Podcast appearances and mentions of Bella Books

Cade Haddock Strong joins me to chat about her upcoming June release, The Advice Columnist, Beyond the Shelves, an anthology featuring stories from her and other members of the Sapphic Lit Popup Bookstore, how she met her wife, her previous career in the airline industry, travel and much more! To learn more about Cade and find links to purchase her books visit Cade Haddock Strong – AuthorTo support this podcast, you can buy me a coffee @ sapphiclaura is Bringing you fun chats with the best authors in sapphic fiction. (buymeacoffee.com)Support the show

The legendary Katherine V. Forrest joins me to chat about her illustrious career, including Curious Wine, the Kate Delafield series, Coral Dawn trilogy, Naiad Press and Barbara Grier, marrying her wife Jo, and much more! Purchase Katherine's books on the Bella Books website: Forrest, Katherine V. – Bella BooksTo support this podcast, you can buy me a coffee at sapphiclaura is Bringing you fun chats with the best authors in sapphic fiction. (buymeacoffee.com)Support the show

This episode features the prologue and first chapter of Steadying the Ark by Rebecca K. Jones. It is read by local actor Shauna Dolin. Steadying the Ark was published by Bella Books in March of 2022 and is available for purchase. You can learn more about the author on her website. In each episode, we share with you mystery short stories and mystery novel first chapters read by actors from the San Joaquin Valley. Our theme song was written and performed by Kevin Memley. If you enjoyed this episode please review or rate it as that helps more people be able to find us! Also, consider subscribing so you never miss an episode-both to this podcast and to our podcast newsletter. If you would like to help support this podcast and Kings River Life financially, and get some fun rewards, check out our Patreon Page. You can also make a one time donation through Paypal and you can purchase some fun Mysteryrat's Maze merchandise on Redbubble. You can find more mystery fun on our websites Kings River Life Magazine and KRL News and Reviews.

Jaime Clevenger joins me to chat about their recent Goldie winner, Over the Moon With You, co-writing with Aurora Rey, how they met their wife, being a veterinarian, the two couples they would like to check in on, being a parent and much more! To purchase Jaime's books, visit  Search Results for “jaime clevenger” – Bella Books or Amazon.com: Jaime Clevenger: books, biography, latest updateTo support this podcast visit, sapphiclaura is Bringing you fun chats with the best authors in sapphic fiction. (buymeacoffee.com)Support the show

Alex Marcoux is a seeker of Truth and international author of spiritual nonfiction and visionary fiction books. She was welcomed into a world few people see: the sacred mysteries and magic of autism. When asked by three nonspeaking autistics to make known their truth, “Destination New Earth: A Blueprint to 5D Consciousness” and “The Unsuspected Heroes: A Visionary Fiction Novel” emerged. “The Unsuspected Heroes” is a 2021 International Book Awards finalist in Visionary Fiction and 2021 American Book Fest Best Book Award Finalist in Visionary Fiction. Marcoux was the Living Now Book Awards Silver Medal winner in Metaphysical for her spiritual self-help book, “Lifesigns: Tapping the Power of Synchronicity, Serendipity and Miracles” (Jenness and Golden Turtle Press). Her fiction readers dubbed her the “lesbian Dan Brown” and #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner called “A Matter of Degrees“ a rollercoaster ride of suspense.” She is also a Lambda Literary Award Finalist, a Golden Crown Literary Award Finalist, and the RMFW Penn Award recipient. Marcoux is the screenwriter and collaborating director for “Back to Salem: The Short Film” (2008), and her backlist novels include “A Matter of Degrees,” “Back to Salem,” and “Facades” (The Haworth Press and Bella Books).Learn more about Alex at AlexMarcoux.com

Listeners, we're back this week with Veronica Gutierrez.Veronica Gutiérrez is the author of Bella Books' upcoming As You Look, a mystery novel. She is a former community organizer, civil rights attorney, and corporate executive. She draws from years of experience in those worlds for her fiction. Veronica was born and raised in Boyle Heights, the Los Angeles neighborhood that her protagonist, Yolanda Avila, calls home. Veronica and her wife Laura split their time between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Both are home bar enthusiasts and avid travelers. They host cocktail-lesson-themed fundraisers—called Mixology on a Mission—to help Los Angeles non-profits grow their donor base. Veronica published My Little Black Cocktail Book, a journal to organize her research and help others do the same. During this episode we talked about:06:26 - Growing up in a big family08:41 - Challenging authority10:56 - LA Riots13:55 - Her journey to become a lawyer18:09 - Working in a city council campaign23:56 - Religion23:59 - "Chinga quedito'31:26 - Deciding what kind of law to practice34:09 - Deciding to write a book This  episode is brought to you by MagicMind is the world's first productivity drink.

