Tag Archives: lesbian

29Mar/19

Marolyn Krasner

Featured Guest, , ,

March 29, 2019


It gives us great pleasure to welcome Marolyn Krasner as the guest on Episode 209 – Have To Have That Light and Dark!

Marolyn Krasner shares her journey as a journalist, queer writer, and ex-pat living in New Zealand! We also discuss her soon-to-be-released novel, The Radicals, and how she’s turned it into a serial podcast!

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Books mentioned in this episode:

Bio:

Marolyn Krasner grew up in southern California. She wasn’t a big reader of fiction as a child, but she clearly remembers spreading the Sunday newspaper out on the living room floor on the weekends and reading it all of the way through. She watched the film “All the President’s Men” in junior high school and decided print journalism was her calling. She went on to edit her high school and college newspapers and then became a real life newspaper reporter in the mid 90s and then she promptly quit.

She began writing quirky and queer stories in her early 20s. Fast forward 20 years, three countries, one wife and two children later and Marolyn has written her debut novel called The Radicals, which will be released as an ebook and a podcast in May 2019.

Marolyn lives in New Zealand with her wife and two kids.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical):
Apple PodcastsGoogle PlayiHeartRadioSpotifyStitcherTuneIn

Or right here:

15Feb/19

K’Anne Meinel

Featured Guest, Show Notes, , ,

February 15, 2019

 

It gives us great pleasure to welcome K’Anne Meinel as the guest on Episode 203 – If You Don’t Know Me, where the heck have you been? K’Anne Meinel joins us to talk about her works, and the Queer awards competition she runs. Give a listen to a great conversation!

Follow K’Anne and support her work:

Books mentioned in this episode:

  • Ships by Shadoe Publishing

Bio: K’Anne Meinel, pronounced Kay-Anne My-Null (in Europe) and My-Nell (in America), is an American author born and raised in Wisconsin.  While she has lived in central and southern California, she always returns home to roost. K’Anne professes to write books that she would like to read.  Through her novels, novellas, and short stories, she has grown into a writer who is willing to expand her horizons.  She fearlessly steps out of her comfort zone in order to allow the reader, through her words, to savor the experiences of her life.

K’Anne is the mistress of sarcasm and double entendre, with a wicked tongue-in-cheek sense of humor that many find addictive; she has a special way with words.  Her descriptions paint visions in your mind and her words fuel your imagination.  Named the lesbian Danielle Steel of her time, she has been featured in the Huffington Post for her detailed and gripping storylines.  In 2018 she was named a USA Today Best-Selling author!  Befriend or ‘like’ her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter to keep up-to-date on her latest books, stories, and career.  You are sure to find something you will enjoy.  K’Anne also welcomes your email comments, suggestions, or advice – but don’t hold your breath waiting for her to put it into practice.

This Podcast episode is available on these channels (in order alphabetical): Apple PodcastsGoogle PlayiHeartRadioSpotifyStitcherTuneIn

Or right here:  

23Aug/18

Worth the Wait by Karelia Stetz-Waters

Review, , , , , , ,

Karelia Stetz-Waters was a recent guest on WROTE! To find out more about her and get links to her work, check out Episode 174: Rest Your Heart For A Little While!

This book was a new experience for me; my very first lesbian romance. I dove in with no expectations, other than hope it would be a good read.

The upshot is this. Avery is a successful TV presenter with a long-running show, working with her on-screen-only romance interest, Alistair, who is asexual. They are friends, and both have a lot to lose if Avery come out as lesbian. She’s harbouring a fifteen-year secret longing for the girl she was very friendly with at high school, so of course she does the sensible thing and goes to a reunion in the hope of seeing her again.

Merritt has also been nursing a broken heart for fifteen years, trying valiantly to forget Avery, and failing. She has a hardware shop in Portland, where the story is based, and her life is fine thank you until Avery turns up and basically throws her for a loop.

Cue clandestine meetings and a lot of angst. I’m not telling you how it turns out. That would spoil it.

This chunky book is so close to being a perfect love story for me, and yet I did struggle in places. It could have been more tightly edited to stop the slight meandering of dialogue and navel-gazing. It took a lot of words to keep the story, which was actually quite straightforward, on the right track. I’m sure it could have been a third shorter, and been an easier read for it.

I think my main problem is I have very little time for reality TV shows (which are anything but) and manipulating TV audiences for ratings, so there were times when I was thinking, “for God’s sake, why is this so difficult for them?” I think making it clearer how much Avery stood to lose would have helped nearer the start. Her work colleagues, including Alistair, weren’t very sympathetic, and she came across as a bit of a flake, so I didn’t empathise with her problem for a while. I was just wondering why she was still working with these arseholes.

Once I cottoned on though, I could see her dilemma, if not totally identify with it. People in the public eye don’t just have their own reputation to think about, but the careers of all the people around them. One false move can spell disaster, especially when the whole programme is built around the chemistry and romance between Avery and Alistair, and people are expecting them to conform to hetero norms. Fall in love, fall out of love, bond over soft furnishings, get engaged, get married, have a baby….

I have to ask this. Would people in real life be more resentful of the fact they had been sold a lie, rather than the fact that Avery is gay and Alistair is asexual? It’s a sticky subject. I would rather people lived their truth and I suppose that’s why I had a problem with the premise in the beginning. I know others wouldn’t.

However, the chemistry between Avery and Merritt was unmistakable, the sex lush and gorgeous, not gratuitous at all. There were some wonderfully-drawn side characters, especially Lei-Ling and Iliana, and love surrounding the two main characters. Portland sounds like a place I’d like to visit, and I’d definitely read more by this author.

Will they, won’t they? Do they, don’t they? Don’t ask me. Read it yourself. Believe me it’s Worth the Wait (sorry, couldn’t resist it!)

BLURB

For fifteen years, Avery Crown tried to forget her best friend Merritt Lessing. The late nights studying, the whispered confidences, and the little touches that never turned into something more. Unfortunately, her efforts have not been as successful as her TV career as the queen of home renovation. So when she runs into Merritt at their high school reunion, Avery asks for one night with the woman she’s always wanted . . .

Merritt spent high school pining after Avery, but never made a move-their friendship meant too much. The one time it seemed things might change, Avery chose her budding career. So Merritt did the same, throwing herself into her remodeling business. Now Avery’s back, and while Merritt still hasn’t forgiven her for walking away the first time, they can’t keep their hands off each other. But when their professional paths cross, and it seems like Avery is choosing her career once again, Merritt will have to decide if she’s willing to let go of the past and give herself a second chance with her first love.