I’m a huge fan of GLEE (Fox TV). Jane Lynch plays Sue Sylvester, a cheerleading coach with an ax to grind about–well, everything that isn’t her. She does an opinion spot for a local television station and here is her latest on “sneaky gays.” Hilarious.

Sneaky Gays

Just found out that TOASTED has been named a finalist for Best Lesbian Mystery 2009, Lambda Literary Awards!

I’m thrilled to be on the list with fellow nominees:

• Command of Silence, by Paulette Callen (Spinsters Ink)
• Death of a Dying Man, by J.M. Redmann (Bold Strokes Books)
• From Hell to Breakfast, by Joan Opyr (Blue Feather Books)
• The Mirror and the Mask, by Ellen Hart (St. Martin’s/Minotaur)
• Toasted, by Josie Gordon (Bella Books)

Fellow Bella Books/Spinsters authors Rhiannon Argo, JE Knowles, Tracey Richardson, KG MacGregor, and Karin Kallmaker are also on the lists in various categories.

Treat yourself!  Buy some of these wonderful books!

Saw a lovely movie:  Imagine Me and You (2005).  It’s a light, delightful romantic comedy about two women who–in the typical romantic comedy sort of way–overcome the obstacles that indicate they can never be together and, you guessed it, get to be together.  Romantic comedy = happy ending, so no spoiler there.  And in terms of romantic comedy it was pitch perfect and fun to watch.

In my experience it’s rare to see a pitch perfect romantic comedy about a gay couple and this movie helped me see why I feel that way.  In Imagine Me and You, the lesbians and their relationship woes were presented as completely normal.  “Normal” as in not the focus of the movie; true to genre the film centered on two people trying to be together, family and friend entanglements, crazily comedic scenes, other relationship opportunities.  Never in the movie did the sexuality of the protagonists take over the story.  None of the characters had significant issues with anyone’s sexuality.  The film just focused on character and plot and genre.

No surprise to learn that the film was originally written as a heterosexual romantic comedy.  Wonderful.  Sort of like action movies written for male heroes and then ultimately featuring female kick-butt heroines!  That sort of thing points out:  gender roles simply don’t need to matter as much as we (as a culture) seem to want them to.

Of course, my own books don’t do that.  They focus on a lesbian character and the issues that surround that identity as Lonnie navigates her world and its prejudices.  I write this way because these are issues are very real in my life and the lives of most lesbians I know and I want my books, cozy comedic mystery “fantasies” that they are, to reflect that real world.   But when I want to spend the evening with a bowl of popcorn and a good old-fashioned romantic fantasy movie, well-written and well-acted that shows my kind of relationship as just “normal,” well, I usually can’t find one.  This film is perhaps the best I’ve ever seen.

I’d love to hear others’ recommendations if you have ‘em!

While I was in northern Michigan last week I visted the most fantastic bookstore in Gaylord:  Saturn Booksellers.  The staff eagerly chatted books with anyone who wanted to and left others alone to browse in silence.  I watched as several customers who didn’t know each other picked up a lively conversation over a “staff recommendation” display.  I sat in a comfy chair and browsed.  I visited the coffee shop.  I laughed over hilarious t-shirts and bumper stickers.  I loved the stellar selection of books and marveled at the impressive programs of visiting authors.  In fact, the author signing that night was Wade Rouse,whose memoir At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream chronicles his move with his partner from the city to the “wilds” near Saugatuck, Michigan.

So hear I am in Gaylord, a small town up north known for hunting and fishing and snow machines and the featured visiting author is and openly gay memoirist.  And they were expecting a big crowd!  Wow!  I fell in love with this town, with this bookstore.

I couldn’t find WHACKED on the shelves, not even in the Michigan author section, which was sort of a bummer.  But when I asked, it turned out they did have it, only mis-shelved.  I signed it, promoted TOASTED and then had a good time spending some money.  It’s the kind of place you want to buy stuff just to support them.

And then I noticed what I think is the best marketing approach I’ve ever seen for a bookstore:  “Helping to keep Gaylord interesting . . . “.  Not only do they claim their own value to the local community, but they also remind their customers of their own personal value to the community.  It made me think, “Yeah!  I as a smart, independent reader, am a natural resource for my hometown!”

Cool huh?

We discerning readers, who read beyond the stuff selected by the big chains’ corporate buyers, bring extra value to our worlds by keeping things interesting with our alive minds, the different things we know and have encountered, the unusual connections we can weave between ideas.  We are percolators.  In addition, we keep independent businesses alive– both local independent bookstores and specialty presses like Bella Books.  These are business, voices, and perspectives that could disappear if we weren’t spending our time and money enjoying what they have to offer.  Their presence keeps diverse possibilities open for ourselves and for those who come after us.

