LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ANNOUNCEMENT FOR Sylvester & Orphanos

Just in case any of you are in Washington on that date!

This talk will encompass LOC's acquisitions of Sylvester & Orphanos Publication Archives, of Stathis's Christopher Isherwood Collection and his photographs. And Stathis told me Days of Love, which proudly displays some of those photographs, will be featured as well.

Amber Heard, Tasya Van Ree & Johnny Depp

Amber Laura Heard (born April 22, 1986) is an American actress and model. Heard made her film debut in acclaimed sports drama Friday Night Lights, starring Billy Bob Thornton. After small roles in North Country and Alpha Dog, Heard played her first leading role in All the Boys Love Mandy Lane and appeared in The CW television show Hidden Palms. (P: Heard at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival)

Her breakthrough came in 2008 with roles in Never Back Down and Pineapple Express. She was awarded with Breakthrough Award at Young Hollywood Awards. She got widespread attention after her appearance in films such as The Informers, The Stepfather, Zombieland and The Joneses. She next starred in John Carpenter's The Ward, alongside Nicolas Cage in Drive Angry, and alongside Johnny Depp in The Rum Diary, for which she won a Spotlight Award at Hollywood Film Festival. Her recent films include Paranoia, Machete Kills and 3 Days to Kill.

Regarded as a sex symbol, Heard often appears in magazines' Most Beautiful and Sexiest lists. She is also involved in social activism for causes such as LGBT rights and abolishing slavery, and is a supporter of Habitat for Humanity, Girl Up United Nations Foundation, The Art of Elysium and Amnesty International.

Heard came out in 2010, at GLAAD's 25th anniversary event, but has stated, "I don't label myself one way or another—I have had successful relationships with men and now a woman. I love who I love; it's the person that matters." At the aforementioned GLAAD event, she stated of her decision to come out: "I think when I became aware of my role in the media, I had to ask myself an important question 'Am I part of the problem?' And I think that when millions and millions of hard-working, tax paying Americans are denied their rights and denied their equality you have to ask yourself what are the factors that are an epidemic problem and that's what this is."


Amber Heard is an American actress and model. Heard made her film debut in acclaimed sports drama Friday Night Lights, starring Billy Bob Thornton. Heard dated photographer Tasya van Ree. Van Ree is known for her black and white photographs of celebrities, including Michelle Rodriguez, Katherine Moennig and Matt Dallas. Heard met fellow actor Johnny Depp while filming The Rum Diary, and they began dating in 2012. On February 3, 2015, Heard married Depp in a private civil ceremony at their home in Los Angeles.

( Read more... )

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Heard

Tasya van Ree (April 30, 1976) is an American artist and photographer based in Los Angeles.

Van Ree is known for her black and white photographs of celebrities, including Michelle Rodriguez, Katherine Moennig and Matt Dallas. In several interviews, she refers to actress Amber Heard as her main muse.

Her work has been exhibited in several cities and magazines.

In addition to photography, Van Ree makes short films and does painting jobs.

Van Ree dated actress Amber Heard, from 2008 until the couple broke up in 2011.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasya_van_Ree

( Further Readings )

Brad Gooch & Howard Brookner

Brad Gooch (born January 31, 1952) is an American writer.

Born and raised in Kingston, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Columbia University with a bachelors in 1973 and a doctorate in 1986.

He is currently a Professor of English at William Paterson University in New Jersey. He has lived in New York City since 1971.

His book Jailbait and Other Stories was selected by Donald Barthelme for a Pushcart Foundation Writer's Choice Award. His writing has appeared in the Paris Review, Partisan Review, Bomb, the New Republic, Harper's Bazaar, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Out, New York, the Los Angeles Times Book Review, The Nation, Travel + Leisure, and American Poetry Review.

His most acclaimed work is a biography of the poet Frank O'Hara, City Poet. His book, Finding the Boyfriend Within, calls for gay men to cultivate self-respect by cultivating an imaginary lover.


Brad Gooch, 1986, by Robert Giard
Brad Gooch is an American writer. His longtime partner was American film director Howard Brookner. He produced and directed the documentary Burroughs: the Movie about William S. Burroughs, Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars, and directed, co-produced and co-wrote Bloodhounds of Broadway. Gooch donated a print of Burroughs: the Movie to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). MoMA agreed to release the print on one occasion, so that the restoration team could create a digital master of it, before returning it to their archive for safety.

