2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: S.L. Armstrong & K. Piet - Making Ends Meet

Making Ends Meet by K. Piet & S.L. Armstrong
Paperback: 194 pages
Publisher: Storm Moon Press, LLC (March 19, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1937058794
ISBN-13: 978-1937058791
Amazon: Making Ends Meet
Amazon Kindle: Making Ends Meet

Zach is just seventeen years old, but despite his youth, he has more than his fair share of responsibility. An experimental fling in high school has led him down the path of single fatherhood. Now, he holds down a job, takes his college classes online, and pays his own bills as best he can—all while juggling daycare and chores and play-dates for his four-month-old, Mae. It's a rough, 24/7 life, but to Zach, Mae is worth every penny spent and every minute of his day. With no free time to speak of, it feels like a miracle when Zach meets Wil in the check-out line at his work. Handsome, grounded, from the proverbial "right side of the tracks", and—even better—good with kids, Wil is everything he could want in a boyfriend. But as interested as Wil is in Zach, he has his own life, his own family, his own job and college career to think about. All the various draws on their time means that it's hard just to find chances to be together. But Zach's no stranger to hard tasks, and believes he owes it to himself to try.

Violette Leduc (April 7, 1907 – May 28, 1972)

The bisexual novelist and memoirist Violette Leduc is an astute psychological observer and a dramatic chronicler of women's issues.

Despite the rediscovery of women writers and the gay and lesbian literary tradition, few writers continue to be as underappreciated by both critics and the public as Leduc. Is it because of her untimely death and her unstable, neurotic personality? Or is it the unevenness of her work coupled with its predominantly female subject matter?

The irony is that Leduc is arguably a stronger stylist and more candid erotic explorer than Marguerite Duras; a more astute psychological observer than Nathalie Sarraute; and a more dramatic chronicler of the woman's condition than Simone de Beauvoir.

Leduc was born April 7, 1907, in Arras, where her mother Berthe had gone to give birth to her illegitimate daughter fathered by the son of a couple she worked for. In Valenciennes, the young Violette spent most of her childhood suffering from an ugly self-image and from her mother's hostility and overprotectiveness. Her two most tender friendships were with her grandmother Fideline and her maternal aunt Laure.

Her formal education, begun in 1913, was interrupted by World War I. After the war, she went to a boarding school, the Collège de Duoai, where she experienced lesbian affairs with a classmate and a music instructor who was fired over the incident. In the meantime, her mother married, bringing an unwelcome end to the all-female family.

In 1926, Leduc moved to Paris and enrolled in the Lycée Racine. That same year, she failed her baccalaureate exam and ended up working as a telephone operator and secretary at Plon publishers, where she eventually became a proofreader and publicity writer.

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Citation Information
Author: Stockinger, Jacob
Entry Title: Leduc, Violette
General Editor: Claude J. Summers
Publication Name: glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture
Publication Date: 2002
Date Last Updated February 4, 2006
Web Address www.glbtq.com/literature/leduc_v.html
Publisher glbtq, Inc.
1130 West Adams
Chicago, IL 60607
Today's Date May 28, 2013
Encyclopedia Copyright: © 2002-2006, glbtq, Inc.
Entry Copyright © 1995, 2002 New England Publishing Associates

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Richard Cawley (born May 28, 1947)

Richard Cawley (born May 28, 1947) is an English food writer, chef and fashion designer.

Cawley was born in the Yorkshire market town of Doncaster. Richard attended the local art school before being lucky enough to gain a place at the 'Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne', a fashion school in Paris founded by the great couturiers to carry on their most treasured traditions. During his time in Paris he also studied life drawing at the 'Beaux Arts' school. After this fascinating introduction into the world of fashion, Richard moved on to London and after two more years of college was accepted into the Fashion School of the Royal College of Art.

Graduating with a Masters degree with Distinction, Richard was invited to work at the fashion house of 'Bellville Sassoon' designing couture and ready to wear collections, and clothes for many famous and Royal ladies, especially Diana, Princess of Wales for whom they designed many outfits including her engagement sailor suit and her 'going away' outfit.

