Elisa - My reviews and Ramblings

Donna K. Ford is a Licensed Professional Counselor who spends her professional time assisting people in their recovery from substance addictions. She holds an Associate Degree in Criminal Justice, a BS in Psychology and an MS in Community Agency Counseling. When not trying to save the world, she spends her time in the mountains of East Tennessee enjoying the lakes, rivers and hiking trails near her home. Reading, writing and enjoying conversation with good friends are the gifts that keep her grounded. She is grateful to share her life with her loving partner, two adoring cats and one crazy beagle that keep life interesting.

Healing Hearts won a 2013 Rainbow Award as Best Lesbian Debut. No Boundaries won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Lesbian Contemporary & Erotic Romance.

Further Readings:

Healing Hearts by Donna K. Ford
Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (May 14, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1602828776
ISBN-13: 978-1602828773
Amazon: Healing Hearts
Amazon Kindle: Healing Hearts

Christian Sutter is a broken woman. After the loss of her lover, she is plagued by survivor guilt and struggles to engage contact with others in the simplest relationships. Seeking refuge, she turns to the solitude of Willow Springs, an all-women retreat in the mountains of East Tennessee. When Christian meets a reclusive artist, her world is turned upside down again.

Elaine Barber is on the run. She is no fugitive but the victim of a vicious crime that keeps her in constant fear. A once renowned FBI profiler and psychologist, Elaine has turned her back on her career, her home, and her lover to escape the unbearable fear that someone is still out there waiting to finish what they started.

Both women will begin the journey toward healing, a journey that will take them on a collision course with the very person who can destroy them all. Can love heal all wounds? One thing is certain: the lives of the women of Willow Springs will never be the same.

No Boundaries by Donna K. Ford
Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (May 6, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1626390606
ISBN-13: 978-1626390607
Amazon: No Boundaries
Amazon Kindle: No Boundaries

Andi Massey lives a secluded life in rural Tennessee. Since a brutal attack, she has avoided emotional connections. She is certain she has nothing left to offer anyone, but secretly wishes her life could be different.

Gwen Palmer has never been afraid to go after what she wants. Betrayed and tired of meaningless sex, she leaves her roots in the big city, seeking the quiet and peace of the mountains. The last thing she wants is another emotionally distant relationship.

Andi and Gwen find that small town life has a way of bringing them together whether they like it or not. But all may be lost when Andi comes face-to-face with her past and the man who has vowed to destroy everything she loves. Can Andi and Gwen overcome their past hurts and fears—as well as present dangers—and accept love without boundaries?

More Rainbow Awards at my website: www.elisarolle.com/, Rainbow Awards/2013


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Ronald Edmund Magill (21 April 1920 – 6 September 2007) was an English actor. He is best remembered for playing Amos Brearly in the British soap opera Emmerdale Farm from 1972 to 1991, and appeared again in this role in 1994 and 1995. After landing the part of Amos, he rarely appeared on the stage. Magill's boyfriend of 32 years, David Soar, died in 1997. Ten years later in 2007, Ronald Magill died aged 87. Magill left more than a third of his £1.3million estate to the man who nursed him through the final years of his life. His will revealed that he set aside his house in London, worth about £550,000, to John Toole, 64, who had lived with the star in his final years. Mr Magill left the remainder - about £830,000 before inheritance tax to his two brothers. Neighbours in Wimbledon, South-West London, described Toole as Mr Magill's 'rock' during the last ten years of his life. The pair had lived together in the smart, two-storey terrace house following the death of Mr Magill's partner.

Ronald Edmund Magill was born in 1920 in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. The child of two teachers, his father died when he was aged 9 and he then grew up in an orphanage in Birmingham, visiting his mother in Ireland during the holidays. After leaving school he became a tyre salesman. During World War II Magill served in the Royal Corps of Signals and was a member of "Stars in Battledress". In Egypt he helped build a theatre where the company staged plays.

