Elisa - My reviews and Ramblings

DAVINA S. KOTULSKI, PH.D. (born January 22, 1970), is a clinical psychologist, life coach and nationally known author and speaker in the field of LGBT equality and self-actualization. She's appeared in dozens of documentaries on LGBT equality and is former Executive Director of Marriage Equality USA. She received her Doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology and has been an adjunct professor at several universities.

Dr. Davina Kotulski has a private practice as a life coach and a psychologist in the Los Angeles area. Clients and colleagues call her "The Courage Whisperer."

She is passionate about helping people make their dreams come true and live courageous, happy, and fully self-expressed lives. She leads writing workshops in the U.S. and abroad helping people with positive messages to share write their books and she has an international coaching practice helping LGBTQ people and their families come out of the closet through individual coaching, live workshops, and her online group coaching programs.

Further Readings:

Why You Should Give A Damn About Gay Marriage by Davina Kotulski
Paperback: 152 pages
Publisher: Advocate Books (April 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1555838731
ISBN-13: 978-1555838737
Amazon: Why You Should Give A Damn About Gay Marriage

From the cover of Newsweek, to the Rose Garden at the White House, the long simmering issue of gay marriage has erupted into full boil. While countries such as Canada and Belgium have recently legalized gay marriage, the US seems steadfastly locked in the past. Change, Davina Kotulski argues, will only come through organized activism, but the importance of legalized gay marriage remains unclear to many in the GLBT community. There are no less than 1049 federal rights granted to hetero-sexuals that remain out of reach to gays and lesbians as long as they don’t have the right to marry. This quick and simple read outlines the rights, benefits and protections afforded through marriage, exploring the negative effects of not having these rights through case examples of real couples who have experienced hardships and composite vignettes illustrating how couples can be hurt by lacking access to these protections. Through learning of the great disparity between how same-sex couples are treated compared to heterosexual couples, and of the membership privileges society affords married couples readers of this book will begin to see new possibilities in their lives, and be inspired to join the growing freedom to marry movement.

Davina Kotulski, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist with deep roots in the freedom-to-marry movement. She has organized same-sex marriage gay pride contingents throughout Northern California, first with Californian’s for Same-Sex Marriage, and then with Marriage Equality California. She has been active in fighting antigay legislation such as the Knight Initiative, is on the board of Marriage Equality California, and serves on the Education and Religious Outreach Committee of the California Marriage Coalition/Freedom-to-Marry Coalition.

More Spotlights at my website: www.elisarolle.com/, My Lists/Gay Novels

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Often referred to as "Space Cowboy" and "Gangsta of Love" while still striving for the moniker of "Maurice," Sean Michael spends his days surfing, smutting, organizing his immense gourd collection and fantasizing about one day retiring on a small secluded island peopled entirely by horseshoe crabs. While collecting vast amounts of vintage gay pulp novels and mood rings, Sean whiles away the hours between dropping the f-bomb and persuing the kama sutra by channeling the long lost spirit of John Wayne and singing along with the soundtrack to "Chicago."

A long-time writer of complicated haiku, currently Sean is attempting to learn the advanced arts of plate spinning and soap carving sex toys.

Barring any of that? He'll stick with writing his stories, thanks, and rubbing pretty bodies together to see if they spark.

Source: www.goodreads.com/author/show/452671.Sean_Michael

Further Readings:

Bent by Sean Michael
Paperback: 492 pages
Publisher: Torquere Press (August 5, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1603704353
ISBN-13: 978-1603704359
Amazon: Bent
Amazon Kindle: Bent

Marcus knows Jim is his minutes after meeting the snarly, jumpy ex-professor at the local bookstore. He thinks Jim is a natural submissive, someone who needs order and discipline in his life to help with Jim's anxiety and bad health habits. So Marcus decides to pursue Jim relentlessly, because even if Jim's mouth is saying no, his body is saying yes. There's a lot more to Jim than meets the eye, and Marcus will have to be careful. Jim knows what it means to lose everything, knows what it's like to be without friends or family. Jim feels broken, and knowing that he likes the kinds of weird things Marcus wants to do to him only makes him scared that he's losing his mind. Their chemistry is so real, so genuine, that Jim lets Marcus wear him down, lets Marcus take control. Eventually, his trust grows, allowing them to enter into the BDSM lifestyle together, learning about each other every day, with every scene. Jim is still uncertain sometimes, though, and he thinks Marcus might just want him because he's cracked. Can this top and bottom pair find a way to understand their wants and needs, and make a life that works for them alone?

More Spotlights at my website: www.elisarolle.com/, My Lists/Gay Novels


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Brandon Judell (born January 22) is currently teaching "Queer Theater" and "Intro to Mass Communications" at The City College of New York and is Coordinator of The Simon H. Rifkind Center. His area of specialty is cinema. He has been a journalist for over 30 years and has been published in The Forward, The Village Voice, The New York Daily News, indieWire.com, and has written about AIDS in Israel for the Journal of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care. Heteaches courses on the history of Jewish cinema. He has been awarded the "Outstanding Teacher Award" at CCNY, has instructed at the School of Visual Arts plus the Center for Workers Education, and has been a judge at the Berlin Film Festival.

