26Jan/24

Donald Mengay

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January 26, 2024

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 9, Episode 4 Interview – Donald Mengay

Donald Mengay joins us to share his recent book, The Lede to Our Undoing. We talk about placing a novel in the rust belt of the 70s, diversity and inclusion, and how his narrator ties in humanity’s behavior toward the natural world.

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Donald Mengay grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, where he worked in a factory for a time and managed a bookstore. He began writing fiction in his early twenties while pursuing a degree in Psychology at Metropolitan State University in Denver. He earned a Masters in English Lit at the University of Denver and a Ph.D. in Comparative Lit from NYU. He taught Queer and Post-Humanist Lit at the City University of New York for over thirty years, as well as English at the University of Paris, Nanterre. During his years teaching he published several articles of queer criticism in academic journals that include among others Genders, Genre, and Minnesota University Press. He also co-published a book entitled Dis/Inheritance: New Croatian Photography, from Ikon Press. The Lede to Our Undoing is his debut novel, the first in a trilogy. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_4wYIo571s[/embedyt]

19Jan/24

John Musgrove

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January 19, 2024

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 9, Episode 3 Interview – John Musgrove

John Musgrove returns to share the second book in his historic Reticent Richmond series, Mary’s Grace. We discuss LGBTQ+ history, the resiliency of our community, and then John teases his coming fall release.

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John Musgrove grew up in Virginia and had a stint in the US Navy before starting his IT career. He married the love of his life in 1986 and they haven’t been apart since their first date. He waited until middle age to begin writing seriously, but now that he’s all-in he prefers to write historical fiction that illuminates otherwise-forgotten LGBTQ figures that made history for other reasons – Lewis Ginter, Grace Arents, James Buchanan, and Baron Von Steuben to name a few. He’s known throughout Richmond as “Cookie John” for his baking prowess, and is an IT Geek: nerdy, introverted, fascinated by technology, and easily distracted by the next shiny thing that catches his eye.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmfKbpVEV30[/embedyt]

May 19, 2023

It gives us great pleasure to present Season 8, Episode 21: John Musgrove + Our Review of Hannah Gadsby’s “Something Special!”

John Musgrove highlights his love of LGBTQ figures from our past while he shares his historic fiction novel Ginter’s Pope with us. We discuss the same-sex legacies that helped shape Richmond, Virginia. Then Baz and Vance rate and review Hannah Gadsby’s Something Special, followed by who won our weeks!

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John Musgrove grew up in Virginia and had a stint in the US Navy before starting his IT career. He married the love of his life in 1986 and they haven’t been apart since their first date. He waited until middle age to begin writing seriously, but now that he’s all-in he prefers to write historical fiction that illuminates otherwise-forgotten LGBTQ figures that made history for other reasons – Lewis Ginter, Grace Arents, James Buchanan, and Baron Von Steuben to name a few.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7XnkMXcs4Q[/embedyt]

12Jan/24

Emanuel Xavier

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January 12, 2024

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 9, Episode 2 Interview – Emanuel Xavier

Emanuel Xavier joins us to share his recent book, Love(ly) Child. We talk a bit about his past in the ball scene, and his recent discoveries that helped him focus on his Latinx heritage.

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Emanuel Xavier was born in Brooklyn, NY, and became involved in the ball scene as a homeless gay teen. Over a span of twenty-five years, Xavier has received recognition as a spoken word artist from national colleges and universities. He has been named an LGBTQ Icon by The Equality Forum and has been presented a New York City Council Citation Award. Xavier has received an International Latino Book Award, Lambda Literary Award nominations and American Library Association Over the Rainbow Books selections for his collections which include: Pier Queen, Americano, If Jesus Were Gay, Nefarious, Radiance and Selected Poems of Emanuel Xavier. He is also editor of Me No Habla With Acento: Contemporary Latino Poetry, Bullets & Butterflies: queer spoken word poetry and Mariposas: A Modern Anthology of Queer Latino Poetry. He is the recipient of a Gay City Impact Award and The Marsha A. Gomez Cultural Heritage Award. Xavier founded the Penguin Random House LGBTQ Network and is on the Board of The Publishing Triangle. The author and editor of several books, Xavier continues to read his work across the country.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv_62W8g3Uo[/embedyt]

22Dec/23

Ryan States

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December 22, 2023

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 8, Episode 53 Interview – Ryan States

Ryan States introduces us to his latest novel Someone Else’s Story. We discuss what happens when an immortal secondary character from a previous book gets his own book and meets a monster of literary legend, as well as feeling like a supporting character in real life.

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Ryan States was born in Calgary Alberta, but spent his childhood in Saskatoon, then returned to Alberta as adult. He lives with his platonic life partner, another writer, Gayleen Froese, and a great many animals. In addition to his writing, he is an actor and occasional standup comedian, and is employed as a corporate trainer. He self published two books, Souria, and Silver Bullets, and then published two others with The Seventh Terrace press: Sleeping Underwater, and Somebody Else’s Story.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z46lcsubSzY[/embedyt]

15Dec/23

AE Lister

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December 15, 2023

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 8, Episode 52 Interview – A.E. Lister

A.E. Lister shares their latest novel A Port Essington Christmas. We discuss where the inspiration for the series originated, as well as previewing Alison’s next project.

