Lee Lynch Retires Her Amazon Trail Column
For almost as long as I’ve had this website I’ve enjoyed sharing author Lee Lynch’s Amazon Trail columns. I often said, if it’s a new month, it’s a new Amazon Trail. I looked forward to each and every one, offering Lee’s wisdom, experience, humor, and passion, as she shared her perspective on the world she’s lived in and the world we share. Lee is not shy, and her candor is among the most refreshing things about her. She’s also a legend in lesbian fiction, most deservedly so, with a Golden Crown Literary Society award named in her honor. My appreciation for her wit, her talent, and her personal generosity is boundless, and I’m most pleased to call her a friend. Some people lead by simply being who they are, and Lee has always been, and will always be, one of them.
You can read many of her collected columns in her book, An American Queer: The Amazon Trail
“This collection of Lee Lynch’s columns chronicles over a quarter century of queer life in the United States, from the last decades of the twentieth century into the twenty-first.
“From the beginning of my writing career, I just wanted to write about lesbian/gay life as I experienced it. Like so many, I came from a place of great isolation. At the same time, being gay filled me with great pride and joy. Writers Jane Rule, Isabelle Miller, Radclyffe Hall, Valerie Taylor, Ann Bannon, and Vin Packer gave me inspiration and even the lesbian companionship I needed as a baby dyke. More than anything, I want to give to gay people what those writers gave me. And I want to do it well enough that my words might someday be considered literature and, as such, might endure because, as open as some societies have become, there are always haters, and cycles of oppression. Our writers strengthen us, offer a sense of solidarity and validation that we are both more than our sexualities and are among the best that humanity offers.”
About Lee Lynch
Lee Lynch is the co-curator, with S. Renee Bass, of the recent collection, Our Happy Hours, LGBT Voices From the Gay Bars, available from Flashpoint Publications. Her novel, Rainbow Gap, is available from Bold Strokes Books and other outlets. Her book, An American Queer, a collection of “The Amazon Trail” columns, was presented with the 2015 Golden Crown Literary Society Award in Anthology/Collection Creative Non Fiction. This, and her award-winning fiction, including The Raid, The Swashbuckler, and Beggar of Love, can be found at http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com/Author-Lee-Lynch.html.
10 Comments
Connie Ward Connie
Thank you Lee for all you have done & continue to do for all of us. The Amazon Trail will be missed. You are a legend & stand at the top in lesbian literature, helping us grow & most of all in friendship.
Connie Ward Connie
Thank you Lee for all you have done & continue to do for all of us. The Amazon Trail will be missed. You are a legend & stand at the top in lesbian literature, helping us grow & most of all in friendship.
Lee
Mark, I humbly thank you for your support and friendship.
Lee
Mark, I humbly thank you for your support and friendship.
Lee
Thanks, my readers, my friends. Who knows how much time we all have left and I’m focusing on making up stories. Bold Strokes Books is soon publishing Defiant Hearts, The Classic Stories of Lee Lynch. This will be in eBook format only ’cause it’s hefty and I have enough for another book of stories down the line, Bold Strokes willing and the creek don’t rise. Once I manage to complete prep for Defiant Hearts, I’ll be getting back to the next volume in the Rainbow Gap Quartet, A Magnificent Disturbance. And then, and then…. You all keep reading and writing and accomplishing great things. Please.
Lee
Thanks, my readers, my friends. Who knows how much time we all have left and I’m focusing on making up stories. Bold Strokes Books is soon publishing Defiant Hearts, The Classic Stories of Lee Lynch. This will be in eBook format only ’cause it’s hefty and I have enough for another book of stories down the line, Bold Strokes willing and the creek don’t rise. Once I manage to complete prep for Defiant Hearts, I’ll be getting back to the next volume in the Rainbow Gap Quartet, A Magnificent Disturbance. And then, and then…. You all keep reading and writing and accomplishing great things. Please.
Lori L. Lake
Lee – You have done yeoman’s labor over the years in reflecting the lives of lesbian and gay people in your writing, both with the Amazon Trail and in your novels and stories. When you started writing in the late 60’s/early 70’s, so few queer voices were ever heard. You and so many others labored in obscurity. I am SO happy that things have changed. During the time you worked so hard to help suppressed voices be heard – over these last 50+ years – you have helped to usher in a whole world filled with stories about people of every persuasion. Like an excellent fairy godmother, you waved your wand (er, pen), and made a difference in so many people’s lives with your words, your perseverance, and your honesty. Thank you for your trailblazing example and all the encouragement you have shared with other writers. I know you have many more stories in you, and I look forward to reading whatever you share. Much love and plenty of R&R for you!
Lori L. Lake
Lee – You have done yeoman’s labor over the years in reflecting the lives of lesbian and gay people in your writing, both with the Amazon Trail and in your novels and stories. When you started writing in the late 60’s/early 70’s, so few queer voices were ever heard. You and so many others labored in obscurity. I am SO happy that things have changed. During the time you worked so hard to help suppressed voices be heard – over these last 50+ years – you have helped to usher in a whole world filled with stories about people of every persuasion. Like an excellent fairy godmother, you waved your wand (er, pen), and made a difference in so many people’s lives with your words, your perseverance, and your honesty. Thank you for your trailblazing example and all the encouragement you have shared with other writers. I know you have many more stories in you, and I look forward to reading whatever you share. Much love and plenty of R&R for you!
Ona Marae
Lee Lynch, you were my inspiration to write seriously, you and Katheryn V. Forrest. YOu have always been kind, letting us fangirls take photos with you at the conventions, and without any introduction, you agreed to help me by being interviewed for a GCLS Writing Academy project in 2015. You are one of the women upon whose shoulders I stand! I will miss the column but love your stories. Keep creating!
Ona Marae
Lee Lynch, you were my inspiration to write seriously, you and Katheryn V. Forrest. YOu have always been kind, letting us fangirls take photos with you at the conventions, and without any introduction, you agreed to help me by being interviewed for a GCLS Writing Academy project in 2015. You are one of the women upon whose shoulders I stand! I will miss the column but love your stories. Keep creating!