Donna Minkowitz (born May 8, 1964)

Donna Minkowitz is a writer of creative nonfiction from Brooklyn, New York, United States. She became known for her coverage of gay and lesbian politics and culture in The Village Voice from the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, for which she won a GLAAD Media Award.

In 1998, she published the memoir Ferocious Romance: What My Encounters With the Right Taught Me About Sex, God, and Fury (the Free Press ), which won a Lambda Literary Award. In that book, she went undercover with several anti-gay Christian Right groups including Focus on the Family and wrote about the surprising things she, a lesbian leftist, had in common with them.

Minkowitz has also written for such publications as Salon.com, The Nation, Ms. magazine, The New York Times Book Review, New York Magazine, and The Advocate.

In 1999, she penned a controversial creative nonfiction piece for Salon.com about the Matthew Shepard murder, "Russell, Aaron and Me," that explored the emotions of his 21-year-old killers in terms of the terror of sex and intimacy.

As part of the preparation for Ferocious Romance, Minkowitz successfully disguised herself as a 16 year-old Christian evangelical boy to write about the Christian right men's group the Promise Keepers for Ms. Magazine in 1995. That article, in which she argued that the Promise Keepers movement was both good and bad for women and feminism, was widely read, and Minkowitz won an Exceptional Merit Media Award for the piece from the National Women's Political Caucus and Radcliffe College.

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Minkowitz

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GayRomLit Ebook Giveaway: R.J. Scott - Guarding Morgan

I asked to all the authors joining the GayRomLit convention in Atlanta in October (http://gayromlit.com/grl-authors) a personal favor, a special Ebook Giveaway: twice a week I will post 1 book from each author, and among those who will leave a comment, I will draw a winner. Very easy and very fast ;-) I will send a PM to the winner, so remember to not leave anonymous comments!

And the ebook giveaway goes to: Verena

Today author is R.J. Scott: About RJ Scott RJ Scott lives just outside London. She has been writing since age six, when she was made to stay in at lunchtime for an infraction involving cookies and was told to write a story. Two sides of A4 about a trapped princess later, a lover of writing was born. She loves reading anything from thrillers to sci-fi to horror; however, her first real love will always be the world of romance. Her goal is to write stories with a heart of romance, a troubled road to reach happiness, and more than a hint of happily ever after.
Website: http://www.rjscott.co.uk
Most recent title: The Teacher & The Soldier
Publishers: eXtasy Books, Total E-Bound, Love Lane Books Limited

Guarding Morgan (Sanctuary) (Volume 1) by RJ Scott
Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (March 8, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1482732971
ISBN-13: 978-1482732979
Amazon: Guarding Morgan (Sanctuary)
Amazon Kindle: Guarding Morgan (Sanctuary)

Morgan Drake is the only witness to a murder in an alleyway. Nik Valentinov works for Sanctuary, a foundation offering witness protection to anyone whose safety is compromised. Morgan discovers a bodyguard's arms can offer more than protection. Morgan Drake witnesses a murder in an alleyway. He is the only person who can give evidence in prosecuting the cop responsible for the crime. When the FBI safe house where he's being held is compromised, he follows the instructions of the agent in charge and runs. Nik Valentinov works for Sanctuary, a foundation that offers witness protection when FBI security is questionable. When Morgan's handler sends him to Nik for safety, neither Morgan nor Nik could imagine that two weeks alone in a cabin in the woods would have their hearts racing with something much more than merely trying to keep Morgan alive.

Bonus Ebooks: R.J. Scott - The Christmas Throwaway & R.J. Scott - The Decisions We Make

Glen & Tyler's Paris Double-cross (Glen & Tyler Adventures) by JB Sanders

I followed this couple of billionaires around the world for the last three books, so my judgment is probably biased, but I really feel like they are old friends and I know all their antics and like with friends, you accept them and smile with indulgence.

Glen & Tyler are very young and very wealthy, a wealth that is impossible to imagine. They are married and in love and doesn’t care if that is not legal in some of the countries they are visiting, where it counts they have the backup of their wedding contract and where it doesn’t count, they have Tyler’s millions to let them be not only accepted, but also welcomed, everywhere. They are using the world as their personal playfield, the political contacts as aces in the sleeves, and the money as tokens. If they see something wrong, they simply make a call and have it righted. Is it real? Is it possible? Maybe not, but that is not the reason why you are reading Glen & Tyler Adventures, you want the dream of impossible, you want the little satisfaction Tyler is feeling when he can say, Glen, my husband, and have him threated better than a king.

