I moved to Boston and eventually wound my way to California, drawn by visions of sunny beaches and the freedom to live openly as a lesbian. Berkeley was everything I’d hoped for and more. It is still a treat to drive down from Napa and walk through the colorful neighborhoods of Berkeley, where everyone is accepted and anything goes.
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6 Questions for Olivia Hart, Her Excellency, Royal Countess de Orenburg
Frank, Olivia and Ophelia By Rick Rose
I recently read about Beautiful By Night, James Hosking’s documentary in which he invites the audience into the lives of three older drag performers at Aunt Charlies, a legendary venue in San Francisco’s Tenderloin. Olivia Hart was one of those three veteran performers in what some consider a disappearing art form. You wouldn’t know it from talking to Olivia. I had the pleasure of asking her ‘6 Questions,’ which she graciously answered. – Rick
Miss Olivia Hart
Her Excellency, Royal Countess de Orenburg
“From the Heart, Through the Court, For the Community” -
6 Questions for Author David Lennon
The author in 1975 I learned about author David Lennon a few years ago when I read his first mystery, The Quarter Boys, set in New Orleans. Subsequently, his Michael Doucette and Sassy Jones Mysteries series was nominated for three Lambda Literary Awards and won the 2010 Lammy for Best Gay Mystery. I just finished his newest novel, DeadFall, and had the pleasure of asking him ‘6 Questions,’ which he graciously answered in depth and detail. – Mark McNease/Editor
MM: You have a new book out, DeadFall, that begins in 1975. It made me think a lot of having been a gay teenager, first love, regrets and what-ifs. What inspired you to write that story, and why now?
DL: The why now part is easy. I’m at an age where there’s most likely more time behind than ahead, so I’ve begun to reflect on the past. As I mention in the introduction, the summer of 1975 when I was thirteen was one of my favorite times because I was experiencing so much for the first time and it all felt so intense, heightened by hormones and possibly other substances. It was also the time when I first felt like I was leaving childhood. All of that is something I’ve thought about trying to recapture for about five years now.
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6 Questions for Lady Ellen, Founder of Le Femme Finishing School
Last week I shared a recent Aged to Perfection podcast with Lady Ellen, founder of Le Femme Finishing School in New Jersey, the only one of its kind in the state. Talking to Ellen, I quickly realized the deep value of what she offers her clients: a space to be themselves, to explore their identities, express their spirits and use their experiences with Ellen to emerge from the chrysalis into themselves. Following are six additional questions for her about the School, her clients and her mission.MM: What is some of the most common guidance your clients are looking for?
LE: Most clients want to see what they would look like as a female, want to know if they can “pass” in public and wish to learn makeup application techniques. I teach my clients what they would have learned from the women in their lives if they had been raised as a woman. I offer lessons in makeup, deportment, movement, image and style and constantly tell them to keep their knees together when wearing a skirt. That is why clients come to me, but often they thank me the most for lending them a sympathetic ear, a shoulder to cry on, an understanding heart that makes them feel accepted. I give a lot of advice about accepting one’s self and going forward with confidence and courage. Liking what they see in the mirror helps build that confidence and positive self image.
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Mom worries skinny-dipping will turn her daughter gay
From Redding.com: Dear Straight Talk: My sister and I like to skinny dip in our pool on hot nights. When friends spend the night we invite them to join us since we’re all girls. Our mom recently remarried and we invited our new stepsister to join us, which she did. We’re 16 and 15 and she’s 13. We share our room with her and undress in front of each other. She mentioned it to her mom, who read our family the riot act. She insisted this would make her daughter gay and thinks we must be gay to “corrupt” a younger girl this way. Now our stepsister has to sleep on the couch and change in the bathroom, even though she’d rather share our room. This idea that something will “make” you gay is totally stupid. If girls seeing other girls naked made you gay, we’d all be gay. It’s so sad. — Suzanne in Sacramento]]>
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Dutch military to march in Pride parade for first time
Lesbian and gay service members have served openly in the Dutch military since 1974. I guess you could say they were ahead of the curve.
