Diana Copland (born July 8, 1957)

Diana Copland began writing in the seventh grade, when she shamelessly combined elements of Jane Eyre and Dark Shadows to produce an overwrought gothic tale that earned her an A- in creative writing, thanks entirely to the generosity of her teacher. She wrote for pure enjoyment for the next three decades before discovering LiveJournal and a wonderful group of supportive fanfiction writers, who after gifting her with a "Best New Author" Award encouraged her to try her hand at original gay fiction.

Born and raised in southern California, Diana moved to the Pacific Northwest after losing a beloved spouse to AIDS in 1995. She lives in eastern Washington near her two wonderful adult children and her surprisingly supportive parents.

Secrets of Neverwood, co-author with G.B. Lindsey and Libby Drew, won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best LGBT Anthology / Collection.

Further Readings:

Secrets of Neverwood by G.B. Lindsey, Diana Copland & Libby Drew
Publisher: Carina Press (June 30, 2014)
Amazon Kindle: Secrets of Neverwood

Three foster brothers are called home to Neverwood, the stately Pacific Northwest mansion of their youth. They have nothing in common but a promise to Audrey, the woman they all called mother—that upon her death, they would restore the house and preserve it as a home for troubled boys.

But going home is never easy.

Cal struggles to recover from past heartbreak, while Danny fears his mistakes are too big to overcome. Devon believes he may never break down the barriers that separate him from honest emotion.

On the path to brotherhood, they discover the old mansion holds more than dusty furniture and secret passageways. Audrey's spirit still walks its halls, intent on guiding "her boys" toward true love, and an old mystery stirs up a new danger—one that could cost the men far more than just the house.

Secrets of Neverwood includes:
One Door Closes by G.B. Lindsey
The Growing Season by Diana Copland
The Lost Year by Libby Drew

More Rainbow Awards at my website: elisarolle.com, Rainbow Awards/2014

Andreas Carlgren & Tomas Harila

Hemming Andreas Carlgren (born 8 July 1958) is a Swedish Centre Party politician, and a former Minister for the Environment in the Swedish government. In the late 1990s Carlgren divorced, publicly declared that he was gay, and subsequently entered into a registered partnership with his new partner, Tomas Harila, a Swedish-Finnish artist. He is the first openly gay Swedish cabinet minister. Carlgren has three children from his previous marriage.

Andreas Carlgren was born in Västra Ryd, Upplands-Bro Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden. From 1981 and 1983 he studied at Stockholm University to become a teacher. He then worked as chairman of the Centre Party Youth from 1984 to 1987. From 1987 to 1990 he worked as a teacher, followed by employment at M-gruppen, a training company, to work on environmental development programmes for businesses, including environmental audits. From 1990 to 1994 he served as deputy mayor of Ekerö Municipality, with special responsibility for childcare and schools. From 1994 to 1998 he was elected as a member of the parliament of Sweden. In the parliament he was a member of the Committee on Education. In addition, Carlgren served as second deputy chairman of the Centre Party from 1992 to 1998 and as first deputy chairman from 1998 to 2000.

In 2000 Carlgren was appointed as director-general of the Swedish Integration Board. Following the 2006 general election he was appointed as Minister for the Environment in the new centre-right cabinet. One of the main issues that he has to handle as Minister for the Environment is the issue of global warming.


Hemming Andreas Carlgren (born 8 July 1958) is a Swedish Centre Party politician, and a former Minister for the Environment in the Swedish government (until September 29, 2011). In the late 1990s Carlgren divorced, publicly declared that he was gay, and subsequently entered into a registered partnership with his new partner, Tomas Harila, a Swedish-Finnish artist. He is the first openly gay Swedish cabinet minister. Carlgren has three children from his previous marriage.

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( Read more... )

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

( Further Readings )

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

Barney Frank, Hern Moses & Jim Ready

Barney Frank (born March 31, 1940) is the U.S. Representative for Massachusetts's 4th congressional district since January 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee (2007–2011) and is considered the most prominent gay politician in the United States.