He is the author of The Gay Quote Book; drawing on sources from Sappho to Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde to Edmund White, The Gay Quote Book is both an indispensable reference and a source of constant entertainment. Organized by theme, the hundreds of quotations included here are drawn from the works of gay and lesbian authors, and activists, statesmen, and celebrities, from ancient times to the present. In this witty volume you will find more than 750 quotations on such topics as coming out, love and sex, finding community, activism, AIDS, and the meaning of life from such gay icons as Gore Vidal, Isaac Mizrahi, k.d. lang, Melissa Etheridge, Quentin Crisp, Truman Capote, Lily Tomlin, and Dorothy Allison.

A selection: "Housework is like bad sex. Every time I do it, I swear I'll never do it again until company comes by." --from Don't Stop the Music "You're born naked and the rest is drag." --RuPaul "Men marry because they are tired, woman marry because they are curious, and both are disappointed." --Oscar Wilde "To me, bad taste is what entertainment is all about." --John Waters. Perfect for browsing, gift-giving, or locating that perfect toast or public quip, this enlightening collection is sure to amuse, startle, challenge, and inspire. The Gay Quote Book reached #1 on A Different Light's bestseller list.

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More Particular Voices at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Particular Voices

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Evolving the “Hat Trick” Series

Thanks, Elisa, for having me back on your blog to talk about the latest installment in the Hat Trick series, a short called Hat Trick Overtime: Summer Camp. Thanks to everyone who has stopped by to read as well. I hope you'll leave some comments, too. I’ll stop by periodically during the next couple days to answer any questions. Plus, one lucky commenter will get a free ebook: you’ll have the choice of either Hat Trick Overtime: Summer Camp or, in case you’re new to Hat Trick, you can opt to receive the original Hat Trick novel to start at the beginning.
With this fourth story in the Hat Trick series coming out, and work in progress on the fifth, it's odd for me to look back to the fall of 2013 when the first novel came out. Back then I thought Hat Trick was a standalone book. It was a self-contained story and the characters were at a good place in the end.

I did have a glimpse of an idea for some additional closure for Simon, the main character, but I was quite sure it had legs. Then, as the first book came out and readers started connecting with Simon, Alex and their friends, Simon started talking more and more to me with ways the story could continue.

Alternating between novels and short stories has been very enjoyable. It's fun to tell a longer form story, such as the original Hat Trick and Hat Trick 2: Playing the Rebound, to really show how Simon and Alex's relationship starts and how changes/grows as they go through college. The Overtime short stories, meanwhile, take a brief glimpse at something very specific, and not really game changing to the overall story arc. These shorts create a quick visit with friends in between the novels.

In the Summer Camp short, the guys are off on working vacation to coach teens at a summer hockey camp. I loved sending them on this trip because we've never gotten to see Simon and Alex during the summer, or even really away from school for more than a brief holiday break. It's a little bit vacation, work and romance rolled up in a four-week getaway.

I like that this story is coming out in the wintertime, too. With so much cold weather around the U.S. as January starts, it's nice to read something where people are occasionally relaxing in shorts by a lake.

There is more to come with Hat Trick. This summer the final novel, Hat Trick 3: Penalty Shot, will come out. Then in the fall the final Overtime short will publish. Is that the end? It'll be the end for this part of the story. Readers have asked for more of Leo and Matt's story, and that's a possibility. And you never know, Simon may have ideas that he hasn't shared with me yet.

This excerpt is a brief look and Simon, Alex, and best friend Leo, on the road and talking about the adulthood that gets closer and closer for them. I hope you enjoy it and that you'll pick up the story... Or start the series if it's new to you.

Hat Trick Overtime: Summer Camp by Jeff Adams
Publisher: JMS Books LLC (January 18, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: Hat Trick Overtime: Summer Camp

Simon and Alex, now between their junior and senior years at The University of Michigan, decide to put their jobs on hold for a month and take the opportunity to coach hockey at a summer camp for teenagers.
They’ve got a cabin full of good players to work with and the focus is to get them ready to win the camp championship. One camper, sixteen-year-old Dylan, requests extra help because he needs to get a scholarship and the guys make it their mission to help him succeed.
With their best friend Leo along for the trip, Simon and Alex are setup for a great time at camp, until another coach tries to seduce them. How they respond to the unwanted advances, while balancing commitments to their campers, will test them both.

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BIO: Jeff Adams caught the writing bug in middle school and finally became a novelist with the Hat Trick series. He’s currently working on the final novel in the series, Hat Trick 3: Penalty Shot, which is due out this summer. He’s also written a number of m/m romance shorts, including the recent re-release of Rivals. Jeff and his husband, Will, live in the peaceful, coastal beauty of Humboldt County, California. He also covers the Detroit Red Wings, as well reviews books that feature LGBT hockey players, for PuckBuddys.com. To learn more about Jeff, visit jeffadamswrites.com and follow him on Twitter at @hockeyguynyc. You can also sign up to receive email updates from Jeff (no more than two per month) at http://eepurl.com/7TJC9.
Find Jeff at:
Website: http://www.jeffadamswrites.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hockeyguynyc
Amazon: http://amazon.com/author/jeffadams
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/writerjeff


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