lesbian books

[Reese]

I just found this forum (while looking for help on an Xbox game), and thus, just skimmed this entire thread and its predecessor (it gave me a few chuckles), and wanted to post a few replies.

Recently, someone asked where to find lesbian-themed books in Canada:

Here is a link to find feminist bookstores in the U.S. and Canada: http://www.litwomen.org/WIP/stores.html

I knew that link was out there somewhere, so I found it at: http://www.btwof.com/ordering.php Which is on the site of a cool publication about lesbian books.

Also, due to some of the fanfic/former fanfic writers mentioned on this thread – as well as other writers, I thought you all might like to know about
http://www.gclscon.com/
It’s a lesbian literary convention that’s going on in several months. Some of the writers who will be attending include:
Radclyffe
Karin Kallmaker
Jean Stewart
JM Redmann…

Oh, darn. Just look for yourself here: http://www.gclscon.com/AttendingAuthors.htm

Cheers!
Reese

[Stroke of Luck]

This book was mentioned first by Big Dummy, but i just had the chance to read it and i have to say that it was amazing! never cried so much in a book...well maybe but GEEZ! there wasnt any sex and u still dont know if they ever did "it!";), but in my mind they did!
Well now ur all asking urself, which book is she talking about hehe yeah i forgot to mention her name and the title its "Patricia Highsmith - The Price of Salt" In german its just called "Carol" Oh and i like to read "Sarah Dreher"

Otherwise i dont know many lesbian books, except some from my own country! SO i just start and mention some, cuz as far as i have seen i´m not the only german girl here

"Mirjam Münteferring - Das Gegenteil von Schokolade"
"Mirjam Münteferring - Flug ins Apricot & Apricot im Herzen"

Just love her writing style..havent read anything from other Writers yet, well just another german one but she was fucking boring..."Karen-Susan Fessel"

Bye bye
SoL/Natti

[unlikelyheroine]

dare, truth or promise by Paula Boock for those of you who mentioned Annie on My Mind. this is a wonderful, well-written coming of age story set in New Zealand. two teenage girls whose personalities are strikingly similar to W/T fall in love. there's angst, but a happy ending and no one dies. sorry ME!

Got to second this - this is fabulous. It did make me cry... but in a good way, damn it!!

[gabbles]

Keeping You A Secret By Julie Anne Peters

I saw it mentioned before, and just had to second it. It is the first (and so far ONLY...our Town is very old fashioned, I'm in fact suprised they had this in the Library) book with a lesbian character I've read, and I fell in love with it. It's a coming out story, with the 'good' girl not being able to get the new 'out' girl out of her mind...and the story, I found, was very real. I'd recomend it to all ages, 'cause its just too good.

Lol...

Thanks for all the great Recs kittens...I'm gonna try hunt some down the Library (HA....I say they'll have about two in total)

*hugz*
~Gabs

[tara bear]

hey i like annie on my mind too. i carry it every where.....literally.

i know a few good ones:
Alma Mater by rita mae brown
Truth Dare or Promise by paula boock
Year of the ice (i can't remeber who it's by but this book is kinda off a little)
um......boy meets boy (it's good)
crocidile soup (it's not fully based on that)
Save us from Eva (i think that's what it's called)
Man without a face ( that's not fully based on it either but you can tell it's there and it's good)

that's all i know right at this moment
hope you like

[grace2877]

Pages for You by Sylvia Brownrigg is pretty good.

I read it a few years ago. It's not a pure LGBT book - I found it under general fiction at a bookstore. But it focuses on one girls first year at college in which she is swept into an affair with a professor. It's all about being away from home for the first time, awakening sexuality, growing up, figuring out who you are. It's a beautiful story without a too-perfect, neat ending. Good, quick read.

[Ben Varkentine]

This isn't a recommendation, it's a question--are there any publishers of lesbian fiction that Kittens particuarly like? To clarify: I'm not talking about erotica; just "straight" (you should pardon the expression) fiction that happens to have a lesbian or two as heroines.

Thanks.

ETA: Also, what, if any, are the good magazines for short stories in that genre? Thanks again.

[Modjadji]

tara bear mentioned:

Save us from Eva (i think that's what it's called)

I think you're getting at "Deliver Us from Evie" by M.E. Kerr . I read it a really, really long time ago, so the details are fuzzy, but I remember it being pretty good. It's a coming out story told through the eyes of Parr, Evie's younger brother.

