THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders featured on #IHeartSappFic: #transpositivestories #amreading

In honor of THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders (Adelaide Books — New York; Lisbon) being featured on #IHeartSapphFic as a part of “Against All Odds Week. This piece was first published in aaduna and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

The Mother  

(sometime early in the first century)

In the beginning was the Mother.

In the womb, Tamar took mental notes. The heavens trembled — at least it felt like the heavens. Maybe it was just gas. The Mother shifted. At first, it was too dark to see. But Tamar could feel. At first it felt like chaos — like everything was unconnected. But then she felt something holding her. A curved wall. She was leaning into it. It was soft and warm. She felt her backbone curve behind her. She was half of a circle. Was she floating? There was a chord attached to her belly. She relaxed once she realized that she wouldn’t float away.

There were appendages coming out from her shoulders. She looked down below the chord. On the lower part of her body there was a small bump and on either side of that were two more appendages. There was liquid all around her. She felt warm and safe. She didn’t have to worry yet about breathing.

Whoosh. She flinched. Slosh. Gurgles whizzed by. There was an abbreviated bubbling. After it repeated three times, she identified the sound as a hiccup. After a few moments, there was silence. Then there was a contented hum coming from the distance. Tamar knew it was the Mother, and it calmed her.

The darkness lifted. She saw a distant light glowing through the pink barrier. She looked down and noticed tiny extremities with red lines moving through them. They were attached to the ends of two appendages, on each side of her. She found that she could move them, as if she were trying to grasp something. She knew that these movements would come in handy later. The light went out. Darkness. Tamar felt herself in her body.

She was perfect.

When she woke again, she blinked for the first time. It felt good so she did it again. The pinkish yellow glow came back. She clenched and unclenched her fingers. She rubbed the short one across the tips of several of the others, and felt a roughness. She felt a nourishment rushing from the chord through her body. And it was good. She went back to sleep for a long while.

When she woke, she stretched and yawned. She saw a pinkish yellow glow. It was faint and came from the other side. She looked toward the light and saw the sack next to her. There was someone inside who looked like her. It even had a light glowing around its edges — just like she did — down its extremities and around its fingers and toes. She remembered now that she had entered one body of two. Her twin was beside her. There was a large, round dome attached to a small body like hers. The big round dome faced her. The eyes looked at her. One blinked and the other stayed open. The two corners of the lips went up. Somehow she knew that this was a smile. Her twin was welcoming her. She wanted to welcome him back, but something stopped her. She didn’t know who her twin was. Was her twin part of her? She wasn’t sure she wanted to be part of someone else. She definitely didn’t want to share her Mother.

There were appendages on both sides of his body. There were five fingers attached to the end of each appendage. The fingers clenched and unclenched. They seemed to wave at her. Tamar thought about waving back, but she didn’t. She wasn’t sure if the thing next to her in the translucent sack could see her. So she pretended that she didn’t see it. Then she looked down and saw something protruding. At first she thought that she was seeing a shadow. She moved her head slightly. The shadow was still there. She looked down at her own body and saw that she also had a third appendage on the lower part of her body. It was much shorter than the two other limbs. She clenched and unclenched her fingers. They were all there — five on each side, including the shorter ones at the ends. None of them had fallen off. She looked down again. Somehow she knew that this protrusion made her a boy and knowing this made her angry.

She knew her name was Tamar, but she had forgotten where it came from. She knew that Tamar was a girl’s name, and that she was a girl. She had a vague memory in her cells that she had come from a single egg, fertilized by a trail of light that had come just for her. And she remembered that another egg, fertilized with its own stream of light, was next to her and that the two eggs had merged. They crossed over and into each other, exchanging some vital information. Tamar’s egg knew that it was female. But it absorbed a sequence of information that told it that its genetic material that it would be male and female. The secret language of the cells said that each of the eggs would be XX and XY.

The thing next to her had a longer protrusion than her. She took comfort in that. Perhaps this meant that she was really a girl after all. But the thing next to her — gradually, she came to think of him as her twin — would most likely be lording his superiority over her forever.

On the sides of the protrusion were two lower appendages. She found that she could use her mind to stretch them. And once she stretched them, she realized that these were her legs and that her feet were attached to the ends of them. She kicked at the inside of the pink cushion that surrounded her.

“Ow,” said a woman’s voice. It was the voice of the Mother. Tamar knew that she had to get the Mother’s attention first. She kicked again.

