Event: Persistent Voices in San Francisco

Date: Thursday, August 19, 2010
Time: 20.00 - 22.00
Place: Magnet
4122 18th Street
San Francisco, CA

In this free event at Magnet in the Castro, a who's who of San Francisco performance poets read from Persistent Voices: Poetry by Writers Lost to AIDS. Readings by Jaime Cortez, Judy Grahn, Philip Huang, Kevin Killian, Ali Liebegott, Mattilda aka Matt Bernstein Sycamore, Kirk Read, and Michelle Tea. Co-editor Philip Clark will also be in attendance to read and answer questions about Persistent Voices.

Persistent Voices: Poetry by Writers Lost to AIDS edited by Philip Clark and David Groff
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Alyson Books; 1 edition (January 1, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1593501536
ISBN-13: 978-1593501532
Amazon: Persistent Voices: Poetry by Writers Lost to AIDS

From Reinaldo Arenas, Tory Dent, and James Merrill to Paul Monette, Essex Hemphill, and Joe Brainard, Persistent Voices memorializes these poets and many others by presenting their work—often dealing with AIDS but also written on other enduring topics—in the context of an unending epidemic that has profoundly affected our literature.

David Groff is a poet, editor, and teacher in New York City. Philip Clark is a writer and teacher from the Washington, DC, area.

Event: Persistent Voices in San Francisco

Date: Thursday, August 19, 2010
Time: 20.00 - 22.00
Place: Magnet
4122 18th Street
San Francisco, CA

In this free event at Magnet in the Castro, a who's who of San Francisco performance poets read from Persistent Voices: Poetry by Writers Lost to AIDS. Readings by Jaime Cortez, Judy Grahn, Philip Huang, Kevin Killian, Ali Liebegott, Mattilda aka Matt Bernstein Sycamore, Kirk Read, and Michelle Tea. Co-editor Philip Clark will also be in attendance to read and answer questions about Persistent Voices.

Persistent Voices: Poetry by Writers Lost to AIDS edited by Philip Clark and David Groff
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Alyson Books; 1 edition (January 1, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1593501536
ISBN-13: 978-1593501532
Amazon: Persistent Voices: Poetry by Writers Lost to AIDS

From Reinaldo Arenas, Tory Dent, and James Merrill to Paul Monette, Essex Hemphill, and Joe Brainard, Persistent Voices memorializes these poets and many others by presenting their work—often dealing with AIDS but also written on other enduring topics—in the context of an unending epidemic that has profoundly affected our literature.

David Groff is a poet, editor, and teacher in New York City. Philip Clark is a writer and teacher from the Washington, DC, area.

Event: Reading in a Secret Garden

Date: Thursday, August 19, 2010
Time: 2pm - 3pm
Place: The University of Saskatchewan Main Bookstore in Marquis Hall - Palliser Gardens (The Secret Garden). Weather permitting - inside otherwise - no worries - the garden will be not-so-secret that day - there will be plenty of signs showing the way.

In celebration of the grand re-opening of the newly renovated University of Saskatchewan bookstore in Marquis Hall, Anthony Bidulka will be doing a reading in what heretofore has been a secret garden area attached to the bookstore. Apparently it has always been there, but few have ...known about it.

His event is part of a weeklong (Aug 16-21) series of events showing off the store.

Everyone is welcome, free

See more details at http://www.usask.ca/consumer_services/bookstore/reopening/

Date with a Sheesha: A Russell Quant Mystery by Anthony Bidulka
Paperback: 262 pages
Publisher: Insomniac Press (May 27, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1897178905
ISBN-13: 978-1897178904
Amazon: Date with a Sheesha: A Russell Quant Mystery

Neil Gupta went to the Middle East looking for antique carpets. He found something equally timeless: murder. When Neil is found stabbed to death in Dubai's spice souk, his distraught father wants revenge. He hires private investigator Russell Quant to catch the killer. In his greatest case to date, Quant goes undercover to match wits with a wily museum curator, shifty souk merchants, corrupt carpet experts, and the denizens of an underground club for "fabulous" men. From the flamboyant glitz of Dubai to the scorching sand dunes of Saudi Arabia, Quant risks his life as he wades further and further into the shadows cast by the desert sun. As Russell's spicy international adventure heats up, he learns a valuable lesson about love, life, and learning to seize the moment...before it's gone. On the verge of making the biggest personal decision of his life, Russell discovers that endings sometimes come before beginnings.

