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6 Questions for Artist Paul Plumadore
I’m delighted to have a chance to catch up with artist Paul Plumadore. It’s been four years since last we spoke, and I wanted to check in on the indefatigable artist and see what he’s been up to.
Paul Plumadore Paul’s collages have graced book covers, record covers, and editorial stories for leading magazines, record companies and newspapers. He was named “Upcoming Illustrator” by Art Direction Magazine in 1976, and he hasn’t slowed down since.
MM: It’s been four years since I last interviewed you (2016). At the time, your book Archive: 1957 – 1974 had just been published. Can you tell us about the books you’ve put out since then, Unthinkable and Anomalies?
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Sue Katz: An Interview with author Stephanie Schroeder, co-editor of Headcase: LGBTQ Writers & Artists on Mental Health and Wellness
The following is reprinted with permission from Sue Katz’s Consenting Adult blog.By Sue Katz
Stephanie Schroeder – writer and peer advocate – and her co-editor Teresa Theophano – writer and social worker – have brought together 38 important pieces of writing on the topic of LGBTQ mental health today in their anthology Headcase: LGBTQ Writers & Artists on Mental Health and Wellness. Stephanie is known for her hard-hitting socially-aware journalism and one other book, her moving memoir.
The enthusiastic reception of Headcase is reflected in its reviews where comments call it “ground-breaking,” “poignant,” “terrific and essential,” and “a diverse democracy of voices.” I spoke to Stephanie Schroeder about the process of putting together such a pioneering work.
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Sue Katz: An Interview with author Stephanie Schroeder, co-editor of Headcase: LGBTQ Writers & Artists on Mental Health and Wellness
The following is reprinted with permission from Sue Katz’s Consenting Adult blog.By Sue Katz
Stephanie Schroeder – writer and peer advocate – and her co-editor Teresa Theophano – writer and social worker – have brought together 38 important pieces of writing on the topic of LGBTQ mental health today in their anthology Headcase: LGBTQ Writers & Artists on Mental Health and Wellness. Stephanie is known for her hard-hitting socially-aware journalism and one other book, her moving memoir.
The enthusiastic reception of Headcase is reflected in its reviews where comments call it “ground-breaking,” “poignant,” “terrific and essential,” and “a diverse democracy of voices.” I spoke to Stephanie Schroeder about the process of putting together such a pioneering work.
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6 Questions for Professor Drewey Wayne Gunn
Professor Gunn We learned last week of the passing of Professor Drewey Wayne Gunn. Many of us knew Professor Gunn for his generosity and his encyclopedic knowledge of gay literature, especially forgotten gay literature by authors who paved the way for later generations. I had the pleasure of interviewing him and being amazed at his extensive answers and his deep knowledge of a subject he was devoted to. Here is a reprint of that interview. – Mark/Editor
I was recently introduced by a mutual friend to Drewey Wayne Gunn, Professor Emeritus , Texas A&M University–Kingsville. Professor Gunn has long been interested in recovering forgotten works of gay literature and has produced a treasure trove of guidebooks in his effort to acknowledge the many authors who, while largely ignored or forgotten, paved the way for the richness and variety we now enjoy in gay literature.
His books include the upcoming Gay American Novels, 1870 – 1970 (McFarland, 2016), as well as Gay Novels of Britain, Ireland, and the Commonwealth, 1881 – 1981 (McFarland, 2014), 1960s Gay Pulp Fiction, edited with Jaime Harker (Massachusetts, 2013), The Gay Male Sleuth in Print and Film (Scarecrow, 2013), and The Golden Age of Gay Literature, editor (MLR, 2009).
I had the pleasure of asking Professor Gunn ‘6 Questions’ about his books, his passion for forgotten works, and how he thinks we can best keep our literary heritage alive. – Mark McNease/Editor
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March Author Profile: Jean Ryan
Author Jean Ryan “Ryan controls devastating psychological material with tight prose, quick scene changes, and a scientist’s observant eye.”
– Publishers Weekly
“With her debut collection Survival Skills, Jean Ryan brings to the short story what Mary Oliver does to poetry.”
– The Los Angeles Review
Welcome to the first of our monthly author profiles. For March we’re featuring Jean Ryan, a master storyteller and skilled practitioner of the literary arts. Jean is to writing what a fine chef is to a meal: offering exquisite creations whose ingredients were calibrated to the last grain of salt, and whose true difficulty lies in their appearance of effortlessness.
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6 Questions for Author Paula Martinac
Paula Martinac By Mark McNease
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing author Paula Martinac. Her latest novel, The Ada Decades, tells the story of Ada Shook, a librarian who begins the book as a child discovering a shocking postcard image in her father’s possession, and ends seven decades later as a reluctant witness to history. Told in eleven interconnected stories, the novel examines issues of race, class, and the slow climb toward LGBT equality in a pre-Stonewall world.