This time she felt a gentle hand push down on the other side of the pink cushion. Her twin nudged the Mother back.

“What are you trying to tell me, my son?” asked Mother.

I’m a girl — a girl just like you Mother, Tamar tried to say. But speech eluded her. She had yet to utter her first cry. But she had to get Mothers attention —

to read the entire piece in aadduna, click here

To learn more about my novel THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders (published by Adelaide Books New York/Lisbon), click here.

For more information on #IHeartSapphFic as a part of “Against All Odds Week, click here: bit.ly/3SAhClO

“No One Knows I’m a Lesbian” — The New Town Librarian in review: #BookTube #amreading #LGBTQ

Th text of this review that is on Book Tube is below.

Reading Kathy Anderson’s novel, The New Town Librarian from NineStar Press reminded me of what I love about reading which seems crazy since I read all the time but it did, the sight, the smell of books on shelves, the fact that books help people connect with themselves and others and that not only do people write books but that there are people in books and people all around them.

I found myself rooting for the lead in The New Town Librarian. I wanted her to do well in her new job, get the girl (her favorite shirt reads “No One Knows I’m a Lesbian”), and most of all for her to be happy. Being happy is a goal that the protagonist mentions –she would be the first woman in her family history to be happy. She describes herself as having descended from a bunch of “sad sacks.”

The novel is set in a small town in New Jersey near the mysterious bogs of the Pine Barrens and is full of local lore including rumrunners and the Jersey Devil.

The question that is asked in various ways throughout the novel, is whether the new librarian who is so different in many ways – queer in both the old and new meanings and from a City where there are more people like her who are different – can make her home in this small town where she now lives and if there is enough there for her.

As I turned the pages and accompanied the protagonist on her journey, I found myself laughing and crying with the characters that now filled her life – in particular, her landlady (a force of nature), her husband (a man who conjures the word “good”) and a foster teen who shows up at the library and makes it his home.

The book held me to the end – and I was sorry to see it go – as I wondered if the universe would spin its magic and make our hero happy.

As I read Kathy Anderson’s novel, The New Town Librarian from NineStar Press (published in 2023), I was brought back in touch with a part of myself that I didn’t realize was missing.

This is Janet Mason with reviews for Book Tube and Spotify.

New novel unveiled in Adelaide Literary Magazine — #ecofiction #amreading #Whales

I was delighted to learn that a segment from my novel in progress is now being published by Adelaide Literary Magazine. The story is below.

TRAPPED AND IMAGING (?) A TALKING SEA TURTLE by Janet Mason

At first, I pretend that I’m not trapped. How could I be? Afterall, I named myself Dick Moby—after that thick book I found floating in the sea which I promptly absorbed into my massive brain. I gave myself the name to remind myself that I am fierce. A fierce whale like me does not get trapped. Besides, I am in this beautiful sea that I call home. I know there are many dangerous parts. But I have found a part that’s pristine and blue. Many live here because it is so clean and magnificent.

I am trapped at the surface which means I can breathe freely. If I were trapped below, I would have to think faster about how to release myself so I could swim up to the surface and take a breath. If I were lower, I wouldn’t have time to be in denial.

The sun has risen but it is still low in the sky. I was sleeping not that long ago and I’m still sleepy. I would yawn if I could, but I don’t even try. I feel a tightness around my head and jaw, although I don’t see anything. Something is binding my pectoral fins, too, and cutting into me.  I dare not try to flip my tail. I can feel distinctly that something is covering it. Something is draped over me back there, but it’s on the top and the bottom. I am confined. It’s as if I were imprisoned. I feel defeated and frustrated.

I must still be asleep and am having a bad dream, I think. I decide to stay on the surface while I nap. There’s no point in moving so that I’m vertical, the voice in my head says. Besides, who made up the rules that say that Sperm Whales usually sleep that way anyway?

As far as I know, my pod made up the rules. Either that or someone in the pod, saw other Sperm Whales sleeping vertically and decided to imitate them. I kind of miss my pod. Surely, they would help me if they could. But I resent them also. Even though I try not to feel bitter to them, I still do. This nightmare scenario, of being trapped in what feels like a nylon fishing net, is precisely what one of my pod members warned me about to stop me from swimming off by myself. Maybe I am dreaming.

I hope so.

Maybe I’ll go to sleep if I’m not asleep already and wake up and discover that this has all been a bad dream.

