#RileyParra Season 1 Episode 1 goes live on Tello

One episode into Riley Parra on tello and I’m already desperate for episode two. I’ve read the books so I already had my own take on the characters, but this show means a lot to me. Actually it means a LOT to me. And seeing the first episode so well executed actually had tears in my eyes.

You see the author of the books, and the screenplay writer, Geonn Cannon, has been in my life for well over a decade. Geonn is one of my closest friends and I can and do tell him anything. I can officially say I knew this man way back when and I am so proud of him that my heart is swelling. I’ve seen him go from a tentative “do I have what it takes?” writer, to a well respected author and now screenwriter. And he’s still just as loyal, humble, and sweet as he always was.

Seeing Marem Hassler and Liz Vassey bring the titular Detective Riley Parra and Medical Examiner, Dr. Gillian Hunt to life just about broke me tonight. The chemistry between them in this first webisode was so strong and so perfect I just couldn’t help but go all googly eyed. They are everything that as a reader of the books I could ask for, and more. I actually texted Geonn to tell him that they got me shipping the characters quicker than he did in the books with that crazy chemistry.

If you don’t have a tello subscription I highly recommend getting one. This supernatural detective show is only going to get better.

Never give up, never surrender…. never stop writing

Just your regular reminder of everything going on at the moment. Because let’s face it, without you guys I’m not going to get very far.

Crowdfunding Campaign for 2017 Book Tour

Click on the image and join in, a donation as small or as large as you like. Up until Saturday, any donation of £5 minimum will get their name in Book 3 when it’s written and published.

The Journey Home Book Launch – 19th November 2016

On Saturday, over on my Facebook page, I’m launching the second book in The Lunegosse Tales. Go over to my page and join the event to join in with the fun and frivolity of the launch. Click on the image below to head over there.

Patreon

I am over on Patreon! By becoming a patron you not only help me to continue writing but you get access to exclusive content not available anywhere else. You’ll also get sneak peaks of new books and projects before anyone else. Click on the below image to come join the fun.

 

Sci-Fi, Queer Women, and the lack of our representation

In the past few days, my social media feeds have been full of anguished cries over the new Star Trek movie and the fact that Sulu is a aay man. Now if you know me, you know I’m a Trekker. I live for Sci-Fi, I breathe Sci-Fi, and I dream in Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Science Fiction and Fantasy are my mainstay. They are what helped me through a difficult youth, they are what come to mind when I write my books and short stories. They are the subjects of many pieces of Queer fanfic I have written. It’s my dream, my desire, to see people like me in more Sci-Fi. I want to see well developed Lesbian characters. I want to see humans who aren’t on the gender binary. I want to see Trans people, I want to see those with Asperger’s and other disabilities and not have them automatically be alien.

As we mourn, let our grief strengthen our bonds. Orlando should not happen again.

At a time when the rights of the LGBTQ community are gaining some recognition, we have been reminded of the prejudice against us with a violent act that should never have happened. 

The news of what happened at Pulse nightclub in Orlando has left us devastated and hurting. We ache for the loss of so many of our community in one night. We rightfully cry out against this atrocity. We talk once again of gun reform and beat our chests in anguish. And all of this is a just reaction to what has happened.

What worries me about our anger most is the reported identity of the shooter. Omar Mateen may have been of Afghan descent and Muslim but, and I say this with a taste for justice in my heart, that does not mean that the Afghan community or the Muslim community in the Western world should be targeted as a scapegoat.

These radical acts happen when those with a penchant for preying on the vulnerable turn them into weapons. These acts of terrorism aren’t just carried out by Radical Islamists but by Fundamentalists from various religions. Please note I said Islamists and not Muslims. Most Muslims abhor the path of those who see these acts as ones of holy Jihad. Just as true Christians abhor the KKK and the WBC.

If we can learn anything from this horrific tragedy, it should be that we need to reach out to each other. Religious and Queer alike. We need to sew seeds that will build a foundation of respect and understanding. We need to see each other as human first. Only then will these attrocities end. 

