Belinda McBride (born March 7)

"I'm an author based in far Northern California where I live with my family and pack of wild Siberian Huskies. (OK, they aren't wild, just crazy.)

I write erotic romance, primarily under the umbrella of speculative fiction. That term covers science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy and basically anything that has no basis in reality! LOL! The sexuality of my characters is fluid, so if you are turned off by menage or same sex (or opposite sex) interaction, please check the book blurb before you buy.

I've won the EPIC Award for Paranormal Romance with Blacque/Bleu, the Passionate Plume in Sci Fi Romance with An Uncommon Whore, and have either placed, finaled or been nominated for several other awards including the RT Reviewer's Choice (with Cherise Sinclair and Sierra Cartwright for Doms of Dark Haven) and the Rainbow Book Awards."

An Uncommon Whore won a 2010 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Sci-fi / Futuristic. Blacque Bleu won a 2011 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Paranormal / Horror. The Bacchi won a 2012 Rainbow Award as Best Bisexual / Transgender Sci-fi/Fantasy.

Further Readings:

An Uncommon Whore by Belinda McBride
Publisher: Loose Id LLC (January 26, 2010)
Amazon Kindle: An Uncommon Whore

Pasha is a slave, whoring for travelers at the most dangerous bar on Warlan. He has no memory, no future of his own, yet deep inside Pasha knows that that he is meant for better things. The day that Pasha spots the dangerous pirate in the bar, he knows that he mustn't let the stranger slip away, regardless of what he must do to attract his attention.

Captain Griffin Hawke spent the greater part of a decade searching for his lost king, only to find Helios Dayspring crouched between his knees, swathed in the robes and shackles of a whore. Though he is appalled by the downfall of his king, the hardened officer finds himself falling for the allure of the sensual creature who has taken his place. Returning Helios to his position on the throne is the only right thing to do, yet Griffin knows that in doing so, he risks losing his lover forever.

Blacque/Bleu by Belinda McBride
Publisher: Loose Id LLC (October 12, 2010)
Amazon Kindle: Blacque/Bleu

Lukas Blacque is a deeply closeted werewolf, and almost more than anything in life, he desires his neighbor, Oliver Bleu. Oliver is a vampire who is slowly dying from insomnia. More than anything, he needs Lukas Blacque and the rich blood that flows through his veins.

On the day that Blacque makes an important commitment to his family and pack, he also succumbs to temptation and agrees to a passionate weekend with the alluring vampire. At sunset on Friday, it’s all about urgent lust and the drive to lose his virginity. When the sun rises on Monday, lust has shifted to love and devotion. He's not sure he can walk away, even for the commitment he's made. He's even less sure Bleu will let him go.

In Blacque’s world, vampires and werewolves make uneasy bedfellows, and a gay werewolf is an impossibility. In Bleu’s world, all living creatures are little more than vessels for food and sex. But in the mysterious and magical town of Arcada, the unexpected is always waiting right around the corner. Now Blacque and Bleu just need to survive long enough for Arcada’s magic to work for them.

The Bacchi by Belinda McBride
Publisher: Loose Id LLC (July 30, 2012)
Amazon Kindle: The Bacchi

The Bacchi Lefi Dhrahn lives a life of luxury and decadence, but is tortured by memories of a lost love. He survives the pain by surrounding himself with sex, beauty, and all forms of self-indulgence. When he meets the alluring Inspector Afton Teris, Lefi believes the detective will make a very nice addition to his string of conquests.

Afton Teris is a Valoran hermaphrodite, and like all members of his species, is stern, cerebral and disapproves of the frivolous prostitute. Afton orients as a male, but the beautiful Lefi Dhrahn stirs him sexually, making him question everything he knows about himself. To further confuse his emotions, Afton finds himself tempted by the forbidden pleasures surrounding the Bacchi.

When a kidnapping ring strikes close to home, the two go undercover on a brothel barge to investigate a slavery operation. There, Lefi is confronted by painful memories from his past, while Afton is faced with a horror that threatens his future, and perhaps his very life. Their survival lies with one another, but only if Lefi can set aside his pain and listen to his heart.

