by BJ Sikes I am curious what makes people decide that a book is worth reading. After all, there’s something like a million new books published on Amazon every month (or is it every day?), which sounds like an apocryphal number really. Let’s just say LOTS. I am a voracious reader but there is a … Read more
Yesterday, it finally happened. For years, I’ve been whispering in the ear of anyone who would listen. Sacramento needs its own book festival. We got so close in 2020, when my own group QSAC was ready to launch a queer book fest at a local arts center. And then Covid intervened and shut everything down. But … Read more
by BJ Sikes QSAC often has a booth or table at local Pride events (see our schedule below) where several QSAC authors come to sell their books. We share a single booth for greater visibility and because it’s more fun to do an event as a group! I started attending Pride festivals as a QSAC … Read more
by J. Scott Coatsworth It was a dark and stormy night in the heart of winter… Scratch that. Actually, it was a pleasant afternoon in mid-October in 2016. Three of us – me, Pat Henshaw, and Christopher Koehler – met at the Tower Café for a spot of lunch and a plan for world domination. … Read more
Today I’d like to talk about own voice writing. Own voice writing refers to books or stories that are written by authors who share the same identity or experience as the characters they write about. An example is a novel about a transgender person written by a transgender author, or a book about a refugee … Read more
We’ve all been to book conferences or conventions (at least we had prior to the pandemic). These events have moved to virtual settings and for the most part they are good substitutes until we can get back to face-to-face events (remember to get the vaccine shot). However, I have a feeling virtual cons will still … Read more
After the pandemic hit, our lives moved online with surprising speed. All of a sudden, all those work meetings, gatherings with friends, and other social activities that we used to drive to were taking place in the virtual world, and we had to learn a new word. Or at least, a new meaning for an … Read more
I would kill for a Frappuccino. Which is my gay, overly dramatic way of saying that I am sick to death of banging around the inside of this house and am ready to re-embrace my life in the real world. Sadly, the real world isn’t quite ready to embrace me yet. Not safely, anyhow. On … Read more
Normal. Such a deceptively boring word. Before 2020, I wanted to be anything but normal. Normal was boring. Normal meant being just like everyone else. Normal was for losers. What a difference a pandemic makes, and what a beautiful word normal turned out to be. On March 18th, 2020, Mark and I made our last … Read more
Oh, it’s been an “interesting” year, hasn’t it? If an author wrote this year’s events in a novel, she’d be universally panned for her lack of realism. Oh, c’mon, people would say, all that horrible stuff couldn’t happen in a decade, let along twelve months. Well, ha. Right? I’ve been very fortunate in that I kept my job(s), … Read more