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We love good books, just like you do
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Dear Readers,
Summer got off to a great start for us! We've been to award ceremonies (and won), had a great time at festivals and literary conferences. And kept the presses busy printing new titles.
We're delighted to announce that Marianne K. Martin's Mirrors will soon be available in a new edition from Bywater Books–copies will be off the press and available to ship from July 15. To find out more, see Back in Print below. And if you want to know the story behind it, and what motivates Marianne to write romance, take a look Behind the Book.
In the last newsletter, we told you that Jill Malone won a Lambda Literary Award. It's exciting news, and to find out just why, see The Lammys below.
Do check out Bywater Media for a rave review on Amazon for Lisa Gitlin's first novel I Came Out For This?
And if you want to know what we got up to at the Golden Crown Literary Society Conference, check out Golden Crown.
Oh, and take a look at P-town 2010 for the first details of what we're planning for this year's event.
As always, we at Bywater strive to bring you the finest in
lesbian romance, mystery, and literary fiction.
Till next time!
Kelly Smith
Marianne K. Martin
Val McDermid
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Mirrors
by Marianne K. Martin
There are plenty of reasons why Jean Carson isn't a lesbian: she's a wife; she's a Catholic; and she's a teacher, at a school where even a rumor could get her fired.
Besides, Shayna Bradley is just a good friend.
But Jean's a wife who doesn't want children with her husband. A Catholic who rejects the teachings of the Church. And a teacher desperate to help one of her students–and failing, because there's nothing she's allowed to say to "Lezzie Lin."
They all deserve better. Especially Shayna. Jean decides to ask for a divorce. But divorce isn't the same as leaving the closet. Not when she's desperate to keep her job.
Jean stays silent. The bullying continues. Soon Lezzie Lin is fighting for her life.
There are plenty of reasons why Jean Carson isn't a lesbian.
And plenty of reasons to announce that she is.
Mirrors was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award when it was first published in 2001.
Praise for Mirrors:
"Mirrors is a novel of coming-out, relationship angst, and
job anxiety that works because Martin takes the time to explore just how her characters think and feel about what is going on in their lives. That willingness to take time puts Mirrors well above the ordinary lesbian romance … Mirrors is a very fine novel, well worth your time and treasure."
—The Bay Area Reporter
"Mirrors is a great story of women's struggles with
discovery, love, and career." —Between the Lines
"It is the interplay of personalities that makes Martin's novels a cut above the usual lesbian love story. She helps the reader to know them and therefore to care about what happens." —Mega Scene
$14.95
Lesbian Fiction
200pp ISBN 978-1-932859-72-0
At fine stores everywhere
or order directly from Bywater Books.
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Romance. Seems like it's a cozy form of
story-telling: Everyone gets to live Happily Ever After.
That's what we expect, and Marianne K. Martin takes advantage of it. Sure, there'll be a happy ending, but before you reach it Marianne's characters will encounter difficult challenges–bullying, prejudice, even hate crimes.
She says: "Fictional characters, like real people, need to react to plausible, relevant life situations … I base many of the situations and challenges that I use in my stories on personal experiences and those of others I know or have met. That people (and characters) find love within those parameters, or in spite of them, is a fact of real life. Love for my characters is the silver lining–hopeful, reassuring, and empowering."
Mirrors, now available in a new edition from Bywater Books, was first published in 2001, and was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award. It tells the story of Jean Carson, who falls in love with her best friend. So far, so good–except Jean is a teacher. And gay teachers don't have the same job security as their straight counterparts. They didn't in 2001; they don't now in 2010. Says Marianne, who was herself once a teacher:
"I wish … I could say that gay teachers in all districts have the same job security as their straight counterparts. But sadly, I can not."
Nor is life easy for gay students. Jean Carson suspects that one of her students is bullied because she is a lesbian, but she dares not offer support–a problem that continues to face many teachers today. Again Marianne says, "I wish I could say that since I wrote Mirrors school districts across the country have universally adopted policies and put procedures in place to protect all students, both straight and gay, from bullying and harassment." And again, she cannot.
In fact, "teachers can still be fired for being gay, they are still afraid to counsel gay students, and harassment and bullying of gay students is still being ignored." (This is where I note that, since 1994, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act [ENDA] has failed once, been referred to committee three times, and died 14 times.)
Marianne, though, refuses to be depressed. She points out that there has been progress, and that some schools have welcomed the Gay/Straight Alliance. Trouble is, others refuse to allow it at all, and Marianne explains what this means–it's up to you whether to laugh or cry: "I have recently spoken at a school where it took the students a long time to find a faculty member who would sponsor their GSA club because teachers feared that it would be assumed that they were gay and that their job would be in jeopardy. A straight teacher finally stepped up as a sponsor and the club existed until a new principal shut it down. The students and sponsor had to fight for it to be reinstated and had to change its name to Diversity Club in order to do so. The next time I spoke to the club there were a couple of students there who had snuck in from a neighboring school where a GSA was not allowed."
Marianne's use of romance to explore such issues starts to look like a an act of defiance: "… the struggle to overcome many of the challenges in my stories goes on–and my characters find that love is not possible 'only if', it is possible 'even though'."