Frank resides in a studio apartment complex in Newton, Massachusetts. His partner, Jim Ready, is a surfing enthusiast whom Frank met during a gay political fundraiser in Maine, where Ready still lives. On July 7, 2012, Barney Frank married Jim Ready; he became the first sitting member of Congress to be joined in same-sex marriage.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Frank graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He worked as a political aide before winning election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1972. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1980 with 52 percent of the vote. He has been re-elected ever since by wide margins. In 1987 he came out as gay, becoming the first member of Congress to do so voluntarily. From 2007 to 2011, Frank served as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, where he remains the ranking Democrat.

On November 28, 2011, Frank announced that he would retire from the Congress at the conclusion of his term in 2013. On January 26, 2012 it was announced in The Hill that Frank would marry his partner James Ready.

In 1985 Frank was still closeted. That year he hired Steve Gobie, a male prostitute, for sex and they became friends more than sexual partners. Frank housed Gobie and hired him with personal funds as an aide, housekeeper and driver and paid for his attorney and court-ordered psychiatrist. In 1987 Frank kicked Gobie out after he was advised by his landlord that Gobie kept escorting despite the support and was doing so in the residence. Later that year Gobie's friends convinced him he had a gay male version of Mayflower Madam, a TV movie they had been watching. In 1989 Gobie tried to initiate a bidding war for the story between WUSA-TV (Channel 9), the Washington Times, and The Washington Post. He then gave the story to The Washington Times for nothing, in hopes of getting a book contract. Amid calls for an investigation Frank asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate his relationship "in order to insure that the public record is clear." The Committee found no evidence that Frank had known of or been involved in the alleged illegal activity and dismissed all of Gobie's more scandalous claims; they recommended a reprimand for Frank using his congressional office to fix 33 of Gobie's parking tickets and for misstatements of fact in a memorandum relating to Gobie's criminal probation record. The House voted 408–18 to reprimand Frank. The attempts to censure and expel Frank were led by Republican Larry Craig, whom Frank later criticized for hypocrisy after Craig's own arrest in 2007 for lewd conduct while soliciting gay sex in an airport bathroom. Frank won re-election that year with 66 percent of the vote, and has won by larger margins until the 2010 Mid-term elections when Frank only won by eleven points.


Barney Frank was the U.S. Representative for Massachusetts's 4th congressional district. A member of the Democratic Party, he is considered the most prominent gay politician in the United States. Frank resides in a studio apartment complex in Newton, Mass. His partner, Jim Ready, is a surfing enthusiast whom Frank met during a gay political fundraiser in Maine. On July 7, 2012, Barney Frank married Jim; he became the first sitting member of Congress to be joined in same-sex marriage.

( Read more... )

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

Barney Frank, a congressman from Massachusetts, publicly declared his homosexuality during the sixth year of the AIDS epidemic. He told Jeffrey Schmalz of The New York Times that while he remained in the closet, his colleagues were often sympathetic when he lobbied hem on gay issues, but they rarely took him very seriously. "The pain gay people felt was unknown," Frank explained. "We were hiding it from them. How the hell are they supposed to know when we were making damn sure they didn't?"
But once the dimensions of the epidemic became clear, many of Frank's colleagues "started voting pro-gay because they saw that life-and-death issues were at stake. They had to do the right thing, even thought it might hurt them politically.
"Then, guess what? It turned out not to hurt them politically very much."
[...]
Conservatives argued that gay marriage threatened heterosexual unions, but no one ever offered a credible explanation of why that might be so. As gay Congressman Barney Frank had asked when the debate first began to catch fire, if gay marriage were legalized, were married men accross America "really going to smack themselves on the head, and say, "Wow! I could I have married a man!" --The Gay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life in America by Charles Kaiser

( Further Readings )

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

Allen Ginsberg & Peter Orlovsky

Irwin Allen Ginsberg ( /ˈɡɪnzbərɡ/; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet who vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression. In the 1950s, Ginsberg was a leading figure of the Beat Generation. Ginsberg's epic poem "Howl", in which he celebrates his fellow "angel-headed hipsters" and excoriates what he saw as the destructive forces of capitalism and conformity in the United States, is one of the classic poems of the Beat Generation. The poem, dedicated to writer Carl Solomon, has the opening:

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by
madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn
looking for an angry fix...