Following the war, he worked with the Arena Theatre Company and rep. In 1961, Magill spent a year at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. In 1963 when he went to work at the Playhouse, Nottingham, where he was later made artistic director and he stayed there until 1968. Magill directed many productions, and also wrote plays and translated others into English. He starred in the West End production of The Ruling Class and appeared at the Bristol Old Vic in Death of a Salesman and The Browning Version. His first television appearances were in 1969, in the programmes Special Branch and Parkin's Patch, and the following year appeared in the film Julius Caesar.


Ronald Magill was an English actor, best remembered for playing Amos Brearly in Emmerdale Farm. Magill's boyfriend of 32 years, David Soar, died in 1997. Ten years later in 2007, Ronald Magill died aged 87. Magill left his house in London to the man who nursed him through the final years of his life, John Toole. Neighbours in Wimbledon, South-West London, described Toole as Mr Magill's 'rock' during the last ten years of his life. The pair had lived together following the death of David Soar.

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Magill

Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time by Elisa Rolle
Paperback: 760 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (July 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1500563323
ISBN-13: 978-1500563325
Amazon: Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time

Days of Love chronicles more than 700 LGBT couples throughout history, spanning 2000 years from Alexander the Great to the most recent winner of a Lambda Literary Award. Many of the contemporary couples share their stories on how they met and fell in love, as well as photos from when they married or of their families. Included are professional portraits by Robert Giard and Stathis Orphanos, paintings by John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Boldini, and photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnson, Arnold Genthe, and Carl Van Vechten among others. “It's wonderful. Laying it out chronologically is inspired, offering a solid GLBT history. I kept learning things. I love the decision to include couples broken by death. It makes clear how important love is, as well as showing what people have been through. The layout and photos look terrific.” Christopher Bram “I couldn’t resist clicking through every page. I never realized the scope of the book would cover centuries! I know that it will be hugely validating to young, newly-emerging LGBT kids and be reassured that they really can have a secure, respected place in the world as their futures unfold.” Howard Cruse “This international history-and-photo book, featuring 100s of detailed bios of some of the most forward-moving gay persons in history, is sure to be one of those bestsellers that gay folk will enjoy for years to come as reference and research that is filled with facts and fun.” Jack Fritscher


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Sarah Aldridge was the pen name of Anyda Marchant (January 27, 1911, Rio de Janeiro – January 11, 2006), who was a founding partner for Naiad Press 1973 and A&M Books in 1995, and a writer of primarily lesbian popular fiction. She met legal secretary Muriel Inez Crawford (April 21, 1914 – June 7, 2006) in 1947. The couple was together until Aldridge's death. Crawford died less than 6 months after Aldridge.

Marchant was the daughter of Langworthy and Maude Marchant, and moved with her family to Washington, D.C. at age six.

After earning her undergraduate degree, followed in 1933 by her law degree from the National University of Washington, D.C. (now George Washington University), she was admitted to practice in Virginia and Washington D.C., and before the US Court of Claims and the US Supreme Court.

One of the first women to pass the bar in Washington DC, she served the World Bank as an attorney in the Legal Department for 18 years until retiring in 1972.

As Sarah Aldridge, she was the author of many literary works. Her first published work was a short story issued by The Ladder, the periodical released by the Daughters of Bilitis. The fourteen lesbian novels she wrote include All True Lovers, Tottie, A Flight of Angels, The Latecomer, and The Nesting Place.

Aldridge died at her home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware on January 11, 2006. She was 94. She was awarded the Golden Crown Literary Society Trailblazer Award posthumously in June 2007.


Sarah Aldridge was the pen name of Anyda Marchant, who was a founding partner for Naiad Press 1973 and A&M Books in 1995. She met legal secretary Muriel Inez Crawford in 1947. The couple was together for 57 years until Aldridge's death. Crawford died less than 6 months after Aldridge. Her first published work was a short story issued by The Ladder. The 14 lesbian novels she wrote include All True Lovers, Tottie, A Flight of Angels, The Latecomer, and The Nesting Place.

