Elizabeth A. Lynn (born June 8, 1946)

Elizabeth A. Lynn (born 1946) is a US writer most known for fantasy and to a lesser extent science fiction. She is particularly known for being one of the first writers in science fiction or fantasy to introduce gay and lesbian characters; in honor of Lynn, the GLBT bookstore "A Different Light" took its name from her novel.

Elizabeth Lynn is an openly lesbian science fiction and fantasy writer who has written numerous works featuring positive gay protagonists. Her Chronicles of Tornor novels (1979-80), the first book of which, Watchtower, won the World Fantasy Award, were among the first fantasy novels to have gay relationships as an unremarkable part of the cultural background, and included explicit and sympathetic depictions of same-sex love. The other books in this series are The Dancers of Arun (1979); and Northern Girl (1980) - this third novel is of particular lesbian interest.

Lynn's early science fiction novels were similarly ground-breaking in their treatment of sexual themes. In The Sardonyx Net (1981), one of the primary characters is a sexual sadist. Her SF novel A Different Light (1978) featured a same-sex relationship between two men, and inspired the name of the LGBT bookstore and chain "A Different Light". The magical lesbian tale "The Woman Who Loved the Moon" also won a World Fantasy Award and is the title story in Lynn's The Woman Who Loved the Moon collection along with other gay speculative fiction stories. Both these novels featured the science fiction concept hyperspace.

Lynn more recently began a new fantasy series, again featuring gay relationships: Dragon's Winter (1998) and Dragon's Treasure (2004).

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_A._Lynn

Further Readings:

Dragon's Treauser
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Pan Macmillan (April 15, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0330355589
ISBN-13: 978-0330355582
Amazon: Dragon's Treasure

In the province of Ippa, the twin sons of Kojiro, the Black Dragon, contended using sorcery and fire to decide which of them would rule their father's kingdom. After his brother's death, Karadur - who has inherited his dangerous father's shape-changing gift - becomes the master of Dragon's County. Torn between the need to continue his line and a fear of his own perilous nature, Karadur has so far remained unwed and childless. But an encounter with Maia Unamira di Sorvino now leads him to make other choices...Meanwhile, her outlaw brother, Treion the Bastard, is terrorising the nearby countryside. His motive being vengeance against the one who drove his mother and sister from their home. When Treion is finally captured, it is Karadur who must decide his punishment. It should rightly be death - but Maia loves her brother...

More Spotlights at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Lists/Gay Novels

Mike Fleck (born June 8, 1973)

Pennsylvania State Rep. Mike Fleck told constituents he'll continue fighting for conservative causes even though he's gay.

"I’m still the exact same person and I’m still a Republican and, most importantly, I’m still a person of faith trying to live life as a servant of God and the public. The only difference now is that I will also be doing so as honestly as I know how," said the Republican who divorced his wife before telling the world the truth about his sexuality. But she remains his best-friend, he said.

Michael E. Fleck, commonly known as Mike Fleck, is a Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 81st legislative district. He was first elected in 2006 to succeed the retiring Larry Sather, taking office on January 2, 2007.

Fleck attended Southern Huntingdon County High School and earned a degree in history and a minor in youth ministry in 1995 from Liberty University. He has attended graduate courses at Shippensburg University. From 1999 to 2004 he worked as a district executive for the Boy Scouts of America in Huntingdon County. Prior to elective office, Fleck worked for Raystown Developmental Services.

Fleck ran unopposed for a fourth term in the House of Representatives in 2012.

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

( Further Readings )

Severo Sarduy (February 25, 1937 – June 8, 1993)

Severo Sarduy (Camagüey, Cuba; February 25, 1937 – Paris; June 8, 1993) was a Cuban poet, author, playwright, and critic of Cuban literature and art.

Sarduy went to the equivalent of high school in Camagüey and in 1956 moved to Havana, where he began a study of medicine. With the triumph of the Cuban revolution he collaborated with the Diario libre and Lunes de revolución, pro-marxist papers. In 1960 he traveled to Paris to study at the Ecole du Louvre. There he was connected to the group of intellectuals who produced the magazine Tel Quel, particularly to philosopher François Wahl, with whom he was openly involved. Sarduy worked as a reader for Editions du Seuil and as editor and producer of the Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française. In 1972 his novel Cobra won him the Medici Prize. He was among the most brilliant essayists writing in Spanish and "a powerful baroque narrator, full of surprising resources.". As a poet, he was considered one of the greatest of his time. He was also a more or less secret painter; a major retrospective of his work was held at the Reina Sofía Museum of Madrid after his death. He died due to complications from AIDS just after finishing his autobiographical work Los pájaros de la playa.

