| The Independent Gay Writer© all about books & writing
This is an independently published newsletter, edited by Ronald L. Donaghe. The views expressed herein are solely those of the writer of each review, article, or column. Writers' work is accepted solely at the discretion of the editor. All material is copyrighted by the submitting writer or Ronald L. Donaghe and cannot be reprinted without the express permission of The Independent Gay Writer© or the submitting writer. To submit material contact the editor. | |||
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Contributors
This Issue
|  Duane Simolke
is a humorist, essayist, poet, and novelist, and is a major contributor
to this issue with his interview of mystery writer D. L. Browne and his
article, "How the Internet Changed My Writing Career." This
article should
be of interest to writers—old and new. Look for more
interviews in the
weeks to come.
|
| Researcher
Looking for Information
I
am an
independent scholar researching a biography on gay artist George
Quaintance. Did you know George Quaintance? Do you own an original
Quaintance work? Can you provide first-hand anecdotal information about
him? Please contact me
regarding a biography. Thanks for your consideration. Ken
Furtado •
PO Box 34823 • Phoenix, AZ 85067 • Contact
|  |
Scott
Sherman reviews Common Sons for Out in America...
|
 |
The 9th annual Border Book Festival, The Divine Frontier/La Frontera Divina, will take place April 3-6, 2003 in Mesilla, New Mexico. The festival theme covers border issues of all types, from geography to architecture to a broad range of concerns at the heart of our borderland community. This theme is very exciting to us especially at this time of global, regional and local transformation and transcendence. We here on La Frontera/The Border realize the implicit power of our collaboration as catalysts for this change! |
|
Presenters
include such nationally known authors as Dorothy Allison, Jim Grimsley,
Katherine V. Forrest, Felice Picano, Patricia Nell Warren, William J.
Mann, Greg Herren, M. Christian, Jess Wells, Ian Phillips, and Michelle
Tea. Some of New Orleans’ favorites will also be on hand,
with Poppy Z.
Brite, Kevin Allman, Julie Smith, Chris Wiltz, Patricia Brady and J.M.
Redmann. Other participants
include Jay Quinn, Donna Allegra, Carol Guess, Jim Gladstone, Trebor
Healey,
Michael Huxley, Judy Doegenes, Ron Suresha as well as many others. A number of publishers and editors will be present, including Angela Brown, Alyson Books; Kelly Smith, Bella Books, Karl Woelz, Attagirl Press; Bill Brent, Black Books; John Scognamiglio, Kensington Books; Joshua Clark, Light of New Orleans Publishing; Jay Quinn, Southern Tier Editions of The Haworth Press; Michael Huxley, STARbooks Press; Greg Wharton, Suspect Thoughts Press; and Patricia Nell Warren, Wildcat Press. |
 The Fairy Factoid by Andrew Barriger It’s true! Here at the Fairy Factoid, we take requests – and when they come from the editor, we take them seriously! Every writer has his muse – boyfriend, mother-in-law, the funny looking old drunk who sits at the end of the block belching and drinking from a bottle in a paper bag – but who was The Muse, with capital letters? The original Muse, from whom all other muses learned their stuff? And, more importantly, was he gay? This was the question our editor-in-chief posed to us here at the Fairy Factoid, and we, ever eager, rose to the challenge. Also, conveniently, our team was still in Europe, where they seemed destined to spend a heck of a lot of time, so it was cheaper to have them keep investigating than to fly them home. Our in-depth investigation revealed that the original muses were part of Greek mythology. To say that Colin was excited would be to say that Fat Man was a firecracker. Why he would be so eager to go to Greece was beyond us here at the home office in Ferndale, Michigan. | After
all, Greece hasn’t been the gay where-it’s-at for a
couple thousand
years, anymore than Rome is. For cryin’ out loud,
Rome is full of
Catholic Priests and…oh, wait, we just lost our
point. Anyway,
Greece – a
mere stone’s throw from Paris. Or maybe a couple
throws.
Certainly not a lobbing, though. Daniel, the brains of the organization, Googled his way to some useful information: the original muses were any of the nine daughters of Mnemosyne and Zeus, each of whom presided over a different art or science. Against his will, Daniel’s nose wrinkled and his lips puckered. Lesbians…if they were lucky. There had to be more to it than that. The editor sent them on this mission to do more than eat baklava and drink ouzo. Using the company international calling card, Daniel phoned up his friend Betty, who lived on Long Island, naturally, and who he knew to have a plethora of information on such things. And, much to his surprise, the muses did turn out to be related, if distantly, to the story she told. The gods Gaia and Ouranos, who gave birth to Mnemosyne (the mother of the muses), also sired Okeanos. Okeanos got together with Tethys, giving birth to Klymene. Klymene and Iapetus bore Menoetius, who then fathered Patroclus. |
Patroclus
had a very close “best friend’ relationship with
Achilles (who had,
incidentally, been forced to wear women’s clothing as a boy
by his
mother). Patroclus was slain by Hector, which really ticked
off
Achilles. He made a point of killing Hector, who was known to
be
the mightiest warrior on the side of Troy in the Trojan war.
Unfortunately, Achilles was himself killed with an arrow to his now
infamous heel. Daniel dutifully reported this information to Colin, who promptly digested it, along with his chicken spanikopeta, to produce the following report: The muses might have turned out to be nothing but a bunch of catty old women, but their nephews, ah, there was the stuff legends were made of. The Fairy Factoid is extensively researched and painstakingly presented by Andrew Barriger, author of Finding Faith and things that go bump in the night. Neither the author nor the editor are responsible for any factual errors that may be contained herein, especially since everybody knows how accurate the Internet is. |