One contribution that is often considered his most significant and most controversial was his openness about homosexuality. Ginsberg was an early proponent of freedom for gay people. In 1943, he discovered within himself "mountains of homosexuality." He expressed this desire openly and graphically in his poetry. He also struck a note for gay marriage by listing Peter Orlovsky, his lifelong companion, as his spouse in his Who's Who entry. Subsequent gay writers saw his frank talk about homosexuality as an opening to speak more openly and honestly about something often before only hinted at or spoken of in metaphor.


©Herbert Rusche. Allen Ginsberg with partner Peter Orlovski, Frankfurt Airport, 1978 (©17)
Peter Orlovsky was in a lifelong openly gay relationship with Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg. One contribution that is often considered Allen Ginsberg's most significant and most controversial was his openness about homosexuality. In 1943, he discovered within himself "mountains of homosexuality." He expressed this desire openly and graphically in his poetry. He also struck a note for gay marriage by listing Peter Orlovsky, his lifelong companion, as his spouse in his Who's Who entry.

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

( Allen Ginsberg with his own portrait of Burroughs - N.Y.C, 1986, by Robert Giard )

Peter Anton Orlovsky (July 8, 1933 – May 30, 2010) was an American poet. Orlovsky was in a lifelong openly gay relationship with Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg.

Orlovsky was born in the Lower East Side of New York City, the son of Katherine (née Schwarten) and Oleg Orlovsky, a Russian immigrant. He was raised in poverty and was forced to drop out of Newtown High School in his senior year so he could support his impoverished family. After many odd jobs, he began working as an orderly at Creedmoor State Mental Hospital, known today as Creedmoor Psychiatric Center.

In 1953 Orlovsky was drafted into the United States Army for the Korean War at the age of 19. Army psychiatrists ordered his transfer off the front to work as a medic in a San Francisco hospital.

He met Ginsberg while working as a model for the painter Robert La Vigne in San Francisco in December 1954. Prior to meeting Ginsberg, Orlovsky had made no deliberate attempts at becoming a poet.

With Ginsberg's encouragement, Orlovsky began writing in 1957 while the pair were living in Paris. Accompanied by other beat writers, Orlovsky traveled extensively for several years throughout the Middle East, Northern Africa, India, and Europe. Orlovsky was Ginsberg's lover in an open relationship until Ginsberg's death in 1997.

( Read more... )

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

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

David Whitney & Philip Johnson

Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an influential American architect.

In 1930, he founded the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and later (1978), as a trustee, he was awarded an American Institute of Architects Gold Medal and the first Pritzker Architecture Prize, in 1979. He was a student at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Johnson died in his sleep while at the Glass House retreat. He was survived by his life partner of 45 years, David Whitney, who died later that year at age 66.

"He was an eighteen-year-old or something. He was a student up at RISD [Rhode Island School of Design]…. We met because of [Jasper] Johns’ flag painting. He said, 'Why did you buy that flag?' It was his first question to me in the world. He just came up to me after a lecture [at Brown University] and said, 'Why did you buy the flag?' I said, 'Because Alfred Barr told me to.' I told the truth too soon, as usual. So then we got started." --Philip Johnson on meeting David Whitney, The Philip Johnson Tapes: Interviews by Robert A.M. Stern, Edited by Kazys Varnelis, The Monacelli Press, New York 2008

David Johnson died in his sleep while at the Glass House retreat. He was survived by his life partner of 45 years, David Whitney, who died later that year at age 66. "He was an eighteen-year-old or something. He was a student up at RISD [Rhode Island School of Design]…. We met because of [Jasper] Johns’ flag painting. He said, 'Why did you buy that flag?' It was his first question to me in the world. He just came up to me after a lecture [at Brown University] and said, 'Why did you buy the flag?' I said, 'Because Alfred Barr told me to.' I told the truth too soon, as usual. So then we got started."

