Cover Reveal Blitz: “Bad Idea” By Damon Suede

Bad Idea By Damon Suede
Expected publication: October 21st 2013 by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN13 9781627981729
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18484854-bad-idea?from_search=true

Some mistakes are worth making.

Reclusive comic book artist Trip Spector spends his life doodling super-square, straitlaced superheroes, hiding from his fans, and crushing on his unattainable boss until he meets the dork of his dreams. Silas Goolsby is a rowdy FX makeup creator with a loveless love life and a secret streak of geek who yearns for unlikely rescues and a truly creative partnership.

Against their better judgment, they fall victim to chemistry, and what starts as infatuation quickly grows tender and terrifying. With Silas’s help, Trip gambles his heart and his art on a rotten plan: sketching out Scratch, a “very graphic novel” that will either make his name or wreck his career. But even a smash can't save their world if Trip retreats into his mild-mannered rut, leaving Silas to grapple with betrayal and emotions he can't escape.

What will it take for this dynamic duo to discover that heroes never play it safe?

Damon Suede grew up out-n-proud deep in the anus of right-wing America, and escaped as soon as it was legal. Though new to romance fiction, Damon has been writing for print, stage, and screen for two decades. He’s won some awards, but counts his blessings more often: his amazing friends, his demented family, his beautiful husband, his loyal fans, and his silly, stern, seductive Muse who keeps whispering in his ear, year after year. Get in touch with him at:

DamonSuede.com
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GLBT Bookshelf

Bruce Ferden (1949 - September 19, 1993)

Bruce Ferden was a symphony conductor. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1992 with the world premiere of Philip Glass' The Voyage. He died on September 19, 1993, at New York University Medical Center in Manhattan. He was 44 and lived in Manhattan.

The cause was AIDS, said his companion, Frank Ream.

In 1980 Mr. Ferden conducted the world premiere of Mr. Glass's "Satyagraha" at the Netherlands Opera and later the European premiere of "The Making of the Representative for Planet 8," also by Mr. Glass, in the Netherlands.

At the Dallas Opera, Mr. Ferden conducted "Lucia di Lammermoor" in January, as well as a triple bill of Manuel de Falla operas. In June, he recorded "The Music of Elinor Remick Warren" with the baritone Thomas Hampson and the Polish Radio and Television Orchestra in Cracow, Poland.

During the 1991-92 season, he was general music director of the city of Aachen in Germany, leading both symphonic and operatic performances including productions of "The Bartered Bride," "Katya Kabanova" and "The Love for Three Oranges." Appeared With Several Orchestras.

For six seasons ending in 1991, Mr. Ferden was the music director of the Spokane (Wash.) Symphony. In addition, he was music director of the Nebraska Chamber Orchestra from 1982 to 1991. He also appeared with the Pittsburgh Symphony and conducted at Next Wave Festival of the Brooklyn Academy of Music.


AIDS Quilt

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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/21/obituaries/bruce-ferden-44-the-conductor-of-2-philip-glass-opera-premieres.html

( Further Readings )

David Hoyle (born September 19, 1962)

David Hoyle (born 19 September 1962) is an English performance artist, avant-garde cabaret artist, singer, actor, comedian and film director. His performances are known to combine many disparate elements, from satirical comedy to painting, surrealism and even striptease, much of which is aggressive in nature. Hoyle's work has often centred around themes in the LGBTQ community, attacking what he sees as dominant trends in "bourgeois Britain and the materialistic-hedonistic gay scene". His performances have led him to become "something of a legend" on the London cabaret circuit.

Born into a lower-middle-class background in Layton, Blackpool, Lancashire, Hoyle was heavily bullied for his homosexuality as a child. He began performing at a local working men's club before moving to London and then Manchester. It was here that he began performing at gay clubs in the city in the early 1990s, eventually developing the character known as The Divine David, an "anti-drag queen" who combined "lacerating social commentary" with "breathtaking instances of self-recrimination and even self-harm." Eventually taking his character to television, he produced two shows for Channel 4, The Divine David Presents (1998) and then The Divine David Heals (2000). That year, he decided to bring an end to The Divine David character, performing a farewell show at Streatham Ice Arena entitled The Divine David on Ice.

