Charles Coypeau d'Assoucy (October 1605, 16 – October 29, 1677)

Charles Coypeau (16 October 1605 Paris – 29 October 1677, Paris) was a French musician and burlesque poet. In the mid-1630s he began using the nom de plume "D'Assouci" or "Dassoucy".

From the time he was eight or nine, Charles Coypeau began running away from home. His father then placed him in the Jesuit College of Clermont, where he acquired a solid education in classics and Christian doctrine; but the boy was always sneaking away to watch the puppeteers and organ grinders on the Pont-Neuf. These contacts with players and musicians were a major factor in the formation of Charles's musical and poetic talents, and encouraged his bent for the "burlesque".

By the time he was seventeen, Charles had left Paris and had begun his long life of wandering, eking out a livelihood by composing, singing for local elites, and teaching the lute. By his mid-twenties, he apparently had made his way to Italy: at any rate, by the early 1630s he had mastered the Italian theorbo, an instrument still rare in France.

In 1630, while in Grenoble, Charles met Pierre de Nyert, the gifted singer. Shortly after that, he went to England and performed at the court of Charles I, and then to the Low Countries, where he played and sang for exiled Marguerite de Lorraine, duchess of Orléans. By 1636, Charles, who now called himself "Charles Coypeau, sieur of Assoucy" (or simply "d'Assoucy"), was living in Paris. Having been presented to Louis XIII, he was soon entertaining the French court and writing poems for the royal family. For over a decade, d'Assoucy participated in numerous court concerts, having been made a "musician in ordinary to the King" (musicien ordinaire du Roi).

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Coypeau_d%27Assoucy

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Richard Hall (November 26, 1926 - October 29, 1992)

In his novels and short stories, plays, and critical writings, Richard Hall focused almost exclusively on issues of gay identity and community.

Hall was born Richard Hirshfeld in New York City on November 26, 1926, into an extended family of transplanted Southern Jews. In 1934, his immediate family moved to the New York suburb of White Plains, where his mother became active in the Episcopal Church and he and his sister were baptized. In 1938, after an antisemitic incident involving his sister's admission to a church-affiliated camp, Hall's mother changed their name and moved the family to another suburb.

Hall matriculated at Harvard in 1943 and graduated cum laude in January 1948. In the 1950s, he underwent deep-Freudian analysis in an attempt to change his sexual orientation but abandoned psychiatric treatment in 1960 when he fell in love with a young Texan named Dan Allen, whom he described as the greatest influence on his life.

After a career in advertising and publishing, Hall entered New York University to earn an M.A. in English Education. On graduation in 1970, he accepted a job at Inter American University in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he served as acting director of the University Press until 1974.

During the 1970s, he established a long-lasting relationship with Arthur Marceau (who died of AIDS in 1989) and began publishing fiction and nonfiction in the newly vital gay and lesbian media. From 1976 to 1982, Hall was contributing editor for books of the gay newsmagazine The Advocate. He died of complications from AIDS on October 29, 1992.

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Citation Information
Author: Summers, Claude J.
Entry Title: Hall, Richard
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 28, 2004
Web Address www.glbtq.com/literature/hall_richard.html
Publisher glbtq, Inc., 1130 West Adams, Chicago, IL 60607
Today's Date October 29, 2011
Encyclopedia Copyright: © 2002-2006, glbtq, Inc.
Entry Copyright © 1995, 2002 New England Publishing Associates

And then, there is the book. Couplings by Richard Hall. The edition I have was printed in 1982 (I was two years old), is in decent condition with a slightly tattered cover. It was purchased on a vacation in Palm Springs; this was the year after the Lambda Literary Foundation closed its DC offices and I was laid off. In fact, I wouldn‘t have recognized the name and title if it weren‘t for that job. In 2003, I had helped organize the last Richard Hall Memorial Short Story Contest. Richard Hall was the first openly gay critic elected to the National Book Critics Circle and the author of three collections of short stories and two novels, one published a year before he died of AIDs in 1991 at the age of 65. At work I was suddenly one of the facilitators of the Lammy Awards, my name was printed on the masthead of the Lambda Book Report. Each new fact learned, new acquaintance made, was flaunted among my college friends. This was also a much-needed wake-up call: I was not the only aspiring gay writer around. For the first time, I had to acknowledge decades of literature and history that came before me and had to learn as much of it as possible before I could ever hope to contribute on my own. --Jonathan Harper in The Lost Library: Gay Fiction Rediscovered

