Andrea Bramhall (born January 26, 1979)

A Stockport (near Manchester, UK) native, Andrea took her life in her hands a few years ago and crossed the great North/South divide and now lives in Norfolk with her partner, their two border collies, and two and a half cats (one isn’t sure if she wants to be theirs anymore as the lady down the street feeds her Whiskas rather than whatever is on offer at the supermarket, like they do!). Andrea spends her time running their campsite and hostel to pay the bills, and scribbling down stories during the winter months. Andrea is an avid reader and a keen musician, playing the saxophone and the guitar (just to annoy her other half—apparently!). She is also a recreational diver and takes an opportunity to head to warmer climes and discover the mysteries of life beneath the waves!

Ladyfish won a 2013 Rainbow Award as Best Lesbian Debut.

Source: www.goodreads.com/author/show/5810265.Andrea_Bramhall

Further Readings:

Ladyfish by Andrea Bramhall
Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (October 16, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1602827478
ISBN-13: 978-1602827479
Amazon: Ladyfish
Amazon Kindle: Ladyfish

Can love blossom beneath the waves of the Florida Keys? Or will the shadows that haunt two strangers prove too much to survive?

Scuba diving instructor Olivia Zuckerman loves guiding tourists under the water almost as much as she loves guiding women to her bed. Coerced into picking up a new trainee from the airport, Oz has no idea that her life is about to change in every imaginable way.

Daniela Finnsbury-Sterling, Finn to her friends, is trying to break away from an overbearing father, a man intent on making her life fit his plans. Desperate to make her own way, she escapes to Florida to train as a diving instructor. She knows it won’t be easy. She knows her father will do anything he can to force her back into line. Unfortunately, she has no idea exactly what anything will be!

More Rainbow Awards at my website: www.elisarolle.com/, Rainbow Awards/2013

Fernand Legros & Real Lessard

Fernand Legros (26 January 1931 – 7 April 1983) was an art dealer who, together with his lover Real Lessard, sold the art forgeries of Elmyr de Hory.

Legros first wished to be a ballet dancer. After World War II he moved from Cairo to Paris. He married an American woman, possibly as a way of gaining US citizenship; Legros was homosexual.

Legros met de Hory in the 1950s when they were rooming in Miami in a house of a mutual acquaintance. He had recently come from France without his wife. Legros was apparently impressed by de Hory's skill and persuaded him to be his agent for a 40% cut.

In the following years the two men traveled all over the US and sold De Hory's paintings to galleries. Legros kept most of the profits without telling De Hory. Legros also befriended French-Canadian Real Lessard and they began an uneven relationship. Legros occasionally accused Lessard of infidelity, although he himself slept with other men.

De Hory eventually grew tired of the men and Legros' volatile temperament and moved to Europe. Next time he ran into Legros in Paris where Legros asked him to give him some of his paintings. When de Hory explained that his paintings were locked up in New York hotel, Legros proceeded to acquire them. He sold them in the international art market.


Fernand Legros (1931 - 1983) was an art dealer who, together with his lover Real Lessard, sold the art forgeries of Elmyr de Hory. In the 50s Legros and de Hory traveled all over the US and sold De Hory's paintings to galleries. Legros kept most of the profits without telling De Hory. Legros also befriended French-Canadian Real Lessard and they began an uneven relationship. Legros occasionally accused Lessard of infidelity, although he himself slept with other men. Legros died of throat cancer.

( Read more... )

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

Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time by Elisa Rolle
Paperback: 760 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (July 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1500563323
ISBN-13: 978-1500563325
CreateSpace Store: https://www.createspace.com/4910282
Amazon (Paperback): http://www.amazon.com/dp/1500563323/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon (Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MZG0VHY/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

Days of Love chronicles more than 700 LGBT couples throughout history, spanning 2000 years from Alexander the Great to the most recent winner of a Lambda Literary Award. Many of the contemporary couples share their stories on how they met and fell in love, as well as photos from when they married or of their families. Included are professional portraits by Robert Giard and Stathis Orphanos, paintings by John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Boldini, and photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnson, Arnold Genthe, and Carl Van Vechten among others. “It's wonderful. Laying it out chronologically is inspired, offering a solid GLBT history. I kept learning things. I love the decision to include couples broken by death. It makes clear how important love is, as well as showing what people have been through. The layout and photos look terrific.” Christopher Bram “I couldn’t resist clicking through every page. I never realized the scope of the book would cover centuries! I know that it will be hugely validating to young, newly-emerging LGBT kids and be reassured that they really can have a secure, respected place in the world as their futures unfold.” Howard Cruse “This international history-and-photo book, featuring 100s of detailed bios of some of the most forward-moving gay persons in history, is sure to be one of those bestsellers that gay folk will enjoy for years to come as reference and research that is filled with facts and fun.” Jack Fritscher

Ellen DeGeneres & Portia de Rossi

Ellen Lee DeGeneres (born January 26, 1958) is an American stand-up comedian, television host and actress. She hosts the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

DeGeneres has hosted both the Academy Awards and the Primetime Emmys. As a film actress, she starred in Mr. Wrong, appeared in EDtv and The Love Letter, and provided the voice of Dory in the Disney-Pixar animated film Finding Nemo, for which she was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress, the first and only time a voice performance won a Saturn Award. She was a judge on American Idol for one year, having joined the show in its ninth season. She also starred in two television sitcoms, Ellen from 1994 to 1998 and The Ellen Show from 2001 to 2002.

