Alex Hirst & Rotimi Fani-Kayode

Oluwarotimi (Rotimi) Adebiyi Wahab Fani-Kayode (20 April 1955 - 21 December 1989) was a Nigerian-born photographer, who moved to England at the age of 12 to escape the Biafran War. He explored the tensions created by sexuality, race and culture through stylised portraits and compositions. The main body of his work was created between 1982 and 1989. Upon his return to England after completing his graduate studies in 1983, Fani-Kayode met his partner photographer/filmmaker Alex Hirst, and began an important personal and collaborative relationship. The two moved to London, and Fani-Kayode continued his focus on part-autobiographical and mythical portraits; pursuing the theme of the male black body as a subject of desire.

“My identity has been constructed from my own sense of otherness, whether cultural, racial or sexual. The three aspects are not separate within me. Photography is the tool by which I feel most confident in expressing myself. It is photography therefore — Black, African, homosexual photography — which I must use not just as an instrument, but as a weapon if I am to resist attacks on my integrity and, indeed, my existence on my own terms.”

Rotimi was born in Lagos, Nigeria, in April 1955,the second child of Chief Babaremilekun Adetokunboh Fani-Kayode and Chief Mrs Adia Adunni Fani-Kayode, This prominent Yoruba family moved to Brighton, England, in 1966, after a military coup and the ensuing civil war. Rotimi pursued his secondary education in England, where he went to a number of private schools, including Brighton College, Seabright College and Millfield, then moved to the USA in 1976 to complete his education. He read Fine Arts and Economics, gaining a BA, at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, and gained an MFA at the Pratt Institute, New York, in Fine Arts & Photography. While in New York, he became friendly with Robert Mapplethorpe and later admitted to Mapplethorpe's influence on his work.


Dennis Carney And Essex Hemphill in Brixton by Rotimi Fani-Kayodé
Rotimi Fani-Kayode was a Nigerian-born photographer, who moved to England at the age of 12 to escape the Biafran War. He explored the tensions created by sexuality, race and culture. In 1983 Fani-Kayode met his partner photographer/filmmaker Alex Hirst, and began an important personal and collaborative relationship. The two moved to London, and Fani-Kayode continued his focus on part-autobiographical and mythical portraits; pursuing the theme of the male black body as a subject of desire.


Rotimi Fani-Kayode. Every Moment Counts (Ecstatic Antibodies), 1989

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Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotimi_Fani-Kayode & www.autograph-abp-shop.co.uk/books/rotimi-fani-kayode-alex-hirst-photographs

( Further Readings )

More Photographers at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Art

Blanche Wiesen Cook & Clare Coss

Blanche Wiesen Cook (born April 20, 1941 in New York City), Distinguished Professor of history at John Jay College in the City University of New York, is the author of Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume One 1884-1933, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize winning biography of Eleanor Roosevelt.

Cook's biography is controversial because of her claims that Roosevelt had a lesbian affair with reporter Lorena Hickok. An out lesbian, Cook is also the author of Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume 2 , The Defining Years, 1933-1938, and The Declassified Eisenhower: A Divided Legacy of Peace and Political Warfare.

She and her partner, Clare M. Closs, celebrated their twenty-fifth year together in 1994. They lived in New York City and East Hampton.

Clare M. Coss (born 1935) has a BA in theatre from Louisiana State University and a master‘s degree in theatre education from New York University and, in the mid-1970s, she completed a master’s degree in social work at the State University of New York·Stony Brook and trained as a psychotherapist. She divides her two careers between her psychotherapy practice in New York City and her writing work in her studio on Long Island.

In the late 1960s, when Coss began writing plays. she dealt primarily with two major themes: plays inspired by women breaking down interior and exterior barriers and plays about women who strove to forge their vision of a just society. ln 1971 the Berkshire Theatre Festival gave Coss her tirst full production. From 1977 to 1981, she was a cofounder and co-artistic director of the Women`s Experimental Theatre, and producer Margot Lewitin invited the group to be in residence at the Interart Theatre in New York. There, with Sondra Segal and Robena Sklar, Coss coauthored a trilogy on women in the family. Then, in the early 1980s. Coss left in order to write her own plays. Various readings and workshops led to productions of three of her plays. In 1996 she edited an anthology of lesbian love poems. Arc of Love, published by Simon and Schuster.