Event: Reading in a Secret Garden

Date: Thursday, August 19, 2010
Time: 2pm - 3pm
Place: The University of Saskatchewan Main Bookstore in Marquis Hall - Palliser Gardens (The Secret Garden). Weather permitting - inside otherwise - no worries - the garden will be not-so-secret that day - there will be plenty of signs showing the way.

In celebration of the grand re-opening of the newly renovated University of Saskatchewan bookstore in Marquis Hall, Anthony Bidulka will be doing a reading in what heretofore has been a secret garden area attached to the bookstore. Apparently it has always been there, but few have ...known about it.

His event is part of a weeklong (Aug 16-21) series of events showing off the store.

Everyone is welcome, free

See more details at http://www.usask.ca/consumer_services/bookstore/reopening/

Date with a Sheesha: A Russell Quant Mystery by Anthony Bidulka
Paperback: 262 pages
Publisher: Insomniac Press (May 27, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1897178905
ISBN-13: 978-1897178904
Amazon: Date with a Sheesha: A Russell Quant Mystery

Neil Gupta went to the Middle East looking for antique carpets. He found something equally timeless: murder. When Neil is found stabbed to death in Dubai's spice souk, his distraught father wants revenge. He hires private investigator Russell Quant to catch the killer. In his greatest case to date, Quant goes undercover to match wits with a wily museum curator, shifty souk merchants, corrupt carpet experts, and the denizens of an underground club for "fabulous" men. From the flamboyant glitz of Dubai to the scorching sand dunes of Saudi Arabia, Quant risks his life as he wades further and further into the shadows cast by the desert sun. As Russell's spicy international adventure heats up, he learns a valuable lesson about love, life, and learning to seize the moment...before it's gone. On the verge of making the biggest personal decision of his life, Russell discovers that endings sometimes come before beginnings.

Casa Rodrigo by Johnny Miles

With the lack of Gay Historical romance out there, I’m surprised that Casa Rodrigo had not a much wider word of mouth, above all since it’s also set in a not so common period, the XVII century in La Española, one of the major islands in the Caribbean.

Until more or less the date when this novel start, La Española was a Spanish colony, but it was also a dangerous place to do business. The author probably chose this set to justify the not so clear business of two Andalusian men, Bernardo and Raul; apparently the worst of enemies, they are linked by a destructive passion. Even if Raul is the villain of this story, I can understand him a bit; he is probably a man that, if lead by someone with high principle, would have been better. Instead he fell in love with Bernardo and Bernardo “betrayed” him to follow the strict rules of their time, marry and have an heir.

Years later, Bernardo has two sons and a dwelling business; Raul comes back to him with a devil pact, something Bernardo is not able to refuse. As Raul is not entirely bad, Bernardo is not fully an hero: it’s true that he saved a little slave from Raul’s wrath, Arbol, but he actually hasn’t done anything else for the boy. Arbol spent the first five years of his life hidden in an attic to then become a field slave in La Española; the only good memory is his friendship with Alonso, Bernardo’s son, 7 years older than Arbol.

When Bernardo brought Arbol home, Alonso took care of him, but not like a brother, more like a cherished pet; and when five years later Bernardo decided to leave Arbol in La Española, it didn’t take much time to Alonso to forget about the boy. 14 years later, when both Bernardo than Alonso are coming back to La Española, Alonso has no memory of the boy, while instead Arbol has dreamt about Alonso.

Arbol is an innocent man, in many aspects; he is not cultured, refined, but he has a good heart. He thinks to Alonso like a prince, like the man who will allow him to have a better life, but Arbol has no dream of freedom, since he doesn’t know what freedom is. Arbol wants a little home, a comfortable bed and that is enough for him.