Am I aching for the loss of life within the LGBTQ community? Of course. My Queer heart is breaking. Will I let this turn me into an ally of those who spout things such as “We should ban all Muslims from entering?” No. I will not take the side of people like Donald Trump. Division doesn’t solve problems. It only creates them.

I stand by the victims of Orlando. I stand by their families. I stand by a community in grief. And I stand by those who will have to once again defend themselves in the aftermath of an event that they had no part in.

#WomanCrushWednesday Lesbian Super Edition

Here’s to the women who taught me that loving another woman isn’t a bad thing. My ultimate lesbian #WomanCrushWednesday list:

To Claudia Christian and Andrea Thompson, who as Susan Ivanova and Talia Winters taught me that loving another woman was possible. And for giving me an hour a week when my father treated me with something akin to respect.

To Simone Lahbib and Mandana Jones who showed me that true love is worth the risk, even when fighting against your instincts. As Helen Stewart and Nikki Wade you two not only helped me in my coming out journey but brought me and Mum closer on our weekly watches, curled up together on my bed whilst the boys watched something else downstairs.

To Alyson Hannigan and Amber Benson who as Willow and Tara gave me the strength to come out of the closet and admit my sexuality to myself. Helping me to start coming out to others.

Here’s to Nancylee Myatt, Christina Cox and Liz Vassey whose leaked pilot of Nikki and Nora made me certain of my sexuality, and Christina’s film Better Than Chocolate that helped me begin coming to terms with my non-binary gender identity.

Here’s to the women of tello who make me proud to be a creative lesbian, and who give us real television for real queer women. To Christin Baker, the founder and CEO, to all who have contributed to the shows and the live tweets. To Bridget McManus, Shannan Leigh Reeve, Kate Black-Spence, Laura Zak, and countless others who have made me feel a part of a very wonderful online community.

Her Story – my new addiction

My social media has been full lately of the lead up to Her Story, Laura Zak and Jen Richards’ new project. I’ve been quietly waiting in anticipation of this show since I first heard about it, what seems like forever ago. And now of course I’m sitting here, having binged all six episodes with JDV and wanting more. I’m not going to spoil you because, you know that’s not what I do, but there are some things that I would like to point out that I love about this web series.

I adore the fact that the show focuses on different characters and different reactions to the Trans community and to Trans women in particular. Even within the LGBTQ community there are those who argue against the inclusion of those not on the binary. So-called feminists who see things as black and white and quite honestly, piss me off. A feminist can be any gender identity, a woman doesn’t have to be born with a vagina to be a woman. Yes I said it. And I’ll say it again – GENITALS. DO. NOT. MAKE. A. WOMAN. (or man for that either).

Allie’s (Zak) curiosity is her strength. She’s kick ass and doesn’t look at things at a superficial level. Vi’s (Richards) acceptance of the way things are for her breaks my heart. She deserves so much more than what she starts off with. The truth is though, her story is more real than we as viewers want to believe. And that in itself is one of the reasons I love this show. It makes the viewer uncomfortable, and we need to be made uncomfortable in order to address societal views.  Vi’s story arc is a beautiful mixture of joy and hope juxtaposed with the pain and difficulties she has and does face.

I also love the way in which the show doesn’t focus on one side of the race coin or on gender politics alone. In Paige (Angelica Ross), we see a strong black woman who is also Transgender and how her story differs from Vi’s and others and how it also follows along the similar roads.

Her Story balances humour with a real look at life as a Transgender Woman trying to fit into society and communities within society. Acceptance is more than saying ‘ok you exist’, it’s about realising that we are all individuals with unique stories and we shouldn’t have to fight to be seen as equal.  I’d love to see a second season of this show, and I’d love to see how Her Story could incorporate others on the gender spectrum who identify as Trans.

Congratulations to all involved in this show, you’re making strides where they need to be made with an evocative, provocative, beautifully written, wonderfully shot, and spectacularly performed series.