Blanche Wiesen Cook and Clare Coss, 1993, by Robert Giard
Blanche Wiesen Cook, Distinguished Professor of history at John Jay College in the City University of NYC, is the author of Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume One 1884-1933, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize winning biography of Eleanor Roosevelt. She and her partner, Clare M. Closs, celebrated their twenty-fifth year together in 1994. They lived in NYC and East Hampton. Clare Coss divides her two careers between her psychotherapy practice in New York City and her writing work in her studio on Long Island.

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

Two factors define the complicated lives of these women, regardless of whether they were erotically or romantically attracted to other women. The first is that they were frequently connected to one another through a large, close-knit network of relationships that sustained them personally and professionally. The second is that they often focused on social issues that affected women and children. Historian Blanche Wiesen Cook argues that "networks of love and support are crucial [for] women to work in a hostile world... frequently the networks of love and support that enable politically and professionally active women to function independently and intensively consist largely of other women." --A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski

( Blanche Wiesen Cook and Clare Coss, 1993, by Robert Giard )

( Further Readings )

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

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

Jo Hercus & Katherine V. Forrest

Katherine V. Forrest (born 1939 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada) is an American writer. She lives with her wife, Jo Hercus, were long-time resident of the San Francisco area and now live in Palm Springs. After 17 years together, on July 15, 2008, in San Francisco they were married by California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno.

Forrest is best known for her eight novels about lesbian police detective Kate Delafield. The character was the very first lesbian police detective in the American lesbian mystery genre and is described as "Miss Marple with k.d. lang, Sherlock Holmes with Candace Gingrich, and you've got Kate Delafield: ex-Marine, homicide detective for the LAPD, queer-as-the-day-is-long heroine". The second novel in the series, Murder at the Nightwood Bar, was optioned for film by director Tim Hunter The screenplay had been written and roles cast with Mary Louise Parker as Delafield and Tom Arnold as her police partner, but the project was ultimately shelved.

Her romance Curious Wine is considered a classic of American lesbian literature. In discussion of the "light" element of the lesbian romance Forrest said, "I think it's political as hell... Here were two women who had a lot of choices in life, a lot of options, and out of all of those options they chose the hardest one, which was to love each other." The novel is credited as one that "broke through many misconceptions about lesbians and lesbian relationships."

Of her personal political sensibilities, Forrest said, "We are the only subculture that incorporates both genders, all races, all colors, all creeds... Being visible can make us free...and give us a power we have never known." After relocating from Los Angeles to San Francisco, near The Castro district, she said, "It would be impossible to live here and not be political." This was a marked departure from her early life, of which she wrote, "Even after I committed the Big Sin and made that irrevocable passage, and even though I thereafter found women who loved me, and even though I had loving relationships, I remained essentially in the grip of all the early shame and my own powerful homophobia."


Jo Hercus and Katherine Forrest,with Ann Bannon and Gail Lang
Katherine V. Forrest (born 1939 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada) is an American writer. She lives with her wife, Jo Hercus, were long-time resident of the San Francisco area and now live in Palm Springs. After 17 years together, on July 15, 2008, in San Francisco they were married by California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno. Forrest is best known for her eight novels about lesbian police detective Kate Delafield. Her romance Curious Wine is considered a classic of American lesbian literature.

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_V._Forrest

( Katherine V. Forrest, 1989, by Robert Giard )

( Further Readings )

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

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

Sanford Friedman (June 11, 1928 - April 20, 2010)

Sanford Friedman (June 11, 1928 – April 20, 2010) was an American novelist.

Friedman's Totempole (1965) features an army love affair between its protagonist and a North Korean doctor war prisoner. Some have identified the Stephen Wolfe persona in this novel as being the first instance of a main character who is both Jewish and gay in American fiction.