On the other hand, even if Alonso is the hero of this story, I found him a spoiled brat. He wants Arbol like he would have wanted a new toy; maybe later in the story he falls in love, but in any case I have the feeling that what he wants is still more important than Arbol himself. And this is probably his best feature since it’s perfectly in line with the time and his upbringing. Alonso is a middle class man who basically hasn’t a trouble in his life; he will inherit his father business, he is not against the idea and so he is good with that. He has no desire to “escape”, he doesn’t feel constrict by the society he is living in. Maybe he was a little too naïve for his age, 25 years old in the XVII century was almost middle life, and indeed his father took him in his first travel when he was barely 11.

The novel pushes also a lot on the sex and its description, and again, I think it was quite right with the setting; men at the time were more instinctual, there was very little romanticism, if not for some poems, like the one Bernardo likes.

http://www.loose-id.com/Casa-Rodrigo.aspx

Amazon: Casa Rodrigo

Amazon Kindle: Casa Rodrigo

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by Anne Cain

BTW: the picture on the cover is not a Caribbean beach, it's the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park at Big Sur... beautiful place ;-)


by Elisa, 2009

Casa Rodrigo by Johnny Miles

With the lack of Gay Historical romance out there, I’m surprised that Casa Rodrigo had not a much wider word of mouth, above all since it’s also set in a not so common period, the XVII century in La Española, one of the major islands in the Caribbean.

Until more or less the date when this novel start, La Española was a Spanish colony, but it was also a dangerous place to do business. The author probably chose this set to justify the not so clear business of two Andalusian men, Bernardo and Raul; apparently the worst of enemies, they are linked by a destructive passion. Even if Raul is the villain of this story, I can understand him a bit; he is probably a man that, if lead by someone with high principle, would have been better. Instead he fell in love with Bernardo and Bernardo “betrayed” him to follow the strict rules of their time, marry and have an heir.

Years later, Bernardo has two sons and a dwelling business; Raul comes back to him with a devil pact, something Bernardo is not able to refuse. As Raul is not entirely bad, Bernardo is not fully an hero: it’s true that he saved a little slave from Raul’s wrath, Arbol, but he actually hasn’t done anything else for the boy. Arbol spent the first five years of his life hidden in an attic to then become a field slave in La Española; the only good memory is his friendship with Alonso, Bernardo’s son, 7 years older than Arbol.

When Bernardo brought Arbol home, Alonso took care of him, but not like a brother, more like a cherished pet; and when five years later Bernardo decided to leave Arbol in La Española, it didn’t take much time to Alonso to forget about the boy. 14 years later, when both Bernardo than Alonso are coming back to La Española, Alonso has no memory of the boy, while instead Arbol has dreamt about Alonso.

Arbol is an innocent man, in many aspects; he is not cultured, refined, but he has a good heart. He thinks to Alonso like a prince, like the man who will allow him to have a better life, but Arbol has no dream of freedom, since he doesn’t know what freedom is. Arbol wants a little home, a comfortable bed and that is enough for him.

On the other hand, even if Alonso is the hero of this story, I found him a spoiled brat. He wants Arbol like he would have wanted a new toy; maybe later in the story he falls in love, but in any case I have the feeling that what he wants is still more important than Arbol himself. And this is probably his best feature since it’s perfectly in line with the time and his upbringing. Alonso is a middle class man who basically hasn’t a trouble in his life; he will inherit his father business, he is not against the idea and so he is good with that. He has no desire to “escape”, he doesn’t feel constrict by the society he is living in. Maybe he was a little too naïve for his age, 25 years old in the XVII century was almost middle life, and indeed his father took him in his first travel when he was barely 11.

The novel pushes also a lot on the sex and its description, and again, I think it was quite right with the setting; men at the time were more instinctual, there was very little romanticism, if not for some poems, like the one Bernardo likes.

http://www.loose-id.com/Casa-Rodrigo.aspx

Amazon: Casa Rodrigo

Amazon Kindle: Casa Rodrigo

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by Anne Cain

BTW: the picture on the cover is not a Caribbean beach, it's the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park at Big Sur... beautiful place ;-)


by Elisa, 2009