More Rainbow Awards at my website: www.elisarolle.com/, Rainbow Awards/2010, 2011 & 2012

Alexis "Alex" Niedbalski & Wanda Sykes

Wanda Sykes (born March 7, 1964) is an American writer, comedian, actress, and voice artist. She earned the 1999 Emmy Award for her writing on The Chris Rock Show. In 2004, Entertainment Weekly named Sykes as one of the 25 funniest people in America. She is well known for her role as Barbara Baran on The New Adventures of Old Christine and for her appearances on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm.

In November 2009, The Wanda Sykes Show, her own late-night talkshow, premiered on Fox, airing Saturday nights, until it was cancelled in April 2010. Sykes has also had a successful career in film, appearing in Monster-in-Law, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Evan Almighty, and License to Wed, and voiced characters in Over the Hedge, Barnyard, Brother Bear 2, Rio, and Ice Age: Continental Drift.

Sykes was born in Portsmouth, Virginia and raised in the Washington, D.C., area. Her mother, Marion Louise (née Peoples), worked as a banker, and her father, Harry Ellsworth Sykes, was a US Army colonel employed at the Pentagon. Sykes attended Arundel High School in Gambrills, Maryland, and went on to graduate from Hampton University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha. After college, her first job was as a procurement officer with the National Security Agency (NSA), where she worked for five years.

Sykes ' family history was researched for an episode of the 2012 PBS genealogy program Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates Jr. Her ancestry was traced back to a 1683 court case involving her paternal ninth great-grandmother Elizabeth Banks, a free white woman and indentured servant, who gave birth to a biracial child Mary Banks fathered by a slave, who inherited her mother's free status. According to historian Ira Berlin, a specialist in the history of American slavery, the Sykes family history is "... the only such case that I know of in which it is possible to trace a black family rooted in freedom from the late 17th century to the present."


Wanda Sykes (born March 7, 1964) is an American writer, comedian, actress, and voice artist. She earned the 1999 Emmy Award. In November 2008, she publicly came out as gay while at a same-sex marriage rally in Las Vegas regarding Proposition 8, which forbids new marriages of same-sex couples in California. One month earlier, Sykes married her wife, Alex, whom she met in 2006; they have two children. Sykes publicly expressed being devastated after California voters passed state Proposition 8.



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

( Further Readings )

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

Eleanor Roosevelt & Lorena Hickok

Eleanor Roosevelt (October 11, 1884 – November 7, 1962), wife of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, and, shortly before her death in 1962, she was voted the Most Admired Woman in America. The woman Eleanor herself most admired was journalist Lorena Hickok (1893-1968). They first met in 1928 and remained close, basically living together from 1939 until the end of their lives.

Thousands of letters and notes between the two women show that they had an intimate and passionate relationship. For instance, in a letter dated December 5, 1933, Hickok wrote to Eleanor: “I remember your eyes, with a kind of teasing smile in them and the feeling of that soft spot just north-east of the corner of your mouth against my lips.” On September 1, 1934, Eleanor wrote to Lorena: “I wish I could lie down beside you tonight & take you in my arms.”

Franklin Roosevelt, paralyzed by polio, apparently approved of the relationship between his wife and Hickok, who lived at the White House from 1939 to 1945. However, Hickok’s image was usually removed from photos printed in the press at the time, and she maintained a room at the Mayflower Hotel where she could meet less intimate friends and associates.

After the death of Franklin Roosevelt, Hickok moved to the Roosevelt estate with Eleanor, where she had a cottage of her own. After Eleanor’s death, Hickok continued to live on the estate until her own death six years later.


Lorena Alice Hickok was an American journalist and confidante of Eleanor Roosevelt. Her relationship with Roosevelt has been the subject of research. A key passage from just one early 12-page handwritten missive to Lorena from Eleanor sheds light on their relationship:Goodnight, dear one. I want to put my arms around you and kiss you at the corner of your mouth. And in a little more than a week now, I shall! It is not universally accepted by historians that the two were romantically connected.

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Stern, Keith (2009-09-01). Queers in History: The Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Historical Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals (Kindle Locations 10390-10401). Perseus Books Group. Kindle Edition.

Lorena Alice Hickok (March 7, 1893 – May 1, 1968) was an American journalist and confidante of Eleanor Roosevelt. Her relationship with Roosevelt has been the subject of research.

