Gerry Burnie

I am of the opinion that a one-star rating, unless unaccompanied by a reasonable review, says more about the reviewer than it does about the book.

Gutenberg made everyone a writer, and the 'customer review' made everyone a critic.

In preparation for this week's book review I went looking for a gay Canadian novel in all the usual places (including Amazon.ca), but I may as well have gone looking for a unicorn. All I could find were a couple of outdated, academic, and even American choices (i.e. The Best American Short Stories 2012). Moreover, to add insult to injury, my own novels weren't even included! It's a damned good thing I write for pleasure because I get damned little support from my own country.

Just received notice of the Goodreads Choice Awards 2012. I WON’T be taking part. For one thing, it is only open to “Books published for the first time in the United States,” (nothing about Canada), and of the 15 categories, not one of them is for GBLT books–fiction or non-fiction. So best of luck, but no thanks.

It is with the greatest sadness I just learned of the bankruptcy proceedings of Douglas & MacIntyre Publishing. D&M were/are a Canadian owned publishing house that is a staunch supporters of Canadian authors and titles. See the story at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/b...

On the topic of underage love, here's a comment from the mother of a "possibly gay 6-year-old" that merits reading, i.e.:

"It also made some people uncomfortable. Of the criticisms, the most common is that my son is six years old and doesn't know anything about sex. While I fully acknowledge this may not be the end-all-and-be-all to my son's sexual orientation, I object to the idea that being gay is only about sexual acts. Our emotions and feelings, our attractions and compulsions, all contribute, not just our body parts. If my son had a crush on the star of iCarly, I doubt people would be saying he was too young to have those sexual feelings towards a girl. I think they would think it was an innocent schoolboy crush, which is exactly what it is."

Read the whole comment: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/Amelia/...