( Read more... )

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

When Calvin Tomkins profiled Philip Johnson in The New Yorker in 1977, the architect pleaded with the author not to identify him as a gay man. Johnson was negotiating with AT&T executives for the commission to design the company's new headquarters on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, and he thought the disclosure might jeopardize his employment. "This was in the early stages, when I wasn't sure I had the job," Johnson said. Tomkins was "furious, but he complied with Johnson's request. The architect's lover, David Whitney, was discreetly identified in the article as "his friend."
Johnson was of a class and a generation who were routinely invited to the fanciest dinner parties, but who almost never brought along a male companion. On the other hand, single gay men were most welcome: "Mrs. (Vincent) Astor said she always had a homosexual to dinner" because they were "the only people who could talk," the architect remembered.
After Johnson had been living with David Whitney for more than fifteen years (they first met in 1960), Barbara Walters interrogated Johnson during a dinner party at the home of Kitty Carlisle Hart. "Why don't you ever bring your boyfriend to these events?" Walters demanded.
"I said, "By God, you're right, Barbara." Got up from the table and went home," Johnson recalled. "She was a very great help. I was so mean and selfish: "I'll be home late tonight," that kind of thing." --The Gay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life in America by Charles Kaiser

( More buildings )

David Whitney (1939 – June 12, 2005) was an American art curator, collector, gallerist, and critic. He led a very private life and was not well known outside the art world, even though he participated naked in the 1965 Claes Oldenburg happening Washes. He was the life partner of architect Philip Johnson (1906–2005) for 45 years until their deaths six months apart. He was also a close friend of Andy Warhol. (Picture: David Whitney by Andy Warhol)

Whitney, the son of a banker, was raised in Worcester, Massachusetts and studied architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design. While a student, he attended a lecture by Johnson and approached the architect afterwards, asking for a tour of the Glass House.

During the early to mid-1960s Whitney had a variety of roles in the contemporary art world. Early jobs at the Museum of Modern Art and several art galleries, including the Green Gallery and the Leo Castelli Gallery, led to him opening his own gallery in 1969. Some of the artists that exhibited at the David Whitney Gallery from September 1969 through March 1972 (when the gallery closed) included Neil Jenney, Jasper Johns, Ronnie Landfield, Ken Price, Kenneth Showell, William Pettet, and Phillip Wofford, amongst others. The David Whitney Gallery featured Lyrical Abstraction, Post-minimalism, and other current movements of the period.


David Whitney and Philip Johnson (Photo: Mariana Cook)

( Read more... )

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

"He was an eighteen-year-old or something. He was a student up at RISD [Rhode Island School of Design]…. We met because of [Jasper] Johns’ flag painting. He said, 'Why did you buy that flag?' It was his first question to me in the world. He just came up to me after a lecture [at Brown University] and said, 'Why did you buy the flag?' I said, 'Because Alfred Barr told me to.' I told the truth too soon, as usual. So then we got started." --Philip Johnson on meeting David Whitney, The Philip Johnson Tapes: Interviews by Robert A.M. Stern, Edited by Kazys Varnelis, The Monacelli Press, New York 2008

"I’ll make decisions about our daily life. It could look like I was pushing him around, but in fact he wants to be pushed around. …I like everything about Philip. Einstein once said, 'My wife takes care of all the little things and I take care of all the big things.' I think I take care of all the little things." --David Whitney on his relationship with Philip Johnson, Couples: Speaking from the Heart by Mariana Cook, Chronicle Books, San Francisco 2000

"David has been a mainstay of my life since 1960…. It’s hard to imagine a life alone…. It’s a very happy life…. He takes the lead a good deal. It’s a wonderful feeling." --Philip Johnson on David Whitney, Couples: Speaking from the Heart

When Calvin Tomkins profiled Philip Johnson in The New Yorker in 1977, the architect pleaded with the author not to identify him as a gay man. Johnson was negotiating with AT&T executives for the commission to design the company's new headquarters on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, and he thought the disclosure might jeopardize his employment. "This was in the early stages, when I wasn't sure I had the job," Johnson said. Tomkins was "furious, but he complied with Johnson's request. The architect's lover, David Whitney, was discreetly identified in the article as "his friend." Johnson was of a class and a generation who were routinely invited to the fanciest dinner parties, but who almost never brought along a male companion. On the other hand, single gay men were most welcome: "Mrs. [Vincent) Astor said she always had a homosexual to dinner" because they were "the only people who could talk," the architect remembered. After Johnson had been living with David Whitney for more than fifteen years (they first met in 1960), Barbara Walters interrogated Johnson during a dinner party at the home of Kitty Carlisle Hart. "Why don't you ever bring your boyfriend to these events?" Walters demanded. "I said, `By God, you're right, Barbara.' Got up from the table and went home," Johnson recalled. "She was a very great help. I was so mean and selfish: `I'll be home late tonight,' that kind of thing." --Charles Kaiser. The Gay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life in America (Kindle Locations 3058-3066). Kindle Edition.