American photographer Robert Giard is renowned for his portraits of American poets and writers; his particular focus was on gay and lesbian writers. Some of his photographs of the American gay and lesbian literary community appear in his groundbreaking book Particular Voices: Portraits of Gay and Lesbian Writers, published by MIT Press in 1997. Giard’s stated mission was to define the literary history and cultural identity of gays and lesbians for the mainstream of American society, which perceived them as disparate, marginal individuals possessing neither. In all, he photographed more than 600 writers. (http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/giard.html)

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

Howard Brookner (April 30, 1954 – April 27, 1989) was an American film director. He produced and directed the documentary Burroughs: the Movie about William S. Burroughs (1983), Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars on theatre director Robert Wilson (1986), and directed, co-produced and co-wrote Bloodhounds of Broadway (1989). His longtime partner was novelist Brad Gooch. Gooch donated a print of Burroughs: the Movie to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) around the time Howard died. MoMA agreed to release the print on one occasion, so that the restoration team could create a digital master of it, before returning it to their archive for safety. (P: Paula Court, The estate of Howard Brookner. Howard Brookner, Paris, 1986)

Howard Brookner was born April 30, 1954 in New York City and grew up in Great Neck, Long Island. He studied at Exeter prep school, earned his B.A. from Columbia University in political science, and his M.A. in art history and film at New York University, where for his senior thesis he began what would go on to be the highly acclaimed feature documentary on William S. Burroughs. His film crew consisted of his NYU classmates Tom DiCillo (camera) and Jim Jarmusch (sound.)

Begun in 1978, Burroughs: the Movie was aired on BBC Arena and premiered at the 1983 New York Film Festival. Janet Maslin of the New York Times wrote: “The quality of discovery about ‘Burroughs’ was very much the director’s doing, and Mr. Brookner demonstrates an unusual degree of liveliness and curiosity in exploring his subject.”

Brookner followed up Burroughs: The Movie with a feature documentary on Robert Wilson, documenting Wilson's failed Civil Wars project, offering a closeness to the avant-garde theatre director similar to that in Burroughs: the Movie. Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars was released on public television in 1986.

( Read more... )

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Brookner

( Further Readings )

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

Helen Dinsmore Huntington & Vincent Astor

Helen Huntington Hull was a prominent socialite, patron of the arts, heiress and political hostess. Daughter of Helen Gray (Dinsmore) Huntington (1868-1942) and Robert Palmer Huntington (1869-1949). First wife of Vincent Astor (divorce), later wife of Lytle Hull. Having grown up in Rhinebeck, New York, she played alongside Vincent Astor, who lived at 'Ferncliff' nearby. Divorcing Vincent because of his infidelity, she went on to marry Lytle Hull.

A passionate supporter of music and the opera, she went on to help find the Metropolitan Opera Company, which held court at the Met. While many New York socialites owned or rented out a box on the grand tier of the Met on Broadway, famously called the 'Diamond Horseshoe', she owned two boxes, one for her and the other for guests, each box capable of holding nine persons. A large contributor to ballet, she served on the board of the New York City Ballet.

She resided regally at her Hudson Valley mansion 'The Locusts', a neobaroque mansion named it's black locust trees by her grandfather William Dinsmore. It was the second mansion to occupy the spot, the first one being far too large and dated for her to maintain. It was here that she played on the lawn with her six dogs and gave gala fundraising dinners in the gardens.

At 'Hopeland House', her Staatsburg, New York estate she frequently held fundraising political galas at which Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover attended. She served as alternate delegate to Republican National Convention from New York in 1924. She served as co-chairwoman of New York's Woman's Republican National Committee in 1926 and in 1927. She was a guest at the inaugural balls of Presidents Calvin Cooligde, Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower and the first one of Richard Nixon. Good friends with Nelson Rockefeller, she often co-hosted with Happy Rockefeller at her apartment in New York City. She also considered Leonard Bernstein, Cole Porter, Elsa Maxwell and Cholly Knickerbocker good friends.


Helen Dinsmore Huntington
Helen Huntington was a prominent socialite, patron of the arts, heiress and political hostess. Having grown up in Rhinebeck, New York, she played alongside Vincent Astor, who lived at 'Ferncliff' nearby. They married on April 30, 1914. Helen's friend, Glenway Wescott, the novelist, admiringly described her in his unpublished diaries as "a grand, old-fashioned lesbian." "Mrs. (Vincent) Astor said she always had a homosexual to dinner" because they were "the only people who could talk," the architect Philip Johnson remembered.


Locusts on Hudson

( Read more... )

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

William Vincent Astor (November 15, 1891 – February 3, 1959) was a businessman and philanthropist and a member of the prominent Astor family.