Retreating from his public appearances, Hoyle returned to his home in Manchester. In 2005 he returned to television, appearing as the character Doug Rocket on Channel 4 sitcom Nathan Barley, and the next year he returned to the stage, performing as himself in a show entitled David Hoyle's SOS. Over the next few years he continued with a string of shows, most of which were held at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London, and which included Magazine (2007), Dave's Drop-In (2009), Licking Wounds (2010) and Lives (2011). In 2010 he also released his own feature film, Uncle David, which he both directed and starred in.



Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hoyle_(performance_artist)

Frederick Combs (October 11, 1935 – September 19, 1992)

Frederick Combs (October 11, 1935 – September 19, 1992) was an American film, theater and television actor, playwright and director.

Combs is best known for originating the role of Donald in the play The Boys in the Band and then later in the 1970 film of the same name.

He performed extensively in theater including Franco Zeffirelli's 1963 production of The Lady of the Camellias.

He died in Los Angeles in 1992 of an AIDS-related illness at the age of 56.


The cast of ‘Boys in the Band’ with playwright Mart Crowley, left. Next to him are Laurence Luckinbill as Hank, the late Frederick Combs as Donald, the late Robert La Tourneaux as 'Cowboy,' the late Kenneth Nelson as Michael, the late Leonard Frey as Harold, the late Cliff Gorman as Emory, the late Keith Prentice as Larry, Peter White as Alan and Reuben Greene as Bernard. (Photo courtesy of the Karpel Group)


AIDS Quilt

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Combs

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Maurice McClelland (1940 - September 19, 1993)

Maurice McClelland was a producer and champion of New York's experimental stage, music, dance, and TV groups. In his last years devoted himself to the fight against AIDS. He died on September 19, 1993, at his home in Jersey City. He was 53.

The cause was AIDS, a spokeswoman for the family said.

Mr. McClelland founded the Space for Innovative Development in the 1960's to provide low-cost practice space for fledgling theater, music, dance and television groups in Manhattan. They included the Open Theater, the Alwin Nikolais Dance Theater and Robert Wilson's first theater company. It was supported by foundation money and lasted five years under Mr. McClelland's direction.

In the 1970's he was associate director of the International Theater Institute in Manhattan, an affiliate of Unesco.

In 1973, he became founding director of the International Visual Theater Research Community, with headquarters in Paris, which was financed by six countries to train the deaf and hearing-impaired to be performing artists.

In 1978, he was director of the Energy Resource Bank in Seattle, which produced original plays commissioned by the city and state. From 1981 to 1983, he was also production manager at the Anchorage Civic Opera and a professor of theater at both Alaska Pacific University and at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colo. He was also associated with La Mama Theater.

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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/22/obituaries/m-mcclelland-53-helped-experiments-in-theater-and-arts.html

( Further Readings )

GayRomLit Ebook Giveaway: Rowan McAllister - A Devil's Own Luck

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: everyday 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: Ilona

Today author is Rowan McAllister: Rowan McAllister quit her day job in 2007 and moved to her dream home in the woods of Virginia to follow her muses and explore her creative side full time. She's a firm believer in practical romanticism, requires a strong cup of coffee every morning to be even remotely human, and has a healthy obsession with romance and fantasy fiction, small (and not so small) furry creatures, and anything to do with working with her hands. She can be found most days either hunched over her sewing machine or hunched over her laptop. Though she has spent a lifetime making up stories in her head when whatever task she was occupied with failed to keep her full attention, she only recently discovered the challenge and reward to be found in committing those stories to paper. Now that she has, there's no going back.
Most recent title : Feels Like Home
Publishers: Dreamspinner Press

A Devil's Own Luck by Rowan McAllister
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (June 13, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1615819002
ISBN-13: 978-1615819003
Amazon: A Devil's Own Luck
Amazon Kindle: A Devil's Own Luck

