Author Spotlight: Keri Keriotis

As a writer of poetry, short stories, and screenplays that involve lesbian themes and characters, Keri Keriotis has been providing many women with enjoyable reading material since the mid 1990’s. She describes her writing as stimulating and lascivious, and in her self-published collection of poetry and short stories, A Melange of Treasures by the Lavender Chameleon, proved that she knew her work well.

A Melange of Treasures by the Lavender Chameleon focuses on the subject of unrequited love – something Keriotis writes about insightfully and romantically. She explains her inspiration for her stories when she says, “As an enthusiastic voyeur, I seem to always be conveniently located at some private setting…or visualizing the situation in my head in hopes of living it.”

The author feels that her writing definitely has a place among the lesbian community and beyond because “we all covet fantasies,” and is currently working on writing more erotica and finishing her third screenplay in order to fill that need among her readers.

Listing Patricia Cornwell, Tristan Taormino, Anne Rice, and Violet Blue among the writers who she most admires, Keriotis seems to definitely appreciate and respect her area of work – which also includes co-authoring a children’s book with her 11-year-old godchild - but also finds time for her other hobbies and interests including animal rights, intimate dinners, French films, daily reading of Perez Hilton’s gossip site, and an ongoing correspondence with women from all over the world.

At only 36 years old the Brooklyn based lesbian writer has a long career ahead of her and looks forward to more success. “My life-long dream is to become a compensated, established Hollywood screenwriter and continue to write erotica exclusively for my guilty pleasure,” she explains.

Visit http://openlibrary.org/b/OL8526570M for more about A Melange of Treasures by the Lavender Chameleon.

2,500 Years in the Making: Sappho, the Miniseries

It would be hard to find a woman in the lesbian community who hasn’t heard of the poet Sappho. Hopefully, it would be hard to find ANYONE who hasn’t heard of her and the beautiful and timeless writing that she contributed during her time. Nevertheless, many aspects of this famous ancient Greek lyric poet remain a mystery to those interested in learning about her life - beyond the glimpses offered in her writings. Luckily, a talented artist and writer has created a unique and enjoyable way to share the story of Sappho with readers everywhere. In her House of the Muses miniseries, Pam Harrison takes us on an exciting and insightful journey back in time via graphic novel. Here, she tells Cherry Grrl how it all came together.

Cherry Grrl (CG): Could you explain to our readers what the House of the Muses miniseries is all about?
Pam Harrison (PH): I’ve had a lot of comments about having created a comic series about Sappho. Let me try to explain it without being dry and scholarly. I’ve heard a lot of different stories from women who’ve tried to learn the Sappho story in college. Some fell in love with it based on the few but beautiful scraps of poetry that are left to us; others thought it was dry and boring, a little lacking in places, but everyone agrees that her poetry and storytelling were superb. This series was born of a lot of research dating back from when I was studying New Testament Greek at Western Kentucky University back in the 80s. There’s no poetic license here, all I did was bring it back to life.

I enjoyed translating Greek, wanted to find some more subject matter to play with, and found a book about Sappho in the university library. The series is taken from the writings of Sappho and Alkaios: Lyra Graeca. (Edited and translated by J. M. EDMONDS. Loeb Classical Library, three volumes. London: William Heinemann; New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1924.) Looking through the book I found that the poet Alkaios also told his version of Sappho’s exiles. It fascinated me, so I took it on as a translation project…particularly the fragments. I found a mystery in the fragments. It was like a Nancy Drew movie. I went on and on…and from that early pursuit came the premise of entwining two very different storylines and telling the story of Sappho as it actually happened, in a completely different way.

Scholars have for centuries set aside one perplexing poem inexplicably written in Spartan dialect from the Ennead, the nine books authored by Sappho. Why Sappho kept this poem in her collection has never been explained. Sappho had among her students a girl named Mnasidika, a Spartan name that means, “In Remembrance of Justice.” Another translated restoration of a little-known poem of Sappho’s, shredded by the early Church and left in fragments because of its “offensive” subject matter revealed a haunting tale of “immortal lovers.”

The more I read, the more I wondered why the ancient scholars (and a LOT of modern authors, as a matter of fact) had never bothered to put two and two together. The details of this graphic novel miniseries are derived primarily from the works of Alkaios, not Sappho, in his recounting of their early youth during the Civil War in Mytilene, the War with Athens, and the activities of the House of Penthilos. Many are unaware–or their understanding uncertain–about the part the Poetess of Mytilene played in the court intrigues, political upheavals, and assassination plots of the time.