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Alison Lister is a Canadian non-binary author. They write graphic erotic romance (contemporary/historical/paranormal) as AE Lister, and sweet Young Adult LGBTQ+ romance as Alison Lister.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQAKz3si6gI[/embedyt]

08Dec/23

Bailey Merlin

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December 8, 2023

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 8, Episode 51 Interview – Bailey Merlin

Bailey Merlin shares her debut novel A Lot of People Live in This House. We discuss how Bailey’s actual experience living in an intentional community inspired the book.

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Bailey Merlin is a talented writer with a rich background in fiction and media, medicine, and health. She holds an MFA in fiction from Butler University and an MS from Harvard Medical School, and her writing has been published in numerous literary magazines. In addition to her writing, Bailey has co-performed a spoken word short story album, Bug Eyes, with award-winning jazz guitarist Richie Smith. She is also the librettist of the opera ¡Dime! An Opera in Four Acts. Based in Boston, Bailey lives in an intentional community with a dynamic cast of humans, a toddler, a dog, a cat, and a friendly ghost.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b37MGclQPmY[/embedyt]

24Nov/23

Mary Burns

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November 24, 2023

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 8, Episode 49 Interview – Mary P. Burns

Mary P. Burns introduces us to her murder mystery Cold Case Heat, and shares that it’s based on real world events in such a way that she had to dip into memoir-writing skills to put this story together.

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Mary Burns is a long-time resident of New York City, sharing the best life ever with her wife of over twenty years. After receiving a Master of Fine Arts in Playwriting from Columbia University in 1991, she experienced a twenty-year bout of writer’s block. During that time, she carved out a career as an executive assistant. Finally taking a sabbatical to assess things and perhaps try writing a play again, what came out instead was a novel. “Forging a Desire Line” was published by Bold Strokes Books in 2020, followed by “Suspecting Her” in Sept. ’21. “Cold Case Heat,” a murder mystery, arrived this September.
She has also published short stories in Sinclair Sexsmith’s award-winning Best Lesbian Erotica, volumes 4 (Dec. 2019) and the non-award winning volume 5 (Dec. 2020 / both Cleis Press)..

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxtr_b9XRTM[/embedyt]

17Nov/23

Damian Serbu

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November 17, 2023

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 8, Episode 48 Interview – Damian Serbu

Damian Serbu returns for a great discussion of his latest release, The Vampire’s War. We talk about author works mirroring author lives and why the freedom of the monster calls to us as readers.

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Damian Serbu is an author of gay horror/speculative fiction. After over twenty years of teaching history at the collegiate level, he now writes full time. He lives in the Chicagoland area with his husband and two dogs.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ytncNKb7Mw[/embedyt]

April 30, 2021

It gives us great pleasure to welcome Damian Serbu as the guest on Season 6, Episode 17 – Loyal, Humorous, and Passionate!

Damian Serbu joins Vance and Baz for a great discussion of his latest release, The Vampire’s Witch. This leads to discussing queer representation in the horror genre and how a queer perspective can provide some unique perspectives.

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Damian Serbu lives in the Chicago area with his husband and two dogs, Akasha and Chewbacca. The dogs control his life, tell him what to write, and threaten to eat him in the middle of the night if he disobeys. His love for gay vampires led to his series, The Realm of the Vampire Council.

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10Nov/23

Judy Kiehart

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November 10, 2023

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 8, Episode 47 Interview – Judy Kiehart

Judy Kiehart introduces us to her memoir Calico Lane, and shares her journey through other people’s expectations on her life to where she arrived at the life that’s authentically her own.

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When Judy was little her mom told her, “Stop making things up.” She didn’t listen. In fact, she cannot remember a time when there wasn’t a story rambling around in her head leading her to scribble an idea into a notebook, a diary, or onto loose-leaf paper.

For a long time, the ideas remained scribbles. As the years passed, some of the ideas were crafted into short stories. Some of the short stories were adapted for the stage. Then, the scribbles became memory triggers for her latest journey: her memoir: Calico Lane.

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRQx5ey1s1Y[/embedyt]

03Nov/23

Daniel M. Jaffe

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November 3, 2023

It gives us great pleasure to present a Season 8, Episode 46 Interview – Daniel M. Jaffe

Daniel M. Jaffe introduces us to his book The Grand Sex Tour Murders, and shares the book’s satirical poke at the world as well as the story behind the banning of the first cover.

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Daniel grew up and attended college in New Jersey, then moved to the Boston area for law school. He worked for several years as a corporate/securities attorney before throwing caution to the winds and pursuing a career in creative writing. After his partner (and future husband), Leo Cabranes-Grant, accepted a university teaching position in California, Daniel moved with him to Santa Barbara.

Several of Daniel’s short stories have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and dozens of his stories, essays, and articles have appeared in anthologies, literary journals and newspapers in many countries and languages. His work has been taught in college and university courses. He holds degrees from Princeton University (A.B.), Harvard Law School (J.D.), and Vermont College (M.F.A.).

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AA6lyDVL1Q[/embedyt]