Romance, Representation, and Publishing  Andi and Lise discuss what's known as the lesbian fiction publishing industry (as distinguished from “mainstream” publishers that publish LGBTQ+ fiction) and the role of books that feature romance as a main plot in the industry. They unpack the scarcity of genre fiction in lesbian fiction that isn't romance-driven (but may include romance as a subplot) and discuss the pros and cons of being defined by a particular genre. They're excited to see more books that include asexual, trans, and non-binary characters in romance, but they'd like to see more characters like that in genre fiction that may or may not have a romantic sub-plot.  Links of interest:  About Naiad Press  Obituary/bio of Barbara Grier, one of the founders of Naiad  Lise MacTague's list of publications  Andi Marquette's list of publications  A small list of lesbian fiction publishing houses: Bold Strokes Books, Bella Books, Bedazzled Ink Publishing, Bywater Books, Dirt Road Books, Flashpoint Publications, Launch Point Press, Sapphire Books Publishing, Ylva Publishing  Shout-outs: Lise got an electric bike for her birthday, and she's super-stoked about how it makes riding uphill so much easier! Highly recommend! Andi just finished the first in Tasha Suri's Burning Kingdoms series, The Jasmine Throne, which features two female protagonists thrown together in extremely difficult circumstances. Gorgeously written, political intrigue, excellent world-building, and F/F rep.

This episode DW and Dresa chat with author Bootsncatz about their delightfully morbid mortician/flowershop/tattoo artist AU! We also get the latest scoop on their upcoming new LGBTQ YA novel published by Bella Books! Read the fic! When the Smoke Clears by Bootsncatz Pre-Order your copy of Boots' new novel 'Internet Famous' here!   Episode artwork by Chantal Zeegers This Week's Reverse Sponsor is: Gay Apparel Episode transcript by Edin-Earper

We reach the end of our Secret Invasion of the podcast this week, as special guest S.E. Fleenor joins "Matt", who doesn't sound like Sara Century, to talk about a very special issue of New Avengers! Are you an Echo fan? You will be after this episode! He loves you.   S.E. has written for SyFyFanGrrlz, Buzzfeed and so many other places, and is an editor for Bella Books. They're the co-host of the Bitches on Comics podcast, and you can follow them on Twitter here! Sara Century has written for several websites, but is most prominently one of the writers over at SYFYWire. She's the co-host of the Bitches on Comics podcast, and you can follow her on Twitter here! For more from Shelfdust, visit our site and follow us on Twitter! We are funded through fan support - you can support Shelfdust here!

I was inspired to write this by a service at the Unitarian Universalist church that I attend. (My partner and I now participate in services virtually.) This story is, in many ways, an addendum to my book Tea Leaves, a memoir of mothers and daughters published by Bella Books. So here it is, a Mother's Day story. The story is on my YouTube channel --that and the text of the story is on my blog. Janet Mason, author | Just another WordPress.com site I am also the author of THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders (Adelaide Books) and most recently The Unicorn, The Mystery. An article about The Unicorn, The Mystery recently ran in the Philadelphia Gay News. You can read the article here. The Unicorn, The Mystery in the Philly Gay News — hitting “all the universal notes” — #amreading #LGBTQ | Janet Mason, author (wordpress.com)

Bella Books author, Riley Scott, and her wife, Heather, chat about relationships, craft cocktails, and chickens. And, of course, Riley's new book, On the Rocks.

Join brand new Bella Books author, Kay Acker. Her debut novel, Leaving's Not the Only Way to Go, releases March 2021.

On the Shelf for May 2020 The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 156 with Heather Rose Jones Your monthly update on what the Lesbian Historic Motif Project has been doing. In this episode we talk about: Book Events in the Time of QuarantineCurve Magazine's Virtual Festival by Bella Books author reading videos by titleChawton House: “Man Up! Women who Stepped into a Man's World” Recent and upcoming publications covered on the blogSmith-Rosenberg, Carroll. 1975. “The Female World of Love and Ritual: Relations between Women in Nineteenth-Century America” in Signs vol. 1, no. 1 1-29. Vicinus, Martha. 1984. "Distance and Desire: English Boarding-School Friendships" in Signs vol. 9, no. 4 600-622. Faderman, Lillian. 1999. "Surpassing the Love of Men Revisited" in The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review 6.2 p.26. Bodek, Evely Gordon. 1976. "Salonières and Bluestockings: Educated Obsolescence and Germinating Feminism" in Feminist Studies vol 3 no. 3/4 185-199. Garber, Marjorie. 1992. Vested Interests: Cross-Dressing and Cultural Anxiety. Routledge, New York. ISBN 0-415-91951-7 Halberstam, Judith (Jack). 1997. Female Masculinity. Duke University Press, Durham. ISBN 978-1-4780-0162-1 Herrmann, Anne. 1992. "Imitations of Marriage: Crossdressed Couples in Contemporary Lesbian Fiction" in Feminist Studies vol. 18 no. 3 609-624. Hindmarch-Watson, Katie. 2008. "Lois Schwich, the Female Errand Boy: Narratives of Female Cross-Dressing in Late-Victorian London" in GLQ 14:1, 69-98. Book Shopping Titles European Sexualities, 1400-1800 by Katherine Crawford Never Married: Singlewomen in Early Modern England by Amy M. Froide Invisible Relations: Representations of Female Intimacy in the Age of Enlightenment by Elizabeth Susan Wahl Companions Without Vows: Relationships Among Eighteenth-Century British Women