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Manna Francis

"I've been writing original slash since 2002 — or homoerotic fiction, gay fiction, m/m romance, yaoi, as you prefer. Original slash is my personal term of choice because I feel it best represents my writing in terms of style and what readers can expect to find there — original fiction following the stylistic traditions of slash fanfiction. Individual stories may or may nor be sexually explicit."

Manna Francis was born in Yorkshire, and has lived in the UK all her life. She studied biological sciences at the University of Oxford, where she met her future husband at a role-playing game. Since graduating, she has worked in universities and for the government, which in no way inspired any aspects of the Administration whatsoever. She now lives in the Midlands, with the same husband, two cats, and a taxidermied mohair goat in a glass case.

She would like to state for the record that she knows it's all true, because she made it up.

Manna Francis is a rare talent, and I devoured The Administration – it has all the things a writer and a story needs: compelling characters, deep psychological insight, consistent worldbuilding and the courage to look into the abyss of humanity (also, redeeming characters that seem irredeemable). She shows you how it’s done, and I admire her courage immensely. There’s no pandering to anybody in here – and that makes it an even more precious gift of a story. --Aleksandr Voinov

The Administration series blew me away when I read it online years ago, and it still does today. I’m collecting every instalment as it comes out in paperback and re-reading it. The first time through, I was stunned and excited by the Toreth / Warrick dynamic, but on later reading, I pick up far more of the world-building in the intriguing New London. The jewel for me as a reader, though, will always be the two leads, both individually and together. I probably find the men a little less sympathetic with each reading, or maybe I’m just absorbing more of the clever and complex nuances in the writing. But they and their flaws, desires and struggles are totally fascinating. Warrick, who is so controlled in public, whose intelligence and academic abilities are so superior, and yet whose need for submission makes him vulnerable and draws him irresistibly to Toreth. Toreth, whose blend of sociopath, anguished loner, and effective and committed interrogator makes him the most dangerous and theoretically the most emotionally alien of men. Yet so terribly attractive! Their relationship is the perfect example of one which shouldn’t work but does. What else? It’s a treat to read. Lovely prose, clean editing, and a rich cast of subsidiary characters. It was maybe my first awakening to a book that could include a hot, provocative gay affair, yet wasn’t all about the sex. There were so many other themes to explore in the novel – work, politics, loyalty, betrayal, pain and pleasure. --Clare London

Further Readings:

Mind Fuck by Manna Francis
Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Casperian Books LLC (October 29, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1934081086
ISBN-13: 978-1934081082
Amazon: Mind Fuck

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There are no bad guys or good guys. There are only better guys and worse guys. One of the worse guys is Val Toreth. In a world in which torture is a legitimate part of the investigative process, he works for the Investigation and Interrogation Division, where his colleagues can be more dangerous than the criminals he investigates. One of the better guys is Keir Warrick. His small corporation, SimTech, is developing a "sim" system that places users in a fully immersive virtual reality. A minnow in a murky and dangerous pond, he is only beginning to discover how many compromises may be required for success. Their home is the dark future dystopia of New London. A totalitarian bureaucracy controls the European Administration, sharing political power with the corporations. The government uses violence and the many divisions of the feared Department of Internal Security to maintain control and crush resistance. The corporations fight among themselves, using lethal force under the euphemism of "corporate sabotage," uniting only to resist attempts by the Administration to extend its influence over them. Toreth and Warrick are more natural enemies than allies. But mutual attraction and the fight for survival can create unlikely bonds.

