Elisa Rolle's Blog, page 396

2015 Rainbow Awards Submission: Razor Wire by Lauren Gallagher

Razor Wire by Lauren Gallagher
Lesbian Contemporary Romance
Paperback: 194 pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing (July 23, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1626491887
ISBN-13: 978-1626491885
Amazon: Razor Wire
Amazon Kindle: Razor Wire

Two women. One terrible crime. Zero allies.

After being raped by a superior officer, MA3 Kim Lockhoff wants to leave the whole thing in the past. A cop herself, she knows all too well that it’s her word—and slutty reputation—against that of a respected Navy officer.

MA2 Reese Marion, a tough cop hiding her own trauma behind a hard-as-nails exterior, has no patience for pretty little princesses who use their cleavage to win favor with the guys. But when Reese is partnered with Kim, she slowly realizes that reputations can lie. Kim is whip-smart, ambitious—and scared. The man who attacked her won’t let anything damage his career, least of all Kim . . . or the baby she’s carrying as a result.

Isolated on Okinawa, thousands of miles away from home, the two women lean hard on each other. But when Kim confides in Reese, she unwittingly puts her new lover—and both of their careers—in the line of fire. Now her attacker just might have the leverage he needs to keep her quiet for good.

2015 Rainbow Awards Guidelines: http://www.elisarolle.com/rainbowawards/rainbow_awards_2015.html

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Statistics: February 2015

Here are the 3 months statistics for the visits on my website and 2 journals:

Site December 2014* January 2015* February 2015   elisarolle.com 544.492 633.131 646.927 2,2% reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org 22.164 22.190 18.471   elisa-rolle.livejournal.com 23.192 40.513 41.465   Total 589.848 695.835 706.863 1,6% *on a 28 days basis        
there was an increase of the 2,2% on the visits on the website, and of 1,6% on the total number of visits for all three locations.



I decided to remove the ad banners from the website, thank you so much to all publishers who contributed the past year.

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Nell McCafferty & Nuala O'Faolain

Nuala O'Faolain (1 March 1940 – 9 May 2008) was an Irish journalist, TV producer, book reviewer, teacher and writer. She became internationally well known for her two volumes of memoir, Are You Somebody? and Almost There; a novel, My Dream of You; and a history with commentary, The Story of Chicago May. The first three were all featured on The New York Times Best Seller list. Her posthumous novel Best Love, Rosie was published in 2009. O'Faolain's formative years coincided with the emergence of the women's movement, and her ability to expose misogyny in all its forms was formidable, forensic and unremitting. However, O'Faolain's feminism stemmed from a fundamental belief in social justice. Unlike most commentators, who maintain a detached, lofty tone, O'Faolain, placed herself at the centre of things, a high-risk strategy that worked because of her broad range of erudition, worn lightly, her courage and a truthfulness that sometimes bordered on the self-destructive.

O'Faolain was born in Clontarf, Dublin, the second eldest of nine children. Her father, known as 'TerryO' was a well-known Irish journalist, writing the "Dubliners Diary" social column under the pen name Terry O'Sullivan for the Dublin Evening Press. She was educated at University College Dublin, the University of Hull, and Oxford University. She taught for a time at Morley College, and worked as a television producer for the BBC and Radio Telefís Éireann.

O'Faolain described her early life as growing up in a Catholic country which in her view feared sexuality and forbade her even information about her body. In her writings she often discusses her frustration at the sexism and rigidity of roles in Catholic Ireland that expected her to marry and have children, of which she did neither.

O'Faolain was engaged at least once, but she never married. In Are You Somebody?, she speaks candidly about her fifteen-year relationship with the journalist Nell McCafferty, who published her own memoir, Nell. From 2002 until her death, O'Faolain lived much of the time with Brooklyn-based attorney John Low-Beer and his daughter Anna. They were registered as domestic partners in 2003.


“Moral gatekeepers of the documentary wrongly ask if Nuala [O’Faolain] was bisexual? A trivial detail like gender would never have prevented Nuala from loving another. Nuala was sexual, I was irresistible. Readers, we loved each other.” Nell McCafferty, Irish Times Letters.
Nuala O'Faolain (1 March 1940 – 9 May 2008) was an Irish journalist, TV producer, book reviewer, teacher and writer. O'Faolain was engaged at least once, but she never married. In Are You Somebody?, she speaks candidly about her fifteen-year relationship with the journalist Nell McCafferty, who published her own memoir, Nell. From 2002 until her death, O'Faolain lived much of the time with Brooklyn-based attorney John Low-Beer and his daughter Anna. They were registered as domestic partners in 2003.