For the second week in a row, before hopping on the call, TB audio proofed a sex chapter in One Golden Summer, making things awkward for the prude. She’s getting closer to the sex chapter in Dagny that she had skipped, and now has to write it. It’s like the sex gods are torturing her. In fun news, she rewatched My Big Fat Greek Wedding and laughed for two hours. Just what TB needed to avoid all the news alerts blowing up her phone this past week. Clare has finished the second draft of the Christmas book and is nearly done with her third read. Jolly good news! Especially since it’s going to the editor in less than a week. Tick tock! In shoe news, Clare reveals if she kept the pair with pink trim. You’re dying to know, aren’t you? Clare visited a brow artist, and TB can’t wrap her brain around the concept. Finally, Clare is going glamping! For the topic of the day, box sets, Clare takes the reins. They’re a great way to drum up extra income, increase visibility, and offer the reader a deal. Clare stumbles when it comes to math, making TB smile. She’s not the only math-challenged host! Things to consider when putting a box set together are: cover, timing, ARC teams, pricing, exclusive content, and whether or not to have the paperback version. Do you love to read box sets, or if you’re an author, have you done one? Head over to www.lesbianswhowrite.com, and leave a comment on the episode. Or you can email them at: lesbianswhowrite@gmail.com. For the next couple of weeks, they’ll be rerunning some episodes since Clare is going away on holiday and TB has a writing deadline. When they return, they’ll be doing an ask them anything episode, so send in your questions. Thanks so much for listening! Clare and TB Links: Spark for Heart of Ice: lesbianromancesbytbm.com/2020/10/03/the-spark-for-heart-of-ice/ Bella Books: www.bellabooks.com/submission-guidelines/ Clare’s Love Happens Here: www.clarelydon.co.uk/books/love-happens-here-series-starters-short-stories/ Vellum: vellum.pub Paul Teague: self-publishing-journeys.com/how-i-earned-five-figures-in-one-month-as-a-self-published-author/

Bella Books author, Lara Hayes, talks about her latest book, All Together Stranger.

A chat with Bella Books author, E. J. Noyes, about her new novel, Reaping the Benefits, and more.

Ann Roberts chats with Becky about her latest Bella Books novel, Dying on the Vine.

On the Shelf for May 2020 The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 46a with Heather Rose Jones Your monthly update on what the Lesbian Historic Motif Project has been doing. In this episode we talk about: Book Events in the Time of QuarantineCurve Magazine’s Virtual Festival by Bella Books author reading videos by Chawton House: “Man Up! Women who Stepped into a Man’s World” Recent and upcoming publications covered on the blogSmith-Rosenberg, Carroll. 1975. “The Female World of Love and Ritual: Relations between Women in Nineteenth-Century America” in Signs vol. 1, no. 1 1-29. Vicinus, Martha. 1984. "Distance and Desire: English Boarding-School Friendships" in Signs vol. 9, no. 4 600-622. Faderman, Lillian. 1999. "Surpassing the Love of Men Revisited" in The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review 6.2 p.26. Bodek, Evely Gordon. 1976. "Salonières and Bluestockings: Educated Obsolescence and Germinating Feminism" in Feminist Studies vol 3 no. 3/4 185-199. Garber, Marjorie. 1992. Vested Interests: Cross-Dressing and Cultural Anxiety. Routledge, New York. ISBN 0-415-91951-7 Halberstam, Judith (Jack). 1997. Female Masculinity. Duke University Press, Durham. ISBN 978-1-4780-0162-1 Herrmann, Anne. 1992. "Imitations of Marriage: Crossdressed Couples in Contemporary Lesbian Fiction" in Feminist Studies vol. 18 no. 3 609-624. Hindmarch-Watson, Katie. 2008. "Lois Schwich, the Female Errand Boy: Narratives of Female Cross-Dressing in Late-Victorian London" in GLQ 14:1, 69-98. Book Shopping Titles European Sexualities, 1400-1800 by Katherine Crawford Never Married: Singlewomen in Early Modern England by Amy M. Froide Invisible Relations: Representations of Female Intimacy in the Age of Enlightenment by Elizabeth Susan Wahl Companions Without Vows: Relationships Among Eighteenth-Century British Women

Bella Books author Jessie Chandler 

Becky Harmon chats with fellow Bella Books authors Carolyn Elizabeth and Cheri Ritz.