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

Jimmy Biddle & Paul Bridgewater

James Biddle, a leader in preserving America's homes and landscapes of historic value, including Andalusia, his family's 19th-century estate near Philadelphia, died at home on March 10, 2005. He was 75. (P: John Orris/The New York Times. James Biddle, shown in 1967)

As president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Mr. Biddle, known as Jimmy, defended architectural landmarks like Grand Central Terminal and the original exterior of the United States Capitol.

Years earlier, he was instrumental in raising the money to save Olana, the Moorish manor perched above the Hudson River that was built by the artist Frederic Edwin Church.

"We Americans must decide if we want to preserve what we have or if we just want to pave it over, high-rise it and factory it," he wrote in Travel Leisure magazine in 1972.

In his 12 years at the National Trust, the organization reached beyond the East Coast to designate historic sites as far away as California, and it began awarding grants and loans to support neighborhood preservation projects. When he left in 1980, the trust's membership had grown to 150,000, from 13,000.


The Andalusia — also known as the Nicholas Biddle Estate. 1790s Greek Revival style house located in Bensalem Township, Bucks County, eastern Pennsylvania. A Historic American Buildings Survey—HABS image by Jack Boucher (1976).
James Biddle was a leader in preserving America's homes and landscapes of historic value, including Andalusia, his family's 19th-century estate near Philadelphia. At once Jimmy had a black 'friend', a 'boy' when he came to Andalusia long ago to clean the pool, and met Jimmy, now a popular dinner guest, attentive host and retired dentist. "He simply knocked me out, I could hardly help myself" Jimmy said to Michael Henry Adams, as he listened in disbelief. He is survived by devoted friend Paul Bridgewater.

( Read more... )

Source: www.nytimes.com/2005/03/11/national/11biddle.html (By JENNIFER BAYOT, Published: March 11, 2005)

( Further Readings )

Euro Pride Con: Teodora Kostova

Starting from June 1, 2015, I will daily feature authors attending the three conventions I will join, Euro Pride in Munich (July), UK Meet in Bristol (September) and GRL in San Diego (October).

For the Euro Pride in Munich, July 11-12, 2015, today author is Teodora Kostova: " Hi, my name is Teodora and I live in London with my husband and my son. I've been writing ever since I can remember, but it became my full time job in 2010 when I decided that everything else I've tried bores me to death and I have to do what I've always wanted to do, but never had the guts to fully embrace. I've been a journalist, an editor, a personal assistant and an interior designer among other things, but as soon as the novelty of the new, exciting job wears off, I always go back to writing. Being twitchy, impatient, loud and hasty are not qualities that help a writer, because I have to sit alone, preferably still, and write for most of the day, but I absolutely love it. It's the only time that I'm truly at peace and the only thing I can do for more than ten minutes at a time - my son has a bigger attention span than me.
When I'm procrastinating, I like to go to the gym, cook Italian meals (and eat them), read, listen to rock music, watch indie movies and True Blood re-runs. Or, in the worst case scenario, get beaten at every Wii game by a very inventive kid."