Called Vincent, he was born in the Fifth Avenue mansion where his paternal grandmother Caroline Webster Schermerhorn reigned over American society. He was the son of John Jacob Astor IV, millionaire and inventor; and his first wife, Ava Lowle Willing, an heiress from Philadelphia.

He graduated from St. George's School, in Middletown, Rhode Island in 1910 and attended Harvard College from 1911 to 1912, leaving school without graduating.

Vincent endured a difficult childhood. His vain mother was embarrassed by his resemblance to his father and would belittle and humiliate him in public. In addition his parents had a difficult marriage. They divorced in 1909 and on September 9, 1911, John Jacob "Jack" Astor IV married Madeleine Talmage Force, an 18-year-old beauty one year younger than Vincent. Their son, John Jacob "Jakey" Astor VI, would be born on August 14, 1912. Vincent's hatred for Madeleine led him to believe that Jakey was not even a biological Astor.

In 1919, his mother Ava married a recently widowed English nobleman, Thomas Lister, Baron Ribblesdale. While a student at Harvard University in 1912, Vincent inherited an estimated $69 million when his father went down with the Titanic. After his father's death, he quit college to manage his family's vast properties. He also was called "the richest boy in the world."

( Read more... )

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

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

Roy Strickland & William M. Wynkoop

William M. Wynkoop (b. January 26, 1916 – d. May 24, 2003) and Roy Strickland (b. April 30, 1918 – d. July 28, 2003) celebrated at Fedora's, a Greenwich Village restaurant, on their 43 anniversary on December 19, 1992, where they happily told a dinner companion how they had found each other, fallen in love and stayed together.

"I remember Dec. 19, 1949, was a remarkably warm night," said Mr. Wynkoop, at the time a 76-year-old retired professor of English literature. "It was about 9:15 and I was walking across Washington Square Park. I saw Roy on a bench and sat down next to him."

"So you picked me up," said the at the time 74-year-old Mr. Strickland, who was retired from the flower store where he worked after having prepared displays for several department stores.

"Let's just say we picked each other up," said Mr. Wynkoop. "Do you remember what we talked about?"

"No, I just remember how handsome you looked," said Mr. Strickland.

"Thank you, that's very nice of you, Roy," said the white-bearded English scholar.

Mr. Strickland ordered for himself and his partner. "He'll have the eggs a la russe and the eggplant parmigiana" he told the waiter. "It's what he always has here, isn't that right?"


Roy Strickland and William Wynkoop marching proudly down Fifth Avenue during 1985 Gay Pride Parade.
William and Roy celebrated at Fedora's on their 43 anniversary, where they happily told a dinner companion how they had fallen in love. William, a retired professor, worried for Roy, since they were not legally married and he couldn't pass him his retirement. They both died in 2003, 2 months apart, William 87 years old and Roy 85 years old, after living together for more than 53 years.


Roy Strickland & William Wynkoop are buried together at Greenwood Cemetery, Brielle, New Jersey.

( Read more... )

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

John Boyne (born April 30, 1971)

John Boyne (born 30 April 1971 in Dublin) is an Irish novelist.

He was educated at Terenure College, before heading to Trinity College, Dublin, and the University of East Anglia, where he won the Curtis Brown prize.

John Boyne is the author of ten novels, as well as a number of short stories which have been published in various anthologies and broadcast on radio and television. His novels are published in 47 languages. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which to date has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide, is a #1 New York Times Bestseller and a film adaptation was released in September 2008. John resides in Dublin. He is represented by the literary agent Simon Trewin at the William Morris Agency in London, United Kingdom. His seventh novel for adults, The Absolutist, was published in the UK in May 2011, and was serialised on BBC Radio 4. His third children’s book, The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket, was published in the UK in August 2012. It is currently scheduled to be published in 23 languages.

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

Further Readings:

The Absolutist by John Boyne
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Other Press (July 10, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1590515528
ISBN-13: 978-1590515525
Amazon: The Absolutist
Amazon Kindle: The Absolutist

“A novel of immeasurable sadness, in a league with Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair. John Boyne is very, very good at portraying the destructive power of a painfully kept secret.” —John Irving

A masterfully told tale of passion, jealousy, heroism and betrayal set in the gruesome trenches of World War I.

It is September 1919: twenty-one-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver a package of letters to the sister of Will Bancroft, the man he fought alongside during the Great War.