Check out Bella Books new podcast - What's New at Bella. This is an introduction episode.

Jeannie sits down with novelist Heather Rose Jones to talk about her creative processes, mainstream lesbian publishing, historic romance for LGBT, and other topics. … Continue...Episode 28 – Interview with Heather Rose Jones

We discuss how Emily is overcoming fear in her latest project, Reaping the Benefits, where she writes in the 3rd person. She also shares her own experiences with anxiety.I hope you enjoy the show!Emily OnlineTwitterFacebookNatalie OnlineWebsiteTwitterEmailInstagramFacebook 

A Sordid Tale of AfterEllen with Former Content Contributor Karen Frost  First of all, for people who might not know… What is AfterEllen? For the Generation-ZERS  AfterEllen was founded in 2002. Prior to its founding, there hadn’t really been a queer women-specific site that focused on queer female representation in the entertainment industry. AfterEllen flagged for readers when there was a queer female character on TV, offered movie reviews, and conducted interviews with women in queer roles. Over time, the site went through several sort of cosmetic variations, to include video logs and sock puppet re-enactments of “The L Word,” but for 17 years it’s stayed true to its original ideology of identifying and promoting queer female visibility on TV and in movies. Show Notes:                                         Before the Intro - 15 secs  What About Dat? Is a Podcast Queens Production,  Sponsored by Archetype Footwear.  Archetype Footwear OVER MUSIC INTRO - 30 - seconds Jen - Welcome Back to another episode of What About Dat? A podcast where I talk about socially relevant television and speak with thought leaders who want greater visibility and representation in film, television, and digital publication for women, lgbtqia, and their allies.  Today on the podcast we are joined by arm-chair TV-Pundit, former content contributor for AfterEllen, Lez Watch TV, and Tello Film Productions. The Queer Queen of analytics and data and Young adult novelist of the upcoming, “Daughter of Fire Series,” Book 1. Conspiracy of the Dark.   The lovely Karen Frost. Jen - Thank you so much for joining me today, I’ve been a huge fan since you decided to eat your sandwich next to me at Clexa Con.  Karen - Thank you for having me.    Jen - What did you do before writing for AfterEllen? What compelled you to reach out and become involved in the publication?  Karen - I’d read the site since probably a few months after its founding. Every day, I would go on and see if there was a new article. Frankly, back in the early 2000s there was so little representation that there were only new articles a few times a month. The site was absolutely pivotal to my formation of a queer identity as a teenager, and I’d always dreamed of contributing, so when a call went out for writers in 2015, I hoped I’d be picked. Jen - Of your 182 articles what is the piece you are most proud of?  Karen - Let me preface my answer with a bit of a story. In 2016, there was a MASSIVE uproar in the queer female community after the character of Lexa on the CW show “The 100” was killed. Without getting into fandom-specifics, one of the things to come out of it was the feeling, “Why are our characters always being killed off?” For the first time, someone put together the data on it, and we discovered that 25-30% of all queer female characters have been killed off on TV shows. That’s a rate orders of magnitude larger than straight characters. Put another way, there was a statistically significant tendency of shows to kill off our characters. But had no one done the math, that knowledge would have remained in the realm of “feelings” rather than “data.” Because of work to highlight this problem, the next two years saw a plummeting in the number of queer female characters who were killed. Now, to get back to your question of what article I’m most proud of, I would say that the articles that I’m most proud of are the ones that used data to make a point about representation, for example showing that an actresses’ best chance of getting an Oscar nomination and winning since 2002 has been to play a queer character. I believe that it’s hard to convince Hollywood to have more representation using just “feelings,” but if you use data to show the profitability, then it’s hard for Hollywood to say no.   Jen - At ClexaCon, you briefly mentioned a mass exodus from AfterEllen? What happened? Why did so many writers cease their involvement with the publication?  Karen - The mass exodus happened in September 2016 when then-editor Trish Bendix was fired after six years at her position. Evolve Media, who owned AfterEllen at the time, announced it could no longer keep a full-time editor given that AfterEllen wasn’t meeting revenue goals and that it would be reducing the amount of content produced. The relationship between Trish and Evolve immediately soured, and all the writers but me chose to leave in solidarity with Trish. Anyone interested in those dynamics should read an article Trish posted about the dying queer media and the struggle to monetize it. She had a first row seat for years in seeing how the entire media landscape was affected, not just AfterEllen.  