Greetings from Amazon.com Delivers Lesbian Studies
From the practical to the pleasurable, Amazon.com Delivers Lesbian Studies has something for every mood and occasion. "A Legal Guide for Lesbian and Gay Couples" by Hayden Curry et al. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0873374959/entertainmentsit Nolo Press legal guides provide useful and accurate information on how to manage your own affairs or, failing this, how to hire a lawyer and negotiate the court system. The rapid changes in gay and lesbian life in the past 30 years have not been reflected in the legal codes of most states, and without enforceable written agreements, gay and lesbian people may find such crucial matters as inheritance, legal guardianship, child custody, and support left to the whim of a judge or state agency. As the writers of this volume (the 10th edition of a book first published in 1980) point out, "married couples' relationships are defined by law," while lesbian and gay couples have the freedom--and responsibility--to create their own legal relationships. Agreements drawn up in advance provide guidance for a time when all is not moonbeams and madness. Tear-out forms and sample documents are included. "The Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy for Lesbians" by Rachel Pepper http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1573440809/entertainmentsit This lively and readable book provides basic pregnancy and preconception advice for lesbians and their partners. Concentrating on topics of special interest to lesbian families--such as choosing an anonymous donor, drafting agreements with known donors, and defining the nonbiological mother's parenting role--it also suggests how and when to inseminate, and walks the reader through a normal full-term pregnancy and delivery. Despite its title, however, the book cannot really substitute for a comprehensive guide to pregnancy along the lines of "What to Expect When You're Expecting," and the breezy section on labor will be of little use when you feel mysterious twinges in your 39th week (or your 29th). This would be best as a first book to buy when considering pregnancy, or as an addition to other, more detailed guides. (However, the section on sex during pregnancy *does* provide lesbian-specific advice unlikely to be found anywhere else.) Learn more about "What to Expect When You're Expecting": http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/089480829X/entertainmentsit "The Mammoth Book of Lesbian Short Stories" edited by Emma Donoghue http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0786706279/entertainmentsit It's no secret that commercial markets for short stories have been drying up for the past 30 years. This is said to reflect the diminishing readership for short fiction, and, as a result--with the occasional startling exception--book advances are small, reviews scarce, promotion negligible. The prophets of literary doom have more or less ignored gay and lesbian fiction, however, where the short story flourishes among a feisty and increasingly discerning readership. "At the end of the 1990s," notes the editor of the "Mammoth" collection, "the only difficulty in compiling a collection of three decades of superb lesbian stories is that there are so many to choose from." Perhaps the best and widest-ranging of recent anthologies, the "Mammoth" collection includes the work of established writers (Jane Rule, Sara Maitland, Dorothy Allison) beside that of novices, and corrects the usual overemphasis on American fiction. Like the editors of "The Vintage Book of International Lesbian Fiction," Donoghue has chosen a thematic rather than biographical approach, including women writers "of all persuasions." But don't try to choose between this excellent book and the Vintage anthology, which has a different emphasis. Buy them both and become an expert in the lesbian short story. We reviewed the "The Vintage Book of International Lesbian Fiction" in a previous edition of Amazon.com Delivers Lesbian Studies, noting the "consistently fine quality of the stories" and "their unusual ingenuity and playfulness with language." http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679759522/entertainmentsit "Wilma Loves Betty and Other Hilarious Gay & Lesbian Parodies" edited by Julie K. Trevelyan and Scott Brassart http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/155583499X/entertainmentsit Your favorite TV shows, movies, and social phenomena are approached with a queer sensibility in this anthology. Wilma and Betty finally get it on, and although Batman and Robin don't, it's not for lack of trying on Robin's part. Ex-gays get their share of ridicule, but there's also some good- natured ribbing of earnest homosexuals, including "Heather Has a Mommy and a Daddy" and "Rejection Letter from Bedsheet Books, Publisher of Lesbian Novels," in which the editor chastises the applicant for giving her protagonists unandrogynous names and creating sympathetic male characters, then queries, "Why doesn't your heroine have a cat?" In Jeff Black's hilarious "6,240 and Counting," Larry Kramer lambastes gay men for not doing enough to prevent Andrew Lloyd Webber from killing American musical theater, and reminds his readers of what it means to be Larry Kramer: "I was called a genius by the very people who invented the guillotine!" The mysterious Saint delivers parodies of half a dozen prominent gay and lesbian authors, including "Felicity Guano" and "Edmund Wimp." While the script for the "Chandler Comes Out" episode of "Friends" drags on far too long, and the revelations about Nancy Drew's best friend, George, are old hat to anyone who's read Mabel Maney's "Nancy Clue" and "Hardly Boys" books, there are certainly enough funny and clever bits here to bring a smile to just about anybody's face. And, as the editors remind us, "Parody is constitutionally protected. So nyah, nyah, nyah." "The Queen of Whale Cay" by Kate Summerscale http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140276130/entertainmentsit British eccentric Marion "Joe" Carstairs (1900-1993) was a world-class speedboat racer, heiress to the Standard Oil fortune, ruler of her own Caribbean Island ... and a cross-dressing lesbian. This biography places Carstairs's adventurous life in the context of 20th-century attitudes toward sexual deviance. During the permissive 1920s, Carstairs was able to flaunt her taste for women in the bohemian circles of London and Paris. She had affairs with numerous gals, including Natalie Barney and Dolly Wilde, Oscar's niece. When writing about Carstairs's boat races, the press of that roaring decade regarded her as a loveable tomboy. But as social norms shifted in the '30s, Carstairs's lifestyle was frowned upon. So she acquired Whale Cay, an island off the coast of Florida, turned it into her own version of paradise, became a gentleman farmer, and had an affair with Marlene Dietrich. Carstairs's most important and long-term relationship, though, was with Lord Tod Wadley, a stuffed leather doll. ****** You'll find more great books, articles, and interviews in Amazon.com's Gay & Lesbian section at Books Home Page
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