Tag Archives: Rainbow Book Fair

NYC Rainbow Book Fair!!

Posted on by
Reply

The Ninth Annual New York City Rainbow Book Fair is coming up: Saturday, April 29th 12:00 – 6:00 PM at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (524 W. 59th Street). I’ve booked a spot on the 3:30 PM Reading Panel, and I’ll be around and about Bold Strokes Books’ exhibit table, talking up The City of Seven Gods, which is a 2016 Foreword INDIES finalist, in case you hadn’t heard. 🙂

The Rainbow Book Fair has a special place in my heart since it was the first venue where I did a public reading. That was back in 2013, seven months before my first novel The Seventh Pleiade came out. Eager to start doing some publicity, I answered my publisher’s call for readers, got an early run of promotional bookmarks with the cover art, and invited a bunch of my friends. Then the panic set in. What had I done? Willfully scheduled the most terrifying experience of my life? I had overcome my fear of public speaking by then, grown quite comfortable with it actually as an adjunct professor, but reading my own work was a lot more personal, sharing something I had created, in my own, less than smooth and arresting voice, in a room full of literature afficiandos. The situation brought back the horror of having to sing in front of people in sixth grade chorus and play cello solos in orchestra. Neither of those artistic pursuits panned out for me by the way.

When the day came, it was far less scary than I had pictured. One thing that makes readings a hell of a lot easier than other kinds of performance is that no matter how petrified you are, you can’t forget the words, the notes to hit, since they’re right there in the book you’re holding in your sweaty, shaking hand. Unless the panic strikes you blind. I guess that can happen. But it didn’t happen for me. I gave a well-articulated, stilted reading of one of my favorite scenes from the book, and people clapped politely while my awesome friends cheered and congratulated me. Afterwards we went out for drinks to celebrate. It turned out to be one of those great days you remember forever, and I was so proud to be part of the LGBT literary community.

Now, with that kind of personal endorsement, how could you not check out The Rainbow Book Fair this year?

I’ll be on the 3:30 Bold Strokes Showcase which includes three lesbian authors (Jean Copeland, Maggie Cummings, M. Ullrich), and gay horror author and my good pal David W. Kelly. Before or after that, you can catch me at my publisher’s exhibit table or hobnobbing around the floor. The Fair is a good place to discover lesser-known LGBT titles, both fiction and non-fiction, children’s, young adult and adult, and with the shrinking number of brick and mortar LGBT bookstores, how often do you get a chance to physically browse books these days?

I hope to see you there!

 

A YA panel on fantasy, multicultural perspectives, and information for teens

Posted on by
Reply
YA Panel at the Rainbow Book Fair

On the Queens Book Festival Young Adult Stage, from l to r: Daniel José Older, Carola Dibbell, Dominque Taylor, and me

Last Sunday’s panel: “Expanding the Landscape of Fantasy and YA Imagination,” was a really nice event. It was hot and shade was at a premium at Kaufman Astoria Studios outdoor space, but folks of all ages turned out for a lively discussion about challenges and opportunities in the realm of young adult fantasy.

The panel included Daniel José Older who writes stories from Latino perspectives (Shadowshaper, Bone Street Rumba), Carola Dibbell, whose début novel The Only Ones portrays teen motherhood and economic class in a near future, dystopian world, and me. We were moderated by vlogger Dominique Taylor, founder of The Storyscape, who had us talk about our works, read from them, and comment on how marginalized voices and cultures fit into fantasy worlds.

I spoke about the need for LGBT experiences to be reflected in YA fantasy, and some of the themes that emerged from our discussion were how personal experience and culture informs our work, the importance of sharing information with young readers, and the problem of withholding information on critical topics like sexuality.

The panel was videotaped for The Storyscape, and I’ll be sure to share it when it goes live.

Many thanks to Sherese Francis, Johanne Civil and all the volunteers at the Queens Book Festival who made the event happen. And thanks to Dominique for hosting a great discussion.

 

Come out to the Rainbow Book Fair

Posted on by
Reply

I’ll be participating in the Rainbow Book Fair again this year. The Fair is happening on Saturday, April 9th 12:00 – 6:00 PM at John Jay College. It’s a great event for seeing what’s happening in the world of LGBT literature. Click here to see the line-up of authors from Bold Strokes Books. 

For me, there’s nothing like being part of a community of folks who love LGBT literature. It’s kind of like a Pride parade for authors, publishers and readers, and like my first Pride parade, which, as a random by-the-by, was back in 1991 in Toronto, I remember fondly my first Rainbow Book Fair in 2013.

I was doing early promotion of The Seventh Pleiade, did one of my first public readings, handed out bookmarks to advertise my book, and talked with many dozens of people who stopped by my publisher’s table. That day, I felt like I was really an author, and I think as authors we need those kind of experiences, stepping out of our sequestered lives in front of a computer.

This year, I’ll be reading from Banished Sons of Poseidon at 5:30 PM, and I’ll be at and around the exhibit table for Bold Strokes Books. Drop on by and say hello. 🙂

Book Signing at the Rainbow Book Fair This Weekend!

Posted on by
Reply

2014 Rainbow Book Fair

 

I’ll be signing copies of The Seventh Pleiade at the Sixth Annual Rainbow Book Fair this Saturday. So if you’re in the area, I hope that you’ll stop by. The event runs all afternoon and features lots of interesting panels and exhibits, including a reading by author Edmund White.

I’ll be at the Bold Strokes Books booth from 4:00 to 5:00PM. Hope to see you there!

Sights and Sounds from Rainbow Book Fair

Posted on by
2

This past Saturday’s Rainbow Book Fair was fun and energizing!

I wish I had taken more photos, but here’s one from the Bold Strokes Books exhibit booth. Pictured are Joshua Martino (center), author of Fontana, the story of the first gay sports superstar, and Jennifer Lavoie (right), author of Andy Squared, a contemporary gay YA novel.

(Martino is a rather tall gentleman who I had trouble fitting entirely in the picture 🙂 )

IMG_0287Here’s video of my reading from The Seventh Pleiade. The passage is from an early section of the book where the main character Aerander is looking for his cousin Dam. Dam is a novice priest who went missing with two boys named Koz and Leo on the eve of a sacred festival called the Paneygris. Aerander does some sleuthing after a temple ceremony by trying to talk to Hephad, who is one of Dam’s friends in the priesthood.

Embedly Powered

via YouTube

Embedly Powered

via YouTube