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Aldridge

Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time by Elisa Rolle
Paperback: 760 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (July 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1500563323
ISBN-13: 978-1500563325
CreateSpace Store: https://www.createspace.com/4910282
Amazon (Paperback): http://www.amazon.com/dp/1500563323/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon (Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MZG0VHY/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

Days of Love chronicles more than 700 LGBT couples throughout history, spanning 2000 years from Alexander the Great to the most recent winner of a Lambda Literary Award. Many of the contemporary couples share their stories on how they met and fell in love, as well as photos from when they married or of their families. Included are professional portraits by Robert Giard and Stathis Orphanos, paintings by John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Boldini, and photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnson, Arnold Genthe, and Carl Van Vechten among others. “It's wonderful. Laying it out chronologically is inspired, offering a solid GLBT history. I kept learning things. I love the decision to include couples broken by death. It makes clear how important love is, as well as showing what people have been through. The layout and photos look terrific.” Christopher Bram “I couldn’t resist clicking through every page. I never realized the scope of the book would cover centuries! I know that it will be hugely validating to young, newly-emerging LGBT kids and be reassured that they really can have a secure, respected place in the world as their futures unfold.” Howard Cruse “This international history-and-photo book, featuring 100s of detailed bios of some of the most forward-moving gay persons in history, is sure to be one of those bestsellers that gay folk will enjoy for years to come as reference and research that is filled with facts and fun.” Jack Fritscher

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Jessica Clark is a British actress of English, Irish, Indian, and Nigerian descent. Jessica grew up in London. At 16, she won a national modeling competition, and signed with Models 1. Choosing initially to combine modeling with her studies, Clark attended the London School of Economics as a law undergraduate with the intention of pursuing a law career. She is known as one of the hosts of the Vlog Lesbian love, at afterellen.com. She married Lacey Stone in 2010 and the couple divorced in 2012.

However the success of her modeling career led her to leave the program after 18 months and move first to Paris and then a year later to New York. Jessica has worked with such notable clients as Hermes, Redken, and L’Oreal. She has also appeared in magazines such as Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire and Jalouse. She walks the runway for designers such as Hermes, Bottega Venetta and Matthew Williamson.

While living in NYC Jessica had trained as an actress and in 2011 relocated to LA where she has had success in TV and Independent film. Jessica is signed with Marilyn NY Agency and continues to model, most recently shooting the cover story of Vogue India.

She had a central role in feature film A Perfect Ending, a 2012 lesbian film directed by Nicole Conn. She plays the fictional vampire goddess Lilith in True Blood. She appeared on the cover of the October 2012 issue of Vogue India. and also has a central role in the upcoming 2014 satirical thriller Pocket Listing.

Jessica is the recipient of a New Now Next Award (2009) in the category "Cause You're Hot".


Jessica Clark is a British actress of English, Irish, Indian, and Nigerian descent. Jessica grew up in London. At 16, she won a national modeling competition, and signed with Models 1. Choosing initially to combine modeling with her studies, Clark attended the London School of Economics as a law undergraduate with the intention of pursuing a law career. She is known as one of the hosts of the Vlog Lesbian love, at afterellen.com. She married Lacey Stone in 2010 and the couple divorced in 2012.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Clark_%28actress%29



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Richard W. "Ric" Weiland (April 21, 1953 – June 24, 2006) was a computer software pioneer and philanthropist. He was one of the first five employees of Microsoft Corporation. In 2002, Weiland began seeing Mike Schaefer, an account manager at a software firm and former strategic adviser to the Seattle City Council. Schaefer says he and Ric were drawn together by a shared interest in gay activism. “I was first attracted by Ric’s commitment to the community,” says Schaefer. “He was a strong believer in the Seattle Foundation’s healthy community model, which included the arts, health, education, and so on. And I was struck by how articulate and focused he was and that he had a really broad portfolio of interests.” Mike Schaefer has distributed more than $180 million – nearly 100% of their assets – to 20 charitable organizations since his partner’s death in 2006.