William Carey has played many roles in his thirty-two years of life. Though born to privilege, he fled his disapproving family and, purely out of spite, devoted himself to a life of danger and infamy. William never thought twice about his self-destructive behavior until he met a passionate woman who showed him how to harness his rebellious nature and return to London, his family, and society as a respectable gentleman of fortune. But William's beloved wife is six years gone, and with her his joie de vivre. William devotes his days to the pursuit of empty pleasure until the night William's brother asks a small favor by which William meets a young man who ignites a spark in him he'd thought long extinguished. Stephen is fiery and passionate, handsome and mysterious-exactly what a fallen devil needs to stir the ashes of his heart. Unwilling to lose that spark now that he has found it again, William devises a scheme to claim Stephen for his own, but Stephen is beyond reluctant, with another benefactor and secrets he will not share. William will need more than cunning to win Stephen's trust and love. He'll need all the luck he can get.

Kindly offered by Dreamspinner Press

Best Gay Sci-Fi / Fantasy: Changing Worlds by Cari Z.

A sweet, almost old fashioned romance, this novel follow spaceship captain Jason falling in love for Ferran, a young alien. Ferran comes from a matriarchal society, and since he is sterile, he was destined from birth to be, more or less, a male housekeeper. He has a docile streak, breed in him since he was born, and as usual among his people, he is very sensual, they see sex like an ordinary expression of deep feelings. Jason in comparison is more reserved, maybe even a bit aloof, very much in line with his Eastern world roots, but it is impossible for him to resist Ferran, even if they know their love is doomed by the impeding due of Ferran: go back home and marry a woman chosen by his mother.

As I said, this remembered me the old futuristic romances I read when I was a teenager, futuristic wasn’t really a popular genre, or at least it wasn’t in comparison to the historical romance, but I did enjoy some of those novels, and I found again that enjoyment in Changing Worlds. The world building is not very complex, not until Jason exits the sheltered environment of Ferran’s home; the life inside that matriarchal home is like you will expect to be in a pre-World War family, only with a woman in place of the man; actually, even if I don’t have direct experience, they told me that some African culture were and still are similar to that, in Ethiopia, for example, during the WWII, the chief of a tribe was the oldest female, and when a man married, he went into the wife’s family.

I enjoyed the evolution of both characters, that of Ferran is more marked, basically is also the purpose of the story, but also Jason changed a little, becoming more open, less aloof, opening his heart to others other than Ferran.

Amazon: Changing Worlds
Amazon Kindle: Changing Worlds
Paperback: 266 pages
Publisher: Storm Moon Press LLC (May 18, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1937058301
ISBN-13: 978-1937058302



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Cover Art by Nathie

The Agony of Joy by Red Haircrow

There are some elements in common with the recent memoir I read by Red Haircrow, Silence is Multi-colored in my World, such as the connection with Germany and Russia, the bisexuality of one of the two main characters, who is in love, and committed to a gay man, the almost dependent relationship between a younger, poor man and a sophisticated older one. So many in common, that I think the author translated in fiction, with some adaptation, people he knew by hand in his real world; I seem to recognize the boy of Silence in both Adrian than Yulian, but whilst Silence is a memoir, and heart-wrenching since there is no happy end for that boy, here the author wanted to give a spark of hope to his fictional characters. Despite the title, The Agony of Joy, and the sensitive matter it deals with, child abuse, Agony is not without hope, and actually, it ends with an opening to a possible, better future for these guys, one that maybe the author is thinking to share. Knowing the boy in Silence was real, and the author knew him, maybe he “used” Agony like a balsam, to put on the scar the loss of that boy left in him, to soothe the hurting.

Agony is not a refined story, sometime it’s even difficult to follow, my idea is that, like most of Red Haircrow’s writings, it comes from the real life of the author, and as such, it’s like a brainstorming of his mind and heart, and a storm is never planned. Despite that, the love-story plot is there, Adrian and Lexx are almost perfect romance characters, the ending is bittersweet but also romantic. In a way, knowing as Silence ends, Agony is at the same time agony and joy, joy cause in fiction an happy ending is possible, agony cause in reality, in Silence, you know that didn’t happen.

Amazon Kindle: The Agony of Joy
Publisher: Flying With Red Haircrow (February 17, 2013)

Updates: http://www.goodreads.com/user/updates_rss/2156728?key=011e4dd0a1ff993d8c2322e691d6229ed9bbf74b