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

Fall Apart Blog Tour: Music and Writing

Today I'm hosting S.E. Culpepper's Fall Apart Blog Tour, and she kindly wrote a guest blog on Music and Writing

"Like many authors, music plays a vital role in creating scenes in my mind. I picture moments happening right in front of me, like a movie, and I need that soundtrack. As I write, I like to create a playlist based on the characters, the events in the story, and even a “theme” song for a couple. I might play that song hundreds of time as I work on a book, or on a particular scene.

For Rafe and Jeremy in Private Eye, the theme song was Let It Go by Fauxliage. For Mark and Zane, it was With or Without You by U2. For Christian and Kevin, it was Sanctuary by Alex Clare. Now, with the release of the fourth book in the Liaisons Series, Fall Apart, I’ve created another playlist. If it weren’t for amazing musical artists like Ellie Goulding and Ed Sheeran, I don’t know if I could’ve finished this book.

If I had to choose a single song as the theme for Damon and Alarik, the main characters of Fall Apart, it has to be Ed Sheeran’s Kiss Me. The big love scene wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for that song. Yet, without writing spoilers, there are other scenes in the fourth book even more important—those moments where character emotions are exposed in as raw a way as I could write. Ellie Goulding’s I Know You Care perfectly captured my feelings as I struggled through some of the most difficult scenes I’ve had to write.

As you’re reading, do you remember particular songs and think: “Oh, that would be perfect for this moment!”?

Or is it just me?"



Fall Apart (Liaisons #4) by S.E. Culpepper
Series: Liaisons Series
Paperback: 486 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (October 27, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1492876569
ISBN-13: 978-1492876564
Amazon: Fall Apart (Liaisons #4)

Dodging his ex, giving the Best Man speech, and smuggling home extra slices of wedding cake are Damon Wright’s only plans on his buddy’s wedding day. Capturing the attention of a renowned photographer with twice the sexual magnetism of James Bond doesn’t even make the list. Accustomed to a life spent keeping his head down, managing family obligations, Damon is unprepared for even a lukewarm pursuit, much less the hot, focused advances of a man like Alarik whose sophistication leaves Damon reeling. Tired of the vapid, morally bankrupt and grasping fellows so common in his line of work, Alarik is through serving as just another step for mercenary men on the ladder to success. Damon’s kindhearted reserve excites a profound response within him, enticing him with the idea of an honest future. Compelled to dig beneath the surface in search of something lasting, Alarik can’t help but wonder if falling in love can be as easy as breathing. Yet, fairytales don’t exist in the pace of real life; they disappear in shadow. Absorbed by the happiness of finding one another, Damon and Alarik never see the darkness coming…

Other books in the Liaisons Series

Private Eye (Liaisons #1) by S.E. Culpepper
Publisher: S.E. CULPEPPER (June 15, 2011)
Amazon Kindle: Private Eye (Liaisons #1)

Question Mark (Liaisons #2) by S.E. Culpepper
Paperback: 376 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (March 8, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1468047744
ISBN-13: 978-1468047745
Amazon: Question Mark (Liaisons #2)
Amazon Kindle: Question Mark (Liaisons #2)

Lost Won (Liaisons #3) by S.E. Culpepper
Paperback: 376 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (January 8, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1481205072
ISBN-13: 978-1481205078
Amazon: Lost Won
Amazon Kindle: Lost Won

About the Author: S.E. Culpepper lives and works in Oregon. After graduating college in New Mexico, she served as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard for four and a half years before deciding to strike out on her own as a writer. S.E. is addicted to YouTube, reading, and chocolate, not necessarily in that order. In her free time, she visits parks with her son, studies for her Masters, and bakes. S.E. loves hearing from readers and she makes it a point to get back to them. Contact her through her website: seculpepper.com.

The author will be giving away an ebook copy choosing at least one winner from this blog. The winner/s will be given a choice to pick any of the four Liaison books to win.