So, yes, as T.E. Lyons of LEO Magazine so deftly put it, when I first imagined it, the journeys and trials of my protagonist, the Spartan slave nicknamed Dika, went into prose. House of the Muses: The Latter Days of Sappho of Lesbos introduces the reader to Mnasidika of Sparta, a girl with a stolen destiny, and how she made her journey to Lesbos. At the end of her adventures, she would write the one poem that the legendary Poetess of Mytilene would safeguard among her treasured works forever.

Cherry Grrl: We’re interested in learning about how you got into the field. How did that come about?
PH: By accident. It started with my first comic. Oh, yes, I remember the Golden Age of Comics… and the Silver Age, and - whoa! Talk about “dating” myself! Actually I was exposed to comics at a very early age in 1970, when my grandfather bought me my very first comic book: the edition of Adventure Comics #411 featuring Supergirl! I don’t know how many people can remember their very first comic, but I never forgot it. It was a sad little tale of the times about prejudice: a blind black child and an alien become friends, only to have society turn on the alien because it was “obviously” a threat based on society’s perception of aliens. Clearly, some things about our society today haven’t changed much. Anyway, once Grandpa got me hooked, I collected every comic I could get my hands on.

It was fate, I guess, because I soon discovered that I could draw. My mother has a trunk full of old drawings from those early days, and even though my mother and I don’t really see eye to eye (incredibly, she’s never come to terms with the fact that I’m gay but she reads all my books), she will never get rid of them.

I think it was in 1987 that I met then-editor for DC Comics, Dick Giordano, at a talent search at our local comic store in Bowling Green, Kentucky where I was living at the time. I very tentatively offered a page I had penciled from Wonder Woman #1, back when George Perez and Romeo Tanghal were penciling and inking the series. I held my breath as he squinted at the page. “These pencils show a LOT of skill and control,” he said at last. “Submit a portfolio to DC.”

The thing that kept my destiny at this crossroads in my life from ever coming to fruition was that I was with someone at the time who thought it was fun to beat me up and destroy my drawings. So I never did get that portfolio to DC. My utter disappointment made me give up drawing for awhile, and once I had gotten that person out of my life, I never looked back for a long time. But I did get out of that relationship and into a fantastic new one with most of my comics intact.

Cherry Grrl: What were your prior experiences/training that led up to your making a career out of comics?
PH: From 2005-2006, I was a regular face on the OutinAmerica.com Cities Network, where I first made my name in gay and lesbian movie and book reviews, as well as landing my own weekly opinion column, “Speaking Of.” It was great having my own opinion column, but I loved my book reviews. It would be Nick Holbrook at OutinAmerica.com who would offer me MY first book review!

Fate stepped in again when I went back to college back in 2005. I had already worked a number of years in the graphic design industry, starting from the ground up and learning a number of skills from advertising, graphics, and website design. But I was never able to get anywhere because I never finished my college degree, so my partner made me go to Louisville Technical Institute and get an Associate Degree in Graphic Design.

I LOVED it! My previous experience made getting my degree a breeze—well, sort of. Then I got stuck taking those 3DStudio Max classes. I hated them. My prof made jokes that every time I got the hang of the interface, he’d go in and switch all the buttons around on me. Because I was the same age as most of my professors I built up great relationships with all of them, and finally got the hang of 3D.

While I was browsing for some project pieces online I discovered a program called DAZ 3D Studio which was much simpler to use and had infinite possibilities. Now it’s all I use.

I’d dragged House of the Muses out of the mothballs and toyed with using DAZ to illustrate scenes out of the novel. A young friend of mine looked at them and asked, “Why don’t you do a graphic novel?”
In June 2008 came another twist of irony as I taught a semester as faculty at my old alma mater, Louisville Technical Institute, teaching night classes in 3DStudio Max, the very class that started this whole adventure in the first place!

Cherry Grrl: Where do you plan to take the series next?
PH: I’m just beginning book #4, and it feels like I’m just getting started. The plotlines established in HOM #1 have been resolved and Dika has found herself in uncharted territory on an island named Lesbos.
In House of the Muses #2, when Dika discovered she was being sent to Lesbos, she asked herself, “They would submit me to tutelage under some old woman whose heyday was over forty years ago? I wouldn’t hear of it!”

That’s the beauty of storytelling…I’ve had quite a bit of irony in my own life, so being able to inflict it upon my main character is intensely satisfying.
For more about the House of the Muses visit http://houseofthemuses.com. The series is available at Amazon.com, PrismComics.org, and IndyPlanet.com.

Portland’s ‘In Other Words’ Offers Books for the Grrls

In Other Words Women’s Books and Resources in Portland, Oregon is the last surviving non-profit feminist bookstore in the United States. For the last 14 years they have offered a comprehensive and diverse collection of books, magazines, and zines with a wide variety of subjects, including: feminist and queer studies, erotica, sex and sexuality, trans studies, spirituality, herbs, and non-sexist children’s books, to name a few. Books are also available for purchase on their website, http://www.inotherwords.org.