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

( Further Readings )

Sir Norman Hartnell (June 12, 1901 – June 8, 1979)

Sir Norman Bishop Hartnell, KCVO (12 June 1901, London – 8 June 1979, Windsor) was a British fashion designer. Hartnell had the Royal Warrant as Dressmaker to the Queen in 1940, subsequently Royal Warrant as Dressmaker to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother; and Royal Warrant as Dressmaker to Queen Elizabeth II in 1957. Initially discreet about his homosexuality, another famous fashion designer of the time, Sir Edwin Hardy Amies, became more candid in his old age; and, when speaking of Sir Norman Hartnell, he commented: "It's quite simple. He was a silly old queen and I'm a clever old queen". (Picture: Sir Norman Hartnell by Allan Warren)

Hartnell was born to an upwardly mobile family in the southwest London suburb of Streatham. His parents were publicans and owners of the Crown & Sceptre, a large coaching inn at the top of Streatham Hill. The young Hartnell attended Mill Hill School, and read Modern Languages at Magdalene College, Cambridge; he left Cambridge without a degree. More interested in performing, and designing productions for the university Footlights, Hartnell was noticed by the London press as the designer of a Footlights production which transferred to the Daly's Theatre in London. Having unsuccessfully worked for two London designers, including Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon (whom he sued for copying his designs without giving credit), he opened his own business at 10 Bruton Street, Mayfair in 1923 with the help of his father and sister Phyllis.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s the name of Norman Hartnell was continually found in the press. He was always available for publicity events, whether they involved making a dress of pound notes or creating sensational, evening dresses for celebrities such as the pianist Eileen Joyce or the TV cookery star Fanny Cradock. All the female members of the Royal Family used Hartnell's skills at one time or another, not only for personal wear within the United Kingdom, but also for their own visits abroad. Hartnell fashion shows travelled the UK and were shown on publicised trips abroad.


The Flapper Girl: Evening Gown by Norman Hartnell, 1924

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

( Further Readings )

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

Johann Joachim Winckelmann (December 9, 1717 – June 8, 1768)

The art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann, the first German to have been publicly acknowledged as a homosexual, developed an aesthetic deeply rooted in his homosexuality. (Picture: A portrait of Johann Joachim Winckelmann created by Anton von Maron 1767.)

He was born in Stendal, the son of a cobbler. His family's modest financial situation limited his career choices. After two years of studying theology in Halle, where he also heard lectures on aesthetics by Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, he briefly assumed a position as tutor in a private household.

One year later, he studied medicine in Jena; his knowledge of anatomy and his documented interest in hermaphrodites and other sexual anomalies would stand him in good stead during the composition of his History of the Art of Antiquity.

Lack of other opportunities compelled him to accept a position as tutor to the Lamprecht family. His sole pupil, Peter Lamprecht, was his first love, and soon thereafter lived with him in Seehausen where Winckelmann was deputy headmaster of the Latin School (1743-1748).

It was during this time that he systematically read his way through the entire Greek and Latin corpus insofar as it was available.

In 1748, Winckelmann was appointed librarian to Count von Bünau in Nöthniz near Dresden where he enjoyed not only greater access to works of antiquity, but also the cultural milieu of the court of Dresden. Dresden was known for its outstanding collection of art and plaster casts (the Laocoön among them), as well as its culture of sexual freedom, not to say excess.

In Dresden, Winckelmann became acquainted with several diplomatic representatives of Rome and eventually decided to convert to Catholicism in 1754 in order to profit from Roman patronage. Although his conversion is common knowledge, few are aware that his emigration was nearly prevented because of his reluctance to part from the young Lamprecht.

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Citation Information
Author: Richter, Simon
Entry Title: Winckelmann, Johann Joachim
General Editor: Claude J. Summers
Publication Name: glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture
Publication Date: 2002
Date Last Updated July 24, 2006
Web Address www.glbtq.com/literature/winckelmann_jj.html
Publisher glbtq, Inc.
1130 West Adams
Chicago, IL 60607
Today's Date June 8, 2013
Encyclopedia Copyright: © 2002-2006, glbtq, Inc.
Entry Copyright © 1995, 2002 New England Publishing Associates

( Further Readings )

Gerard Manley Hopkins (July 28, 1844 – June 8, 1889)

In some of the most original poetry of the Victorian period, the sexually-repressed Gerard Manley Hopkins celebrated male beauty as one of the most splendid witnesses to the divine.

Born into a financially comfortable family of marine insurance adjustors, the oldest of nine children, Hopkins was small of stature and extremely lively of mind. Acceptance into Balliol College, Oxford, on a classics scholarship allowed him to study with Benjamin Jowett, the influential translator of Plato and discreet commentator on "Greek love," and Walter Pater, who would later become the center of a cult of young men dedicated to Greek beauty, Renaissance intensity, and modern aestheticism.

But it was the lingering shadow of John Henry Newman that most influenced Hopkins at Oxford. At age twenty-two, Hopkins not only converted to Roman Catholicism but, on the advice of Newman, shortly afterward entered the Jesuit order, in which he was ordained a priest in 1877 after years of rigorous study.