Lorena Hickok, popularly known as "Hick", was born in East Troy in Walworth County, Wisconsin, the daughter of Anna Adelsa (née Waite) and Addison Hickok. During childhood, Hickok experienced a troubled family life, characterized by abuse, unemployment, and repeated moves. She left home at the age of fourteen to work as a maid until her mother's cousin, Ella Ellis, took her in. While living with Ellis, Hickok finished high school and enrolled at Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Hickok never adjusted to college and dropped out after one year. She was then hired to cover train arrivals and departures and write personal interest stories at The Battle Creek Evening News. To attempt to follow in the footsteps of her role model, novelist Edna Ferber, she eventually joined the Milwaukee Sentinel as its society editor, but moved on to the city beat, where she developed a knack as an interviewer. Hickok then worked in Minneapolis and New York, but was unsuccessful in such a big city and was fired after just a month. She returned to Minneapolis to work for the Minneapolis Tribune and enrolled at the University of Minnesota, but ended up leaving upon being forced to live in a women's dormitory. She stayed with the Minneapolis Tribune, where she was given opportunities unusual for a female reporter. She had a by-line and was the paper's chief reporter, covering politics and football and preparing editorials. She left the Minneapolis Tribune in 1926. After a period of travel, and ill health, she went to New York. After working for "The Mirror" for about a year, Hickok landed a job with the Associated Press in 1928, where she became one of the wire service's most valued correspondents. She reported in a prominent way on such huge events as the Lindbergh kidnapping. Her specialty was campaign reporting, often sharing campaign trails with her male colleagues.

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

Eleanor Roosevelt had a deeply committed relationship with her husband that involved working together closely and raising five children. They also both had lovers and committed relationships outside their marriage. For several years Eleanor Roosevelt was romantically and sexually involved with journalist Lorena Hickok; later this relationship was replaced by a profound, if complicated, friendship. Hickok reported on Roosevelt's political work and, in 1959, authored a book for young adults, The Story of Eleanor Roosevelt, that detailed her former lover's life and work. Their letters give a profound sense of their involvement. On February 4, 1934, Roosevelt wrote to Hickok from the White House:

Hick darling, I just talked to you, darling, it was so good to hear your voice. If I just could take you in my arms. Dear, I often feel rebellious too & yet I know we get more joy when we are together than we would have if we lived apart in the same city & could only meet for short periods now & then. Someday perhaps fate will be kind & let us arrange a life more to our liking [but] for the time being we are lucky to have what we have. Dearest, we are happy together & strong relationships have to grow deep roots.

Roosevelt remained intensely involved with her "ladies' brain trust" for decades. Later in life, working with the United Nations, she was deeply committed to international human rights.
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--A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski

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
Amazon: Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time

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

Kevin McDaid, Mark Feehily & Myles Brown

Kevin McDaid (born in Nigeria on 7 March 1984) was brought up in Newcastle, England. He was best known as member of the British boy band V, which he joined in 2003 along with four other boys. The band had three fairly successful chart hits during 2004, before splitting up in February 2005, less than a year after their first single was released.

Whilst he was still an unknown, McDaid posed in explicit nude photographs for the UK-based amateur porn website ladstrip.co.uk. In one series of photographs he engaged in various sexual acts with another man, "Ross", whose own solo pictures can still be found on the site. Due to McDaid's uncertain age at the time the photographs were taken, sites that published them after he came into the limelight were threatened with legal action by lawyers acting for him. "The snaps, which showed him in various steamy clinches, were posted on a gay internet site under the name of "Tight Calvin"...Kevin was only about 17 or 18 at the time."

He is now a professional photographer which include photography for Westlife's albums Where We Are and Gravity, which were released in 2009 and 2010 respectively along with other artists and models. He also did all the photography in Westlife's 2010 tour programme. Other names he has worked with include Lee Ryan, Aaron Renfree, Jedward, Max George (singer) and Alphabeat.

In August 2005, he was announced in The Sun newspaper as the long-term boyfriend of Westlife member Mark Feehily. They had been a couple since January 2005. They got engaged on 28 January 2010, and Feehily confirmed the news via Twitter. The couple owned a pet pug named Saffy and French bulldog named Nullah.