In addition to books, they also sell eco-friendly menstrual products, cards, stickers, buttons, and a variety of locally made crafts.

In addition, In Other Words has recently become a hub of activity—hosting a wide range of community events, meetings and workshops that include author readings, Spanish classes, writing workshops, concerts, art shows, yoga and much more. They also support many local progressive organizations by providing the space and outreach opportunities for community based activities and public forums to encourage dialogue and debate.

They also have a new resource center designed to network and connect people to local services, classes, and organizations. The resource center also helps people find rides out of town, roommates and housing, musicians and artists, and much more.

In Other Words is a volunteer driven organization—with more than fifty people whose dedication, diverse experiences, and time helps build and sustain the store and community space. The leadership is made up of primarily young activists who look to In Other Words for connection, community, and a political home. Their innovative program supports volunteers in taking leadership in a wide variety of ways—running the store, selling textbooks at local universities, organizing community events, and building the resource center.

In Other Words’ Core Values are:
-The individual and collective leadership of women
-Diversity of feminist perspectives
-Education and empowerment
-Social change through grassroots organizing
-Connections between feminist struggles and other movements for justice & liberation

For more information on In Other Words visit http://www.inotherwords.org.

Photo by Faeryan

Cooking with the Butches

There’s a new cookbook hitting lesbian kitchens everywhere and it’s offering up a lot more than your typical recipes for a good meal. The Butch Cook Book is really more about having fun with cooking, enjoying food, learning about different butches from around the world, and getting a butch history lesson all in one.

The recipes themselves are contributed by butch women from all different walks of life and fall into various food categories including: Quick fixers, Breakfasters, Sweet toothers, Vegetarians, Pasta Lovers, Meat eaters, Pot-luckers, and Food for furry friends. Each recipe shared is brought to the reader with warmth and often humor and most are relatively easy to replicate. Favorites include: Flat Chicken by Shelly Timberwolf, Apple Pie Cake by Louise Griffin, Three Methods of Green Bean Preparation by Garbo, Blue Cheese and Rosemary Scalloped Potatoes by Barb Beyenhof, Cheesy-Garlicky Biscuits by Jack, Superb Apple Salad by Bernie Gardner, and Amuse Bouche by Crin Claxton.

All recipes are contributed by a lesbian who identifies as butch and biographies and femme responses – where the butch’s counterpart shares her opinion of the meal with the reader -  follow most entries.

In addition to the recipes and insights into the lives of the contributors are little commentaries on butch history and culture. One excerpt speaks to the qualities of a butch lesbian stating:

Morsel: The cultural ideals of butch are so much newer, so much more nebulous, and yet we seem to know when it’s being done well.  When people speak admiringly of a butch, what I see is someone who has taken on the best gendered characteristics of both woman and man, left a lot of the stuff born of misogyny and heterosexism behind, and walked forward into the world without apology. —S. Bear Bergman

The cookbook is edited by Lee Lynch, Sue Hardesty, and Nel Ward. The three are old friends who have hung out together, sharing a myriad of interests including books, travel, writing, yard sales, life in a small coastal fishing village—and eating Nel’s food. Lee, a confirmed butch since her teen years, began writing as a way to  “reflect the happiness that lesbians can achieve” and with this book, and her love of food, has found a way to combine her two passions. Nel Ward and Sue Hardesty have been partners for almost four decades and share a strong interest in cooking and cookbooks. As their website explains, “They cook almost everything together in a stereotypical ‘butch/femme’ approach as Nel watches over Sue’s prep work with a ‘femme’ eye.”

A sequel to the cookbook is already in the works and the editors are seeking entries from “all self-identified lesbians—singles, couples, mothers, grandmothers, teenagers, et al.” Their deadline is December 31st. For more information on The Butch Cook Book and the upcoming A New Lesbian Cook Book visit http://www.butchcookbook.com.

To purchase The Butch Cookbook, visit the link below.

Sweet Reads: The Price of Fame

The Price of Fame

By Lynn Ames

Cherry Grrl rating:

It’s no secret that when it comes to lesbian fiction, there is a serious lack of books to choose from. That being said, reviewing these books can be somewhat complicated because the normal rules of criticism don’t always apply. Credit has to be given to the fact that these authors were able to publish their stories of women who love other women at all – that they were brave enough and determined enough to focus their talents on a subject that is still underrepresented in all areas of arts and entertainment. Therefore, even though The Price of Fame was by no means a well written novel – but instead a predictable and silly love story with incredibly unrealistic characters and an inordinate amount of sappiness – it was an enjoyable read and hard to put down. Simply said, this novel was great…but it was kind of terrible. Basically it was a case of something being so bad that it’s good.