Jen - You wrote an article entitled “Why I stayed,” which was a compelling counter-argument for why you were going to continue to contribute articles to AfterEllen during a time when other people were leaving. Why did you stay?  Karen - As I mentioned before, AfterEllen was an absolutely pivotal part of my identity formation as a teenager, and I realized that the site would continue to exist whether all the writers stayed or left. It would continue to be a global platform with the ability to create positive impact for young women coming to terms with their sexual orientation. Girls in Bangladesh, Kenya, South Korea, Argentina, and even in the US wouldn’t know about the backstory with Trish. Two or five or however many years later, they would log onto the site and I wanted them to have something to read that would help them. I think we often become very myopic and Anglo-centric when we think about the world just because we write in English, but there is SO much of the world that is also impacted by what we write. Jen - What was your turning point? What made you finally leave?  Karen - After Trish, Evolve Media hired Memoree Joelle as the new editor. Memoree came to the site with some baggage in the sense that she had expressed what were perceived to be anti-transgender comments in the past. We writers knew about those sentiments, but for the first several years, she kept the sentiments behind those comments private and off the site. In late December 2018, however, when it became clear that Evolve Media was looking to sell AfterEllen and would no longer be monitoring whether she was publishing anti-trans rhetoric, she began to publish that rhetoric through the AfterEllen Twitter handle. That’s actually a bit of an over simplification in the sense that Memoree would argue that she’s not “anti-trans” per se but rather that she feels that as the LGBT community has focused on trans issues, it has come at the cost of lesbian issues and therefore she seeks a more equitable balance of resources and energy. However, the delivery of that message came across as extremely anti-trans.  By December 2018, I could no longer remain with AfterEllen. As someone who doesn’t share Memoree’s ideology, it was impossible to continue to be associated with it. As much as I believed in the spirit of AfterEllen’s mission, to have stayed any longer would have been to condone that sort of bigotry, which I don’t.  Jen - What are some of your takeaways from working at AfterEllen?  Karen - I would say the biggest takeaway is that Hollywood is changing. Often we get impatient at the pace of change, but in 2002 we might see three queer female characters in movies a year and in 2019 we’re talking about whether Valkyrie and Captain Marvel will date in massive, billion dollar grossing Marvel movies. The amount and quality of representation today is unbelievable compared to two decades ago and earlier. I’d like to believe that some of that is a result of the great work done by people at AfterEllen, Autostraddle, and other sites.  The other takeaway is that yes, queer media is dying. That’s for a variety of reasons, but one thing that I would flag is stovepiping in our community. For a decade, readers would come to sites like AfterEllen or Autostraddle and they would read about all the queer content on TV. There was a unified base of knowledge that was shared among the community. Everyone knew, for example, the ten shows that had queer characters. Now people seem to be falling into a few fandoms and not paying attention to what’s happening outside those few. Readership for sites like AfterEllen is dying in part because rather than going to AfterEllen, viewers are going to show-specific sites. But if we lose these universal or aggregative sites, then we lose a really good repository of knowledge. Book Trailer - 1min + Jen- “Conspiracy of the Dark” - Is really different from the deeply analytical articles you’ve put out into the world. Where did the inspiration for the project come from? How did you find your story? Karen - I’ve always loved Young Adult fantasy. Ever since I was a kid, that’s always been my favorite genre. But there really haven’t been a ton of queer protagonists in mainstream books. When I was a teenager, there were three: Malinda Lo’s “Ash” and “Huntress,” and then Tamora Pierce’s “The Will of the Empress.” So with “Conspiracy of the Dark,” the inspiration was just to write a good and interesting story, but also to create more content for young queer women. We need stories of our own, and if mainstream publishers aren’t particularly interested in giving it to us, then we have to write it and disseminate it any way we can.  Jen - Being that you write high-fantasy, what kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book? One of the luxuries of high fantasy is that no research is necessary! I love it. You just open up your computer and go. Jen - What does literary success look like to you? If you could have it all, what would it look like with journalism and writing, what does success look like for you?  