But the letters are not the real reason for Tristan's visit. He can no longer keep a secret and has finally found the courage to unburden himself of it. As Tristan recounts the horrific details of what to him became a senseless war, he also speaks of his friendship with Will--from their first meeting on the training grounds at Aldershot to their farewell in the trenches of northern France. The intensity of their bond brought Tristan happiness and self-discovery as well as confusion and unbearable pain.

The Absolutist is a masterful tale of passion, jealousy, heroism, and betrayal set in one of the most gruesome trenches of France during World War I. This novel will keep readers on the edge of their seats until its most extraordinary and unexpected conclusion, and will stay with them long after they've turned the last page.

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

Liz Lachman & Susan Feniger

Liz Lachman is an American writer, director, and composer. She has worked on such award-winning short films as Getting to Know You, Pandora's Box, and Puppy Love. Born in Detroit, she currently lives in Los Angeles. She is partners with chef Susan Feniger (of Food Network's Too Hot Tamales). 

Lachman once said: "Some of the craziest things have happened to me - uhhh... I mean to people I know." —Liz Lachman

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Lachman

Susan Feniger is an American chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, and radio and TV personality. She is known for starring in the cooking show Too Hot Tamales on the Food Network and opening several influential restaurants in Los Angeles. She has been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the California Restaurant Association.

Feniger is from Toledo, Ohio, and is the daughter of Ruth Alice and Yale Feniger. She was raised in a Jewish home. Feniger graduated from Pitzer College in 1976. She was a founding board member of the Scleroderma Research Foundation and has served on the organization's board since 1988.

Feniger also serves on the board of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. Her partner is Liz Lachman.

Her nephew is actor Ben Feldman.

After working together in Chicago and Paris, Feniger and her longtime collaborator, Mary Sue Milliken, settled in Los Angeles where they founded City Cafe in 1981. They eventually expanded to a larger space on La Brea Blvd. and renamed the establishment City Restaurant. In 1985, they opened the Mexican restaurant Border Grill in the original City Cafe space, before moving it to Santa Monica in 1990. The restaurant later expanded to Pasadena (closed) and the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas. Broadening their culinary horizons Feniger and her partner opened the Latin flavor Ciudad in Los Angeles in 1998. The success of the three restaurants has often led Feniger and Milliken to be recognized for changing Los Angeles's culinary landscape. Feniger has been influenced by the food and culture of various nations, such as India, France, and Mexico.


Liz Lachman is an American writer, director, and composer. She has worked on such award-winning short films as Getting to Know You, Pandora's Box, and Puppy Love. She is partners with chef Susan Feniger. Susan Feniger is an American chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, and radio and TV personality. She is known for starring in the cooking show Too Hot Tamales on the Food Network and opening several influential restaurants in Los Angeles. She has been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the California Restaurant Association.

( Read more... )

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Feniger

( Further Readings )

Craig Lucas & Tim Melester

Craig Lucas (born on April 30, 1951, in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, musical actor, and film director. His partner Tim Melester succumbed to complications from AIDS in 1995. The pain of illness and loss and the role of drugs in getting well and killing pain all helped him write God's Heart. After that he was for 11 years partnered with set designer John McDermott. He is now single

Born on April 30, 1951, he was found abandoned in a car in Atlanta. Lucas was adopted when he was eight months old by a conservative Pennsylvania couple. His father was an FBI agent; his mother was a housewife and painter. He graduated in 1969 from Conestoga High School in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. In the 1960s and 1970s, Lucas became interested in the political left and discovered an attraction towards men. He recalls that his coming out made it possible for him to develop as a playwright and as a person.

In 1973, Lucas left Boston University with a Bachelor of Arts in theatre and creative writing. His mentor, Anne Sexton, urged him to try his luck in New York City as a playwright. He worked in many day jobs while performing in Broadway musicals including Shenandoah, On the Twentieth Century, Rex, and Sweeney Todd. Stephen Sondheim would later tell him he was a better writer than an actor.


Craig Lucas, 1989, by Robert Giard.
Craig Lucas (born on April 30, 1951, in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, musical actor, and film director. His partner Tim Melester, a surgeon and an AIDS educator, died to complications from AIDS on January 5, 1995. The pain of illness and loss and the role of drugs in getting well and killing pain all helped him write God's Heart. After that he was for 11 years partnered with set designer John McDermott.

American photographer Robert Giard is renowned for his portraits of American poets and writers; his particular focus was on gay and lesbian writers. Some of his photographs of the American gay and lesbian literary community appear in his groundbreaking book Particular Voices: Portraits of Gay and Lesbian Writers, published by MIT Press in 1997. Giard’s stated mission was to define the literary history and cultural identity of gays and lesbians for the mainstream of American society, which perceived them as disparate, marginal individuals possessing neither. In all, he photographed more than 600 writers. (http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/giard.html

( Read more... )

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

Postcard from Grief (1995) by Craig Lucas

"My lover died this year on January 5th. We were together for eleven years. He was forty. His name was Timothy Scott Melester. He was a surgeon and an AIDS educator.