( Read more... )

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuala_O%27Faolain

( Further Readings )

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Jean, bishop of Orleans & Raoul II, Archbishop of Tours

In 1100, Ivo of Chartres, who became bishop of Chartres in 1090, complained bitterly in a letter to Pope Urban II about a certain promiscuous youth named Jean being made the bishop of Orleans despite his reputation for sexual looseness and the fact that he was underage.

Jean’s sexual affairs had brought him such notoriety, in fact, that he had gained the nickname Flora, after a well-known local courtesan, and had become the subject of a number of lewd street songs.

In an attempt to head off Jean’s elevation to bishop, Ivo had previously sent samples of the lurid lyrics of the songs to the archbishop of Lyons, the papal legate, but to no avail.

The installation of Jean, bishop of Orleans, consecrated on March 1, 1098, had been arranged by Jean’s then lover, Raoul II, Archbishop of Tours from 1086 to 1117, who had obligingly crowned Philip I King of France (23 May 1052 – 29 July 1108) on Christmas Day in defiance of a papal interdict placed on Philip for “immoral behavior.” In exchange for the favor, Philip agreed to arrange a bishopric for Jean, who it so happens had also been a previous lover of the king.

Philip, himself, had boasted of the affair to Ivo.

Oddly, Ivo’s objections seem to have had less to do with Jean’s sexual activities than his youth.

Pope Urban, however, did not consider this as a decisive fact: Jean ruled as bishop for almost forty years, and Raoul continued to be well known and respected.


Tomb of Philip I King of France
Jean had being made the bishop of Orleans despite his reputation for sexual looseness and the fact that he was underage. Jean’s sexual affairs had brought him such notoriety, in fact, that he had gained the nickname Flora, after a well-known local courtesan, and had become the subject of a number of lewd street songs. The installation of Jean as bishop of Orleans had been arranged by Jean’s then lover, Raoul II, Archbishop of Tours. Jean ruled as bishop for almost forty years, and Raoul continued to be well known and respected.

Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time by Elisa Rolle
Paperback: 760 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (July 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1500563323
ISBN-13: 978-1500563325
CreateSpace Store: https://www.createspace.com/4910282
Amazon (Paperback): http://www.amazon.com/dp/1500563323/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon (Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MZG0VHY/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

Days of Love chronicles more than 700 LGBT couples throughout history, spanning 2000 years from Alexander the Great to the most recent winner of a Lambda Literary Award. Many of the contemporary couples share their stories on how they met and fell in love, as well as photos from when they married or of their families. Included are professional portraits by Robert Giard and Stathis Orphanos, paintings by John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Boldini, and photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnson, Arnold Genthe, and Carl Van Vechten among others. “It's wonderful. Laying it out chronologically is inspired, offering a solid GLBT history. I kept learning things. I love the decision to include couples broken by death. It makes clear how important love is, as well as showing what people have been through. The layout and photos look terrific.” Christopher Bram “I couldn’t resist clicking through every page. I never realized the scope of the book would cover centuries! I know that it will be hugely validating to young, newly-emerging LGBT kids and be reassured that they really can have a secure, respected place in the world as their futures unfold.” Howard Cruse “This international history-and-photo book, featuring 100s of detailed bios of some of the most forward-moving gay persons in history, is sure to be one of those bestsellers that gay folk will enjoy for years to come as reference and research that is filled with facts and fun.” Jack Fritscher


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George Harris & Jack Evans

Jack Evans was fired from Neiman Marcus in Houston for being gay, and George Harris was thrown out of the CIA in Northern Virginia. “I came to Dallas in ’56,” Harris says, “and it was locked down tight. There wasn’t any gay movement that I knew about.”

Five years later, in 1961, Evans and Harris met by coincidence at a bar and then again a few days later, at a mutual friend’s going-away party. As a couple, they became a force, working side by side in their real estate business for 38 years, founding what would become the North Texas GLBT Chamber of Commerce, and starting The Dallas Way, a project aimed at presenting the history of the GLBT community in Dallas. They were married (finally) in March 2014.

“Of course, this was symbolic,” Evans says. “It’s not legal in the state of Texas yet.”

Over five decades, Evans and Harris, who are both in their 80s, have seen marked changes in Dallas’ gay community. They saw people get arrested in the ’60s at house parties. They saw people circle the block in the ’70s before entering Metropolitan Community Church for fear of getting arrested. They saw more than 100 friends die of complications from AIDS in the ’80s.