While quite clever and cultured, both Glen than Tyler are basically young men with still the wish to enjoy life without much commitment, aside from the commitment they took with each other. As such, in more than one occasion, the author highlighted how they still enjoy to admire the players in the field, both men and women, but in the end, they are exclusive with each other and the game remain on a watch don’t touch level. Glen and Tyler decided to be together because they were in love, not since they didn’t have any other option, in a way the body would be willing to try, but their heart is binding them to their marriage votes.

I have to warn the possible reader, to fully appreciated this series, you have to start from book 1.

Amazon Kindle: Glen & Tyler's Paris Double-cross (Glen & Tyler Adventures)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

Series: Glen & Tyler
1) Honeymoon Adventure: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1470902.html
2) Scottish Troubles: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1794775.html
3) Paris Double-cross

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


Cover Art by Michael Broderick

Darren Hayes & Richard Cullen

Darren Stanley Hayes (born 8 May 1972) is a UK-based Australian singer-songwriter. On 19 June 2006, Darren Hayes entered in London into a civil partnership with his boyfriend of two years, Richard Cullen.

Hayes was the frontman and singer of the pop duo Savage Garden, whose 1997 album Savage Garden peaked at No. 1 in Australia, No. 2 in United Kingdom and No. 3 in United States. It spawned the singles "I Want You", "To the Moon and Back", and Australian and US No. 1 "Truly Madly Deeply". The duo followed the success of their debut album with Affirmation (1999), which provided additional hits such as US No. 1 "I Knew I Loved You", and Australian No. 3 "The Animal Song". Savage Garden sold more than 23 million albums worldwide before parting ways in 2001.

Hayes released his first solo album Spin in 2002. The album sold two million copies worldwide, debuted at No. 2 in the UK and No. 3 in Australia. It delivered the hit single "Insatiable". Hayes' second solo album The Tension and the Spark marked a change of direction for the singer-songwriter, showing experimentation with electronica and darker lyrics. NME wrote about its first single, "Pop!ular" saying it was "A twistered masterclass in career reintervention...This guy is a genius." While The Observer said "This album is no folly and succeeds, often to the point of all out triumph, on its own terms." Hayes parted way with his record label Columbia Records in 2006 and started his own independent record label Powdered Sugar, from which he would release his third solo album This Delicate Thing We've Made (2007).


Darren Stanley Hayes (born 8 May 1972) is a UK-based Australian singer-songwriter. On 19 June 2006, Darren Hayes entered in London into a civil partnership with his boyfriend of two years, Richard Cullen. He is famous for keeping his personal life private. He announced the event the day prior on his official website. Before the announcement Cullen's name had appeared on the website as the designer of the cover for Hayes' single "So Beautiful". Hayes and Cullen live in London.

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darren_Hayes

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More LGBT Couples at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Real Life Romance

King's Conquest & Owner of My Heart (Mending the Rift) by Valentina Heart

Aside from being among the Bestsellers in Gay Romance for last year, I was drawn by this series for the m-preg theme. I think someone suggested this to me, and being the first one a novella, I thought, why not? The commitment is not too much if I don’t like it, and if I like, there is always book 2. I read it in one night and bought the second novella the same night.

Valentina Heart doesn’t shy away from the chosen theme, and actually, it’s the main reason why Prince Rinin is able to barter a marriage instead of being a sex slave to King Merinej. Rin is now alone, his kingdom lost the war against Merin’s one, and now the council has decided for him: he will be the pawn to beg mercy. Since he was born, Rin wasn’t fated to be a warrior, too fragile and precious; he was special, a man able to give birth, but that is also coming with the almost certainty of death if he tries. And now he is supposed to be a sex slave to Merin, him that doesn’t have any idea of what sex or even the simple contact with a man means. But for once Rin decides to rebel, and proposes to Merin a marriage: he will bear Merin’s child, a child of two kings, someone destined to be powerful and of perfect lineage. If death will come, for Rin it will be better than a life as a slave.

This is for sure a story that appeals to many, but at the same that is not suitable to all. This is a gay version of the Savage Romance, with many of the clichés of that genre, but also with all its attractiveness. It’s not realistic, it’s not about equality in a relationship, it’s about a strong character in relationship with a more fragile one, but fragility doesn’t mean stupidity. Rin is not stupid, he is naïve; he is the first to admit he was not raised to be a leader, and he doesn’t want to be. But at the same time, he is proud of his ancestry, and wants the respect he deserves.

I strongly suggest to approach these two novellas as a whole, and to read both of them close to each other.

Amazon Kindle: King's Conquest (Mending the Rift)
Publisher: Silver Publishing (January 21, 2012)
Amazon Kindle: Owner of My Heart (Mending the Rift)
Publisher: Silver Publishing (July 14, 2012)

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