Spooky things — #homophia #LGBTQ #amreading #HappyHalloween

Halloween is that time of the thinning of the veil between us and the other world. It doesn’t have to be spooky, but it often is.

There are spooky things that happen year around. Homophobia and transphobia are spooky. Feeling that you have to live a double life and denying who you are is also spooky.

It can be spooky being queer, such as in the case of the characters (based on real people) who lived in the 1970s in my novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, published in August 2022 by Thorned Heart Press.

Homophobia and transphobia were also spooky in the Middle Ages in the French countryside that I write about in The Unicorn, The Mystery (from Adelaide Books) and in the desert culture of Biblical Irael and the rest of the Middle East where my novel THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders (also from Adelaide Books).

So, this Halloween, scare the spookiness away and embrace the good spirits from the other side!

Happy Halloween!

For information on my most recently published novel Loving Artemis click here

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Loving Artemis featured on Sapphic Book Club: #amreading #lgbt #MarriageEquality #allies

It is my great pleasure to bring you my featured blog post from the Sapphic Book Club which has featured me as a writer. In this guest blog post, I talk about my experience of writing Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love and marriage published in August 2022 by Thorned Heart Press.

Author Spotlight: Janet Mason

Today’s spotlight shines on Janet Mason, the author of Loving Artemis. Read on to learn about how Mason’s “lesbianized” personal experiences became the basis for this story!

Loving Artemis

In telling a friend about the creation of my book Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love and marriage published by Thorned Heart Press, I mentioned that I “’lesbianized’” my youth meaning that the characters were a lot more empowered. In doing so, I created a happy ending – or two. Three if you count the march of history.

I told this same friend that I might have given my characters happier endings than the ones they actually came to. This is true. I was in my last year of high school in 1977, when the rights we might have in the future were just hinted at on static ridden television screens. My main characters, Artemis and Grace, were also in their senior year of high school in 1977. Like Artemis and Grace, I grew up in a tract house working class landscape.

Like many fiction writers, I drew on the details of reality. In particular, the details of the tract house landscape where the novel is set are almost identical if not exactly the way I remember it. As the lesbian writer Willa Cather once said, “There are all those early memories. You cannot get another set.”

I grew up with girls like Artemis who were outlaws, got caught, and went to jail. I knew girls who grew up too fast and lived in trailer parks and had children with men who may or may not have stuck around. I don’t know that the women, like my character Artemis and the love of her life, Linda, ever got together and discovered that they could have lives together.

When I was coming of age, history was changing. When I was a child, the Vietnam War raged on the television nightly. The Civil Rights movements inspired the foment that led to the Women’s Liberation Movement. This led to early Gay Liberation and even though it was mostly cis-gendered white men at the beginning, it led to the LGBTQ movement. All of this leads to the events that ushered in marriage equality becoming the law of the land in the U.S. in 2015. And marriage equality is now under threat.

When Artemis heard about the outspoken anti-gay former beauty queen Anita Bryant and the national gay activist Harvey Milk on the news, it gave her hope that there were others like her out there—somewhere. It gave her hope for the future–which she needed because she was headed for hard times.

I am more like Grace, the other main character in Loving Artemis. Grace enters the picture a few months before Artemis goes to reform school and then prison. Like Grace, I fled from my working-class origins with the help of a college education.

The novel is framed with the women in mid-life attending the Pride rally in New York City and Grace seeing a woman in the Dykes on Bikes contingent who she thinks she was briefly lovers with in high school. Artemis rode a motorcycle in high school also.

I did a fair amount of research on motorcycles for the writing of Loving Artemis. I also did a fair amount of research on the saints (quite a few of them were lesbians or differently gendered) on Catholic.com. I enjoyed the writing of the novel and I had quite a good time in the chapter where Grace goes to a party, takes her first (and only) acid trip, meets Artemis (who she recognizes from school) and imagines that Artemis is Saint Anne, who is a bit butch.

I said that I “lesbianized” my youth because my experience of growing up in a tract-house working-class landscape was quite different. I didn’t feel that empowered, to say the least. I’ve often said that I was lucky to have gotten out of that place alive. After Loving Artemis was accepted for publication and had found a home with Thorned Heart Press, and it was time for me to go through the editing process, I dreaded it. I thought of it as having to “go back there.” What I found, in actuality, was that the editing from the publisher was light and at the same time, there were a few key points that took me and the writing to a deeper level. So, the editing process was a good one. When I finished, I had the thought that I must have been more empowered than I remembered.

Ultimately in writing Loving Artemis, the characters showed me their courage and now I am handing that courage to you.