“Our real focus has been our legacy for the community, that our whole lives have been trying to improve, to encourage the young people to make a difference,” Harris says. “They think they can walk down Cedar Springs holding hands, and it’s just automatically come to that, but there was a lot of struggle to get there.”


George Harris & Jack Evans at their home in Oak Lawn
Jack Evans was fired from Neiman Marcus in Houston for being gay, and George Harris was thrown out of the CIA in Northern Virginia. Five years later, in 1961, Evans and Harris met by coincidence at a bar and then again a few days later, at a mutual friend’s going-away party. As a couple, they became a force founding what would become the North Texas GLBT Chamber of Commerce, and starting The Dallas Way, a project aimed at presenting the history of the GLBT community in Dallas. They were married (finally) in March 2014.

( Read more... )

Source: interactive.dmagazine.com/content/the-dallas-40/jack-evans-and-george-harris/ (By: Cristina Daglas)

( Further Readings )

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2015 Rainbow Awards Submission: Fool's Gold by Jess Faraday

Fool's Gold by Jess Faraday
Gay Historical Fiction
Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (April 15, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1626393400
ISBN-13: 978-1626393400
Amazon: Fool's Gold

For once, Ira Adler has it easy. He has money in his pocket, a comfortable arrangement with an undemanding young man, and no one's punched, chased, or shot at him in years. Suddenly, an explosion turns everything upside down.

Eager to leave London, Ira accompanies his friends to America to settle a family matter. But though a handsome lawman and a trip aboard a luxurious ocean liner provide welcome distraction, Ira soon finds himself embroiled in a plot that stretches from London's back alleys to the dusty dirt roads of California. Before he knows it, Ira is up to his neck in train robbers, rattlesnakes, unscrupulous cattle kings, and persistent young women driven to frenzy by his exotic accent.

Just when he's ready to flee back to Britain, Ira gets a fistful of second chances. But London is calling. Will Ira answer? Or will he embrace a new life abroad?

2015 Rainbow Awards Guidelines: http://www.elisarolle.com/rainbowawards/rainbow_awards_2015.html

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Book Blast: Best Chance by Aria Grace

Best Chance (More Than Friends 6) by Aria Grace
Series: More Than Friends
Paperback: 194 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (February 19, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1508545162
ISBN-13: 978-1508545163
Amazon: Best Chance (More Than Friends 6)
Amazon Kindle: Best Chance (More Than Friends 6)

Vinnie is happy as a bartender at Ray's and not looking for anything serious to complicate his life. He has great friends and a simple life. When Chance comes into his bar, he brings more than just memories of the summer they spent together in high school. The widower has a fifteen month old son that could change everything for Vinnie, if he’s willing to take the chance.

( Excerpt )



Author Bio: Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Aria enjoys the year round sunshine and laid back environment of the west coast. She lives with her husband and two children on a quiet hill that gives her lots of time to read and write. Her first series was a semi-traditional look at sexy gigs found online. She has now ventured into the exciting M/M world of gay erotica. She loves to hear from readers so please feel free to drop her a note or visit her at www.ariagracebooks.com.

Where to find the author:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aria.grace.3...
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/ariagraceboo...
Twitter: @ariagracebooks
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/search/?q=a...



Tour Dates: February 28, 2015
Tour Stops: Parker Williams, Rainbow Gold Reviews, Inked Rainbow Reads, Bayou Book Junkie, Cate Ashwood, 3 Chicks After Dark, Amanda C. Stone, Molly Lolly, MM Good Book Reviews, Lee Brazil, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, Hearts on Fire, Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves, Andrew Q. Gordon, My Fiction Nook, BFD Book Blog, Up All Night, Read All Day, Gaylist Book Reviews, Carly’s Book Reviews, LeAnn’s Book Reviews, Wicked Faerie's Tales and Reviews, Divine Magazine, Elisa - My Reviews and Ramblings, Foxylutely Book Reviews, The Hat Party, Because Two Men Are Better Than One

Rafflecopter Prize: signed paperback of Best Chance and $25 gift card to Amazon or iTunes
Rafflecopter Code:
a Rafflecopter giveaway









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Marshall Thornton (born February 28)

Marshall Thornton is a novelist, playwright and screenwriter living in Long Beach, California. He is best known for the Boystown detective series, which received an honorable mention in the 2011 and 2012 Rainbow Awards and has twice been a finalist for the Lambda Book Award - Gay Mystery. Other novels include the erotic comedy The Perils of Praline, or the Amorous Adventures of a Southern Gentleman in Hollywood, Desert Run and Full Release. Marshall has an MFA in screenwriting from UCLA, where he received the Carl David Memorial Fellowship and was recognized in the Samuel Goldwyn Writing awards. He has also had plays produced in both Chicago and Los Angeles and stories published in The James White Review and Frontier Magazine.