Small town love – Maybelle on Tello

It’s not unsual for me to fall in love with a show on tello. If you’ve read my blog, you know that to be the case. But Maybelle, well Maybelle is a whole new dimension of love. This isn’t like Nikki & Nora (which I’d waited over ten years for and still want a season 2 of), it’s not like the fun and quirky Hashtag Series that makes me want to smack one of the main characters more often than not (it’s why I love it, honest), Maybelle touches on something much more profound for me – Lesbian love in the Bible Belt.

I’m going to be honest, the biggest draw for me when Maybelle was announced was the fact that it’s written by and starring Bridget McManus as the titular character of Maybelle. I’ve actually been known to tweet tello and ask if Bridget can deliver crowd funding perks, because let’s face it, she’s gorgeous. But if I’m going to move away from the shallow side of my nature, Bridget’s acting is layered and nuanced, her twitter feed can both provoke deeper thought and have me giggling like a schoolgirl, and she has definitely become one of my favourite actors since I’ve become a member of the tello viewing community. I was interested to see what the screenplay for Maybelle would be like, and how my opinion of Bridget’s abilities might change. Well…. they’ve changed, I’ve found myself more in awe of this multi-talented lady. And as always, I’m in love with the direction from Christin Baker.

Maybelle could be set in any small town in the American Bible Belt. You have the nosey, racist, trashy, bigoted neighbour and her divorced son (whom she thinks is perfect for Maybelle), the beautiful countryside, and the struggle to be who you really are when faced with an upbringing that no doubt involves many many childhood Sundays spent in the local Baptist/Epsicopalian Church. Maybelle has spent most of her adult life caring for her sick mother, and now, she’s rediscovering herself, and what life as a single lesbian woman is. Enter Della, Maybelle’s high school girlfriend, and her husband JW and a whole host of issues that happen as a consequence.

I love this show. I love the little details, things like the way the fridge is stocked, and the neighbour bringing over a tuna casserole. They are all reminiscent of the Bible Belt town in which my other half lives. And to be honest, they make me miss her even more than I already do. I adore the reflection of modern day Southern attitudes, the emergence of some changes and the judgemental personalities. I am electrified by the chemistry between Maybelle (McManus) and Della (Fran Nichols). I was a little scared by Mick (Karman Kregloe) and her agressive nature. And I have been won over by JW (John M. Keating). I also want to tell Pearl Applewhite (Judy Jackson) and her son Buddy (Greg Standifer) to mind their own beeswax and leave Maybelle and Della to work things out on their own.

I can’t wait to see where this show goes next. It’s a reflection of so many things I already know to be true about being out and in love in the Bible Belt and it’s won me over completely. As my friend said on twitter earlier tonight, I really hope there’s a second season already being planned. The only problem with watching websiodes of any show you love is the waiting for the next 8 to 15 minute segment to appear, and a week in between epsidoes, means I’m already counting down the days for the next time I can log on and see what happens.

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Today will always be a hard one to get through for those of us not on the gender binary. We are reminded of those like us who have been lost to violence (physical and emotional) that has come from a society that just doesn’t understand that gender is emotional/psychological and sex is physical.

Whether FTM, MTF, genderqueer,genderfluid, androgyne, agender, or whatever other label is there, people do not understand what it is like to be one of us, to live in a world where we are constantly told to ‘get over’ our identities and conform. And woah betide us for trying to be our authentic selves. 

Here’s the thing though… I don’t understand the struggle of so many other minoroties, not from first hand experience, but I know they exist and I acknowledge them. I don’t belittle or try to derail them and I certainly don’t and never would think of violence towards them. So why do so many people threaten and commit acts of violence towards one part of my tribe?

Don’t tell me its because they fear the unknown. I have a lot of unknowns in my life. But they don’t make me violent. And please save your theological rhetoric about going against whichever Deity’s plan for us. Being Trans* is NOT a disease, it’s not a sin, it’s not a temptation to overcome. It. Just. Is. 

Is it really that hard to live alongside us? To work with us? To share the same restroom as us? Is it so very hard to just say ‘I don’t know your struggle but I won’t judge?’ Do we really need another year where Transgender people are killed for just being who we are?