Kevin McDaid was brought up in Newcastle, England. He was best known as member of the British boy band V, which he joined in 2003 along with four other boys. Mark Feehily is one of the lead singers of the former Irish boy band Westlife. They had been a couple since January 2005, when they met at a Charity concert in Dublin. They got engaged on 28 January 2010. The couple own a pet pug named Saffy and French bulldog named Nullah. On 31 December 2011, Feehily announced on Twitter that he and McDaid had split after seven years together.


Kevin McDaid is currently in a relationship with Myles Brown (born 1989) since beginning of 2014. On January 2014, London-based model/dancer Myles posted a picture of the two of them at the cinema on Instagram, writing: “Friday night is date night. We’ve pretty much cleared out the confection counter.” Other shots show the two of them topless, flexing their muscles and just wearing towels. On February 2015, Myles posted, always on Instagram "Today we celebrate our love".

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

Marcus Michael Patrick "Mark" Feehily (born 28 May 1980) is one of the lead singers of the former Irish boy band Westlife.

Mark Feehily was born in Sligo, Ireland, to Verdon and Oliver Feehily. He has two brothers, Barry (born 1985) and Colin (born 1989).

He rose to fame as one of the two lead singers of the boyband Westlife. He shared lead vocals with Shane Filan. Before Westlife, Timothy Keith, Shane Filan and Kian Egan came from the band IOYOU, which released the single "Together Girl Forever". Louis Walsh, the manager of the 1990s boy-band Boyzone, was contacted by Filan's mother and came to know about the group. The group was established on 3 July 1998 with the addition of two more members, Nicky Byrne and Brian McFadden. Boyzone singer Ronan Keating was brought in to co-manage the group with Walsh. Mark has also co-written songs, some with the other band members.

Mark has sung completely solo on songs for the band in some instances:

"Imaginary Diva" (from the World of Our Own album)
"Moon River" (from the Allow Us to Be Frank album)
"Talk Me Down" (from the Where We Are album)
"Before It's Too Late" (from the Gravity album).

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

( Further Readings )

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

Luisa Isabel Álvarez de Toledo, 21st Duchess of Medina Sidonia & Liliana Maria Dahlmann

Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo y Maura, 21st Duchess of Medina Sidonia, Grandee of Spain (Luisa Isabel María del Carmen Cristina Rosalía Joaquina; 21 August 1936 – 7 March 2008) was the holder of the ducal title Medina-Sidonia in Spain. She was nicknamed La Duquesa Roja or The Red Duchess.

Hours before her death, 7 March 2008, Luisa Isabel married Liliana Maria Dahlmann in a civil ceremony on her deathbed. Today, the Dowager Duchess Liliana Maria, her legal widow, serves as life-president of the Fundación Casa Medina Sidonia.

Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo died on 7 March 2008, at the age of 72, in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain.

She was the 21st Duchess of the ducal family of Medina-Sidonia, one of the most prestigious noble families and Grandees of Spain. She was also the 15th Duchess of Fernandina and Princess of Montalbán, 17th Marchioness of Villafranca del Bierzo, 18th Marchioness of los Vélez, 25th Countess of Niebla, and three times a Grandee of Spain.

Luisa Isabel was born in Estoril, Portugal, the only child of Joaquín Alvarez de Toledo y Caro, the 20th Duke of Medina Sidonia, and of María del Carmen Maura y Herrera, daughter of Gabriel Maura y Gamazo, the 1st Duke of Maura, and wife Cuban Julia de Herrera y Herrera, 5th Countess of la Mortera. Her grandfather was Antonio Maura, who had been Prime Minister of Spain. Her third cousin is actress Carmen Maura.

On 16 July 1955, in Mortera, Cantabria, she married José Leoncio González de Gregorio y Martí, son of Leoncio González de Gregorio y Arribas, Martínez de Azagra y Turull, and wife Leticia Martí y Rodríguez de Castro, with whom she had three children.


In 1983, Liliana Maria Dahlmann attended the wedding of Leoncio Alonso González de Gregorio and Alvarez de Toledo as a friend of the bride. There she met his mother, Luisa Isabel Álvarez de Toledo, 21st Duchess of Medina Sidonia, who shortly after became her girlfriend. After more than 20 years of relationship, on March 7, 2008, she married in articulo mortis with Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo and Maura, who died eleven hours after as a result of lung cancer. Today, the Dowager Duchess Liliana Maria serves as life-president of the Fundación Casa Medina Sidonia.