During the fourth season of Ellen in 1997, DeGeneres came out publicly as a lesbian in an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Shortly afterwards, her character Ellen Morgan also came out to a therapist played by Winfrey, and the series went on to explore various LGBT issues including the coming out process. She has won thirteen Emmys and numerous other awards for her work and charitable efforts.

In November 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton named her a Special Envoy for Global AIDS Awareness.

DeGeneres is an ethical vegan who calls herself a "big animal lover". The talk show host currently co-ordinates a vegan outreach website titled 'Going Vegan with Ellen' and has opened a vegan tapas bar, Bokado, in Los Angeles.


Ellen Lee DeGeneres (born January 26, 1958) is an American stand-up comedian, television host and actress. She hosts the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Since 2004, DeGeneres has had a relationship with Portia de Rossi. They became engaged when DeGeneres proposed with a 3-carat diamond ring. They were married at their Beverly Hills home on 16 August 2008 (during the brief window wherein same-sex marriage was legal in California), witnessed by their mothers and 19 other guests.



( Read more... )

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

Portia Lee James DeGeneres (born Amanda Lee Rogers; 31 January 1973), known professionally as Portia de Rossi, is an Australian actress, best known for her roles as lawyer Nelle Porter on the television series Ally McBeal and Lindsay Fünke on the sitcom Arrested Development. She also portrayed Veronica Palmer on the ABC sitcom Better Off Ted and Olivia Lord on Nip/Tuck.

Born Amanda Lee Rogers in Horsham, Victoria, Australia, she is the daughter of Margaret, a medical receptionist, and Barry Rogers. Her father died when she was nine. She was raised in Grovedale, a suburb of Geelong in Victoria. As a child, she modelled for print and TV commercials. She adopted the name Portia de Rossi at the age of 15, stating in 2005 that she had intended to reinvent herself, using the given name of Portia, a character from William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, and an Italian last name. Portia de Rossi was also the name of the mother of the famed Italian poet Torquato Tasso. (Picture: Ellen DeGeneres)

Her first significant role was playing a young and impressionable model in the Australian 1994 film Sirens. Soon afterwards she moved to Los Angeles and had guest roles on several TV shows, and a permanent role in Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher, before landing a role in the film Scream 2. During this time in the United States, de Rossi worked diligently to replace her native Australian accent with her current General American one.

She attracted international attention when she joined the main cast of the Ally McBeal TV series in 1998, playing lawyer Nelle Porter. She remained with the show until its end in 2002. In 2001, she starred in Who Is Cletis Tout? with Christian Slater.

( Read more... )

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

( Further Readings )

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

Susan Griffin (born January 26, 1943)

Susan Griffin is an award-winning poet, writer, essayist, playwright, and filmmaker, and has written nineteen books, including A Chorus of Stones, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Her works include The Book of Courtesans, What Her Body Thought, Woman and Nature, Bending Home: Poems Selected and New 1967–1998, and she is the co-editor of the forthcoming Transforming Terror: Remembering the Soul of the World.

A recipient of an Emmy, a MacArthur Grant for Peace and International Cooperation, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Ms magazine, and several other publications. She lives in Berkeley, California.

Source: http://www.susangriffin.com/Bio.html

( Susan Griffin, 1988, by Robert Giard )

( Further Readings )

More Particular Voices at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Particular Voices

Lisa Cholodenko & Wendy Melvoin

Lisa Cholodenko (born June 5, 1964) is an American film and television writer/director, and a member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She is best known for her highly acclaimed 2010 comedy-drama The Kids Are All Right which was nominated for a number of awards including four Academy Awards, Best Picture among them. Cholodenko is from a "liberal Jewish" family. Her grandparents emigrated from Ukraine. She is in a relationship with musician Wendy Melvoin, met during the working of Laurel Canyon (2002). Cholodenko gave birth to their son, Calder, by way of an anonymous sperm donor. She also has two dogs, Rocket and Magnus.

Cholodenko grew up in a Jewish family (immigrants from Ukraine), in the San Fernando Valley. She got her start in the film industry in New York in the early 1990s. She landed positions as assistant editor on Boyz n the Hood and Used People. She then enrolled at Columbia University School of the Arts, earning an MFA in screenwriting and directing, where James Schamus was one of her professors at Columbia, who would later become the CEO of Focus Features.

After writing and directing several acclaimed short films including Dinner Party, Cholodenko made her feature film debut with High Art. High Art won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival as well as the National Society of Film Critics award for Ally Sheedy's performance. Both High Art and her next film, Laurel Canyon, premiered at Cannes Director's Fortnight.