Karen - I would say that literary success for queer content looks very different from straight content. Here’s what I mean: JK Rowling has made a billion dollars off the Harry Potter series and merchandising. If you’re going to write straight content, that’s success. Success is fame and fortune. But queer content will never sell like that. No one will be getting rich off queer content, and in fact I only know of one queer female writer who makes enough to do it full-time. To me, success in our genre is impact. If someone reads my book and says, “Wow, this is fantastic. I’ve never before seen myself portrayed as a knight or a mage,” then that’s success. All I want to do is put out the content that didn’t exist when I was a teenager. Let’s fill figurative libraries with the content that the mainstream has denied us for centuries.   It’s largely the same with journalism: success is about creating impact. It’s almost impossible to know if the articles that I write have caused anyone in Hollywood to re-evaluate how they do representation, but I hope they have. Ultimately, fame is fleeting and subjective. Here today, gone tomorrow. But if an article plants the seed where Hollywood says, “Hey, maybe Captain Marvel CAN be gay,” then that’s impact forever. Jen - What’s the most difficult thing about writing queer characters?  Karen - There’s nothing difficult about writing queer characters…if you’re already queer yourself. I think where we see more difficulty is when straight people are writing queer characters.  Jen - How does your background in queer pop-culture effect the way you write characters? Karen - Not exactly. I will say, however, that there was a queer couple on TV whose dynamic I really liked so I used their dynamic as the basis of the romantic pairing in my book.   Jen - What was your hardest scene to write? Why? Karen - The opening few pages of my book. In the initial draft, I wanted the description of my character’s world to be very detailed so that readers would feel immersed in it. I immediately realized, however, that it was too much and no one would get past those pages. They would stop reading. So I had to go back and cut.   Jen - What was the pitch process like trying to sell your concept to literary agents? Karen - The way publishing works is that for mainstream publishers, normally you get a literary agent and the agent then tries to market your book to publishers like Harper Collins. So in essence you have two barriers to get over: finding a literary agent and then finding a publisher. Literary agents post online what they’re looking for: cook books, fantasy, sci-fi, etc. I ended up querying 17 literary agents, all of whom specifically said they wanted LGBT content and fantasy content. Every single one of them turned the book down. Then I tried Bella Books, for which you don’t use a literary agent, and also was turned down. The truth is that mainstream publishing really doesn’t want queer female YA content right now, and the two or so books a year that come out with it feel like a miracle. For me, I was also hurt by the fact that to date, queer women haven’t shown an interest in YA fantasy as a genre. The most popular genre is contemporary romance. So for any publisher taking on the book, it’s a risk. It could turn out that neither gays nor straights want to read it.   Jen - How did you connect with Ylva publishing?  Karen - I sent my manuscript to them using the website instructions. To be honest, it was my last effort. If Ylva hadn’t taken it, I would have given up. Ylva has been wonderful to work with, and I really, really am glad they believed in the book and decided to take a chance on it. Jen -  Moving forward what do you think will happen to queer digital publications? Do you think you will ever return to journalizing or has that ship passed?    Karen - I think we’re seeing an atomization of queer digital publications. The revenue structure that supported blogs and websites in the mid to late 2000s is gone. There’s just not the money in it, and that hurts websites. When they can’t stay monetized, they fold, and that trend impacts not just the queer sites, but everyone. For queer content, what pops up are small, personal websites run by one or two people. The problem with sites like that is it’s hard to direct traffic to them. With so many, how do readers know to go to them? It’s not that they’re bad, but rather it’s hard for them to promote themselves. For myself, I love writing about queer topics, particularly in the entertainment field, but frankly, my ability to return to that field isn’t contingent on me. With this atomizing, people feel like they want to run their sites themselves without outside content. What that’s meant is that I can’t get anyone to take my free articles. So while I have lots of ideas for articles, I have no place to publish them.   Jen - This has been an interview with Karen Frost, thank you so much for being here today. Your presence elevates the podcast. Please come back soon. Be sure to follow us on twitter @whatabout_dat.  Music Outro   