[Reese]

Publishers include Bella Books (http://www.bellabooks.com) -- all lesbian, all the time. They're also bringing back Spinster's Ink, as well, for more general fiction. The first new Spinster's Ink books will start coming out next year.

Anyway, if you visit the Bella site, you'll also see a bit called "Bella's Bookshelf" or some such, and even more books by other publishers are listed there.

Hope this helps!
Reese

[Ben Varkentine]

Considering one of my heroines is named Annabel, that seems almost eerily appropriate. Thanks, Reese. I'll look into it.

ETA: Just did. Hm. "Fiction by and about lesbians." I wonder how much of a stickler they are for that "by" part...

[Reese]

They're pretty strict about it, Ben. Especially with the books. (They do have one crazed editor who's sneaked a straight boy into one anthology and a straight girl into another, though.)

I think most of the lesbian publishers pretty much won't publish boys -- but Alyson (a glbt publisher) does -- http://www.Alyson.com. (Even men writing lesbian lit, btw.)

Cheers!
Reese

[Ben Varkentine]

Stupid reverse discrimination...

Thanks again, Reese.

[Triscuit7]

Ben - you might also try Meisha Merlin Press. They do SF, Fantasy, and Horror, both gay and lesbian, as well as "straight".

Ciao, Melissa

[cbrymm]

They've already been said but personally I think Keeping You a Secret, Dare, Truth, or Promise, and Crush are worth mentioning twice if not seven more times. Keeping You a Secret is my all time favorite. I think everyone can relate to the girl in Crush in some way or another. I've also read Girl Walking Backwards but, as a person who can't stand drugs and what they do to people, I found it difficult to get into.[/u]

[Ben Varkentine]

Melissa-thanks, but unfortunately my book, work-in-progress though it is at the moment, is not SF/Fantasy or Horror, it's a comic romance. Really appreciate the thought, though.

[Reese]

Ben,

It sounds as if your best bet is Alyson, which is one of the larger GLBT houses. I've double-checked a few lesbian houses sites' guidelines and the most liberal they get is "women." (Haworth has a lesbian arm, Alice Street Editions, I believe it's called, and I can't easily locate their guidelines, but having met with the woman who runs it, I'd guess they're the same.)

Reese

[Trom DeGrey]

Another gay/lesbian publisher is Cavalier Press. Most of their writers are former fan fic writers as well. The revamped version of Nene Adams' popular Gaslight Series can be found there as well as other well known Xena/Uber fan fic writers such as MaryD, CL Hart and T. Novan.

[Ben Varkentine]

Mostly-hypothetical question: If I were to post a few chapters from this WIP over in "The Inward Eye," would one-or-two of you be interested in reading them?

[LtSticks]

I'd be interested Ben


Ooooh good news for me next year in my English major...I get to study...TIPPING THE VELVET! I think I might give the lecturers a run for their money with this one, as I really love Sarah Waters' books. Kudos to my university for naming it on the reading list! WAHOO!

[Reese]

Lt Sticks -- did you catch Sarah Waters at the Libertas festival this past October?

[ambercissism]

Tipping The Velvet by Sarah Waters

[Candleshoe]

Not sure if this fits here, but no doubt someone will tell me loudly if I am wrong!

I have just finished reading Two of Us by Brendan Halpin. I laughed out loud and cried buckets alternately through it, and have read it in one sitting because I couldn't put it down.

After losing her two mums in a car accident, Rosalind has moved in with her biological dad, who she had never met before. This is a wonderful story about coping with grief, life-changes and microwavable vegetarian burritos.

The lesbians (and there are several) are portrayed pretty realistically, although I did have to laugh at the outrageous stereotyping going on in one scene. It made me laugh rather than get cross, though!

Mostly I loved the matter-of-fact way that Sean just keeps loving Rosalind the best way he can. And the way that they have Bingo Cards with phrases like "we are more of a family than a school" and "we like to provide a theraputic setting" for Parent/Teacher meetings. Must get me one of those for the management meetings I have to sit through....

[gabbles]

Okay, I thought I'd recommend a book called Bailey's Beads by Terry Wolverton (sorry if this has already been recommended).

This is a story focusing on the lives of three women, really. When Djuna's lover, Bryn, falls into a coma due to a car accident, she has to put up with Bryn's mother, Vera, as they both place themselves in a vigil (kinda of...) while Bryn recovers.

It is told in different views, from Djuna, Vera and, in a way, Bryn. What makes this story so great, is it focusses on the fact that no matter how much we can love, and think we know, a person, they can, even after knowing them for years (in Djuna's case) or for their lifetime (as in Vera's), be a completely different person to what we thought. It's about learning to accept that we never entirely know a person, and it can be, prehaps, better that way.