Further Readings:

Piece by Piece by Teodora Kostova
Paperback: 284 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (April 1, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1511520833
ISBN-13: 978-1511520836
Amazon: Piece by Piece
Amazon Kindle: Piece by Piece

Sometimes to reach the surface you have to fall to the bottom first... For the past ten years, Riley Davis’ life has been overshadowed by the tragic death of his partner. Fluctuating between alcohol induced daze, clinical depression and throwing all his time and effort into his business, Riley doesn’t believe, or even hope, that his life will ever be worth living again. Until Sonnie Frye drops by his haberdashery shop, changing his life forever. Sonnie is a man who likes getting what he wants, when he wants it. He’s worked hard to establish himself as Queen Victoria theatre’s chief costume designer, collecting multiple awards – and high-profile clients – along the way. Sonnie is used to putting his needs, goals and desires first, unwilling to compromise his own happiness for anybody else. Until he meets a handsome shop owner whose eyes are so sad that they immediately tug at Sonnie's heartstrings. Seeing something he wants, Sonnie is determined to get under Riley's skin and, preferably, into his bed. But he soon discovers the task is not that easy. For the first time in his life, Sonnie may need to put someone else’s needs before his own, and re-evaluate what really matters in life. Will the two men stand side by side to overcome their differences, and everything else life throws at them? Or will it all become too much to bear, shaking them to their very core, destroying everything they’ve worked so hard to achieve?

&

UK Meet: Lloyd A. Meeker

Starting from June 1, 2015, I will daily feature authors attending the three conventions I will join, Euro Pride in Munich (July), UK Meet in Bristol (September) and GRL in San Diego (October).

For the UK Meet in Bristol, September 11-13, 2015, today author is Lloyd A. Meeker: Lloyd Meeker can't help what he writes – stories arising from the “between places”, the mystical overlapping between the worlds of matter and spirit, and the eldritch beauty that dwells there. That’s his natural habitat.

He's in love with the adventure and magic of living there, loves plunging into stories full of both, and wants to take you along. Mostly he's in love with love, and believes deeply in the power of love to overcome any challenge. He’s known it in his own life, and seen it in the lives of many others.

In addition to his written work, which includes novels, essays, poetry and short stories, he has served since 2008 as a judge in the Queer Foundation’s annual National High School Seniors Essay Contest. Its goal is to promote effective writing by, about, and/or for queer youth, and to award scholarships to the winners. Finalists are selected from schools across the United States by members of the National Council of Teachers of English.

His fantasy romance Blood Royal won the 2013 Abalone Award, chosen by the Cultural, Interracial and Multicultural special interest chapter of RWA in the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal category.

Happily ensorcelled by music, subtle energy healing, and the wonders of nature, Meeker lives with his very understanding husband in southern Florida, among friends and family, orchids, and giant hibiscus that take his breath away every morning.

Further Readings:

A Cape of Good Hope Christmas by Lloyd A. Meeker (Nov 23, 2014)
Publisher: Wayfarer Press; 1 edition (November 23, 2014)
Amazon Kindle: A Cape of Good Hope Christmas

Chaz and Neil have been together ten wonderful years, but now for the first time it seems they each want a life life too different for the other to accommodate. Taking a break from their regular surroundings they fly to Cape Town to spend a sun-filled Christmas with their friends Jerry and Piet in hope that the change will help them see their situation in a clearer light.

They love each other deeply, but can love provide enough common ground for their life together? Will a mid-summer Christmas at the southern tip of Africa bring them the gift of renewed happiness?

2015 GRL Featured Blog Tour: AKM Miles

Starting from June 1, 2015, I will daily feature authors attending the three conventions I will join, Euro Pride in Munich (July), UK Meet in Bristol (September) and GRL in San Diego (October). Moreover I'm taking part at the 2015 GRL Featured Blog Tour as Featured Blogger.

For the 2015 Featured Blog Tour, today author is AKM Miles:

A little look into AKM Miles' life and work

Every day as I sit at my computer to write I see a picture, of me, that Elisa took in New Mexico at GRL. It is one of my all time favorite pics of me. I don't like pics of me. But it was at the book signing and I was smiling and happy to be at my first GRL and I remember that feeling as I glance at it. So, this first is just a little thank you to Elisa for taking pics of each author at the signing.

This will be my fourth GRL and I am looking forward to it. I am going as a featured author this year and feel good about the books I will be talking about. I'm pleased with my last few books and hope the readers feel the same. Three of them are from the Scarcity Sanctuary Series and I know there are people who follow that series. I absolutely love writing books with those characters. They get into your heart and settle in. There will be more, before the year ends, for sure.