Dana Piccoli Talks Lesfic Les Do Books with Tara and guest Dana Piccoli Author, pop culture critic, and Managing Editor of the Bella Books blog, Dana Piccoli, joins Tara to talk about all things lesbian fiction. She shares how she discovered it, what it meant to her, what it means to be writing lesfic now, and what has her excited about where the genre is headed.   Check out the books Dana mentions here: And Playing the Role of Herself by KE Lane Waiting in the Wings by Melissa Brayden Fated Love by Radclyffe Keepers of the Cave by Gerri Hill The Farmer’s Daughter by Robbi McCoy Find Dana Piccoli online Website Twitter Instagram More info If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please consider contributing to the Patreon for The Lesbian Talk Show channel. Come talk to us about these books and any other lesfic you’ve been reading lately at our Facebook group, The Lesbian Review Book Club. You can see all of our reviews, top 10 lists and author profiles on TheLesbianReview.com and don’t forget to send your emails, questions and more to Tara@TheLesbianReview.com.

Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) are joined by Dana Piccoli (@danapiccoli0, your Fairy Gaymother and managing editor of Bella Books (@bellabooks) to talk about why Oceans 8 should have been gay. From the mouth of Dana Piccoli: Debbie Ocean, bicon, Lou, gives lessons in being gay, Rose Weil, anxious Mommi, Amita, your straight friend, Daphne Kluger, I give my life for you, Constance, experimented in college, Nineball, hacker queer and Tammy, love of your life who got married but still sends you longing Facebook messages. And that folks is Oceans 8 if it was even more overtly gay than it already is. Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Sarah Paulson, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna, Awkwafina, Helena Bonham Carter, and Mindy Kaling. Need we say anymore? Follow along on Twitter @lezhangoutpod and Facebook and Instagram (@lezhangoutpod). See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For decades, Jeanne Winer was a successful criminal defense attorney based in Boulder. Over 35 years she represented thousands of individuals and her cases have included murder and kidnapping and a death row case.  Jeanne Winer also played a key role in a landmark civil rights case that worked its way all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. All along the way, Jeanne harbored a dream to write fiction.  In 2012, Jeanne published her first novel The Furthest City Light through Bella Books and now, six years later Jeanne’s second novel, Her Kind of Case, is being published by Bancroft Books. In fact, it comes out next week (Aug. 15) and Jeanne has two upcoming launch events—one in her home town of Boulder and one in Denver. Her Kind of Case has already drawn starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus and Library Journal. Longtime best-selling mystery writer Stephanie Kane called it “an entertaining story with an immense heart.” As you will hear, Jeanne is humble, under-stated, and has it all in perspective. Jeanne Winer's website Intro music by Moby Outro music by Dan-o-Songs

Episode 14b - Interview with Genevieve Fortin  A series of interviews with authors of historically-based fiction featuring queer women.  In this episode we talk about  How interviewing Franco-American families in New England inspired Water’s Edge  Her love for literature from ca. 1900 and the decadent movement’s exploration of sexuality  Researching the social and economic circumstances of immigrant communities in late 19th century New England  Cluing your historic characters in on their sexual possibilities  Plans for a sequel and to center lesbian characters in the history of Quebec  Publications mentioned: Water’s Edge by Genevieve Fortin. Bella Books, 2017 Get it on Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca  Monseiur Vénus by Rachilde  Nana by Émile Zola. 1880.  The Franco-Americans by Yves Roby. 2004 Get it on Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca  More info  The Lesbian Historic Motif Project lives here    You can find Genevieve Fortin here  Twitter  Facebook    If you have questions or comments about the LHMP or these podcasts, send them to: contact@alpennia.com 

Episode Summary: This week on the FadCast, Birthday girl and Co-Owner of both Bella Books & Super Lamp Shades, Blair joins the special live 100th episode event at O'Connor Brewing Company to celebrate Harry Potter's birthday. From his inception in children's literature to his ascension to the big screen medium, we talk all the best and worst moments of the famed boy wizard and what his future may hold in store with 'The Cursed Child.' We also have a narration-rich script read from 'Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix' ft. Blair, but things really get magical when we turn to the crowd to ask for their best 'Harry Potter' themed pick-up lines and sex-talk! Before that, Ryan speeds through his thoughts on the upcoming 'Bad Santa 2' as Pooya quickly teases Matt's review of the woman-on-Wallstreet film 'Equity.' Episode Breakdown: Pooya: You are listening to FilmFad.com’s FadCast Episode 100 Ryan: With our special guest, co-owner of Super Lamp Shades and Bella Books, Blair Pooya: Today we’ll talk muggles and wand cast magic Ryan: as we discuss the beloved boy wizard talking Harry Potter A-Z Pooya:  oh yeah, You’ll hear all that and more so let’s get started! (Intro Music break) Current Events - ‘Bad Santa 2’ Images Reveal Details About Upcoming Sequel & Review: ‘Equity’ Holds Honesty and Realism (3min) Script Read - 'Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix' ft. Blair as Bellatrix, Ryan as Harry Potter and Pooya as Dumbledore and the Narrator. (6min) Main Topic - 'Harry Potter' Films & The Cursed Child Influence  (33min) Do YOU want to be featured on an episode of the FadCast?! Well then, call the FadCast hotline at (310) 651-8127 and leave us a voicemail to possibly be featured on an upcoming episode! Awesome, right?! We know!!!  