Atleast, that's what I've come to see it as (I'm only three quaters of the way through hehe )

I definitly think it's worth checking out.

*hugz*
~Gabs

[Aine]

I dunno if this book has been mentioned but it is my favorite book of all time.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

Any lesbianism is pretty much just hinted at and they are referred to as "friends" but always talked about how much they loved each other. It is such an amazing book. i've read it so many times. hope you all enjoy it.

also there's a book called Starburst i forget the author's name. but it's pretty good. umm..there's also a book called The Virgin it's a book i read on accident. it's a very heavy s&m book. it's interesting...not my thing, but who knows, u kno? wel li have about 5 or 6 other books that i can't remember. i'll add them when i can find them.

oh! prayers for bobby. not a lesbian fic. but oh so very good. it's a book about how his mother dealt with her son's sexuality after his suicide. also has bits of his journals and stuff about him and his friends. it was really good...sorry not a lesbian book, but it's awesome.

[GayNow]

Lately I've been devouring as many books by Karin Kallmaker and Gerri Hill as possible. These books remind me of really, really good fan fiction. They are enjoyable to read; they have the right amount of angst; they have nicely developed characters -- both main and supporting; they often have some wonderful historical and political insights that are just fun to see debated in the texts. These are the books I've read thus far:

Karin Kallmaker
In Every Port
Car Pool
Painted Moon
Wild Things
Embrace in Motion
Making Up for Lost Time
Unforgettable
Substitute for Love
One Degree of Separation
All the Wrong Places (this one is considered 'erotica')
Just Like That

Gerri Hill
Gulf Breeze
Sierra City
Artist's Dream

I'm currently waiting on two more books by Hill -- Hunter's Way and One Summer Night. I anticipate they will be good reads. Hill also has some unpublished works posted at her site. So that might be an opportunity for folks to check out her writing without paying the price of a book. If you like what she has on her web site, then go find her books at amazon.com or the Bella Books web page.

Carleen

[JustSkipIt]

Car,
I've read Making up for Lost Time. It's a very cute story. I think your assessment that it's ff - quality is pretty good. My biggest issue with it? The title. WTF the title? There's no lost time. There's no one making up for any. WTF!

[Reese]

"Making up for Lost Time," makes sense to me in that the characters are trying to make up for time lost with those who aren't really their partners.

It's a rather ephemeral thought.

Regardless, I can assure you both of these two facts:
1) Karin doesn't write fan fic,
2) Gerri started as an online writer.

(To check Karin, Amazon her and see when she started writing -- to see that it predates all but the geekiest Internet, and most shows that are fanficed. ('Course, I'm an FF idiot, so... I really don't know it all about such matters.)

Oh, and yes, you can likely develop some general thoughts about Gerri via online forums, but her print fiction is likely a lot better, since print pieces are edited by real editors. (But I do agree -- you can likely decide if you like her work by searching for her and reading her online work.)

Sorry, I'm a bit drunk right now, but here's a full Karin Kallmaker listing (pulled from a page within one of her books):

WRITING AS KARIN KALLMAKER:
Just Like That
Sugar
One Degree of Separation
Maybe Next Time
Substitute for Love
Frosting on the Cake
Unforgettable
Watermark
Making Up for Lost Time
Embrace in Motion
Wild Things
Painted Moon
Car Pool
Paperback Romance
Touchwood
In Every Port

WRITING FOR BELLA AFTER DARK:
All the Wrong Places
Once Upon a Dyke: New Exploits of Fairy Tale Lesbians
Bell, Book and Dyke: New Exploits of Magical Lesbians

WRITING AS LAURA ADAMS:
Christabel
The Tunnel of Light Trilogy:
Sleight of Hand
Seeds of Fire
Daughters of Pallas:
Night Vision
The Dawning

Feel free to visit http://www.kallmaker.com.

And, honestly, if you can find any lesbian fanfic up to what she writes, I'd *love* to get connected to it!

[GayNow]

Let me clarify, Reese, I didn't say they *are* fan fic writers. I said their stories remind me of really good fan fic. I think there's a difference there.

Trust me, I have checked Amazon...and Bella Books...I know when Karin started writing. I also linked to both Karin's and Gerri's websites in my earlier post, so I'm also well aware of what they have available.