The Good
The story centers around two women who attended college together and although they never truly knew one another, had a few random encounters that left each one very affected by the other. It starts off strong. Years after college Kate is a television news anchor in Albany, New York and Jay is a writer for Time magazine living in New York City. When Jay’s work brings her to Kate’s city the two are re-united by a tragic event and the conversation and inner monologues that ensure during their process of getting reacquainted are engaging. You immediately grasp the severity of the bond that the two have shared over the years apart and you can’t wait to see the development of them inevitably falling in love. Ames wrote the exchanges between the two very well – their dialogues were cute and funny and you can easily feel the excitement each is feeling about the other as they spend more and more time together. Reading this part of the story should remind every reader of that crazy feeling that takes us over when we meet that person that we cannot get enough of.

The Bad
As the love between Kate and Jay develops (which is the majority of the 276 pages) Ames’ style gets a little irritating. First of all, the book was published in 2003 but for some very odd reason the story takes place in 1987. Yes, the eighties. In order to truly picture what these two women looked like and why it was that they found one another so irresistible it became necessary to skip entire paragraphs of description. They were constantly described from head to toe during awkwardly written passages about the desire that the men around felt for them. From their business outfits to their evening gowns to even their jeans and t-shirts – there was just never anything sexy about their style.  In order to remain in this tale of two gorgeous women in love, details like that had to be ignored.

The author’s descriptions of these women created problems in other areas as well. While most readers don’t choose to read love stories about unattractive characters, Ames inundated her audience with line after line about how perfect her two heroines were – inside and out. She made it very clear: these were the two most beautiful women in the world and they were the absolute best in their respective careers. Aside from it being unrealistic… it became a little nauseating.

However, what really prevented this book from getting more cherries were the very basic writing flaws that were evident throughout. The author loved romantic clichés and was not afraid to use them on almost every single page. Kate and Jay were perfect, physically and mentally, so why should we assume that the things they said to each other and those around them wouldn’t be perfection as well? They never uttered a word to one another that wasn’t sunshine and rainbows and even when slight problems arose they knew exactly what to say to absolve them. Lost in the tale of their love, it just became a bit too much at times.

Back to the Good
Sappy romantic dialogues and too perfect characters aside – when the climax of the novel finally comes it is handled well and developed nicely. The end may have been predictable throughout but the twists and turns that led us there kept us engaged and in the end – the story didn’t disappoint. Overall, The Price of Fame earned 2.5 cherries from us. Two because it really was a fun and easy page-turner and the extra half because the sex scenes were awesome.

Gay & Lesbian Authors Take Part in a Publishing Revolution

With the multitude of self-publishing companies to choose from, gay and lesbian authors finally have a publishing site devoted to their work, www.rainbowauthors.com.

RainbowAuthors.com, a Chances Press LLC website, powered by Wordclay, gives gay and lesbian writers the opportunity to take control of their writing careers and publish independently. Numerous a-la-carte choices to publish, edit, design, publicize, and distribute their books, including a free publishing and sales option, are offered. All publishing packages utilize Wordclay’s breakthrough user-friendly (DIY) do-it-yourself publishing technology.

In order to provide additional support to its authors, RainbowAuthors.com also offers free publishing and resource links specific to marketing a gay or lesbian title. Also, a partnership with Gaybookstoreonline.com provides authors with an additional possible promotional opportunity.

Novelist and RainbowAuthors.com founder, Michael Holloway Perronne knows what it means to take chances. Back in 2004, he developed a detailed marketing plan and self-published his debut novel, A Time Before. The book went on to sell thousands of copies, won the Bronze Award in Gay & Lesbian Fiction in the ForeWord Magazine 2006 Book of the Year Awards, and the Italian rights were picked up by a publisher in Rome, Playground Libri. It was his success with self-publishing that inspired him to start RainbowAuthors.com.

“I realized that through my own publishing experience I had begun to build a valuable database of publishing contacts for gay and lesbian authors,” Perronne said. “It was then I began to think about providing other gay authors who were looking to go ‘indie’ with a publishing outlet tailored to their needs. A partnership with Wordclay proved to be the perfect opportunity.”

“Gay authors may have access to fewer traditional routes to publish their writing, and RainbowAuthors.com provides another format for these important voices to be heard,” Perronne added.

In addition, writers may register by 9/30/08 via the site for a chance to win a one year Wordclay ISBN and Channel Distribution package for their book.

About RainbowAuthors.com
RainbowAuthors.com, a Chances Press LLC website, partnered with Wordclay, an Author Solutions, Inc (ASI) company, offers gay and lesbian authors with a self-publishing website dedicated to their specific audience. RainbowAuthors.com aims to be the destination website for all gay and lesbian authors looking to publish their work independently.