See Paula’s in-depth answers to ‘6 Questions’ below, and mark your calendars: I’ll be chatting with Paula on a podcast sometime in the next month or two. I’m excited to continue our conversation. For now …
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It’s Back! The Live Mic Podcast Returns, with Guest Dave Hughes of RetireFabulously.com
“Watch out! It’s a live mic!”
You know it’s a new year, right? 2018 is already off to a great start. I’m living in our house in the New Jersey woods, loving life, and making plans. One of them is to get back to a favorite pastime: interviewing interesting people. I’ve been doing it for years, both written interviews and in podcasts. I just like talking to people, and sharing them with readers and listeners. So, here we go, the first Live Mic with Mark McNease podcast for a year that promises to be fascinating.
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6 Questions for Author Jean Ryan
By Mark McNeaseThis interview originally appeared at LGBTSR.org, February, 2015
I’ve recently had the pleasure of getting to know Jean Ryan, a gifted writer and generous spirit whose story, Manatee Gardens, opens the collection Outer Voices Inner Lives. Jean has since kept up a correspondence with me and had several of her blog posts featured here at lgbtSr. Her collection, Survival Skills (Ashland Creek Press) is available for anyone interested in superb writing and stories with deep insight into the human experience. I couldn’t think of anyone better for a 6 Questions feature. – Mark/Editor
MM: It’s been really good to get to know you more since we “met” through the Outer Voices Inner Lives collection. Can you tell readers a little about Jean Ryan? Native Vermonter, now in Napa, CA …
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From the Interview Archives: A Conversation with Author Patricia Nell Warren
After six and a half years, I’ve managed to amass an extensive archive of interviews. I’ll be offering up one from the vault every week or so. Here’ s an interview that first ran at LGBTSr in December, 2011, with iconic author Patricia Nell Warren, a personal literary hero of mine. – Mark McNease/Editor
By Mark McNease
I came out at 16 in a small Indiana city of 30,000 people. It was 1974, and I was deeply hungry for images of myself as a gay person. There wasn’t much available then, aside from books I ordered from the Psychology Today book club, some of which did more harm than good. Then came a novel called “The Front Runner” about the love story between a young college athlete and his coach. The book gave me hope and, along with the few others I could find, let me know I was not alone in the world.
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6 Questions for Author Sandra de Helen
Author Sandra de Helen By Mark McNease/Editor
Sandra de Helen is the author of the lesbian thriller Till Darkness Comes. She also pens the Shirley Combs/Dr. Mary Watson series. A writer in many mediums, Sandra is a poet, journalist, and playwright. Her plays have been produced in the Philippines, Ireland, Canada, Chicago, New York City, and in thirteen states. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and the Dramatists Guild. Her books are available online, at Another Read Through Bookstore in Portland, Oregon, and Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore in San Diego. Samples of her work are available on her website.
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Author Joe Cosentino Talks Audiobooks
Author Joe Cosentino By Mark McNease/Editor
It’s a pleasure to welcome back author Joe Cosentino, “the hardest working man in M/M romance” … and mysteries and novellas and, now, audiobooks! Joe currently has four audiobooks out, with more on the way. Audibooks are the fastest growing segment of the publishing world, and I wanted to get Joe’s take and experience on this increasingly popular way to enjoy our favorite books. (You can read previous interviews with Joe on his writing and life HERE and HERE.)
MM: Joe, thanks so much for finding time to answer a few more questions. You’ve got four audiobooks out now. Can you give us a quick rundown of the books they’re from?
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Gay Travelers Magazine Interviews Tim Evanicki, National Tour Producer for ‘Naked Boys Singing’
Reprinted with permission from Gay Travelers MagazineNaked Boys Singing
Six guys. Sixteen songs. No clothes!By Steven Skelley and Thomas Routzong
Since 1998, people everywhere have been laughing and cheering their way through every moment of the off-Broadway hit Naked Boys Singing. Orlando, Florida producer Tim Evanicki is overseeing a national tour of the international hit musical revue.
We asked Tim Evanicki, Producer of Naked Boys Singing, about the show.
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6 Questions for Author Michael Nava
Michael Nava By Mark McNease
As a mystery writer myself, it shouldn’t be surprising I jumped at the chance to interview Michael Nava, an icon in the genre. His seminal Henry Rios series was heralded as the gold standard when the books came out, beginning with The Little Death in 1986.
In communicating with Michael for this interview, I discovered we were both in Los Angeles during the same time period, and both considered queer bookstore A Different Light (Silver Lake location) central to our writing and reading lives. This December we’ll see the release of Lay Your Sleeping Head, from Kórima Press (now available for pre-order), a reimagined and substantially rewritten version of that first book. I had the great pleasure of reading an advance copy, and was struck on the first page by its literary strength, its meticulous, rich detail and the aching humanity of its characters, as well as its finely crafted plot. Nava, as was declared of him in the New York Times, was, and is, “one of the best.” I’m delighted to share his answers to ‘6 Questions’. (And for all you audiobook fans, check out his Henry Rios series on Audible.)