I think you completely misunderstood what I was saying. I didn't say "Karin and Gerri are as good as any fan fic writers out there." I said that the books *remind me* of really good fan fic. When I read something by Katherine Dunne or Gregory McGuire, I don't get the same feeling. The elements are different. With Karin and Gerri, I'm pretty much assured that I will be happy or satisfied with the ending. I won't be left wanting. Much like good fan fic. But when I read Dunne or McGuire, I'm not guaranteed that. They are both excellent writers and I love their books, but the elements in their works are very different -- things are much more complicated and the plots are much more intricate. When you come right down to it, Karin and Gerri write really good lesbian romance novels. I don't think either Karin or Gerri would disagree with me on that assessment -- particularly since that is how Karin characterizes her own work.

I haven't read Karin's works writing as Laura Adams yet. I have only so much time in the day and so much money in my bank account. I'm quite sure those will be fascinating reads. Believe me, I am in no way dismissing what they write or putting it down. I happen to be a fan of their work -- my bookshelf and my amazon.com wishlist are a testiment to this fact. As is the fact that I've read all but 2 of the books I listed in my earlier post twice -- sometimes finishing a book and immediately turning back to page 1.

And as a general FYI...fan fic predates the internet and both Karin and Gerri. See Textual Poachers by Henry Jenkins for more information on fandom. It's a really good text. I used it for much of my graduate research on popular culture, fandom and fan fiction. When I get around to writing my dissertation, it will be a seminal reference.

Carleen

P.S. For fanfic that is as good or better than anything that's published, see the works of Melissa Good. Her Xena fanfic is so excellent that she got a couple of gigs writing episodes for the series, and she, too, has published works. And, from what I understand, there are a few fanfic authors on this board with published books.

[Reese]

Carleen,

You are quite right on all counts -- my bad.

I *did* misread some portions of your posting, and I'm sorry about that.

But no where near as sorry as I am for anything I said that put down fanfic writers across the board. (I did read the recent article on, gosh, was it the Beyond Ellen site? that mentioned Melissa Good and how her excellent fanfic helped her to where she wrote several episodes of Xena. (I must also admit it was only with the past three months that I took to watching Xena on DVD, so I've come late to all that—but, silly me, although I really never watched much of any Star Trek, I have discussed the fanfic thereof with folks at times, so yes, if I'd had my brain turned on, I'd've realized the blatant stupidity of the comment I was making.))

(I also, unfortunately, was too bloody stupid to realize you'd linked to both their sites in your first posting.)

I really ought to invest my next paycheck in a brain, eh?

Oh, and btw, in this last post I'm glad you really stated that you're happy *or* satisfied with Karin's and Gerri's endings. (I have to admit that Karin's novella, "Unbeliever," in "Bell, Book and Dyke: New Exploits of Magical Lesbians" had me crying my butch eyes out. As some of her Laura Adams's stuff has as well.)

Oh, and it was another poster that made the comment about a book being of good fanfic quality was what threw me off. "Yes, Alex, I'd like to buy a clue for $20." (Me being the one saying such.)

Thanks for the reminders, and much-deserved thwappage.

Reese

P.S. I just checked with Karin about the title "Making up for Lost Time," and here's what she had to say:

{cutting her first paragraph because of how personal it is}

"Val always wanted to be Martha Stewart but had never bothered with the entire cooking thing. She was trying to cram 10 years of culinary expertise into 4 weeks of training. Jamie wasted years being in love with Kathy and Sheila Thintowski wanted to rush her "discovery" (Val) to market even when Val admitted she wasn't exactly all she'd said she was."

...

"Tell the poster to make the german chocolate cookies - they are nummy."

[/b]

[Ben Varkentine]

Looking for useful things to use for my novel-in-progress "starring" a lesbian couple, I found an anthology called "Growing Up Gay/Growing Up Lesbian" edited by Bennett L. Singer.

I think it's pretty good; it was published a little over 10 years ago as "the first literary anthology geared specifically to gay and lesbian youth." There may have been anthologies since that have superceded it; I would imagine that there are, but I don't know.

As the title suggests it's an assortment ot coming-of-age stories by a mixture of professional writers, many of whom you'll have heard of (Jeanette Winterston, Rita Mae Brown) and teenagers. You can tell that the editor made a point of trying to represent as many different types of experience as he could.

You might like to see if your library or something has it.

Side note to Reese: Did you get the "PM" I sent you recently? I can't tell from the private messaging center. The PM I thought I sent to you is in my "out" box but not my "sent" box and I don't understand the difference.