It’s a smart marketing campaign because it enlists buyers to be part of an effort to do well for their hometown by purchasing books, but it’s also smart because it’s true.

The second Lonnie Squires mystery, TOASTED, available September 1!

Cousin Donna Hancock’s Loaves and Fishes Culinary Ministries evangelical cooking school road show–think about it.  Lonnie Squires has to.

Trying to redeem her good name in the little town of Middelburg, Lonnie volunteers as additional security for Cousin Donna’s traveling program.  Her ultimate goal is supporting her own sanity with her beloved soccer.  But she can’t play by herself and no one will play with her if people are trash talking behind her back.  A good deed might just restore social harmony.

It’s a good plan, until someone partakes of Cousin Donna’s Tasty Toast Points with Sunny Spirit Salmon Spread and ends up decidedly deceased.  People in high places decide it’s Lonnie’s job to prove that the toast wasn’t tainted.

Cousin Donna and her entourage are hiding secrets, but is one of them the secret recipe for murder?  Is Lonnie right to be suspicious of every morsel she eats, wondering if it will be her personal last supper?

Sleuth Lonnie Squires once again discovers that doing the right thing can go very wrong.  This the second title in Josie Gordon’s Lambda Literary Award-winning mystery series combines culinary mayhem with big politics in a small town.

Whoo hoo!  It is exciting to hold a new book in your hands, though I have to confess I’m always a little mystified:  “did I really write that???”  Especially when I’m so embroiled in the next book.

You can order your copy now  from  your local independent bookstore.  Be sure to tell them this is the second in a series and that the first, WHACKED, won a Lambda Literary Award for best Lesbian mystery of 2008.

Can wait to get a taste of the new story?  Read more about it, including the first two chapters to whet your appetite.

The House of Deputies passed the legislation passed the other day by the bishops to allow for “generous pastoral response to meet the needs of the members of this Church” and to “honor the theological diversity of this Church in regard to matters of human sexuality.”

Hooray.  Convention ends in a few hours.

Nice wrap-up from Integrity here.

Just saw this great piece by Irene Monroe in the Huffington Post.

She gives a fascinating overview of the global and racial issues so entangled with the treatment of LGBT people both in the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion.

A snippet:

By pitting marginalized groups like gays and Africans against each other, the Church masks the geopolitics of race and power while bating homophobia.

Worth the read.

Last evening the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church’s General Convention passed legistation on church rites for blessing same sex unions.  Even better, it passed with a strong majority:  104 bishops yes, 30 no, and 2 abstentions.  It goes to the House of Deputies today, where it seems likely to pass, but you never know.

As I understand it, this is a formalized stating of what is already a sort of “don’t ask, don’t tell” practice of the church, allowing individual bishops to decide if they will do this or not in their diocese.

Passage of this is a huge step; as we know from watching the situation regarding the U.S. military, it can be hard for an institution to publically claim the values it actually practices.  I bet many of us can think of examples from our own lives–I know I can.

What will the ripple effects of all this be–not only in the Anglican Communion–but for LGBT rights (and rites) everywhere?  It will be interesting to see!

The Lead at Episcopal Cafe lists various press sources.  Here’s the New York Times.

The Walking with Integrity Blog calls it “generous pastoral response.”

Why should we care what the Episcopalians decide to do about opening the full church to LGBT people?

Ripple effect.

According to the New York Times,

The battle over homosexuality in the Episcopal Church has been watched closely by other mainline Protestant churches that are also divided internally on the issue. Many are looking to the Episcopal Church as a bellwether that could foretell whether their denominations can survive the storm over homosexuality intact.

And if not intact–which implies without change–then broken, perhaps like Christ himself, to rise anew with grace and power and light.  (Good God, did I write that?  That makes me sound darned churchy after all!  I’m channeling Lonnie Squires today, evidently.)

Intact isn’t the highest good.  And those watching will see the outcome immediately and over time and learn the blessing that full inclusion will be.

Maybe I should run and write one of Lonnie’s sermons while I’m in a theological frame o’ mind!

This could be big–the bishops, after slightly amending the resolution that would open all orders of the Episcopal church to all the baptized (read:  let partnered GLBT people become bishops), passed the resolution by a resounding 99-45-2!!!!!!

HUZZZAH AGAIN!

Because they amended it, the House of Deputies must vote on it and pass it, but if they do that (probably tomorrow), it will be a  done deal!

But I’m not counting that chicken.  What will the opposition do overnight to derail justice?  Will it stop forward motion like it did three years ago?  As thrilled as I am about the bishops, it ain’t over ’til it’s over and it ain’t over yet . . .

Want details?  Check out the update from Integrity and the Live Blog from Episcopal Cafe.