Palace of the Dukes in Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

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Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luisa_Isabel_%C3%81lvarez_de_Toledo,_21st_Duchess_of_Medina_Sidonia

Liliane Marie Dahlmann, Dowager Duchess of Medina Sidonia (born January 31, 1956, in Kaiserslautern) is an historian and lifelong president of the Foundation House of Medina Sidonia. She was the wife of Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo and Maura, called Red Duchess, whom she married in articulo mortis on March 7, 2008.

Born in Germany, she moved to Spain in 1963 and spent her youth in Barcelona, ​​where she majored in History, specializing in Modern and Contemporary History. In 1983, Liliane attended the wedding of Leoncio Alonso González de Gregorio and Alvarez de Toledo as a friend of the bride. There she met his mother, Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo and Maura, XXI Duchess of Medina Sidonia, XVII Marchioness of Villafranca del Bierzo, XVIII Marquise de los Vélez and XXV Countess Fog, three times Grandee of Spain, who shortly after became her girlfriend although the Duchess did not divorce her husband Jose Leoncio González de Gregorio and Marti until 2005, at his request.

After more than 20 years of relationship, on March 7, 2008, she married in articulo mortis with Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo and Maura, who died eleven hours after as a result of lung cancer.

Since the creation of the foundation, in 1990, Liliane served as lifetime secretary. However, as the Duchess of Medina Sidonia stipulated in the statutes of the foundation, at her death, Liliane took the role of president for life, and so she did in 2008. But the children of the Duchess claim that the foundation is reformulated, because the estate donated by their mother when she was alive, most of all their assets, must be reduced to meet the legal rights of the heirs (in the proportions established by the Civil Code in Spain), without prejudice to the interests of the State and the declaration of Cultural Interest (with consequent indivisibility), which affects the heritage of the XXI duquesa.

Source: es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liliane_Dahlmann

( Further Readings )

Manuel de Falla & Maurice Ravel

Manuel de Falla (November 23, 1876 – November 14, 1946) spent much of his life in Grenada, and his music reflects the history and atmosphere of Spain. He wrote the opera La Vida Breve, symphonies including Nights in the Gardens of Spain, and ballets including El Amor Brujo and The Three-Cornered Hat.

In 1907 at the advice of Joaquín Turina and Víctor Mirecki Larramat, Falla moved to Paris. There he met a number of composers who had an influence on his style, including the impressionists Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Paul Dukas. Ravel and Falla met in the summer of 1907, introduced by the pianist Ricardo Viñes. Falla spent several years in Paris before the First World War, during which they established a long and warm friendship.

Falla was especially impressed by the authentically Spanish flavour of works like Rapsodie espagnole and L'Heure espagnole, even though Ravel did not get to know the country until many years later when he was 52.

They were divided by their views on religion. Falla, an ardent Catholic, was ever trying to find evidence of religious feeling in his friend and his music (e.g. Le jardin féerique in Ma mère l'oye); and it was he who went to fetch a priest when Ravel's father was dying (Falla, [1979]).


Ricardo Vines and Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel was one of France's most popular composers, best remembered today for Bolero. Biographer Benjamin Ivry noted, "According to friends, Ravel was fascinated by the young gay men at Le Boeuf sur le Toit [a cabaret-bar, named after a surrealist ballet, frequented by Jean COCTEAU and Francis POULENC], who danced with one another, although he never danced himself." Ravel conducted simultaneous affairs with pianist Ricardo Vines and Spanish composer Manuel de FALLA.

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Source: http://www.maurice-ravel.net/falla.htm

Maurice Ravel (March 7, 1875 – December 28, 1937) was one of France’s most popular composers, best remembered today for Bolero.

Ravel served in the French army during World War I. After the war he retired to his villa at Montfortl’Amaury and devoted himself to music—and, reportedly, his collection of pornography.

Hispiano compositions—including Sonatine, Miroirs, Gaspard de la Nuit, and Le Tombeau de Couperin—were stunningly original and an inspiration to other composers. Ravel included elements of jazz in his Piano Concerto in G and composed Piano Concerto for the Left Hand around the same time. He wrote two operas, L ’heure espagnole and L ’enfant et les sortileges. He wrote the ballet Daphnis et Chloé for Sergei DIAGHILEV.