Since I’m already comfortable, I tell myself that I’m not going to move and will take my nap at the surface.

I’m not with my pod, I remark to myself, so I can do anything I want.

Then I feel guilty since my unborn calf belongs to my pod. She is part of me, and I jeopardized her safety by going off on my own. It’s not all about me. I should have stayed with my pod where I would have been safer.

Maybe I should have listened to them, I think.

But who are they to try to tell me what to do? another voice in my head responds.

I’m going to go back to sleep – if I’m not asleep already—and then I’ll wake up and discover that this was all a bad dream, I conjecture, attempting to help myself relax.

I close my eyes but I’m not sleepy. Besides, it’s too bright up here directly under the sun. So, I open my eyes again. I decide to sleep with one eye open. That way—in case I’m not having a bad dream—I’ll be able to protect my unborn calf from any predators.

I relax for a few minutes and see something approaching in the distance. First, it’s a black speck just above the waves. As I continue to watch it becomes larger and larger until a dark eye looks back at me. The round eye is in the side of a head with a narrow and beaked mouth.

I didn’t think Sea Turtles could talk so I am surprised when this one started talking in a squeaky voice.

“I usually swim under the water, but when I came up for air, I spotted you and saw that you weren’t moving. So, I came over to see if you are alright.”

“That’s nice,” I click.

I know that Sea Turtles are having a hard time, and I’m glad we’re away from the plastic island because plastic straws might detach from the outskirts of the island. The nylon fishing net that I’m trapped in feels similar to the permanence of the plastic island. It feels like whoever made this was thinking about a substance that would last forever—even if no one is around then who might see it.

Plastic straws often kill Sea Turtles who come to the surface to breathe. They often inhale the straws which kill the Turtles.

“I’m fine I was just about to take a nap,” I click.

“Hmmm. I’ve never seen your kind napping on the surface before,” says the Turtle, treading water about ten feet from me.

“Well, now you’re seeing one,” I retort, unable to keep the sarcasm out of my clicks.

Even the Sea Turtle is reinforcing the mores of my pod.

I think to myself that the Sea Turtle might be part of my dream, but I don’t say this. The languid sea turtle is just the kind of creature that would be in a dream. I’ve seen them down below before. Their domed backs look like a fortress and their outstretched front limbs end in paws that are shaped like claws. The turtles, with their black and white tiled heads and other appendages look very relaxed, but their peaceful pace might be misleading. They never seem to stop. I understand that they often travel great distances.

“I see now that you’re not fine because you’re trapped in a nylon fishing net,” squeaks the Turtle.

I silently stare down the Turtle.

This really is a dreadful dream, I think.

“Just because you don’t want this to be happening, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening,” retorts the Turtle as if reading my mind.

I am tempted to close my eye to signal to the Turtle that I want to be alone, but I just am quiet. I give the Turtle a baleful look. Even if she is a figment of my imagination, I’d prefer her not to tell me that I have been captured.

The Sea Turtle gives me a venomous look back.

“I’m sorry you’re trapped,” she squeaks. “But I’m glad that it’s you this time instead of me. I’ve seen beings who are trapped before and it’s dreadful.”

“Thanks,” I retort, drily.

“No problem,” she responds casually, as if what she just said wasn’t hurtful.

I was irritated, but now I become more so. It seems like someone in my dream should be helpful, but she’s not making matters any better—in fact I feel worse.

“I was just headed to find something to eat,” she says.

Finally, I think, hoping she goes away.

I’m so tired that I almost say this out loud. Instead, I say:

“I don’t see anything around here.”

My tone is dismissive. 

After all, it’s my dream, the voice in my head booms.

I really am angry.

I blink. When I open my eye again, the Turtle is still there.

“I’m in the mood for jellyfish,” she says whimsically. “Have you seen any good ones?”

I don’t want to give away the Jellyfish I was looking at. I liked that Jellyfish a lot better than I like this Turtle. And it was a while ago when I communed with the Jellyfish. But it’s a free ocean. I’m not in charge of who eats who.

Besides, why should I care?

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 published by Adelaide Books, also the publisher her novel The Unicorn, The Mystery late in 2020. Her novel Loving Artemis. an endearing tale of revolution, love and marriage was published by Thorned Heart Press in August of 2022.  Her prose has appeared in Sinister Wisdom, The Brooklyn Review, and in Adelaide Literary Journal.

