Sappho’s Overhead Projector by Bonnie J. Morris

Description

Picking up where time-travel novel Sappho’s Bar and Grill left off, feminist scholar Hannah Stern finds herself working at the Library of Congress, assigned to catalogue a donation of rare lesbian books. But it’s more than a one-year job in Washington: it’s a mission handed to her by a powerful and mysterious goddess, The Overhead Herself. When a series of desperate, haunted phone calls from the ghosts of lesbian writers directs her to rescue even more at-risk books, Hannah begins a journey into the love affair between banned writers and newly-out readers.

Will hearing others’ fond memories of lesbian books from the 1920s and 1970s help Hannah save their legacy for future generations? Or will Isabel, Hannah’s partner and the mystical proprietor of Sappho’s Bar and Grill, have to summon her magic to save the entire bar membership?

Set in the actual buildings and spaces of the Library of Congress, this new work invites us to consider how we can preserve—and recirculate—the daring lesbian books that helped bring out so many generations of women.

About Sappho’s Overhead Projector

“Bonnie Morris has written a remarkable love letter and touching eulogy to the lesbian past. Sappho’s Overheard Projector will stand as a heroic effort to preserve the history of lesbian life and culture that is being threatened with erasure.” —LILLIAN FADERMAN, author of Surpassing the Love of Men, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers, and To Believe in Women

“Bonnie J. Morris has created a bridge between women’s history and our current time—I was blown away by her flawless writing, and her call for us to remember our foremothers and the sacrifices they made. I intend to heed that call, because there’s no way that I could ever forget the heartfelt pleas that saturated every word she wrote.” —APRIL ADAMS, The Lesbian Review

“In reading this story, we become involved in a community of women and we share their history, politics, sexuality and even their ideas about patriarchy that are still main points in how they live. We must remember, and this has always been my motto, we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. The lesbian authors we meet here paved the way for how we live today. Morris brings history to life and she does so beautifully.” —AMOS LASSEN, Amos Lassen Reviews

“This keen mixture of romance, paranormal, history and adventure makes for a novel that will satisfy a very large audience – in addition to being an important overview of the history of lesbian culture over the years. Solid writing and very fascinating writing style and content. A Winner!” —GRADY HARP, Amazon.com Hall of Fame, Top 50 Reviewer

BONNIE J. MORRIS is a women’s studies lecturer and professor at the University of California Berkeley, Georgetown and George Washington University. She is the author of 16 books, including three Lambda Literary Finalists, two national first-prize chapbooks, and the critical feminist texts Women’s History for Beginners, The Disappearing L, and The Feminist Revolution. She may be found lecturing on C-Span, Olivia Cruises, Semester at Sea, the National Women’s Music Festival, and on Pacifica Radio KPFK.