He taught at various Jesuit schools until 1885, when he was elected professor of classics at University College, Dublin, in whose cold, damp climate Hopkins's ever-weak constitution gradually failed. He died only four years later, of typhoid fever, after a period of somewhat questionable emotional stability.

It is unlikely that Hopkins would have considered himself a homosexual. Recently reproduced diaries from his Oxford years, however, reveal an obsessive concern with male beauty, complemented by a fear of what seem coded references to masturbatory fantasizing. (He felt enormous guilt, for example, over being distracted from a religious service by a choirboy's beauty, and had repeatedly to resolve to avoid "imprudent looking" at fellow students, at a roommate when naked, and even at men playing public sports.)

The closest he seems to have come to indulging his feelings was during his years at Oxford in his crush on Digby Mackworth Dolben, a religiously flamboyant, emotionally immature youth three years his junior.

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Citation Information
Author: Frontain, Raymond-Jean
Entry Title: Hopkins, Gerard Manley
General Editor: Claude J. Summers
Publication Name: glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture
Publication Date: 2002
Date Last Updated October 10, 2007
Web Address www.glbtq.com/literature/hopkins_gm.html
Publisher glbtq, Inc.
1130 West Adams
Chicago, IL 60607
Today's Date June 8, 2013
Encyclopedia Copyright: © 2002-2006, glbtq, Inc.
Entry Copyright © 1995, 2002 New England Publishing Associates

( Further Readings )

Michael Buckley & Michael Donegan

Michael Buckley (born June 8, 1975) is an American Internet celebrity, comedian and vlogger. Noted for his vlog What the Buck?!, Buckley comments on popular culture events and celebrities. He also maintains one of YouTube's most popular channels with several million viewers each month. Buckley "broke all records" of YouTube ratings when four of his shows ended up on the week's ten top-rated videos. Buckley has appeared in magazines and newspapers such as The New York Times discussing Internet entrepreneurship and The Advocate discussing homophobia on the Internet. On March 18, 2008, he won a 2007 YouTube Awards for best commentary with the video "LonelyGirl15 is Dead!"

To show his fans his softer side, Buckley has begun video-blogging about himself from his home in Connecticut, which he shares with his husband since 2002, Michael Donegan, and their five dogs Ellie, George, Colin, Buddy and Lucy. They were wed in Vermont. And with both sharing the same name, he refers to Donegan as ``husband'' and Donegan to him as ``Buck.''

``He really likes to stand out from a crowd. I knew that when I first met him,'' says Donegan, the shier of the two, preferring, he says, to be a ``silent partner.'' (Picture: Michael Donegan)

Donegan recalls seeing Buckley in a bit part in a musical on Cape Cod. He wasn't the lead character, Donegan says, but he performed as if he was. And he stole the show.

Buckley is one of three children and moved to his parents' summer home on Cape Cod in Massachusetts after graduating from Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire with a degree in psychology. He began working at a group home for children with developmental disabilities. He worked at Harwich Junior Theatre where he directed and choreographed Into the Woods and Leader of the Pack. He starred in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Little Women at HJT. In 2002, he moved back to Connecticut and started a "normal 9–5 office job" at Livenation. After appearing on television with his friend Kristin Tierney for a fund-raising drive for CPTV the two decided to create a public-access television cable TV chat show called Table for Two at local public-access television studio in July 2005.


Michael Donegan & Michael Buckley

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Buckley_(Internet_celebrity)

( Further Readings )

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

Ebook Giveaway: Liz Strange - Missing Daughter, Shattered Family

Liz Strange is giving away the first book in her mystery series. Book three should be out by the end of 2013. Among those who will leave a comment, I will draw a winner. I will send a PM to the winner, so remember to not leave anonymous comments!

And the ebook giveaway goes to: stormcloude

About Liz Strange: Liz was born and raised in Kingston, Ontario where she still resides with her family and a menagerie of pets. When not working, writing or spending time with her family she enjoys reading, watching scary movies, spicy food and hitting the gym.
Liz is a self-confessed sci-fi nerd, loving Star Trek, X-Files, and Torchwood. She also loves anything to do with mythology, history and anthropology, and has a long-standing fascination with ancient Greece and Easter Island.
She has been an avid reader from childhood, and has always been attracted to stories that deal with the darker side of human nature, mysteries, crime, and things that go bump in the night. Her true (and undying) love for vampires was born when she got her hands on a copy of Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot.

Missing Daughter, Shattered Family (A David Lloyd Investigation) by Liz Strange
Paperback: 292 pages
Publisher: MLR Press (September 2, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 160820412X
ISBN-13: 978-1608204120
Amazon: Missing Daughter, Shattered Family (A David Lloyd Investigation)
Amazon Kindle: Missing Daughter, Shattered Family (A David Lloyd Investigation)

An Independent Literary Awards finalist!