For more information on my novel THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders published by Adelaide Books click here.

To learn more about The Unicorn, The Mystery, click here:

The Unicorn, The Mystery now available from Adelaide Books — #amreading #FaithfullyLGBT

For more information on my most recent novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here:

Politeness equals death: #govegan #climatechange #amreading #LGBTQ

Lately, I’ve been thinking about politeness. I was at a luncheon, when a woman sitting at my table, said she usually is a vegetarian but eats the local food when she travels out of politeness. She gave the example of drinking a bowel of bull’s blood which she was served in a Latin American country. The table mates (of which my partner and I were half the table) were busy agreeing that that was the most disgusting thing we ever heard of. (I’m sure there are more disgusting things — but at the time and while we were eating…)

At the time I said something positive about how much things have changed now and that there are vegan restaurants all over the globe. This is true, but you do have to look for them. At the time, when I was happily eating my vegan soup and salad, my partner was extolling the benefits of veganism at every opportunity. (Just try to stop her!)

I had a good time at the luncheon, but ever since my thoughts keep ruminating on the word “polite.”

I was definitely more polite before going vegan (to the other human animals, not to the animals that are eaten or to myself). Now after being vegan, going on three years now, I am more compassionate for all sentient beings, but less polite to other human beings in that I am not going along with the crowd in eating animal products.

This leads me to conclude that politeness can cause death.

For more information on my most recent novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here:

Stronger than we realize — Loving Artemis in review #amreading #lgbtqallies #lgbtqall

I was happy to read this review from Literary Titan and wanted to share it with you. The review captures the feeling that I had after I edited the novel. A fair amount of time had passed since I first wrote the novel and even more time had passed since I had grown up in this place where the novel is set. I realized that I had been more empowered than I thought at the time.

This is true for all of us: we are all stronger than we realize.

Loving Artemis, written by Janet Mason, is a tale of finding love that starts during a time when being LGBTQA+ was not accepted and spans to a time when it has become more accepted. Artemis is a young girl in love with a girl named Linda. She wants to do something to get her attention and thinks that riding a motorcycle will impress Linda. But, as she becomes closer to Linda, Linda isn’t sure what she wants.

Artemis and Linda separate, and Grace come into Artemis’ life. Grace isn’t sure if she could ever love anyone, but the more she gets to know Artemis, the more she realizes she can love someone. However, Artemis falls prey to a devious plan that gets her removed from school. Grace decides to move on with her life and finds the one person meant for her. She sees someone she thinks looks like Artemis at a Pride parade in 2015, and all her memories and feelings come flooding back.

Janet Mason does a beautiful job developing this coming-of-age story. Her character development is well done and allows the reader to easily imagine them in their mind. The character of Artemis is complex and relatable for many people. Her character had a bright future, but she got mixed up with the wrong crowd of people. Readers will want to see if things turn around for Artemis and will be drawn to keep reading to see where she ends up.

Linda is a lovely character filled with self-doubt and unsure of the future. She seemed like she was really trying to figure out what her life should be like. She wasn’t sure if she would go to college or end up like her mother. But she was able to figure out where she was meant to be in the end.

I was especially drawn to the character of Grace. I think her character was stronger than she even realized. Her personality jumps off the page and makes readers pay attention to what she has to say. She knew what she wanted in life and knew how to get it. I enjoyed reading about her character, and I felt like I understood why she made the decisions she did. I wish I was more like her when I was younger.

I loved this book. Janet Mason discussed issues that the LGBTQA+ community has endured for many decades. In addition, she brought up topics of historical significance so that we readers can look up these topics and learn more. I think these are important topics to discuss, and I am glad they were able to bring them up in their book.

Loving Artemis is a heartfelt coming-of-age Lesbian romance novel that follows the lives of women that were just coming into their own back before it was socially acceptable. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in LGBTQA+ topics and ones that love fiction that includes some reality.

Pages: 269 | ASIN : B0B33TZ9DX

For more information on my most recent novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here:

The book “I needed” — a worldwide perspective on Loving Artemis: #hope #equality #LGBTQ #amreading

One of the things that is wonderful about being an author is that I hear from people all over the world that the worlds that once lived in head are meaningful. Of course, this is often influenced by events that have actually happened as is the case with Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love and marriage published by Thorned Heart Press.

I was really touched by this review from Kira who is associated with The Sapphic Book Club.