I find my way by sticking to simple declarative sentences: hand-holds over the swampy, rocky terrain of my terror and grief. After the initial crush of letters and flowers, phone calls and devotional meals, I went into a mania of work-writing plays and screenplays, attending rehearsals, traveling, seeing friends, tackling projects. I went through all of Tim's belongings and gave many of them away. I took off my wedding ring. Now, seven months after the fact, the layers of shock are beginning to fall away and I am left with a feeling for which nothing in my life has prepared me: not religion, not politics, not philosophy. I have stopped running, and the waves are breaking over me in no regular pattern, each one bringing new sensations and stripping me further of my illusions: I know nothing about who I am, where I am going, what I believe, what I want. Tim was my anchor: his battle to live was my battle.

My closets and bookshelves are filled with his notes and textbooks from medical school. What happened to all that learning and effort? Where did it go? The four languages he taught himself to speak, and the two dead ones he learned to read-all the facts, the growing up, the struggle and ultimate joy of coming out to his friends and family, all the music he listened to, all the novels he devoured: Where are they now? So much wisdom and beauty and pain-vanished. Friends put me in touch with a medium and she convinced me that his spirit was present. Every word she spoke on his behalf was plausible. She knew countless things she couldn't have known. So perhaps our spirits do go on. Still I can't touch him, I can't kiss him, I can't suck, fuck and hold him. He can't reach up and stop me from picking my nose.


AIDS Quilt

( Read more... )

Source: http://www.artistswithaids.org/artery/centerpieces/centerpieces_postcard.html

( Further Readings )

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

Book Blast: How It Was Supposed to Be by Jayson James

How It Was Supposed to Be by Jayson James
Publisher: Jayson James Books
Amazon Kindle: How It Was Supposed to Be

The Kennicott’s were living the carefree life of an upper middle class family. That was until one day when his father arrives home from work and shares the company he has worked for since he was Reese’s age has gone out of business. Adding to the stress of being out of work for the worst time is the worst economic downturn the United States has ever faced. It does not take long for the Kennicotts to fall behind in their bills and lose everything.

Reese Kennicott had everything he could ever want and life was good. He worked a part time job to have extra money and to socialize. Now he is working all the hours he can get in order to help his family get by, which isn’t much. Reese is now dating the guy of his dreams, he along with his friends seem to be the only stable thing going for him.

Hope finally comes with a new job that will take the family across the country. This means for Reese giving up his lifelong friends, his new boyfriend and life as he’s always known it. The family takes with them what they can and begins on a road trip to their new life. Along the way, they encounter several barriers and hope begins to fade. Each day things look bleaker and the Kennicott’s begin to wonder if they are going to make it to their destination.

( Excerpt )

About the author: I have a horrible time when it comes to writing about myself. It is not that I have low self-esteem, but the fact that I am not comfortable talking about myself.

For most of my life, I have been writing and sharing it with my friends. They have repeatedly told me I needed to publish my writing and share it with the world. Now that I have, I am amazed at how many people admire it.

My interests beyond writing include reading a variety of books, watching movies and drawing.

I truly appreciate all the support and encouragement from my friends, family, and you. I am so thankful to your support!

Keep on reading! I am always interested in hearing about what people are reading, especially if it is something I have written.
Thank you for reading and letting me know what you think of my writing!

Where to find the author:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jaysonjamesbooks
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJaysonJames
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaysonjamesbook
Website: http://jaysonjamesbooks.blogspot.com/
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25353824-how-it-was-supposed-to-be?ac=1



Tour Dates & Stops: April 30, 2015
Parker Williams, Boys on the Brink Reviews, Carly’s Book Reviews, MM Good Book Reviews, Bayou Book Junkie, Bike Book Reviews, Elisa - My Reviews and Ramblings, BFD Book Blog, Molly Lolly, Inked Rainbow Reads, Divine Magazine, My Fiction Nook, Rainbow Gold Reviews, Andrew Q. Gordon, Mikky's World of Books, Amanda C. Stone, Hearts on Fire, Multitasking Mommas, Velvet Panic, Wake Up Your Wild Side, Wicked Faerie's Tales and Reviews, Dawn’s Reading Nook, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, The Hat Party

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