After the Royal wedding Richard began to look around for new heights to scale. He decided to leave Bellville Sassoon, and when in 1984 he won the prestigious Mouton Cadet cookery competition in the ‘Observer’ newspaper, he overnight exchanged a career in fashion for one in food.

Richard has published several cookery books; The New English Cookery, Octopus Books 1986, Not Quite Vegetarian, Orbis 1986, The Artful Cook, Macdonald Orbis 1988 which he also illustrated with his own drawings and paintings and That's Entertaining a Headline Book for Channel 4 1990. In 1993 he published Easy Oriental (originally for Marks and Spencer), Outdoor Eating, and Green Feasts, a book of vegetarian menus for 'everyone' all published by Conran Octopus. He was also one of six 'star' contributors to the new Sunday Times Cook's Companion (Ebury Press) His being the section on American cuisine, and The Creative Cook (Conran Octopus 1995) plus the best selling Ready Steady Cook 2 and most recently Fast Fab Food (Headline 1998)


This hand-painted coat was designed by Richard Cawley when he was an assistant designer at the London fashion house Bellville Sassoon. It was presented as part of the 1970 Winter Couture collection, which was inspired by Indian art and culture. This coat was named "Rajputana" after a former group of princely states in north-western India and featured in colour in the November 1970 issue of Vogue magazine. After being made up, the plain cream wool coat was hand-painted with vibrant floral motifs inspired by Indian art in the Victoria & Albert Museum's collections. Cawley co-designed the motifs with Andrew Whittle, a student at the RCA Illustration School, and the actual painting was done by Whittle.
This coat was worn by Sara Donaldson-Hudson for her registry-office wedding to Nicholas Haydon on 23 April 1971. Sara’s mother, Dorothy, was a dedicated follower of fashion who did not want her daughter to wear white to marry a divorcé. Between them, they chose this colourful coat, which was worn with a bright orange shift dress and orange satin knee boots which matched the coat lining.

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

( Further Readings )

More Fashion Designers at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Art

Jackson Kevin Myars (October 24, 1963 - May 28, 2002)

Jackson Kevin Myars (October 24, 1963, McKinney, Texas - May 28, 2002, Dallas, Texas) was a Composer, Choral Conductor and Arranger, Church Musician and Accompanist. He was a teacher in music at University of Texas, Austin.

Jackson Myars was the founder and director of Positive Voices, a choir of HIV-positive men associated with The Cathedral of Hope, Metropolitan Community Church in Dallas, Texas. The ensemble toured in the Southwest, made two CD recordings and received a nomination for a 1997 GLAMA (Gay & Lesbian American Music Awards) in the choral music category.

Jackson Myars died of AIDS in Dallas at the age of 38 on May 28, 2002. -—Joseph Dalton

Source: http://www.artistswithaids.org/artforms/music/catalogue/myars.html

( Further Readings )

GayRomLit Ebook Giveaway: Rick R. Reed - Chaser

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: myristica19

Today author is Rick R. Reed: Rick R. Reed is all about exploring the romantic entanglements of gay men in contemporary, realistic settings. While his stories often contain elements of suspense, mystery and the paranormal, his focus ultimately returns to the power of love. He is the author of dozens of published novels, novellas, and short stories. He is a three-time EPIC eBook Award winner (for Orientation, The Blue Moon Cafe, and Caregiver). Lambda Literary Review has called him, "a writer that doesn't disappoint." Rick lives in Seattle with his husband and a very spoiled Boston terrier. He is forever "at work on another novel."
Website: http://www.rickrreed.com
Most recent title: Chaser
Publishers: Amber Quill/Amber Allure, Dreamspinner Press, MLR Press

Chaser by Rick R. Reed
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (August 24, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1613725841
ISBN-13: 978-1613725849
Amazon: Chaser
Amazon Kindle: Chaser

Caden DeSarro is what they call a chubby chaser. He likes his guys with a few extra pounds on them. So when he meets Kevin Dodge in a bar bathroom, he can’t help but stare, even if he does make an ass of himself. As far as Caden is concerned, Kevin is physically perfect: a stocky bearded blond with a dick that’s just right. (They met in the bathroom—of course he looked!) But Caden gets tongue-tied and misses his chance.

When Caden runs into Kevin one night on the El train, he figures it’s fate offering him a second shot. Caden manages to get invited back to Kevin's place for a one-night stand that turns into the kind of relationship he’s dreamed about.