Loving Artemis wasn’t exactly what I expected – but I think it was what I needed. The book is divided into three main sections; one in roughly modern day, one from Art’s perspective about her life growing up, and the last from Grace’s perspective in high school. While it wasn’t until the last section that I really understood how they all tied together, I found that the focus on each character individually created a more balanced narrative about queer youth and the lasting impact of early relationships.

Art, short for Artemis, wants to become a person of her own design, rather than the housewife that her family (and society) believe lies in her future. Grace, on the other hand, begins discovering who she is through a variety of factors- a disastrous trip with a friend, a school project, and a chance encounter with Art. Although these two are only together for a short period of their lives, they both end up living through a particularly eventful period in the American gay liberation movement.

Throughout the book, academia and academic pursuits offer a window into the changing world, even as Art and Grace are caught up in the trials of their own lives. Passing references to Stonewall, Loving v. Virginia and Obergefell v. Hodges, Defense of Marriage Act, and other monumental events are discovered in classes and headlines, providing a contextual backdrop that is just as compelling, if not more so, than the protagonists journeys.

Everything and everyone- Art, Grace, their lives, and the movement for equality- come together at the beginning and end of the book at New York Pride. In the midst of a celebration and memorial of their struggles, resolution abounds. As much as I know that we are not, and likely will never be, finished with the fight for equality, Loving Artemis ends in a way that makes me believe that will be possible, if only for a short while.

To read my post first published by The Sapphic Book Club, click here.

For more information on my most recent novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here:

Buddhism and Veganism: the connections of being part of the #universe — #amreading #veganism #UU

I participated in a service on Buddhism 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.

Hello,

When I heard that this month’s theme was “finding our center,” I immediately thought of how I feel more aligned with myself and the universe at this point in my life than ever before.

I truly believe that each of us deserves to become our most empowered and most authentic selves. This is echoed in the first Unitarian Universalist Principle, “The inherent worth and dignity of every person.”

I also found the theme for today “Buddhism for Everyone” to be quite interesting. Buddhism is for everyone. That is the point. We can choose to be our better selves. Whether we call ourselves Buddhists or not, we can make the choice to disengage from negativity. We all breathe. And we can be conscious of that breath. Take a breath with me now.

Inhale to a count of three. Exhale to a count of six.

We’ll begin now.

(breathe)

We can all be consciously aware of the present moment.

Becoming a Buddhist, for me has been a journey — one that has been about survival and awareness. Relatively recently on that journey, I have gone to a healthy plant-based diet and increasingly identify strongly as vegan because of the rights of non-human animals not to be eaten and abused; because everyone on the planet can be fed with the grain that is currently being used to feed what is called “livestock;” and to give this beautiful planet the opportunity to live longer. Initially, I went to a healthy plant-based diet because of a health condition, and I feel great three years into this lifestyle. Before this, I ate what I considered to be a healthy western diet. I have since reconsidered what is “healthy” and now the difference is night and day. In the process, I freed myself from the addictive behaviors (including food addiction) rampant in society and in my family history.

I came to a healthy plant-based diet the year that I turned sixty. So, I am not in a position to judge anyone even if that were my nature which it is not. When I went to a healthy plant-based diet, I went through a period of consciousness-raising, especially about the treatment of nonhuman animals. Like many others, including my partner Barbara, my only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. So, what have I learned from Buddhism? I guess it comes down to kindness. I have learned to be kinder to myself and to other sentient beings.

Becoming vegan is an important part of my spiritual evolution.  I feel better than I ever thought I could feel by not ingesting the suffering of animals (and this includes products, such as dairy, derived from animals).  I went through a consciousness-raising process in which I began to see that nonhuman animals are separate beings unto themselves and that they are NOT here for us to use them.

Many Buddhists are vegans. From a Buddhist perspective, it makes sense that Barbara and I feel so good by not ingesting other sentient beings. A sentient being is defined as a living, conscious being. Basically, it feels like I am no longer in conflict with myself since going to a plant-based diet. I feel more like a part of the universe than ever before. And it feels GREAT to be here and to be part of the universe.

In the spirit of the UU Principle, “Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations,” I am grateful to each of you for being such an important part of my journey.

–Namaste–

For more information on my most recent novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here:

A Day for Honoring: #MLKDay2023; #amreading; #intersectionality

I was delighted to learn that my novel Loving Artemis, an Endearing Tale of Revolution, Love, and Marriage (from Thorned Heart Press was one of the winners of Literary Titan’s top books from 2022.