To be honest, I never know what to write in a blog, but I will ramble, if I may. I am one of those authors who is pretty anal about their covers. I have some wonderful ones and some that people have made some remarks about. I drive the artists absolutely crazy trying to get just what I want. I've gotten away from wanting everything in the book depicted on the front...I know several of you are going, "Thank God". Yeah, but I think people look at a cover and think about whether they want to read the blurb, so...

The books I write. I have a, I guess you would call it a formula, when I write. I prefer that my men meet and fall for each other and the rest of the book develops as they meet some conflict. It may be circumstances or people, but I like my guys to work as a unit to meet life's problems, not to be the problem themselves.

That being said, I just wrote one that is totally off that theme. It is set in a very rural area of Kentucky, on my grandparents farm, in fact. I love the characters and I wrote just a relationship book, containing lies, deceit, love, passion, revelation, separation, and reunion. I like the way it turned out. I hope you all feel the same. It was fun and a lot of the scenes are real memories.

I look forward to seeing you all at GRL this year. I will be working as well as a featured author, so if you see me, come up and talk. I love meeting readers, helping people out, and talking about my books. I love my guys. All of them.

Truth: I'm making a cheat sheet to use at the Q&A I'm doing, because I don't want to be asked a question about a book and not remember a name or something about it. Isn't that sad? I started writing in 2007 and have about 30 books out there and I'm getting up there in years, you know. No, no, don't feel sorry for me. By the time we meet at GRL I'll be considered a, well, the term is...sexagenarian. Hey, think that's pretty cool, despite the arthritis, etc., involved.

Three of my recent books were from the Scarcity Sanctuary Series: All can be found at
http://www.mlrbooks.com/books.php
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=AKM+Miles
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/index.html

It's Okay (A Scarcity Sanctuary Series) by AKM Miles
Publication Date: October 17, 2014
Amazon Kindle: It's Okay (A Scarcity Sanctuary Series)

Gom finds that just because it's summer break doesn't mean that his services aren't needed in a very disturbing case involving a tortured young artist.

Gom Marsh is happy that it's summer break and he can spend some time with Casey. But no, along comes Laurie with one of the most disturbing cases so far. This time a young artist in a summer school program is producing some extremely tortured drawings. Gom has to get in there to find out what is going on with Kade Godwin. If that's not enough, there's a teacher who is being cyber-bullied and has no idea who is doing it, and it's got to be kept on the down-low to protect his reputation. But there' a really good ending.

Seeing Double: A Scarcity Sanctuary Book by AKM Miles
Publisher: MLR Press (April 26, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: Seeing Double: A Scarcity Sanctuary Book

How was Ben to know when he went in for his first day of internship at the Showhouse Theater the unbelievable things that would happen next: unbelievable danger, unbelievable pain, and unbelievable love?

When Ben called Soldier that morning, his first day at the theater, he had very strange things to request. When he called the second time, things were even more bizarre. From there things went downhill pretty quickly. He had found someone to love, finally, but would they both live long enough to act upon their feelings? Chip Carver was just what Ben wanted, but between crazy people trying to kill Ben, an evil pimp out to get Chip, the man watching the house, and adorable twins, would they ever be able to connect? Oh, come on, this is Scarcity, people.

Missing Soldier: A Scarcity Sanctuary Book by AKM Miles
Publisher: MLR Press (May 21, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: Missing Soldier: A Scarcity Sanctuary Book

Without Soldier and Dillon, there would /be /no Scarcity Sanctuary, so what happens when Soldier is missing? Soldier is the head of the household, the provider, along with Dillon. But, Soldier is so much more. He's the one who makes all the troubled boys who come through Scarcity feel safe, like they can take on a world that has treated them so badly. He gives everyone strength, love, and support. And if you think the boys from Scarcity are losing their minds over his absence, what about Dillon? Soldier is the other half of his soul. Where is Soldier?



About the Author: AKM Miles loves reading the M/M genre and decided to write what she loves. You can expect a happy ending every time. You can also expect for the two to find each other and choose to be together fairly early, and then face conflicts, trials, and experiences as a couple. AKM prefers that over going back and forth over whether the love is returned or not. She loves to throw children in the mix, along with pets and wacky and wonderful friends. Hopefully, readers will love the emotional love stories that fill her head and spill onto her computer.

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