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Z Egloff embracing Kelly (left) and Marianne (right)
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More than 20 years ago, Deacon Maccubbin of Lambda Rising Bookstores in Washington, DC had a good idea: To establish awards specifically to celebrate Lesbian and Gay books.
From that good idea, the Lambda Literary Awards have grown beyond all expectations. Now including Bisexual and Transgender voices, the Lambda Literary Awards have become the highlight of the LGBT publishing calendar.
March, when the Finalists are nominated, is a tense time for publishers and authors alike. These, after all, are awards that raise profiles and boost careers.
At Bywater Books we can't compete with New York publishing houses, but we can search for talented new authors and we can strive to produce the very best books possible. And we try to get our authors all the recognition they deserve.
This year it all came together! We had three books eligible for Lambda recognition and all three were shortlisted. Verge by Z Egloff was a finalist is the Lesbian Debut Fiction category. And we had two finalists in the prestigious Lesbian Fiction category: Risk by Elana Dykewomon and A Field Guide to Deception by Jill Malone.
Elana Dykewomon (right) talking to Katherine V. Forrest
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So yes, we did congratulate ourselves when those nominations were announced. (Hey, it's allowed.)
And I don't think you'd say we played it cool back in May, the night that it was announced Jill Malone had won.
Seems like even small presses have their day!
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Rachel, Kelly, Marianne, and Georgia
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Bywater authors Marianne K. Martin, Bett Norris, Joan Opyr, Z Egloff, Marcia Finical, Georgia Beers, and publisher Kelly Smith are all probably about recovered from their weekend in Orlando at the Sixth Annual Golden Crown Literary Society Conference. Sunshine, cold beverages, Mickey Mouse, and a ton of lesbians: what could be better?
Oh yeah, a ton of lesbians that love to read. Heaven!
Our authors were on panels and in reading sessions:
· Marianne K. Martin and Georgia Beers joined Karin Kallmaker and Rachel Spangler on the Romance Writers on Romance panel.
Karin Kallmaker, Marianne K. Martin, and Rachel Spangler on the Romance panel.
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· Z Egloff and Bett Norris joined Chris Paynter on the Mixing It Up–Crossing Genres panel.
· Joan Opyr was on a very interesting panel about writer's block.
· Kelly Smith joined Ellen Hart and Andi Marquette on the A Journey into the Secret World of Editing: It's Not Just a Job, It's an Adventure! panel.
Kelly and Ellen look like they are having a great time.
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· And Marcia Finical produced a fantastic reading from her novel, Last Chance at the Lost and Found.
A couple of other highlights in the scheduling included a master class by Ellen Hart on writing mysteries and a fantastic presentation by Rachel Spangler about the millennial generation and the future of lesbian fiction.
Doesn't the sound of all that make you want to attend next year?
Ellen Hart, Karin Kallmaker, Lee Lynch, and Kelly Smith enjoying a photo opportunity
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Because the best part of the long weekend is that it gives us all the chance to meet new writers, readers, and publishers and talk about this thing we all love–lesbian fiction. Bywater will be there again next year. We hope you will be too. Who knows what waits for us all?
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Here, at Bywater, we're really excited for Lisa Gitlin and the rave review for I Came Out for This? now appearing on Amazon. It's been written by Grady Harp, a Top 10 Reviewer and a Vine Voice. (Vine Voice is an invitation-only program that gives trusted reviewers the opportunity to assess books before publication.)
Harp writes that "Lisa Gitlin comes onto the summer literary scene with a novel … that is bound to gather a large following."
Why? Harp gives several reasons, including "the gift of the first time novelist, Lisa Gitlin. It seems on the first few pages that the reader will be able to put up with just so much of this whining woman's tale … Wrong. Gitlin writes with such enormous wit and hilarious dialogue … Most people will find themselves compelled to read this rather short novel in one sitting and be enchanted by the skill of Lisa Gitlin."
He also cites Lisa's daring: "Gitlin is unafraid to take potshots at … the embarrassing foibles of those new to physical escapades, and to be realistic, at life in all its incongruities."
And there's praise too for "the sensitivity of Bywater Books": Each page looks like a torn-out page from a notebook, a design "that gives the book a lift."
This, concludes Harp, is "a sound first novel that is brave enough to relate the world the way it is, this is a perfect book to read now–before the demand for it becomes great."
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Lisa Gitlin
· will be appearing at Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Cleveland on Thursday, August 12 at 7 p.m.
Legacy Village,
14519 Cedar Road,
Lyndhurst, OH 4412.
For more information: 216 691-7000 or visit the website.
· will present her book at the Mayerson Jewish Community Center, as part of Jewish Book Month, on November 11 at 7 p.m.
Amberley Village
8485 Ridge Road,
Cincinnati, OH 45236.
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Details are yet to be ironed out, but Bywater will again be part of Women's Week, running this year from October 8 to 17.
Our authors will be taking part in events on Thursday 14, Friday 15, and Saturday 16.
And on Saturday morning, Kelly Smith and Marianne K. Martin will be on a panel chaired by Kate Clinton, talking about Lesbian Fiction and publishing today.
We'll have exact times and locations for you in the next newsletter! |
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