In remembrance of:

Vicky Thompson, Tamara Dominguez, Elisha Walker, Kandis Capri, Amber MonRoe, Shade Schuler, K. C. Haggard, India Clarke, Ashton O’Hara, Merceds Williamson, London Kiki Chanel, Mya Shawatza Hall, Keyshia Blige, Kristina Gomez Reinwald, Brian Golec, Penny Proud, Taja Gabrielle de Jesus, and all the others who have lost their lives needlessly because of their gender identity 

My Ten Top Lesbian Film and TV Characters

I’ve been meaning to do this post for a while, but the truth is, I’ve found it hard narrowing it down to just ten (and technically I’ve cheated a little here, but you’ll see why when we get there). Here we go in descending order:

10. Camille Wray – Stargate Universe (SGU)

Camille Wray is on this list for several reasons. Camille is a member of the IOA, who we are supposed to hate (based on past experienced of the other shows in the franchise), but you can’t help but fall for her. Camille, is resilient, kick ass, sensitive, sticks to her guns, artistic, loving (towards not only her partner but other people you wouldn’t expect). Her sexuality is just one part of her character and that is portrayed extremely well by Ming Na. We have a fully rounded character who just happens to be a lesbian, much like the other kick ass women in the franchise who happen to be straight.

Pride…. A day of mixed emotions

I went to my first Pride today in Sheffield. It wasn’t as busy as I had expected but I think that was a good thing for me as I didn’t go into sensory overload from the crowd and it made it a more enjoyable day overall. But I didn’t expect the mixture of emotions that would come from today.

• I was elated that I got to share today with CW and that I was surrounded by Queer people who get it.
• I was disappointed by the obvious groups of teens who were there because they thought it was the ‘in thing’ and just wanted to get street cred.
•  I cried my heart out during the HIV/AIDS vigil as I lit a candle for my beloved Beryl who was taken from us and too soon and in doing so released a lot of the grief I haven’t been able to let out. I’m still feeling a little shaken by that emotion.

All in all today was a good day. A coming together of the LGBTQIA community without the undercurrents of arguments that can occur within our community. I wore my Pride colours with honour today and was able to wear the rainbow in my heart on my sleeve (or cheeks) for all to see.

  

Solstice Sun

Yesterday left me feeling calm and happy. I chose to go back to Chapel for the first time in 3 years and it was just what I have been needing. My Chapel is the Unitarian Chapel, Mill Hill, in the heart of Leeds. A place where all faiths, skin colours, sexualities, genders, etc are welcome.

The pastor has changed since I was last there, but like Paul, Jo is friendly and welcoming. Yesterday’s service focused on not only Fathers’ Day but the Summer Solstice, one of the prayers was a translation of a Navajo prayer, hymns were sung, and the readings were well thought out. There was an opportunity to light candles for father figures in our lives (I lit one for my Grandad) and there was an overall feeling of joyful peace to the service.

I sat down with Jo after the service and we talked briefly about my absence from Chapel and my mental health and job hunt and he gave me his card, reassuring me he’s always there to talk and inviting me to Wednesday lunchtime’s service. The thing I love about Unitarian ministers and services is the lack of pomposity. Just like their congregation, our ministers are still evolving, still learning. No two belief structures under our roof are the exact same but there is a respect for that which I have found lacking in the traditional churches.

I feel like I’ve come home again by going back to Chapel. And an old friend, Tony, greeted me with a warm hug that left me knowing that the feeling is right. Our congregation may be small, but there is love and support there. And did I mention that Mill Hill is the first religious place of worship in the Leeds City Centre to be approved for same sex marriage services?

ONE OF THE BOYS

This song reminds me of my halcyon days of bloodlust now gone. At the time it fit my darling Fairy Godfather Drag Queens to a tee, it still does, but it also seems to have become a representation of my genderqueer orientation.

