Cameron Abbott, 16
Josh Aterovis, 6
Johnny Charles, 5, 12
Gene Hayworth, 7
Tony Heyes, 2
Jak Klinikowski, 8, 17
Lori L. Lake, 14
Jay Mandal, 3
Ken Newman, 4, 18
Kevin Pearson, 11
Cheri Rosenberg, 13, 15
John R. Selig, 10
Jim Tushinski, 1
Jeff Williams, 9
Johnny Charles, 12
Cheri Rosenberg, 13
Far From Heaven
The Journey of Jared Price
The Trip
"I'm Coming Out" page 9
by Jeffrey L. Williams
"One Person at a Time—a Coming Out Chronicle" page 10
by John R. Selig
"Gay
101", page 11
by Kevin Pearson
"A Bitch Slap Away—
The Continuing Adventures of Ineeda Willingbottom" page 8
By Jak Klinikowski
"Bookends" page 3
by Jay Mandal
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And So We Continue...
A Little Bit of This, A Whole Lot
of That
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Many writers I know have been
preparing for the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans
in May '04. I have too, as if it were a distant event, but all of a
sudden I see that it's just a little over two weeks away! And I've
been busy with this newsletter. The biggest one yet. So if you see me
at S&S and I look stunned, disoriented, slack-jawed, it is because
so many readers and writers have taken me up on my offer to publish
their reviews, coming out stories, short fiction, calls-for-submission,
and articles about writing. I mean this issue is the biggest yet.
 In this issue, we get some promotional observations and
advice from Lori L. Lake
in Promoting
Queer and Small Press Fiction
© 2004 By Lori L. Lake
"The vast majority of 'Queer' or 'Alternative' fiction being published
these days is issued by very small presses, most of which operate on a
shoestring budget. A few dozen books do come out each year from larger
gay/lesbian presses (Alyson or Harrington, for instance) and receive
some manner of marketing, but most little presses do not have a
department for promotions, much less a budget for it. Most authors end
up doing about 95% of marketing ourselves." Continued on page 14.
We're continuing with our film reviews, with two reviews from Cheri
Rosenberg "The Journey of Jared Price" and "The Trip" (page 13) and one
from Johnny Charles "Far From Heaven" (along with the novel, The Salvation Mongers (page 12)—both writers are from New
York.
 Cheri also reviews Ronald L. Donaghe's Letters in Search of Love (page
13) and Mark Roeder's This Time
Around (page 15).
We're
also featuring an ebook this issue. First time we've done that. It's a
scifi novella by Samantha Winston of France (Adam and Evan), reviewed by Johnny
Charles. See more about Samantha, her publisher, and her work, page 5. And a companion review by J.
Charles
is William Maltese's A Conspiracy of
Ravens, page 5.
  Another reviewer makes her debut this issue. Cameron
Abbott reviews Radclyffe's Shadowland,
page 16.
We have a return reviewer on a tough assignment this issue. Jak
Klinikowski reviews Vacuum Packed,
a kind of urban grunge novel, page 17.
Mystery writer Josh Aterovis reviews Monique Truong's The Book of Salt, page 6. Gene
Hayworth, a new reviewer to The
Independent Gay Writer reviews Rebels,
Rubyfruit, and Rhinestones by James T. Sears, page 7 (what is "rubyfruit" anyway?) Tony Heyes,
our man from England turns his attention to Jay Mandal's A Different Kind of Love and Sir
John Gielgud's A Life in Letters
(page 2);
while Jay Mandal offers us a short story, titled "Bookends," page 3
Speaking of short stories, Jak Klinikowski regales us with the first
installment of The Adventures of
Ineeda Willingbottom in "A Bitch Slap Away," page 8. And if this
were not delectible enough, we have three true "coming out" stories
this issue:
"I'm Coming Out" by
Jeffrey L. Williams, page 9
" One Person at a
Time—a Coming Out Chronicle" by John R. Selig, page 10
"Gay
101" by Kevin Pearson, page 11
|
Featured book this
issue... Reviewed by Ken Newman
Through
it Came Bright colors
by
Trebor healey
Paperback
232 pages, $19.95
ISBN 1560234520
Harrington Park Pr, 2003
Reviewed
by Ken Newman, page 4.
Newman also reviews writer Jim Grimsley's Comfort and Joy, page 4, and Bazhe's Damages, page
18.
|
Call
for Submissions
 Changeling Press is
actively seeking novellas in the gay/inspirational themes, and if you
have any or know any writers who write such books Changeling pays good
royalties and has excellent editors and proofreaders to prepare
manuscripts. If this
interests you, please check out http://www.changelingpress.com
and take a look at Samantha Winston's novella 'Adam and Evan' coming on
April 8th.
Johnny Charles reviews Samantha Winston's Paradise Earth: Adam and Evan, page
5.
|
Call for Submissions
www.jimtushinski.com
www.vanallensecstasy.com
“Identity
Envy: Wanting to be Who We’re Not”
An
anthology of personal essays by queer writers
Deadline:
September 1. 2004
As
lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transsexuals, we grow up feeling like
outsiders, without always knowing why. Many times, we develop an
attachment to a different race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, class
or HIV status as we wrestle with this feeling of displacement. We're
looking for personal essays exploring this phenomenon. Were you a Jew
wanting to participate in Catholic ritual? A WASP who desperately
wanted to be a Jew? A white kid desiring to be black? A poor kid who
just knew they were secretly adopted royalty? We're looking for
humorous and serious nonfiction pieces, about growing up or being grown
up. We're not interested in pieces about objectification, sexual or
otherwise. We want stories that explore the dynamics of what makes
queer wannabees wannabee.
We are
accepting submissions of nonfiction essays of 2500-8500 words by snail
mail and by email.
For
snail mail: send double-spaced, single-sided manuscripts to:
Jim
Tushinski
67925
Foothill Road
Cathedral
City, CA 92234
Email
submissions should be sent either as text in the body of an email or as
an attachment. Attachments must be either text-only files or Word
documents. For Windows users, please save your Word document in Word
6.0/95 format. For Mac users, please save your Word document in Word X
or any earlier Word for Mac format.
Send
email submissions to: identityenvy@webcom.com
Jim
Tushinski is the author of the novel Van Allen's Ecstasy (Harrington
Park Press) and the director and writer of the short film "Jan-Michael
Vincent is My Muse." His short fiction, book reviews, and essays have
appeared in literary journals and newspapers across North America. For
more information, visit www.jimtushinski.com.
Jim
Van Buskirk is co-author of Gay by the Bay (Chronicle Books, 1996) and
Program Manager of theJ ames C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center at the
San Francisco Public Library. His writing has appeared in a variety of
books, newspapers, magazines, journals, websites, and radio broadcasts.
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The Book of Salt
by Monique Truong
Paradise Earth:
Adam and Evan
by Samantha Winston
The Salvation Mongers
by Ronald L. Donaghe
Rebels, Rubyfruit, and Rhinestones
by James T. Sears
A Different Kind of Love
by Jay Mandal
Sir John Gielgud:
a Life in Letters
by John Gielgud, Introduced and edited by Richard Mangan
Letters in Search of Love and Other Essays
by Ronald L. Donaghe
Comfort and Joy
by Jim Grimsley
Damages
by Bazhe
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