Janet Mason is an award-winning creative writer, teacher, and occasional blogger for such places as The Huffington Post. Her book, Tea Leaves, a memoir of mothers and daughters, published by Bella Books in 2012, was chosen by the American Library Association for its 2013 Over the Rainbow List. Tea Leaves also received a Goldie Award. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and her novel THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders (Adelaide Books – New York and Lisbon) was featured at the 2018 Frankfurt Book Fair. Adelaide Books also published her novel The Unicorn, The Mystery late in 2020. She lives and writes in Philadelphia. Her novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love and marriage was published by Thorned Heart Press in August, 2022.

To read the post on the Sapphic Book club, click here

For information on my most recently published novel Loving Artemis click here

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Courage born of fear: #UU #YouTube #amreading

Recently, I participated in a service on the topic of courage at the Unitarian Universalists of Mt. Airy in Philadelphia. The YouTube video of my part of the service is above and the text is below.

Courage born of fear

When Shaie mentioned that the theme for this month’s worship was courage and that she would be speaking on it, I immediately thought that I had something to say on the topic also.  When I was writing my novel Dick Moby over the summer, the talking whale in my head and on the page had a lot to say about her courage in navigating an increasingly treacherous ocean.

My sperm whale, who has secretly named herself Dick Moby to remind herself that she is fierce and who is pregnant during the novel and gives birth after a fifteen-month gestation period (which is average for sperm whales), says toward the end of the novel:

“When I told my pod members my rationale for taking a trip with my calf—that I wanted her to grow up free and strong and not ruled by fear–they didn’t say a word. I never told them the name I gave myself, Dick Moby, but I think my pod members admire me for my courage. I haven’t told my calf my secret name either – yet. But I will when she is old enough to understand why I gave myself that name. We whales must be fierce and I want my calf to grow to be as fierce as me. Right now, she is bold and curious. Even though there are things I learn from her also, she is a little me.”

I realized as I was writing this from the voice of the whale that I was also writing about myself. I have on a few occasions been described as courageous. “How do you do it?” Someone once said to me years ago about my writing. “You seem to have no fear.”

I remember another person describing me as courageous and I suspect that was about my sexuality since I have usually been adamant and comfortable in being myself. Of course, these two people were describing what they saw, what I put out into the world. When I look back on my younger self, with great compassion, I recall that the feelings behind my actions were not always courageous. But I always responded. I had no choice but to deal with things that came my way.

As I reflect now, perhaps it is because of the fear that so often spurred me into action, that I know courage. When asked on Unitarian Universalist forms to select a root religion, I always choose Buddhism. This is because I was raised secular by a rebellious atheist mother, and Buddhism feels most natural to me. In Buddhism, it is often said that suffering is part of nonsuffering. So, it’s possible that the experience of fear can create the action of courage. In any event, I did move through fear into courage.

Recently, I took a survey on the experience of LGBTQ+ Inclusion in Unitarian Universalist congregations. This took me down memory lane. As I recall when I first came to this congregation, my partner and I had been through much job-related discrimination. Personally, I felt beat up. I remember when I first came to this congregation, I was amazed that people were so welcoming and that our sexuality really didn’t seem to matter. That’s the way it should be, of course. But I was still amazed.

I say I went down memory lane because I have since recovered from the workplace homophobia. And my faith was more or less restored in humanity. Then the week I turned sixty I had a health scare that led me to embrace a healthy plant-based diet. After nearly three years of this, the health benefits are still rather astonishing. When we changed our diets, my partner and I had already been thinking about becoming vegan for the sake of the animals and the planet. So, of course, I still identify as a lesbian, but I probably identify more as a vegan since becoming one saved my life. When I started processing trauma, I had an “aha” moment when I found out about the trauma endured by lesbians and bisexual women which often makes us terminally ill. Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. Internalized oppression is a complicated thing.

When I came to this congregation, I had faith that organized religion wasn’t as homophobic as I had heard it was. So, for me courage often goes hand in hand with faith.

–Namaste–

For information on my most recently published novel Loving Artemis click here

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“Lesbian” in the headlines–big and bold, #amreading Loving Artemis #MarriageEquality #LGBTQ

I’m delighted to be able to share this interview with me that appeared in The Chestnut Hill Local, a newspaper that covers much of Philadelphia and the surrounding area. That the word “lesbian” was displayed in the headline in a mainstream newspaper is a sign in itself that the world is changing.

New novel of lesbian love by acclaimed Mt. Airy author

Author Janet Mason, a Mt. Airy resident for four decades, holds a copy of her just-released novel, “Loving Artemis, An Endearing Tale of Revolution, Love and Marriage.”

PHOTO BY BARBARA J. MCPHERSON

Posted Thursday, October 6, 2022 12:00 am

by Len Lear

Mt. Airy author Janet Mason has done it again. Her new novel, “Loving Artemis, An Endearing Tale of Revolution, Love, and Marriage,” released last month by Thorned Heart Press in Oregon, is a labor of love as well as a story of love between two young women. 