Member Mystery Writers of America

My Favorite Uncle won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Contempprary General Fiction.

Further Readings:

My Favorite Uncle by Marshall Thornton
Paperback: 312 pages
Publisher: Wilde City Press, LLC (June 25, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1925180247
ISBN-13: 978-1925180244
Amazon: My Favorite Uncle
Amazon Kindle: My Favorite Uncle

Martin Dixon's carefully-constructed, peaceful life is turned upside down when his super Christian eighteen-year-old nephew Carter shows up unexpectedly on his doorstep and announces he's gay. Martin's first impulse is to send him back to his parents. But when he discovers that Carter has been in a mental hospital to cure his gay-ness he realizes he's stuck with the boy. Unfortunately, the two get on each other's nerves, each driving the other to distraction. Independently, however, they each arrive at the same conclusion. The other would be much less annoying if he only had... a boyfriend.

More Rainbow Awards at my website: www.elisarolle.com/ , More Rainbow Awards/2014


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2015 Rainbow Awards Submission: Gemini by Clancy Nacht & Thursday Euclid

Gemini by Clancy Nacht & Thursday Euclid
Gay Erotic Romance
Publisher: Loose Id LLC (September 29, 2014)
Amazon Kindle: Gemini

Cass Manning is a serial monogamist, grad student, and identical twin to Paul, a drug-addicted prostitute. Fleeing his unfaithful boyfriend, Cass returns to Houston after years away only to be drawn into danger before he's out of the airport.

When Paul dies under suspicious circumstances, Cass must rely on one of Paul's clients, Kilo, a mercenary willing to protect Cass in exchange for favors. Together they have a chance to bring justice to the corrupt heart of Texas's political power structure, but Kilo's mysterious past may tear him from Cass when he needs him most. Even if they outlive their untouchable adversaries, how does a polite academic find lasting love with a soldier of fortune?

2015 Rainbow Awards Guidelines: http://www.elisarolle.com/rainbowawards/rainbow_awards_2015.html

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Blog Tour: Stolen Dreams by Sue Brown

Stolen Dreams by Sue Brown
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press; Second Edition edition (January 30, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1632164035
ISBN-13: 978-1632164032
Amazon: Stolen Dreams
Amazon Kindle: Stolen Dreams

After cheating on and losing the man he loved, Morgan Conway decided to get his life right. Now he owns a coffee shop and is engaged to Jase, an actor and rising star. All is perfect in his world until the man he thought was gone forever walks into his shop. His hidden feelings rush to the surface, unfortunately there for everyone to see, including his fiancé.

Shae Delamere was crushed when Morgan cheated on him five years ago. But he has a reason for seeking Morgan out. As Morgan and Shae get to know each other again, they discover the extent that friends meddled in their lives to keep them apart. Morgan cannot deny he is still in love with Shae, but he is engaged. With some hard decisions to make, Morgan struggles not to hurt the men he cares about—again. Shae has secrets he came to share with Morgan, but revealing them now could keep them apart for good.

( EXCERPT )



AUTHOR BIO: Sue Brown is owned by her dog and two children. When she isn't following their orders, she can be found plotting at her laptop. In fact she hides so she can plot and has gotten expert at ignoring the orders.

Sue discovered M/M erotica at the time she woke up to find two men kissing on her favorite television series. The series was boring; the kissing was not. She may be late to the party, but she's made up for it since, writing fan fiction until she was brave enough to venture out into the world of original fiction.

AUTHOR LINKS:
Website: http://www.suebrownstories.com/
Blog: http://suebrownsstories.blogspot.co.uk/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/suebrownstories
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/suebrownstories

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
Because two of her book tours (for The Next Call and Stolen Dreams) are going to run simultaneously, we have decided we would have a common giveaway for both the tours! It makes for an awesome giveaway as you’ll see :D
There will be FIVE winners chosen from this contest:
1) First Winner will get a $20 Amazon Gift Card.
2) Second Winner will get a paperback copy of Stolen Dreams. (The contest is open for everyone and not limited to a specific region!)
3) First Runner up will get e-copies of The Next Call and Stolen Dreams each.
4) Two Second Runners up will win an e-copy of either The Next Call or Stolen Dreams.
Contest Begins: 26th January, 2015
Contest Ends: 28th February, 2015
Rafflecopter Code:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Rafflecopter Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/disp...?



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