Legacies of Lesbian Literature Project

Those of you who attended the Golden Crown Literary Society conference last year may have attended a presentation done by Sandra Moran and Marianne K. Martin about a project they were starting. Many of us have realized that some of our heritage is beginning to disappear and it needs to be preserved so that people, not just lesbians, will know how our literature has developed and the women who have played a part in it. Marianne and Sandra came up with a project to do something about this......and then we lost Sandra. Fortunately, Sandra's wife, Cheryl Pletcher, has stepped forward and is determined to finish this as part of Sandra's legacy.

This is going to be no small undertaking, folks. It's not just a matter of writing a paper or making a PowerPoint. The plan is to do video interviews of some of our pioneers while they're still here to tell us our history. Marianne has already started with these and the list includes Dorothy Allison, Ann Bannon, Rita Mae Brown, Emma Donoghue, Rita Mae Brown, Katherine V. Forrest, Jewell Gomez, Jenifer Levin, Lee Lynch, Alice Walker and Jeanette Winterson. Others will be added as the project progresses. They intend to produce a documentary and DVDs so that this information can be stored and shared with people for years to come (assuming we don't blow the world up first.)

I've uploaded a picture of the project logo, designed by Ann McMan. It's really striking.

They need help. Eventually, they're going to need people to help them with script writing, research, production, editing, graphics, promotion, distribution....you name it and they'll be asking for people who can participate. What can you do right now?

All of the royalties from Sandra's books are going to fund the project, but more is needed. You can make a contribution by going to https://www.crowdrise.com/legacies-of-lesbian-literature-project. Contributions aren't tax deductible yet, but they're working on getting that status filed. The site only takes credit cards at the moment, but they're going to work on getting a PayPal link. Cheryl says, if you don't want to donate online, you can send donations to her at 9951 Fountain Circle, Lenexa, KS 66220.

You can also friend the project on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LegLesLit. You can link to the site so that other people will see it and you will receive updates about how the project is progressing.

Maybe it's the history teacher in me, but I was excited about this project when I heard about it last year. I'm impressed with how far they've gotten already in the planning and will be giving them some of my time. A lot of my time if you listen to Marianne.

If you want to contact them, their email addresses are mkmbywater@aol.com or cpletcher54@gmail.com.

They will be happy to have the smallest contribution, time or whatever you can do to support the project. This is OUR history and literature. I hope some of you will be inclined to help in some way.

Lynne  

Neither Present Time by Caren Werlinger

Publisher:       Corgyn Publishing

It gets to be boring to review Caren Werlinger’s books after a while. After it’s been said a few times that her writing is magnificent, engrossing, sophisticated and thought provoking, to say it again seems redundant. There is a danger that people might not believe the reviews anymore. So, here is a new word – consistently. Caren Werlinger’s books are consistently magnificent, engrossing, sophisticated and thought provoking.

Neither Present Time is the story of two women who are brought together by a book. Beryl Gray is a university librarian who finds a book with a personal inscription in it and is driven to find out more about the people involved. This leads her to Aggie Bishop and her great-aunt Cory. Beryl and Aggie share the characteristic of being caregivers. Beryl cares for practically everyone she knows and Aggie is trying to care for Aunt Cory. Since Aunt Cory doesn’t think she needs any help, even though her family is trying to institutionalize her and sell away the family home, Aggie’s one case practically equals all of Beryl’s. Neither Beryl nor Aggie has been able to sustain healthy relationships, but in learning Aunt Cory’s story, both women will learn a great deal about themselves. Looking into the past will cause them to examine the present with different eyes and will alter the lives of all three women.

Werlinger tells a good story, but what makes her book more appealing is the complexity of what she presents. There is romance in the book, but romance is in the story not THE story. There are messages and lessons to be learned while her characters do a complex dance weaving together the themes, including moving between different time periods. Werlenger’s talent is shown by the story being real, but not preachy; complex, but easily understood; and peopled by characters the reader probably knows.

Neither Present Time is like all of Werlinger’s books, a good read.

Olive Oil & White Bread by Georgia Beers

Publisher:       Bywater Books

A straight person would not write this book. It wouldn’t occur to him or her that there was a need to write a book about a couple that meets, falls in love, and has a completely normal life that spans a long relationship. Where is the story in that? Well, Nicholas Sparks might write it, but it would be short and poignant.

Gay people don’t usually write these books either. Their books are about “hot young things” consumed with sexy encounters that may turn into relationships, and that is usually where the story ends. Sometimes they throw in a message with the story and a romance. Or they write mysteries, supernatural stories, space adventures or whatever the genre and the main characters are made lesbian or gay, but really don’t need to be. Basically, the reader is getting a straight story with gay/lesbian characters and the readers like that because they can relate to the characters. That’s fine.

Then there are exceptions like Olive Oil & White Bread. There is nothing extraordinary about Angie Righetti and Jillian Clark. One is a salesperson and the other teaches elementary art. They fall in love, buy a house, then buy another house, acquire a dog, deal with family events (happy and sad) and confront what can happen to a relationship when it’s taken for granted instead of nurtured. That is what makes the book worth reading. The reader gets to see the couple grow together and apart and back together. They deal with situations everyone faces - the death and aging of parents, the differences in families and the struggle to balance work with home. There are the crushing effects of the losses of a beloved pet and a life-long friend. In other words, these are just normal people going about their lives. And that is what makes this book important.