In honor of that and in honor of the important day of service dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King, I am posting an excerpt from Loving Artemis in which a protagonist in her senior year in high school is at the local public library researching a paper that includes the history of her era. This part of the story takes place in 1977.

Grace nodded. She headed over to the microfilm reader.
After an hour, she found the article in the Metro section about Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm from New York’s 12th Congressional District announcing her bid for the presidency. She read the article, copying notes on her index cards, putting the citation on the top. Then she saw a sidebar on the highlights of the civil rights movement.
She remembered learning about the Emancipation Proclamation when she was in junior high. It was passed in 1862 when President Lincoln was in office. There was a mention of the 1915 Supreme Court ruling (Guinn v. United States) against the grandfather clauses used against black people to deny them the right to vote. She learned about this last year in social studies. She remembered the teacher talking about Rosa Parks starting the Montgomery Bus Boycott by refusing to give up her seat in 1955, but she hadn’t learned that the U.S. Armed Forces weren’t desegregated until 1954. She remembered seeing a film about the integration of Little Rock Central High School after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its 1954 ruling that segregated schools were unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. At the time she knew this was important, but she didn’t have the strong feeling that she had now that the rights of all people would open doors for her too.
Grace looked down the column and skimmed the paragraph about the Voting Rights Act of 1965, then she read an item about interracial marriage. She didn’t know that it had ever been illegal, and she didn’t know why it had never occurred to her. In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Loving v. Virginia against states prohibiting interracial marriage. Grace read that Mildred Loving, a black woman, and Richard Loving, a white man, residents of Virginia, brought the case to the U.S. Supreme Court after they each had been sentenced to a year in prison because they had violated state law by marrying.
Grace sat back in her wooden library chair and stopped making notes. She was astounded that this had just happened ten years ago.
It was true that most of the families who lived in her neighborhood were white. In her section, there were three black families and one East Indian family. The parents were all married to someone of the same race. But when Grace had gone on an overnight class trip to a ski resort several hours away, she had seen the captain of the football team, who was white, and the head cheerleader, who was black, horsing around in the indoor swimming pool. They were practically making out. Everyone knew they were a couple, but no one said anything about it. As captain of the football team and head cheerleader, they were both royalty in the pecking order of high school. Grace leaned forward and went back to taking notes. Then she sat up and scanned the bottom of the column. In 1968, the same year that Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated, Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman elected to congress.

For more information on my most recent novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here:

The Sapphic Book Bingo: what goes around comes around –#amreading #LGBTQ #Sapphic #lesfic

One of the many joys that I have experienced in being a published author is that I hear from people all over the world that they have read and related strongly to my work. I guess I like making a difference and I like it that my stories are helping others.

Most recently with my novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage (from Thorned Heart Press), I’ve had the good fortune to connect with the German lesbian author Jae who is including my books in several of her book projects including the 2023 Sapphic Book Bingo which you can find more about below.

I’ve noticed that Jae along with many others is bringing back the term Sapphic. Sapphic comes from the poet Sappho who lived on the Isle of Lesbos in ancient Greece. I’ve been to the Isle of Lesbos and at one point in my life was quite obsessed with Sappho.

I was a poet then and Sappho often appeared in my work. After a reading that I gave decades ago a younger lesbian came up to me and said, “Who’s Sappho?”

I told her, of course, but I was silently appalled. Now that the word has come back into common usage, I am delighted.

So I am delighted to be part of the 2023 Sapphic Book Bingo!

Sapphic Book Bingo 2023

For more information on my most recent novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here:

“The best ever!” — being part of the change #go vegan for yourself, the (other) animals, and for the planet

“This is the best food I ever had!” I overheard my partner say to a staff member at HipCityVeg, an all-vegan restaurant that we discovered in suburban Philadelphia. One of the exciting things about being vegan is discovering new restaurants — especially this one. But it’s exciting to be vegan for other reasons too. For one, we feel great (especially after going vegan for health reasons three years ago). (And our food bills are much lower.)

Another reason is our connection to the animals — including cows, pigs, lambs and chickens and well you name it. And our connection to the fish who are sentient beings. It is also exciting to be part of the solution, and to have the awareness about eating in a way that is kinder to the planet.

All of it. Basically, it’s very exciting to be part of change.

For more information on my most recent novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here: