Linda Kay Silva (born February 10, 1960)

Linda Kay Silva, a.k.a. Storm, lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her partner and a menagerie of animals. She wakes up happy, laughs all day long, and lives a life that had included African safaris, Thai temples, riding Harleys, and floating down rivers on bamboo rafts. By day, she is a World, American, British, Asian, and Women’s Literature Professor at a military university. By night, she is a lover of all things zombie-esque and will watch any movie where a zombie eats a human being. She’s has been known to offer parts in her books to her students, who touch her life as much as she hopes she touches theirs. She is proud to be with Sapphire Books and looks forward to a long and satisfying writing career with them. Linda Kay prides herself on responding to everyone who has ever written her, and she encourages you to join her and Sapphire Books on Facebook.

Linda Kay Silva is the recipient of the 2013 Alice B. Medal for her body of work.

Magical Echo won a 2013 Rainbow Award as Best Lesbian Sci-Fi / Futuristic.

Source: www.goodreads.com/author/show/26521.Linda_Kay_Silva

Further Readings:

Magical Echo by Linda Kay Silva
Paperback: 326 pages
Publisher: Sapphire Books Publishing (May 1, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1939062039
ISBN-13: 978-1939062031
Amazon: Magical Echo
Amazon Kindle: Magical Echo

There are a lot of bodies buried in the Las Vegas desert, and Echo has to work doubly hard not to end up one of them. Between murderous antics of supernaturals who are off the grid, and becoming mired in a murder investigation with too many unanswered questions, Echo and company must navigate the treacherous waters of the Vegas strip. As Echo realizes there is an enemy within her ranks, she must call on the one person who wants nothing more to do with her, as well as accept help from some of the most unlikeliest allies. Can Echo solve the murder before becoming the killer's next victim? Does she, at last, have what it takes to lead her people through the darkness of Vegas and back into the light? And, perhaps most importantly, what magical secret lies dormant within Echo waiting patiently to come to life?

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

Chris Carter & Peter Kaiser

Christopher Joseph Carter (born 4 May 1952) was an independent Member of Parliament in New Zealand, and a former member of the New Zealand Labour Party until his expulsion. Carter was a senior Cabinet Minister in the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand, serving lastly as Minister of Education, Minister Responsible for the Education Review Office and Minister of Ethnic Affairs. He was the Member of Parliament for the Te Atatu electorate, where he was first elected in 1993. He did not win re-election (to Waipareira) in 1996, but won a new and expanded Te Atatu seat in 1999. In 2010 he was suspended from the Labour Party caucus following a dispute with party leader Phil Goff, shortly afterwards he became an independent MP. He was expelled by the Labour Party for breaching the Party's constitution in bringing the Party in disrepute, on 11 October 2010. In September 2011 Carter resigned from Parliament following his appointment to a United Nations position in Afghanistan.

Chris Carter was born on 4 May 1952, and brought up in the Auckland suburb of Panmure. He was educated at St Peter's College, Auckland and at the University of Auckland where he received an MA(Hons) in history.

Before entering politics, Carter had served as a teacher and as a poultry farmer. His partner is Peter Kaiser, a headmaster, and they have been together for over 30 years. On 10 February 2007, Carter and Kaiser were joined in the first civil union for a Cabinet Minister or Member of Parliament since civil unions in New Zealand were introduced after legislation was passed in December 2004.


Peter Kaiser & partner Chris Carter MP at last year's Big Gay Out
Chris Carter was an independent Member of Parliament in New Zealand, and a former member of the New Zealand Labour Party until his expulsion. Before entering politics, Carter had served as a teacher and as a poultry farmer. His partner is Peter Kaiser, a headmaster, and they have been together for over 30 years. On February 10, 2007, Carter and Kaiser were joined in the first civil union for a Cabinet Minister or Member of Parliament since civil unions in New Zealand were introduced after legislation was passed in December 2004.

( Read more... )

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Carter_(politician)

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

Jon & Michael Galluccio

The story of Jon and Michael Galluccio, a gay New Jersey couple, and their fight to adopt their HIV-positive infant foster son, Adam, would sound like the script for a stirring made-for-television movie if the protagonists weren't both men. Complete with controversy, opposition, failures, moments of grace, and an amazing subplot in which Jon seeks out his own birth mother, An American Family is a page-turner, simply and affectingly written. Jon and Michael's first meeting with 3-month-old Adam took place in a run-down nursery filled with "medically fragile" babies whose parents had abandoned them to the state at birth. The frail, drug-addicted Adam was lifted into Michael's arms. Although his file read "Foster Only," the head nurse looked over Jon and Michael and asked, "You're adopting him, right?" Adam would become one of the few, very lucky at-risk children to find a permanent, loving home, and in 1997 the Galluccios would make news as the first unmarried couple in New Jersey to legally adopt a child together. An American Family is inspiring reading for anyone with a child, or whose family doesn't outwardly resemble the Cleavers or the Van Dykes. --Regina Marler

Jon and Michael Galluccio, married for more than 30 years, live in North Haledon, with two of their three children (Rosa, Adam, and Madison). They have also three grandchildren. Their story has been widely followed in the press, with reports in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as on The Rosie O’Donnell Show, Good Morning America, and Larry King Live.

In 1997, the ACLU-NJ took on the case of Jon Holden and Michael Galluccio, a gay couple fighting to adopt their two-year-old foster son. They won the case, and New Jersey consequently became the first state to grant equal standing to gay and lesbian couples seeking to adopt.


Photo Credit: Mike Derer, Associated Press
Written by two gay men whose court challenge helped rewrite New Jersey law to allow joint adoption by unmarried couples, An American Family explores the emotional, psychological and legal battles they faced when dealing with issues of foster care, adoption and social intolerance. Together from 1979, in 1995 they became foster parents of Adam. In 1997, they won the case, and New Jersey consequently became the first state to grant equal standing to gay and lesbian couples seeking to adopt.



Further Readings:

An American Family by Michael Galluccio
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (March 20, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312288875
ISBN-13: 978-0312288877
Amazon: An American Family

Written by two gay men whose court challenge helped rewrite New Jersey law to allow joint adoption by unmarried couples, this moving, often funny and sometimes quite poignant memoir explores the emotional, psychological and legal battles that gay couples (and unmarried heterosexual couples) often face when dealing with issues of foster care, adoption and social intolerance. In 1995, Michael Galluccio and Jon Holden, who had been partners for 16 years, became foster parents to Adam, an HIV+ infant who was also addicted to heroin, cocaine and alcohol. After they nursed him through his first years, their desire to adopt him was thwarted by state law that did not allow gay (and unmarried straight) couples to co-adopt. The story of how they won their case is only one thread of this engrossing story, for during this time the Galluccios (Jon changed his last name so that their son would have a single name ) also took into foster care and then adopted another at-risk infant as well as that child's 18-year-old sister, who was pregnant. By the end of the book, the Gallucios have become the parents of three children and grandfathers to one. Concurrently, Jon, who was himself adopted, tells the story of his search for his biological mother. Written in a direct, compelling style, the Galluccios' story offers an engaging glimpse into the increasingly complex institution of the family, and should appeal to those who have been touched by adoption, as well as to gay and lesbian readers.

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

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

Grant Holmes & Jeffrey John

Jeffrey Philip Hywel John (born 10 February 1953) is a Church of England priest and the current Dean of St Albans. He made headlines in 2003 when he was the first person to have openly been in a same-sex relationship to be nominated as a Church of England bishop. Owing to the consequent controversy it was claimed he had withdrawn his acceptance of the nomination.

On 20 May 2003 John's appointment as Bishop of Reading, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Oxford, was announced. The nomination led to controversy both in the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion owing to John's long-term relationship (beginning in 1976) with the Revd Grant Holmes (born 1952), also a Church of England priest, despite publicly stating that their relationship was celibate. In August 2006, John and the Reverend Grant Holmes entered into a civil partnership.

John was born in Tonyrefail in South Wales in 1953. He studied at Hertford College, Oxford, where he gained a first in classics and modern languages in 1975. He subsequently studied theology at St Stephen's House, Oxford and obtained second class honours. After a curacy in Penarth he returned to Oxford in 1980 to study for a doctorate in Pauline theology. He became chaplain at Brasenose College. In 1984 he was appointed Dean of Divinity at Magdalen College, Oxford. In 1991 he was one of the founder members of Affirming Catholicism, a group promoting Catholicism within the Anglican tradition. He is also a trustee of the organisation. He also supported the campaign for the ordination of women. From 1991 he was the vicar of Holy Trinity, Eltham, (in the Diocese of Southwark) in south London. In 1997 he became Canon Chancellor and Theologian of Southwark Cathedral.

John received criticism on his nomination both for his stance on gay issues and because he had not publicly repented his past sexual activities in such a way as to indicate that they were wrong. A number of conservative Anglican leaders in various countries stated their intention to split from the communion if the consecration went ahead. Concerns over the potential for division led the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Rowan Williams, to pressure John to step down and, on 6 July 2003, he was announced as having withdrawn his acceptance of the nomination to the bishopric though it later emerged that he had not in fact agreed to do so. In spite of the withdrawal of John the differences in views of homosexuality within the Anglican church continued to cause controversy in 2003 following the election of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church in the United States.


Jeffrey John is a Church of England priest and the current Dean of St Albans. On 20 May 2003 John's appointment as Bishop of Reading, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Oxford, was announced. The nomination led to controversy both in the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion owing to John's long-term relationship (beginning in 1976) with the Revd Grant Holmes (born 1952), also a Church of England priest. In August 2006, John and Holmes entered into a civil partnership.

( Read more... )

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_John

( Further Readings )

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

Anne Charlotte Leffler-Edgren & Sofia Kovalevskaya

Sofia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya (15 January 1850 – 10 February 1891) was the first major Russian female mathematician, responsible for important original contributions to analysis, differential equations and mechanics, and the first woman appointed to a full professorship in Northern Europe. She was also one of the first women to work for a scientific journal as an editor. Sophia's lover in later life was Anne Charlotte Leffler-Edgren (1849-1892), the duchess of Cajanello. The two women wrote a number of books and plays together, including A Struggle for Happiness. Leffler-Edgren wrote a short biography of Kovalevsky as an introduction to the mathematician's autobiography.

There are some alternative transliterations of her name. She herself used Sophie Kowalevski (or occasionally Kowalevsky), for her academic publications. After moving to Sweden, she called herself Sonya. (

Picture: Anne Charlotte Leffler-Edgren)

Sofia Kovalevskaya (née Korvin-Krukovskaya), was born in Moscow, the second of three children. Her father, Vasily Vasilyevich Korvin-Krukovsky, was Lieutenant-General of Artillery who served in the Imperial Russian Army. Her mother, Yelizaveta Fedorovna Schubert, was a scholarly woman of German ancestry and Sofia's grandmother was Romani. When she was 11 years old, the wall paper in her room had differential and integral analysis, which was her early preparation for calculus.

( Read more... )

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

( Further Readings )

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

Release Day Blitz: Jake by Hilary Storm & Jake Wilson

Jake (Inked Brothers: Jake Book 1) by Hilary Storm & Jacob Wilson
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Amazon Kindle: Jake (Inked Brothers: Jake Book 1)

Jake Wilson is a very successful tattoo artist in California. He lives his life on the go and there's not a shortage of women at his disposal at any point in time. His life is perfect for a man who has no desire to commit and the stories he could tell you would either terrify you or have you intrigued and hoping to become his next treat. What happens when he meets the first female to challenge him?

