Ptown ’07 Was a Blast!

We’re home from our week long vacation to Ptown for Women’s Week, and I thought I’d share some highlights of the trip. Nothing will surpass our rainy night adventure, but one of my highlights was meeting and talking to two of my favorite lesbian fiction writers: Kim Baldwin and Gabrielle Goldsby. Both were extremely nice and very personable. I also got another book signed by the best lesfic writer Radclyffe. I’d met her before the last trip to Ptown, so I’m not all gushy about that although it’s always a pleasure to chat with her. She has done amazing things for the lesfic industry. I just had to tell her so.

I spoke with Baldwin about her action adventure novels. Her first romance, Focus of Desire, was just published, so I thought I’d give that a try. She signed it and asked that I email her to let her know how I liked it. I read it on the plane ride home yesterday, so I’ll be sure to do that.

Goldsby was equally nice having posed several times for a photo. I grabbed her coming out of a reading at the Vixen for my first shot, but my photographer (Paffy) failed me and captured me with my eyes closed. She looked amazing of course. Then we ran into her again at Now Voyager and I got this shot. I hope she doesn’t think I was stalking her. lol.

Anyway, we spoke briefly about her work and the possibility of African American characters in future novels. She says her next novel out in 2008 will have a Black character, although she will need to do some research on that. I understood exactly what she was talking about. I had a similar conversation with Marianne K. Martin about a couple of Black characters she wrote in her novel, Mirrors. She did a fabulous job of portraying the stereotypical Black woman in contrast to the other extreme, a bi-racial Black woman who some may consider “not black enough.” It was a really interesting dynamic, and for a woman who is not Black, I thought she did a great job.

I can’t wait to see what Goldsby comes out with next. But it turns out she already has three other books published besides one of my favorites, Such a Pretty Face. I need to hurry and catch up. If you’re into reading fiction, I highly recommend reading something from any of the four authors I mention here. Such a Pretty Face is real, yet hilarious. Baldwin is the master of action/adventure, rivaling even Rad, who writes everything superbly. And Martin is just great. I don’t even know why, but her books are just different, deeper maybe, and real.

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