In the Spotlight: Christian Burch

"Schoolboy, time to wake up and go to school so you can learn something so you can grow up to be somebody!" This is how Christian Burch's father woke him every morning for school, from elementary school, to junior high and all the way through high school graduation. And although it was annoying, it wasn't nearly as bad as Christian's mother singing opera as loud as she could as they walked around the mall. She wasn't doing it because she was an opera fan, but only to make Christian and his younger sister, Amy, cringe and to provide herself with entertainment. This is how Christian grew up in Caney, Kansas...constantly laughing through gritted teeth. 

Eventually Christian became a male nanny, a painter, and a writer and used his real-life manny experiences and stories from his own childhood as inspiration for his novels. He lives in Jackson, Wyoming where he tubes the rivers in summers and teaches Visual Arts at The Jackson Hole Community School during the school year. The families that he has worked with for the past ten years are growing up and Christian excitedly watches as they "grow up to be somebody." 

http://www.christianburch.com/ 

Further Readings:

The Manny Files by Christian Burch
Amazon: The Manny Files 
Amazon Kindle: The Manny Files 

The Book: Manny /ma·ne/ n

A male nanny or babysitter, known to be handsome, fabulous, and a lover of eighties music

"Be interesting."

That's what the manny tells Keats Dalinger the first time he packs Keats's school lunch, but for Keats that's not always the easiest thing to do. Even though he's the only boy at home, it always feels like no one ever remembers him. His sisters are everywhere! Lulu is the smart one, India is the creative one, and Belly . . . well, Belly is the naked one. And the baby. School isn't much better. There, he's the shortest kid in the entire class.

But now the manny is the Dalinger's new babysitter, and things are starting to look up. It seems as though the manny always knows the right thing to do. Not everyone likes the manny as much as Keats does, however. Lulu finds the manny embarrassing, and she's started to make a list of all the crazy things that he does, such as serenading the kids with "La Cucaracha" from the front yard or wearing underwear on his head or meeting the school bus with Belly, dressed as limo drivers. Keats is worried. What if Lulu's "Manny Files" makes his parents fire the manny? Who will teach him how to be interesting then?

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

It Happened Today: February 25

Arthur Lett-Haines & Cedric Morris: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4221800.html

Arthur Lett-Haines was a British painter and sculptor. Sir Cedric Lockwood Morris, 9th Baronet, was a British artist, art teacher and plantsman. In 1918 Lett Haines met Morris. Morris and Lett Haines fell in love and began a life-time relationship, lasted some 60 years. In 1937, Morris and Haines founded the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing at Dedham. The school closed when Haines died in 1978, though Morris continued to live at Benton End until his death in 1984.

John Saul & Michael Sack: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4222116.html

John Saul is an American author of suspense and horror novels. Most of his books have appeared on the NY Times Best Seller List. He lives with his partner of 32 years, who has collaborated on several of his novels. In 1973 he got a job on the administrative staff of the Stonewall drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, which serviced the gay community in Seattle. It was in the course of this job that he met clinical psychologist Mike Sack, who became is closest friend and literary collaborator.

Moondancer Drake (born February 25, 1969): http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4222500.html

Moondancer Drake is an author of environmental and spiritually driven multicultural fiction, especially paranormal lesbian romance. She is also a vocal advocate for civil rights and the responsibility of all people to take better care of Mother Earth. Natural Order won a 2010 Rainbow Award as Best Lesbian Paranormal / Horror: an evening at the movies turns into a living nightmare for Elizabeth Crew as her lover Dusty battles for their lives and the unborn baby Elizabeth is carrying.

Tedd Marefka & Justin Trabert: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4222356.html

When Tedd Marefka met Justin Trabert at a beach party back in the fall of 2008, he knew Trabert was The One. (“I knew the second I saw him,” says Marefka) Unfortunately, as Fate would have it, the two were just not meant to be together: Trabert had a boyfriend back in Germany. Nevertheless, Trabert took a risk and asked Marefka to have a drink with him anyway. The two wed on February 25, 2012 at Lord Thompson Manor in Thompson, Conneticut.