Dani Green is a very successful club owner who has just recently relocated. Her partnership with Jax Wilson brings her face to face with Jax's twin brother Jake. His sexy charm won't work on her because she sees right through his intentions. What happens when Jake is determined to break through her sophisticated demeanor and show her his true personality? Will she fall for his wild existence or will she be the one to leave him always wanting more?



About the Author: Hilary Storm lives with her high school sweetheart and three children in Enid, Oklahoma. She drives her husband crazy talking about book characters everyday like they are real people. She graduated from Southwestern Oklahoma State University with an MBA in Accounting and has a full time job as an accountant. Her passions include being a mom, writing, reading, photography, music, mocha coffee, and spending time with friends and family. She is the author of the International Best Selling 'Rebel Walking' series. Book one: 'In a Heartbeat' was released June 2013, Book two: 'Heaven Sent' was released in September 2013. Book 2.5: 'Banded Together' released Jan 2014. Book 3: 'No Strings Attached' released March 2014. Book 4: 'Hold Me Closer' released May 2014. Book 5: 'Fighting the Odds' is due to release Oct 2014!

Social Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hilary...
Webpage: http://www.hilarystormwrites.com
Twitter: @hilary_storm

Jacob Wilson was born in Joplin Missouri and still resides there. He loves his bulldogs and treats them as if they are his children. He is a nationally qualified NPC physique competitor/fitness model. After appearing on numerous Hilary Storm covers and traveling together they decided to write their first book together. Jake, is Jacob's debut novel.

Social Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JacobWilsonNPC/info?tab=page_info
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JacobWilsonNPC

Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/NzM4OWYzZTkyOTEzNTU0MzI0NWVmNjkzODUyYjQ1OjI4/?

New Release: Best Gay Romance 2015 edited by Felice Picano

New series editor Felice Picano has rounded up the luminaries of gay fiction for their takes on the promises of new love and the surprises of long-term relationships.

Best Gay Romance 2015 edited by Felice Picano
Series: Best Gay Romance
Paperback: 244 pages
Publisher: Cleis Press (February 17, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1627780920
ISBN-13: 978-1627780926

Reader, I Married Him

Gay romance is coming into full bloom in the wake of DOMA’s fall and the spread of marriage equality across the land. New series editor Felice Picano has rounded up the luminaries of gay fiction for their takes on the promises of new love and the surprises of long-term relationships. Known for changing the landscape of gay literature, Picano reveals himself at his finest when it comes to the subject of love and sex. The stories in this volume range from the gritty to the fantastic, from the sweet and dreamy to sidewalk hard, with tales of missed connections, fantasies of vengeance and even a coolly sexy cowboy yarn. Tom Baker’s “Jury Duty” brings new meaning to the concept of jury tampering when deliberating over a case goes from ho-hum to a thrilling undercover romance. Two cowboys find a Brokeback love for each other while in pursuit along the Rio Grande in Dale Chase’s “Matters of the Heart.” In a meet cute for our times, Jay Mandal’s “To Dye For” follows two former classmates who bump into each other, and discover they like exactly the same thing—men! In Best Gay Romance 2015, Felice Picano gathers a sweepingly romantic collection of short fiction that is long on love.

“A leading light in the gay literary world.” —Library Journal

“Think of Picano as a queer literary renaissance man.” —Richard Labonté

Cleis Press is offering 1 print copy giveaway to one commenter on this blog (US addresses only).

( Excerpt )

FELICE PICANO graduated cum laude from Queens College in 1964 with English Department honors. He founded SeaHorse Press in 1977 and, with Terry Helbing and Larry Mitchell, The Gay Presses of New York in 1981 where he was editor in chief. He was an editor and writer for The Advocate, Blueboy, Mandate, Gaysweek, and Christopher Street. He was the Books Editor of The New York Native and a culture reviewer at The Los Angeles Examiner, San Francisco Examiner, New York Native, Harvard Lesbian and Gay Review, and the Lamdba Book Report. He lives in West Hollywood, CA.