Weiland was a high school classmate and friend of Paul Allen, with whom he created the Lakeside Programmers Group at Lakeside School, a preparatory school in Seattle, Washington, USA. Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Kent Evans, and Weiland were involved with the Computer Center Corporation, using their PDP-10. They worked together to create a payroll program in COBOL for Portland company Information Sciences Inc., and wrote scheduling software for a school. (Picture: Mike Schaefer)


Mike Schaefer & Ric Weiland: Ric Weiland was a computer software pioneer and philanthropist. He was one of the first five employees of Microsoft Corporation. In 2002 Weiland began seeing Mike Schaefer, an account manager at a software firm and former strategic adviser to the Seattle City Council. Schaefer says he and Ric were drawn together by a shared interest in gay activism. Mike Schaefer has distributed more than $180 million, nearly 100% of their assets, to 20 charitable organizations since his partner’s death in 2006.

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ric_Weiland

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More LGBT Couples at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Real Life Romance


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Pamela Susan Karlan (born February 1959) is a professor of law at Stanford Law School, a leading liberal legal scholar on voting rights and the political process, and the U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Voting Rights in the United States Department of Justice Civil Division. She told Politico in 2009, "It's no secret at all that I'm counted among the LGBT crowd." She has described herself as an example of "Snarky, bisexual, Jewish women." Her partner is Viola Canales.

Karlan earned her bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1980 and a law degree and master of arts in 1984. At Yale Law School, she served as an Article & Book Reviews editor of the Yale Law Journal.

In 1984-85, Karlan worked as a law clerk for former U.S. District Judge Abraham David Sofaer. In 1985-86, she clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun.

Blackmun revealed in a 1995 oral history with Harold Koh that his dissent in Bowers v. Hardwick was written primarily by Karlan. Blackmun said of the dissent, Karlan "did a lot of very effective writing, and I owe a lot to her and her ability in getting that dissent out. She felt very strongly about it, and I think is correct in her approach to it. I think the dissent is correct."

From 1986 until 1988, Karlan worked as an assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. From 1988 until 1998, Karlan was a professor of law at the University of Virginia School of Law.

In 1998, Karlan joined the faculty of Stanford Law School. She is the school's Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law. Karlan co-founded the Stanford Law School Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, through which students litigate live cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.


Pamela Karlan is a professor of law at Stanford Law School, a leading liberal legal scholar on voting rights and the political process, and the U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Voting Rights in the United States Department of Justice Civil Division. She has described herself as an example of "Snarky, bisexual, Jewish women." Her partner is Viola Canales, an American writer originally from McAllen, Texas. She has published a novel, The Tequila Worm.

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Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_S._Karlan

Viola Canales (born 21 April 1957) is an American writer originally from McAllen, Texas. She has published a short story collection, Orange Candy Slices and Other Secret Tales (2001), and a novel, The Tequila Worm (2005) for which she won the Pura Belpré Award in 2006.

Canales attended St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Austin, Harvard College, and Harvard Law School.

She has been a captain in the US Army, a litigator, and an official in the Clinton Administration. She is currently a lecturer at Stanford Law School, where she teaches courses that combine law and fiction writing.

Her partner is U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Voting Rights in the United States Department of Justice Civil Division, Pamela Karlan.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_Canales

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Prince Eugene of Savoy (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736) was the brilliant leader of the Franco-Italian-Austrian armies and a companion of PHILLIPE, Duc d’Orleans, the transvestite homosexual brother of Louis XIV. Although Eugene was frail and unattractive, he quickly proved his courage and ability to Emperor Leopold I and was given his own armies to command. He won important battles against the Turks at Zenta in 1697 and Peterwardein in 1716, finally capturing Belgrade in 1717. Eugene was admired throughout Europe as a valiant soldier, statesman, and patron of the arts. (P: Portrait of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663-1736) by Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723), privately owned. Oil/canvas, 160 x 130 cm.)