After completing Laurel Canyon, Cholodenko decided to move to LA permanently. While in the process of trying to conceive a child via anonymous sperm donor, she met with screenwriter Stuart Blumberg, who was a sperm donor in college. Together, they decided to write a screenplay, which would eventually become The Kids Are All Right. However, the project took five years to get to production. Filmed in 23 days, Cholodenko directed the film on a 3 million dollar budget, a much smaller amount than her fellow 2011 Oscar nominees. The Kids Are All Right garnered an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay nomination, a BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay nomination, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay nomination. The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. The film was also named best screenplay by the New York Film Critics Circle and won the Independent Spirit Award for best screenplay.


Lisa Cholodenko, Wendy Melvoin and their son Calder
Lisa Cholodenko is an American film and television writer/director. She is best known for her highly acclaimed 2010 comedy-drama The Kids Are All Right which was nominated for a number of awards including four Academy Awards, Best Picture among them. Cholodenko is from a "liberal Jewish" family. Her grandparents emigrated from Ukraine. She is in a relationship with musician Wendy Melvoin, met in 2002. Cholodenko gave birth to their son, Calder, by way of an anonymous sperm donor.

( Read more... )

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

Wendy Melvoin (born January 26, 1964) is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Prince as part of his backing band The Revolution, and for her collaboration with Lisa Coleman as one half of the duo Wendy & Lisa. In April 2009, Melvoin gave an interview with Out magazine declaring that she was a lesbian and had a past relationship with Lisa Coleman. Currently, her partner is writer/film director Lisa Cholodenko. (P: Wendy Melvoin and former partner Lisa Coleman)

Shortly after the completion of Prince and The Revolution's Parade project, Coleman and Melvoin left The Revolution, and started their own musical duo, Wendy & Lisa (also known as Girl Bros).

Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman composed music for the first season of TV series Heroes. In September 2008, they announced that they would be releasing an album consisting entirely of the score from Heroes, entitled Heroes: Original Score. The duo are currently working on the American TV series Touch.

Melvoin also contributed guitars to Madonna's 2008 album Hard Candy on the song "She's Not Me" and is mentioned by name during the song. She contributed heavily to Neil Finn's second solo album One Nil, co-writing many tracks and playing drums and bass on several. She is credited for guitar work on most of the tracks on Rob Thomas' first solo album, ...Something to Be.

( Read more... )

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Melvoin

( Further Readings )

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

Book Blast: No Denying Sin by BL Morticia

No Denying Sin, Book 3 of the N’awlins Exotica Series, by BL Morticia
Publisher: Triad Literary (December 30, 2014)
Amazon Kindle: No Denying Sin (N'awlins Exotica Book 3)

Living in the Big Easy is downright deadly especially if you’re a stripper. When another exotic dancer is found dead in her apartment, the heat mounts on Frankie and his fellow detectives to find the killer. Due to the magnitude of this unsolved mystery along with the LaBoy murders, tension runs high at nineteen making it hard for all to breathe around the police station and sending everyone into a frenzy.

There’s no denying Frankie’s love for Kajika but in the back of his mind, hot thoughts of the mutual jerk off with Orrin Daugherty loom over his head. Though the feelings are mutual, Orrin wants nothing to do with this and pushes Frankie away. Add in to the mix his fascination with partner Vance Morain along with his severe case of blue balls and you got one hell of a predicament for these for complex and volatile men.

The men at nineteen are burning with desire for one another and pleasure is beginning to be almost as important as business.

Will the sinful disruptions stop them from finding the killer roaming the streets of the Big Easy?

This is book 3 of N'awlins Exotica Series. Doesn't necessarily need to be read in order.

WARNING: Lots of lewd dialogue and smoldering sex between males.

( Excerpt )

Author Bio:
In one word, crazy. Just crazy enough to have 3 4 different muses running around in her head, driving her to sheer exhaustion with new plot bunnies and complex characters.

In addition to being a computer geek and a metalhead, Sharita loves live music, reading, and perusing the net for sexy men to be her muses. She’s also a founding member and contributor to the heavy metal ezine Fourteeng.net.

Coke or Pepsi? (Or something else.)

Coke

Where to find the author:
Website http://www.thelitriad.com
Mail: mailto:msrlmort71@gmail.com
Michael’s Blog: http://michaelmandrake.wordpress.com
BL’s Blog: http://blmorticia.wordpress.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/rawiyamikembl
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheLiteraryTriad
Authorgraph: http://www.authorgraph.com/authors/rawiyamikembl



Tour Dates: January 26, 2015
Tour Stops: Parker Williams, BFD Book Blog, Inked Rainbow Reads, Bayou Book Junkie, Amanda C. Stone, Molly Lolly, Cate Ashwood, Wicked Faerie's Tales and Reviews, Wake Up Your Wild Side, MM Good Book Reviews, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, Rainbow Gold Reviews, My Fiction Nook, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Love Bytes, It’s Raining Men, Decadent Delights, Tara Lain, Elisa - My Reviews and Ramblings, Nephylim, Andrew Q. Gordon, Queer Town Abbey, Because Two Men Are Better Than One

Rafflecopter Prize: An Orrin prize pack: A copy of the book, N’awlins Exotica inspired jewelry, a coffee mug, a GC from Starbucks, and a special prize.
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