ONE OF THE BOYS

From the Broadway Musical “Woman Of The Year” (1981)
(John Kander / Fred Ebb)
Lauren Bacall – 1981

Writing update

So it’s been a while since I’ve updated here on the writing. Guardian is currently still being edited, so no news on that front. Hope to have some soon though. Sadly sometimes things get in the way and that means they are slower than otherwise and I’m kinda ok with that. I really need to start planning out Circe’s Child – the next in the series, but that will have to wait because I’m working on a yet to be named piece that’s so different from my normal style and media.

“I am who I am, I am my own special creation.”

It’s been a while since I played that song. The version from the La Cage Aux Folles soundtrack that sits in my iTunes, it’s been a while since I’ve heard it at all, and yet it’s been in my head all day.  I suspect that spending a good two hours watching Laverne Cox talk about Trans* rights last night might have something to do with it.  Youtube you are my friend when it comes to these things, not so much when you suggest I sit through another Westboro Baptist Church documentary (I watched the Louis Theroux ones because I like his style, not because I want to sit and listen to their hatred all day long).

Recognising the importance of LGBTQ people in the media

As anyone who knows me will know, one of my biggest happy times of the year is when I get to go to a Sci-Fi convention. I get to see old friends, make new ones and meet the people in the shows/behind the books that I love.  Even when a convention can people me out to the point of a panic attack, I look forward to them each and every time.  It’s a chance to allow my true passions out without being judged and I’ve also learnt that cosplay helps reduce the level of social stress and actually helps.  This may be, in part, the same thing that has enabled me to do theatre in the past.

Let’s not forget that there are more parts to the Queer community than just the one(s) we belong to

I have been asked on occasion how my Genderqueer identity and my Lesbian identity are not in conflict.  My answer is always simple, my gender and my sexuality are not the same thing, although, working together in harmony, they combine to make part of the greater whole that is me.

Suanne Braun, Nicole deBoer and Neve McIntosh or I love the women of sci fi and the actors behind the characters

I am a geek, there’s no denying it. There’s no denying my past or my sexuality either. Growing up there weren’t really any lesbian characters on my screen (with the exception of Bad Girls) so I turned to Sci Fi television and any books I could to find strong women to look up to, Stargate, X-Files, Nancy Drew, you name it, I clamoured for it. So to be an adult and find that women in the media are starting to come out and that there are books aimed at us is exceptional. Luvia Peterson, Pauley Perrette and Jasika Nicole make me smile with their openess. But there is more than just my sexuality that plays a part to this story. Although that plays a part.

Calling all Liz Vassey, Christina Cox and Nikki & Nora fans – Nikki & Nora need your help

So if you belong to any section of Lesbian (or possibly even LGBTQ fandom) and you like Cop shows, you’ve probably no doubt heard of a show that didn’t even make it to air, called Nikki & Nora.  In fact you’re like many of the legion of fans the show has, you have found a copy of it and watched it numerous times.

For the uninitiated whose attention I’ve caught, Nikki & Nora is a cop show set in New Orleans.  The main characters, Nikki, played by Liz Vassey, and Nora, played by Christina Cox, are two detectives on the NOPD (New Orleans Police Department for the non-Americans reading this blog).  They also happen to be in a relationship.

When the pilot was found by the fans, and demolished at a rather fast pace, we were touched by the way the relationship was so natural between the two main characters, and also by the way each of them is dealing with their sexuality in relation to family and coming out.

Fancy watching it now? Guess what, I found a copy online:

Nikki and Nora [2004][Unaired Pilot] by UnknownArchiveTV

We all thought it was lost to the dismal abyss of unaired pilots that would never make it.  But it could now do so as a web series, with our help.

That’s right, if you’ve not already heard the news, our beloved pilot might actually get a web series all of it’s own.  But funding is needed.  And this is where we come in.  They are crowdsourcing to raise the funds and that means, if we pledge, we could get our beloved show.  So what are you waiting for?  Help raise the funds to bring the web series to life!