Despite being one of the richest and most celebrated men of his age, Eugene never married and the suggestion is that he was predominantly homosexual. History knows little of his life before 1683. In his early boyhood in Paris "he belonged to a small, effeminate set that included such unabashed perverts as the young abbé de Choisy who was invariably dressed as a girl" wrote the English historian Nicholas Henderson. The Duchess of Orléans, who had known Eugene from those days, would later write to her aunt, Princess Sophia of Hanover, describing Eugene's antics with lackeys and pages. He was "a vulgar whore" along with the Prince of Turenne, and "often played the woman with young people" with the nickname of 'Madame Simone' or 'Madam l'Ancienne'. He preferred a "couple of fine page boys" to any woman, and was refused an ecclesiastical benefice due to his "depravity" Eugene's behaviour may have been a result of his mother's lax household and her own failure to show any affection towards him.


Upper Belvedere, Vienna
Eugene’s sexual orientation was well known to his peers. He never married, and fellow officers referred to him as a "Mars Without Venus." Eugene was particularly close to the Marquis de la Moussaye (probably René Amaury de Montbourcher, died March 29, 1749), and a legend sprang up about an occurrence when they were at sea during a fierce storm. The Marquis assured the Prince that they were safe, since "We are sodomites, destined to perish only by fire." Indeed, the ship made it safely in to port.

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Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Eugene_of_Savoy

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The Eye And The Arm (Champion of the Gods #2) by Andrew Q. Gordon
Paperback: 296 pages
Publisher: DSP Publications (April 14, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1632167891
ISBN-13: 978-1632167897
Amazon: The Eye And The Arm (Champion of the Gods #2)
Amazon Kindle: The Eye And The Arm (Champion of the Gods #2)

Champion of the Gods: Book Two
After defeating Meglar at Belsport, Farrell returns to Haven to recover from his injuries, but Khron, the god of war, has other ideas. He gives Farrell a new mission: free the survivors of the ancient dwarf realm of Trellham from their three-thousand-year banishment. To fulfill Khron's near impossible task, Farrell will need the help of his distance ancestor, the legendary wizard Kel. But Kel has been dead for a thousand years.
Farrell finds information hinting that Kel is alive, so he moves his search to Dumbarten, Kel's birthplace. To reach Dumbarten unannounced, Farrell and Miceral disguise themselves as mercenaries on board a merchant vessel. Their journey is disrupted when pirates attack their ship. While attempting to subdue the attack, Farrell is struck down by one of Meglar’s minions.
Unconscious and trapped in his own mind, Farrell's only chance for survival rests with Miceral and the peregrine king Rothdin entering his thoughts and helping him sort fact from illusion. To reach Farrell, they will need to rely on an untested spell from one of Kel's spellbooks. If they succeed, Miceral can guide Farrell home safely. If not, Farrell will destroy not only himself, but Miceral, Rothdin, and everyone around him.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrew Q. Gordon wrote his first story back when yellow legal pads, ball point pens were common and a Smith Corona correctable typewriter was considered high tech. Adapting with technology, he now takes his MacBook somewhere quiet when he wants to write.
He currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his partner of eighteen years, their young daughter and dog. In addition to dodging some very self-important D.C. ‘insiders’, Andrew uses his commute to catch up on his reading. When not working or writing, he enjoys soccer, high fantasy, baseball and seeing how much coffee he can drink in a day and not get the shakes.

Follow Andrew:
On Facebook: www.facebook.com/andrewqugordon,
On Twitter: @andrewqgordon,
Or just email him: andrewqgordon@gmail.com



TOUR SCHEDULE
April 14: Man2ManTastic || The Purple Rose Tea House
April 15: Anne Barwell
April 16: Cate Ashwood
April 17: Author Susan Mac Nicol
April 20: Divine Magazine || Gay.Guy.Reading and Friends
April 21: Love Bytes Reviews || Elisa - My Reviews and Ramblings
April 22: Nic Starr || Diverse Reader
April 23: Prism Book Alliance || Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents
April 24: BFD Book Blog || MM Good Book Reviews

GIVEAWAY
FIVE Winners will win one e-copy of ANY book* each from DSP Publication’s backlist.
*Giveaway is of any currently released DSPP book, which excludes the books that are on pre-order and “The Eye And The Arm”.
RAFFLECOPTER
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Rafflecopter Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/0f7bf72019/?





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