A David Lloyd Investigation When a brutal homophobic attack ended David Lloyd's career as a police officer, his life was changed forever. Five years later David is running his own private detective agency, where a missing person's case comes to his attention. Digging into the circumstances of her disappearance forces David to realize he has not dealt with what happened to him, and that he can no loner deal with his long-time partner's fear of being honest about their relationship. Solving the case might not only bring peace to a shattered family, but could finally put David's own demons to rest.

2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: L.J. LaBarthe - City of Jade

City of Jade by L.J. LaBarthe
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press; 1 edition (June 6, 2013)
Amazon Kindle: City of Jade

1131, The Silk Road.

Gallienus of Constantinople, a scarred soldier who used to work the city gates, enters a new phase of his life when he meets and falls in love with Misahuen of Gyeongju. But prejudice of same-sex relationships dominates Byzantine society, and both the Emperor and the Church denounce such love. Should Misahuen and Gallienus be discovered, the punishment is castration or death. Fearing he’ll lose Misahuen, Gallienus decides to go with Misahuen when he leaves the city forever.

A former farmer, Misahuen fled war-torn Korea and journeyed to Constantinople with a merchant caravan. He didn’t expect to take such an interest in a wounded soldier at journey’s end. But he understands the danger, so he and Gallienus join another caravan as guardsmen and begin a two-thousand-mile trip along the Silk Road. Now all they have to do is persevere to their final destination without the truth of their relationship being discovered and being killed because of it… or by the other dangers along the Road.

Keeping Sweets by Cate Ashwood

I was a little scared to read this story about a virgin 18 years old boy who accepts to film a adult reality with 8 other guys during the summer to pay for tuition costs; I know that adult movie can be fun, but Evan was so young and innocent, and I didn’t want for him to approach sex in that way. So, if you are like me, don’t be worried, I will not spoil the story, but it’s enough to say nothing bad happened to Evan, if not a little of heartache.

When Evan interviews for the job, Bran is the first guy he met; 27 years old and a little jaded from the adult movie industry, Bran is an “old” pro. He approached this world when he was still underage, but he was lucky to meet with a director that basically became a second dad to him, for sure better than the one who kicked him out at 16 years when he came out. Living on the streets since he was 16, the Bran who approached the adult movie wasn’t innocent like Evan. In a way that life saved him. But for Evan is different, and Bran fully understands that. Plus he has this strange possessiveness feeling, once that doesn’t allow him to share Evan.

The story of Bran reminded me a little of the true story of Brent Corrigan, of course not the love story. But I often wondered what could be the future of an adult movie star once they are not more a twink. If they are lucky, they have enough money to start a small business of their own, but is possible for them to find true love? For this author the answer is of course yes, and she played the ace card of sweetness (Sweets is actually the nickname of Evan). She basically gave Bran a totally innocent partner, someone who doesn’t care that Bran is an adult movie star, because, more or less, he doesn’t even know what an adult movie is.

This was the first story I read by this author, and as I said, I was a little scared since usually these types of story are bittersweet, but in the end, this is more sweet than bitter.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3621

Amazon: Keeping Sweets
Amazon Kindle: Keeping Sweets
Paperback: 206 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (March 11, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 162380406X
ISBN-13: 978-1623804060

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

2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: AJ Rose - Safeword

Safeword (Power Exchange) by AJ Rose
Publisher: Voodoo Lily Press (June 1, 2013)
Amazon Kindle: Safeword (Power Exchange)

Everywhere Detective Gavin DeGrassi looks he’s reminded of his attack by the Breath Play Killer. It’s in the house he lives in with his partner and Dom, Ben Haverson. It’s in the sympathetic yet pitying looks he receives from his fellow detectives when he returns to the force after a year-long hiatus. It’s in the suffocating coddling of his entire family, and the relentless reporter demanding an exclusive of his ordeal.

Most of all, it’s in his lack of submission to Ben, who isn’t convinced Gavin’s recovered enough to trust the power exchange between them.

The miraculous recovery of two teen boys from a twisted kidnapper gives him heart, and Gavin's determined to prove he can handle anything despite increasing strain between him and Ben, painful nightmares, and panic when anyone touches him.

But his next case is too close for comfort: a friend and colleague found raped and murdered in a fate chillingly similar to what could have been his own, and this killer isn’t stopping with one cop. As the body count rises and taunting souvenirs are being hand-delivered to Gavin, he faces a frustrating lack of leads, a crushing need to prove himself, and a sinking suspicion the imprisoned kidnapper’s reach is further than originally thought. A miasma of uncertainty and fear threaten to suffocate him when he asks a question with which he’s overwhelmingly familiar: what happens when a victim is pushed too far?