Feminism and what it’s not about – a letter to Julie Burchill

Dear Julie Burchill,

I’d like to take this moment to explain something to you that I don’t think you quite understand.  Feminism.  Feminism is not about belittling other people.  It is not about humiliating and mudslinging other groups.  It is not about taking out your feelings on people just so you can feel better about yourself and it’s not about telling Trans* women that they are really men.

It is not about making people feel less human, there are enough groups out there already trying to do that to the LGBTQ community, thank you very much, we do not need feminists joining in.  Especially feminists who can’t understand that whilst they have struggled to get to where they are, they are still part of the world of privilege that being part of a heterosexual cisgender society affords them.

Now just in case there were too many big words in there, or in case you’ve forgotten the dictionary definitions of a few of them, I’ve put together a little dictionary for you:

Feminism: (Noun) The advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.

Heterosexual:(Adjective)(of a person) Sexually attracted to people of the opposite sex.

Cisgender: In gender studies, cisgender and cissexual are two related types of gender identity where an individual’s self-perception of their gender matches their sex.

Transsexual:(Noun)A person born with the physical characteristics of one sex who emotionally and psychologically feels that they belong to the opposite sex.

Transgender:(Adjective)Identified with a gender other than the biological one.

Now, being a heterosexual woman in today’s society means you’re not looked down on for having a sexual orientation that goes against the norm.  You can marry, divorce, choose to cohabit, and be afforded the luxury of knowing all the while your civil rights are not infringed upon because you fit in with society.

Being cisgender means your gender and your sex line up, you’ve never had the confusing feeling that you don’t belong in the body you’re in because your brain is telling you one thing and your hormones are telling you another.  You’ve never looked in the mirror and questioned why the mistake was made with your sex when you’re so obviously not meant to be this way.  It also means that society doesn’t question what you say you are because society sees your body and says ‘this is who you are’.  And you agree with them.

It does not mean as you so eloquently put it, that:

I know that’s a wrong word, but having recently discovered that their lot describe born women as ‘Cis’ – sounds like syph, cyst, cistern; all nasty stuff – they’re lucky I’m not calling them shemales. Or shims.

Now, let’s address that definition of feminism shall we?  Seeing as, for you, this is the crux of the matter.  The above definition doesn’t mention you have to be born as either sex to be a feminist.  It also doesn’t state that you have to be either gender either.  It says you want equality between sexes.  Well, Trans* women are still women.  Some of them may have penises, some of them may not, but they are still women and they can still fight for equality along side you, just as some men choose to do.  Of course you’d probably look down on them as well, or perhaps, in your narrow-minded view point of the world you would find a way to back those men.  After all, it would take a true feminist to recognise that this fight is not just the fight of women alone.

I wanted to link to your post, the one where you so gallantly stand up for your friend, Suzanne.  You know, the one where you call anyone who disagrees with you (so in this case, the Trans* community) bullies.  Where your language was so colourful that it made me choke on my lunch.  Sadly, it’s been taken down between then and me getting home because of the outrage it’s caused.  Unsurprisingly, people are already starting to jump on your bandwagon in order to protect freedom of speech and freedom of the press. But it’s not freedom of speech when you willfully oppress someone else in order to make yourself heard.  It’s not freedom of speech or of the press when you use your pulpit for your own agenda, to spout your rage because oh dear, people took offence, and rightfully so.

As a proud member of the LGBTQ community, I will stand arm in arm with said community and I will look forward to your apology.  When and if it comes, we’ll see about repairing those bridges.  If it doesn’t, well, you will provide further evidence to those who decry feminism as a bunch of white, former working class women who have risen up the ranks and want to protect their status, stepping on anyone in their way.

Scribblenubbin

For once I want the media to portray Queer couples and characters without prejudice

A list of things I want and have every right to expect:

• Queer characters on my screen as actual people, in mainstream shows.  By Queer I mean EVERY part of the LGBTQ community.
• Queer relationships.  When the fans see a more probable relationship than the mainstream media do in a show from the chemistry between actors, it’s insulting when it’s ignored.
• A Disney film with a lesbian princess and a gay prince. Children need to know that their families are represented even in kids movies.
• Queer people to be treated with respect. Period.