From AJC.com:
AMSTERDAM — Embracing a policy of “Do Tell,” the Dutch military is joining Amsterdam’s annual Gay Pride parade for the first time this year, with uniformed men and women saluting the crowds from a boat chugging through the city’s canals.
Unlike the United States military, gays have openly served in Dutch units since 1974, and have had a department within the Defense Ministry minding their interests for 25 years.
Former U.S. Army Lt. Dan Choi, who was discharged in 2010 after violating the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, is a guest on the float.]]> -
Facility in Oakland, CA, launches initiative to raise LGBT eldercare awareness
From Chancing Aginge.com: An Eden Alternative registered facility in Oakland, Calif., has launched a research-based cultural sensitivity initiative targeting the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) elders receiving skilled nursing and long-term care, the Bay Area Reporter reportered this week. Raising awareness of LGBT eldercare-related issues is an important challenge in the culture change movement. Recent surveys have found that a majority of LGBT older adults fear being openly gay in long-term care settings and as a result are among the most invisible and underserved aging populations in the nation. Eden Alternative registered Salem Lutheran Home partnered with Lavender Seniors of the East Bay and the Center for Elders’ Independence to develop a needs assessment and cultural sensitivity training program to improve services and care for LGBT elders. The project — Growing an LGBT Senior Service Community — was launched in February at Salem Lutheran Home.]]>
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Appeals Court rules in favor of transgender inmates
A federal appeals court has struck down a vicious Wisconsin law that prohibits taxpayer dollars paying for hormone (or other) therapy for transgender inmates. As opposed to, say, prohibiting taxpayer dollars for cluster bombs or taxpayer dollars for discriminatory faith-based organizations.
From Fox11:
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling striking down a Wisconsin law banning taxpayer-funded hormone therapy for transgender inmates.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision Friday comes in a case brought by a group of male inmates who identify as female challenging a 2006 state law.
They say they need the hormones to treat their gender identity disorder, and not having them would lead to severe health problems.
A federal judge struck down the law last year and the state appealed. On Friday a three-judge panel on the federal appeals court upheld the ruling.]]> -
Mark's Cafe Moi: Ghosts that sell memories
I don’t know where that line comes from, “Ghosts that sell memories.” A song, I think, or at least a song whose lyrics I vaguely remember.
I came across a letter Larry Kramer wrote to Randy Shilts (via The Petrelis Files, via Andrew Sullivan) in which Kramer tells Shilts that he’s going to Los Angeles to see a production of “The Normal Heart” starring Richard Dreyfuss. I saw that production. I was there to review the play for EDGE, a long-defunct gay newspaper I wrote stories and reviews for. My late partner Jim was with me. He died in 1991, spending the last three days of his life comatose in a hospice. Prior to the very end he’d been in a tight fetal position, but for some reason he relaxed that last day. A very kind nurse shaved him and combed his hair; he was looking good for the first time in many months, though he had always been handsome to me.
Jim will be dead 20 years this November. I very rarely encounter him in dreams – maybe once every five years – but the last week or so I’ve met him again after all this time. He seems content; his sense of humor is intact, he’s easygoing, and speaking with him now, there is none of the pain and fear that was such a thick, oppressive part of our days and nights.
So much has been written about the 30th anniversary of the AIDS plague (and I do prefer to call it a plague, as Kramer calls it; “epidemic” is both an understatement and a sanitization of its horror). It wasn’t that I wanted to throw in my two sentimental cents, just that I suddenly recalled, after reading Larry Kramer’s letter, sitting in a theater in 1985 with a man I would lose six years later. And those dreams so recent, and the peace I felt seeing him again.
I’ll be marrying Frank, my partner of nearly five years. Maybe Jim just wanted to give us his blessing. Ghosts that sell memories I’m happy to buy.]]>