I've been a fan of Jessie Chandler's capers since I picked up Pickle in the Middle Murder on a whim. C'mon, murder in the privies at a Renaissance Faire? This wench was all over that! Her latest retains the fun and furious pace of her earlier novels, but her storytelling continues to mature. She has a new publisher and a new editor as well, and gives a shout-out to both Bella Books and writer/editor Katherine V. Forrest. She started writing after devouring the Mickey Knight series by J.M. Redmann. She took classes from Lori Lake and Ellen Hart, both of whom she cites as major champions and influences on her work. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) gets a nod as well. Jessie ended her four-book run with publisher Midnight Ink, but remains on good terms with them and in fact gives them credit for coming up with the term 'caper' to describe the series. (Heads up to cozy fans: although these books are very funny, Jessie is quick to point out that they are *not* cozies. Give the interview a listen or a read to see if they're right for you.) Jessie also discusses the inspiration for the character Rocky. If you want to learn more about Prader-Willi Syndrome, Jessie provided this link. Here are the books in the Shay O'Hanlon Caper series in order: Bingo Barge Murder Hide and Snake Murder Pickle in the Middle Murder Chip Off the Ice Block Murder Blood Money Murder As always, if you'd rather read than listen, a transcript is below. Enjoy! Transcript for the Interview with Jessie Chandler Laura Brennan: Jessie Chandler is the award-winning author of the Shay O'Hanlon Caper series, with her first four books racking up nominations and wins for Golden Crown Goldie and Ann Bannon Popular Choice awards, IPPY awards, USA Book Awards and Rainbow Book Awards. The fifth book in the series, Blood Money Murder, has just been released. Jessie, thank you so much for joining me. Jessie Chandler: I am so happy to be here, Laura. Thank you so much. LB: For someone who didn't plan to become a writer, you've kind of taken the world by storm here. JC: Kinda. I'm still not sure what happened. LB: Well, before we get to your books, let's talk a little bit about you. You've had a lot of interesting jobs. JC: I have, yes. LB: Am I right that one of them was as a police officer? JC: That is correct. I initially, I dispatched for the state patrol for three years. And I got very bored doing that, mostly because you're sitting on your butt and nothing happens and then suddenly everything blows up and the world is crazy. So, I thought, well, I'd like to be a trooper. At the time, there were not a lot of law enforcement jobs available. The budgets had been cut for a lot of agencies and there were no rookie schools coming up for the state patrol. And when I finished the secondary - third-ary - type schooling that I had to do, I don't know how many interviews I wound up out of that, but it was a lot, and then suddenly I wound up with job offers from three agencies. And I chose a smaller one, kind of near an inner-ring suburb. And when I began, there were some younger folks on the police force, and some older folks. There was a little bit of consternation among the older folks about women cops. And it just turned into a big mess. And I wound up quitting a few months into it. I'm actually glad I did, I'm glad I had the experience. I'm very happy where I am now, working on writing books, doing all kinds of other creative things. Ultimately, I'm in the right place at the right time and I don't regret a single thing that I had experienced. But, I'm just really glad, where I am right now. LB: Well, you bring in the cop camaraderie and all of that with JT JC: Yes. LB: So it's being used there, but you didn't have any desire to write a procedural? JC: Not really. I wanted to -- it's kind of weird -- ever since 9/11, you know when 9/11 happened, things got really dark.

Janet Mason - Author, Lay Leader -Incorporating Writings into Services Janet shares about her experience as a newbie to Unitarian Universalism, her involvement as a lay leader and how she incorporates her writings into the UUCR services. Hear how her book Tea Leaves came about and shares a personal story about her mother and her past. What is her advice for aspiring writers? "Take yourself seriously." Bio: Janet Mason is an author and lay minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Restoration in Philadelphia. Her book Tea Leaves, a memoir of mothers and daughters was published in 2012 by Bella Books. She is a blogger for The Huffington Post and her commentary airs on This Way Out, the Los Angeles-based, international LGBT news syndicate. Since becoming a member of UUCR last year, she has incorporated pieces of fictions into her sermons, including a piece inspired by The Hebrew Bible called "The Serpent" and an excerpt from her recently completed book Art, a novel of revolution, love and marriage. Favorite Quote: Poetry is not a luxury. - Audre Lorde Links: Janet Mason's author blog can be found at https://tealeavesamemoir.wordpress.com/ She can be found on: Twitter: @amusejanetmason  You Tube readings from Art Tea Leaves by Mason, Janet (2012) Paperback Final Credits: music thanks to: "Carefree", "Open Those Bright Eyes", "Sweeter Vermouth" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Open Book Productions and Bella Books have partnered to bring you BEACON HILL, a Web Series Drama that centers around the world of Politics in Boston, Massachusetts. Politics and Romance may never be the same... Executive Producer: Crystal Chappell and Christa Morris, Producers: Hillary Bailey Smith and Ricky Paull Goldin Joining Take 2 Radio on Tuesday, March 11th at 7pm eastern time are Crystal Chappell, Ricky Paull Goldin, Alicia Minshew, and Sarah Brown.