Biographer Benjamin Ivry noted, "According to friends, Ravel was fascinated by the young gay men at Le Boeuf sur le Toit [a cabaret-bar, named after a surrealist ballet, frequented by Jean COCTEAU and Francis POULENC], who danced with one another, although he never danced himself." Ravel conducted simultaneous affairs with pianist Ricardo Vines and Spanish composer Manuel de FALLA.

Ravel is not known to have had any intimate relationships, and his personal life, and especially his sexuality, remain a mystery. Ravel made a remark at one time suggesting that because he was such a perfectionist composer, so devoted to his work, he could never have a lasting intimate relationship with anyone. However, according to close friend and student Manuel Rosenthal, he asked violinist Hélène Jourdan-Mourhange to marry him, although she dismissed him, saying "No, Maurice, I'm extremely fond of you, as you know, but only as a friend, and I couldn't possibly consider marrying you". He is quoted as saying "The only love affair I have ever had was with music". Some of his friends suggested that Ravel frequented the bordellos of Paris, but no factual evidence has ever been found to substantiate this rumor.

( Read more... )

Stern, Keith. Queers in History: The Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Historical Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals. Perseus Books Group. Kindle Edition.

( Further Readings )

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

Robin Becker (born March 7, 1951)

Robin Becker (born March 7, 1951) is an American poet, critic, feminist, and professor. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is author of seven collections of poetry, most recently, Domain of Perfect Affection (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2006). Her All-American Girl (University of Pittsburgh Press), won the 1996 Lambda Literary Award in Poetry. Becker earned a B.A. in 1973 and an M.A. from Boston University in 1976. She resides in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania and spends her summers on the North Fork of Long Island.

Becker taught for seventeen years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and currently and is Professor of English and Women's Studies at Pennsylvania State University, where she has taught since 1993. She also teaches workshops such as those at the Summer Program Poetry Workshops at The Fine Arts Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

“Becker grew up listening to her grandmother’s stories, learning from her the nuances of storytelling and her family’s history in Ukraine. Becker was also greatly influenced by the women writers whose poetry was available in the 1970s, including Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, Maxine Kumin, Denise Levertov, and Susan Griffin.“

Her first two books were published by Alice James Books, the first in 1977, Personal Effects (a three-poet anthology, including Robin Becker, Helena Minton and Marilyn Zuckerman), which makes her one of the earliest cooperative members of the press, which was founded in 1973, so it seems fitting that Ed Ochester has said that "Robin is one of the most varied of the poets on the Pitt list in her style and subject matter--and the foremost feminist poet of her generation.”

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

( Further Readings )

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

New Release: Innocence by Suki Fleet

Innocence by Suki Fleet
Paperback: 230 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (March 2, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1632165600
ISBN-13: 978-1632165602
Amazon: Innocence
Amazon Kindle: Innocence

At eighteen Christopher is restless and longs for something he cannot name. His mother vanished when he was very small and after spending more than ten years travelling on the rivers and canals, drifting between towns and schools, with mostly only his dad and brother, Jay, for company, he is desperate to escape that claustrophobic existence. When they return to settle in Arlow, a town they haven’t been back to in over a decade, everything changes.
Malachi has given up on love. He lost his heart when he lost his innocence. Now at twenty nine he just exists--getting drunk, fixing cars and playing the music he loves.
When their paths cross one night at a gypsy camp, Christopher thinks he's found what he's been looking for, but Malachi is afraid. He is afraid their love will destroy everything Christopher has ever known. They are both ghosts from one another's past, and if Malachi's secrets are revealed more than just innocence will be lost in their wake.

( Excerpt one (explicit) )

( Excerpt two (safe) )

Bio: Suki Fleet grew up on a boat and as a small child spent a lot of time travelling at sea with her family. She has always wanted to be a writer. As a kid she told ghost stories to scare people, but stories about romance were the ones that inspired her to sit down and write. She doesn’t think she’ll ever stop writing them.
Her novel This is Not a Love Story won Best Gay Debut in the 2014 Rainbow Awards