Friedman was born in New York City, the son of Leonard and Madeline (Uris) Friedman. A 1945 graduate of the Horace Mann School, in the same class as his lifelong friend Allard K. Lowenstein, Friedman earned a BFA from the Carnegie Institute of Technology. From 1951 to 1953 he served in the US Army as a military policeman in Korea, where he was awarded a Bronze Star. He has taught writing at the Juilliard School and at SAGE. He was a friend to many noted artists like Lee Krasner and Fritz Bultman, and for several years Friedman was the companion of the noted American poet, translator, and critic Richard Howard. Howard dedicated his poem "1915: A Pre-Raphaelite Ending, London" to him. Friedman was also active off-Broadway as a writer and producer, collaborating with actor Howard Da Silva; author Ben Maddow; and playwright Arnold Perl. Perl authored a 1957 play, “Tevya and his Daughters,” co-produced by Friedman and starring Mike Kellin as Sholem Aleichem’s dairyman — a production which inspired 1964’s “Fiddler on the Roof.” In 1968, Friedman signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. Friedman died of a heart attack in his Manhattan apartment on April 20, 2010.

In 1965 Friedman was given the O. Henry Award from the Society of Arts & Sciences for Ocean, which formed part of his novel Totempole.

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

Totempole was a formative work for me. To my knowledge it contains the only literary treatment of instructions for being able to enjoy passive anal intercourse. It is a beautiful scene, and one I've rarely heard anyone talk about. I met Friedman once, a man of rigorous intelligence and refinement. His novel had a huge impact on me. --Gilbert Cole

( Sanford Friedman, 1989, by Robert Giard )

( Further Readings )

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

Blog Tour: Redemption by Viki Lyn and Vina Grey

Redemption by Viki Lyn and Vina Grey
Publisher: ViVi (April 16, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: Redemption (Deliverance Book 1)

Thou shall not kill
Archangel Raziel had no choice. He would break the Infinite’s commandment again to save his lover, Uriel, from a demon’s talons. Yet even the Infinite’s most trusted archangel cannot avoid punishment. Forced to go through the Cleansing, Raziel loses his memories and is renamed Izar, a Protector sworn to kill for the angels.
Years later, Izar is summoned to work alongside Uriel to capture a killer. Izar is shocked when his bloodlust spikes hot for the archangel. But a relationship between Protectors and angels is forbidden. As they rush to find the killer, their passion plays into the demon’s plan. Izar will have to choose between life and death if he is to save Uriel again.

( Excerpt )

About the authors:
Viki Lyn: Multi-published and award winner, Viki Lyn is a successful writer of gay paranormal and contemporary romance. After reading and collecting whatever she could get her hands on, she wrote her first male/male romance. And that was ‘it’ for her. She never looked back. Viki travels the world in search of inspiration. She considers herself blessed to have traveled to many of the mystical sites she had dreamed about as a child. Her travel experiences have been influential in creating her paranormal worlds. When she needs to relax, she calls a friend to meet at their favorite coffee house. When the chattering in her head goes off the charts, she plays one of her favorite RPGs on her PS4 and immerses herself in the world of dragons and magic.

Vina Grey: Vina Grey has lived in eight different states and if her family hadn’t grounded her, she’d be on the move again. So, instead she writes, living out her adventure-lust in her books. She made up stories in her head from the time she could register thoughts, so yes, there are many more books to come. Coffee, chocolate, Scotch, Kindle books, and traveling to far away lands are among her…ahem…very few vices. Actually they can be lands close by, too. But at the end of the day, to write a love story that makes a reader sigh with satisfaction–that’s what it’s all about.

Where to find the author:
http://www.facebook.com/vikilynromance
http://www.facebook.com/vina.grey.1
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vikivinaromance/
Twitter:
@vikilynromance
@vinagreyauthor
Website: vikivinaromance.com and vikilyn.com



Tour Dates & Stops:
20-Apr Elisa - My Reviews and Ramblings, The Fuzzy, Fluffy World of Chris T. Kat
21-Apr Rainbow Gold Reviews
22-Apr MM Good Book Reviews
23-Apr Cate Ashwood
24-Apr Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents
27-Apr Bayou Book Junkie
28-Apr The Blogger Girls
29-Apr Molly Lolly
30-Apr BFD Book Blog
1-May Rebecca Cohen Writes, Carly’s Book Reviews

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