“It came out of my own life,” Mason said last week. “So you could say I was working on it for 50-plus years. As far as the actual writing, it probably added up to four or five years.”

I thoroughly enjoyed two previous novels by Mason, an award-winning creative writer, teacher and occasional blogger for such outlets as the Huffington Post. Her wonderful book, “Tea Leaves, a Memoir of Mothers and Daughters” was chosen by the American Library Association for its 2013 “Over the Rainbow List,” and it received a Goldie Award, presented annually by The Peer Choice Awards organization. 

Her work also has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and her novel, “THEY, a Biblical Tale of Secret Genders,” was featured at the 2018 Frankfurt Book Fair. Janet is also the author of three poetry books and another novel, “The Unicorn, the Mystery.”

The reviews for “Loving Artemis” have been uniformly laudatory. Maria G. Fama, author of “The Good for the Good” writes “We are taken back in time to the turbulent late 1970s, when the Civil Rights, Gay Rights and Women’s Rights Movements were making inroads into the national consciousness … ‘Loving Artemis’ offers within its pages stories of romance, danger, disappointment, love and the ultimate vindication of the human spirit. This novel is very rich and satisfying and is not to be missed.”

….

In one of the compelling sections of “Loving Artemis,” the character of Yiayia (Greek for “grandmother”) tells Artemis, her granddaughter, how she herself had a girlfriend when she was a girl in Greece, but that her mother caught on and promptly sent her to America, where she eventually married Artemis’ grandfather.

“Yiayia is rather a salty character,” Mason said, “and I had great fun learning the Greek swear words she used, which I put into the novel. I think that Yiayia arose from my travels in Greece some decades ago and my obsession with the lesbian poet, Sappho.”

In one chapter, Grace is in high school when she goes on an acid trip and imagines that Artemis, whom she recognizes from her English class, is one of the saints. 

“I spent a lot of time on Catholic.com doing research on the saints,” Mason said, “and I was delighted to learn recently that ‘Loving Artemis’ was selected for inclusion in an important list for LGBTQ Christians put out by the publisher of the important ‘Q Spirit’ newsletter.”

Mason and her partner, Barbara, have lived in Mt. Airy for almost 40 years, and there is no more enthusiastic cheerleader for the community. “It’s always been a great neighborhood,” she said, “one that been very welcoming to the LGBTQ community and one where, frankly, sexual orientation didn’t matter.”

And in recent years, she said, she’s seen another kind of inclusion. 

“The young people, many with small children, tend to be liberal and have Black Lives Matter signs out along with the new-style Pride flags that include brown and black stripes,” she said. “On my block only a few of those with Pride flags are actually in the LGBTQ community. The rest are allies, which is, of course, fantastic!”

For more information, visit thornedheartpress.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com   

To read the entire article, click here

For information on my novel Loving Artemis click here

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For writers, “a secret weapon” — #GoVegan #AmReading #WritingCommunity

Yesterday, my partner and I went to a local popular coffeeshop chain anticipating a rare meal out and a good time. We had each received gift certificates from doing a survey. What we found was that we could only eat one item because it was the only thing they sold that was free from animal products. To add insult to injury, the music was so loud that the servers kept thinking we were saying “bacon” when we said “vegan.” They responded by telling us about pork products to our horror and confusion.

On the way out I noticed that there was “A Kindness” board and post-Its for customers to leave comments. I don’t think it was exactly what they meant, but I couldn’t help leaving the message “More vegan products please.” Later I reflected that vegan always means kindness, especially to the animals that humans routinely eat. And I did say please.

Humans are animals also. I went to a plant-based diet the year I turned sixty and after I had a health scare, which is one reason that I try not to be too judgmental of what most people eat. Besides, I am a Buddhist, and try to “water the good seeds.” I figure that most of us have the potential to be vegan, because most do eat a vegetable now and then and can keep on going with that. But I do think it is a shame that people have been brainwashed by advertising (mostly from the food and pharmaceutical industries).

Then there are the health benefits of going to a plant-based diet. After three years, my partner and I feel so healthy that we would never go back to the Standard American Diet (SAD). Also, the better and stronger we become the more adamant we are about the rights of the animals and the future of the planet.

As a writer, I feel that being on a healthy plant-based diet is a “secret weapon” (in plain sight). I was always a prolific writer. But since I’ve gone to a healthy plant-based diet I have more energy, so I often feel unstoppable. As a result, I kept sending out the manuscript for my latest published novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love and marriage which was recently published by Thorned Heart Press.

So that’s what being a vegan means to me. “Vegan, not bacon.”

For information on my novel Loving Artemis click here

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