If you have friends, family or anyone who “just doesn’t get” what gay people are about; if they don’t understand the importance of gay marriage; if they think gay people are a threat or different or whatever, this is the book you want to give them. This is the book that will show them that gay people don’t have wild and perverse sex lives (at least not all of them), they buy houses in the suburbs, love and screw up. In other words, they’re just normal.

Georgia Beers has many strengths as a writer. She’s written outstanding romances, poignant stories based on 9-11 and won awards for her books. Olive Oil & White Bread may be her gift for the gay community to the rest of the world though. It proves there just isn’t that much difference between us.

Fire and Ice by Gaelle Cathy

Publisher:       Affinity eBook Press

Writing a book about lesbians would seem to be controversial enough in some circles, but then an author comes along and throws another kink in the story.  There are no spoilers in this review, but, if you choose to read it, expect a “family secret” to shake up the story and many people won’t care for the way it is resolved.

The Beckett family has retreated to New Hampshire hoping that the more peaceful area will allow them to recuperate from a terrible experience in New York City.  This is how college student Emma meets a local artist Charlie Campbell and love blossoms.  The Becketts are thrown for a loop because Emma has never shown any inclination to be lesbian since she’s had more than one boyfriend, but Charlie is charming, sensitive, experienced and all of the things that are apparently appealing to Emma.  Gradually they fall in love and then the family secret comes into play.  The reader can decide how well that situation is handled.

The main problems with Fire and Ice stem from its inconsistencies.  There are places where the wording is odd, which is probably due to the author not being a native English speaker.  That doesn’t explain the rest.  The main characters know things about each other’s lives that they have no way of knowing or at least aren’t explained in the story.  They use odd cues that make no sense to decide if someone is a lesbian.  No, not gaydar, peculiar ideas.  The continuity editor truly failed in this story because a cat named Liloo is introduced in the present, then later in the book it’s revealed that the cat died years before.  Perhaps every cat was named Liloo.

This is not a strong book and the end of it will certainly be controversial for many people.  If the reader is just looking for something to pass the time and can borrow a copy of this, then go ahead.  If not, pass on by and read something better.

Something in the Wine by Jae

Publisher:       Ylva Publishing

What do you do when you decide to play a joke on someone else and the joke turns out to be on you?

Annie and Jake Prideaux have a typical sibling relationship, she’s an adult and he’s a perpetual kid.  One of Jake’s favorite things is to play practical jokes on his long suffering and “unconnected” sister.  He tells Annie that he’s going to set her up on a date with a close friend that he just knows she’ll like.  Jake neglects to tell Annie that his friend Drew Corbin is a woman.  Drew is totally focused on her vineyard, but has begun to realize that she needs more in her life.  She’s seen Annie before and is happy to have the date, but not when she discovers what Jake has done to them.  Instead of the explosion that Jake expects, the women decide to turn the tables on Jake and act like they have actually fallen in love.  This includes attending Prideaux family events where Jake discovers that he’s very uncomfortable with the situation and accuses Drew of confusing his sister.

Annie and Drew are both confused by the middle of the book.  Annie has never experienced feelings for a woman before, not that she took seriously anyway, and Drew knows that getting involved with a straight woman is disappointment waiting to happen.

Jae is becoming a young legend in the field of lesbian fiction.  Her books are longer than most romances and full of details and plot that have made her a multiple award winner.  What usually amazes her readers however is that she is a native German and writes better in English than a lot of her contemporaries.  Her books are amazingly free of mistakes, which means the reader isn’t distracted by errors that interrupt the story.

Something in the Wine is a coming-out romance about a slighter older character than is usually found in those stories and the typical already burned lesbian.  Though it isn’t Jae’s strongest book, it’s still an enjoyable story and entertaining.  If you like lesbian literature, it’s difficult to go wrong with this author.

Miss-Match by Erica Lawson and A.C. Henley

Publisher:                   Affinity Press

Miss-Match reads like an experiment that did not work.  It has to be difficult enough to write a book with two authors, but especially unwieldy when one of them is dead and cannot be consulted.  The pace of this book is extremely uneven and, while it’s supposed to be funny, it often feels forced to achieve that.  The company didn’t do this book any favors either.  It’s poorly set up as far as the pages, spacing and so forth, then the editing notes were left in it in places.

Clancy Fitzgerald is twenty-nine, single and the matchmaker she’s been using has run through all of the men she has available.  The matchmaker decides to set Clancy up with a woman, without telling her.  She also doesn’t tell the other woman, Carmen Pratka, that Clancy isn’t expecting a woman.  Carmen immediately realizes that Clancy’s problem has been all along that she’s really a lesbian.  Someone just has to prove it to her and Carmen wants to do that.  What follows is a silly dance between Clancy and Carmen to create a relationship and that gets caught up in the intrigue of a religious group to try and buy up all of the gay and lesbian bars in town to put them out of business.

Erica Lawson is usually a much better author than this and her books are better produced.  Perhaps it was trying to finish someone else’s story that created the problem.  At any rate, leave this one on the shelf and try a different book.