But the course of true love never did run smooth, and Kevin and Caden’s romance is no exception. When Caden returns from a few weeks away on business, Kevin surprises him with a new and “improved” body—one that fits Caden’s shallow friend Bobby’s ideal, not Caden’s. Caden doesn’t know what to do, and his hesitation is just the opportunity Bobby was looking for. This isn’t the same Kevin he fell in love with… is it?

Best LGBT Young Adult: Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg

Interesting approach to a sensitive matter, and above all a story about an ordinary teenager, because being gay doesn’t make you automatically some science lab test case.

Apparently Rafe had it easy: the only son of hippies parents, when he came out, his mother took the presidency of the local PFLAG chapter and his father started to record all his life like he was the most amazing kid in the world, and not just another ordinary teenager. After 2 years of that life, Rafe needs a break, even if that means attending an all-boys boarding school almost at the other side of the country. The lame excuse to his parents is that he would have better chances to be admitted to Harvard, the real reason is that Rafe wants to wipe out his first years as a gay nerdy teenager and starting over like a straight jock. Easier to say than do, above all when you fall in love with your jock best friend who believes you are only bi-curios and fighting with this strange attraction to your best friend.

What is probably the best thing of this novel is that, even if things are not easy for Rafe, and he is doing a huge mess-up of his life, the overall tone of the story is not dramatic; while reading it, I know Rafe was in for a huge disappointment, that he really couldn’t deny being gay simply because he was adopting a Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, but even like that, I was sure Rafe was strong enough to move over to that. The strength in Rafe derived by his family, that strange, odd, embarrassing family that nevertheless loved him unconditionally.

Other than the family there is also the school and the teaching staff, in particular the English teacher, who didn’t force Rafe out of the closet (even if Rafe is insisting he is not back in the closet), but used a writing therapy, letting Rafe think about his past life, the mistakes he did, but also the good experiences he had when he was openly gay and not afraid of it. I sort of like this part better, I think the author wanted to point out important moment of Rafe’s life, life-changing steps, and instead of having those somewhat boring Q&A session at the end of the book (that most of the time I don’t read) he put the marker all along the novel, to let you stop and think about it at the same time when Rafe had to do that.

Openly Straight is a nice, warm and comforting YA novel, recommended to young and not so young readers.

Amazon: Openly Straight
Amazon Kindle: Openly Straight
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books (May 28, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0545509890
ISBN-13: 978-0545509893



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

Worth the Coming Home by Lisa M. Owens

For how strange it can sound, there are two things in this romance that I both liked and didn’t like.

The first one is Josh’s relationship with Guy; Josh considers Guy a “fixture”, someone who is there just for the fun, and is not able to realize that instead Guy is in love. How he is not able to see it is far from my comprehension, because it’s pretty clear. Moreover, Josh goes to Guy right the night after he spent with Dane; truth that with Dane is not yet a relationship, and Dane did send him away and not in a good way, but still, I found quite callous from Josh to not think twice and basically using Guy as a second choice, without considering his feeling. On the other hand, as I said, I liked this side of the story because it made Josh a realistic character, I don’t think there are many men or women in real life that are behaving like a romance hero character.

The second thing is Dane’s attitude towards Josh, especially during sex; Dane is really forceful, almost arriving to hurt Josh. Dane is suffering from Post traumatic stress disorder, and sometime he doesn’t realize that, to chase away his nightmares, he is basically forcing Josh to accept him, in many ways. Again, I felt uncomfortable when that was happening, but at the same time, and again, it gave deepness to Dane’s character, again making him more realistic. PTSD is not some easy plot device the author can use to flavor their novel, it’s something serious and if you want to use it in the plot you need to manage the consequences. That is what this author did, and that was right.

In the end, I have only one regret, that among all the happiness the characters will find, they seem to have forgotten Guy… again, Josh is a realistic character, because in real world, it’s not easy to patch things, and I think Josh has still something to learn.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3311

Amazon: Worth the Coming Home
Amazon Kindle: Worth the Coming Home
Paperback: 244 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (October 26, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1623800447
ISBN-13: 978-1623800444

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


Cover Art by Anne Cain