Stuff going on! The Haps! The 411!

Hi, kids! Hope all is well with you and yours. Here’s some stuff going on in the world o’ lesfic!

This weekend (February 7-10! 2014!) at the Virtual Livingroom, there will be a Spot-On fabulous-ness with writers from and/or based in New York. Here are the deets:

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Spot-on New York, New York at the Virtual Living ROOM

Weekend of 7th – 10th February 2014

New York City is a hot-spot for writers of lesbian fiction. Thanks to hosts Cindy Rizzo, Cheri Crystal, BeniGee, Devlyn and The Bookgeek, there is the chance to meet and chat with the following authors here at the virtual living room:

Ann Aptaker
Cheri Crystal
R.G. Emanuelle
JD Glass
Jane Hoppen
SL Kassidy
Susan X Meagher
Cindy Rizzo
Nell Stark
Trinity Tam

So why not join us!

VIRTUAL LIVINGROOM
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Also coming up at the VLR Valentine’s weekend, Jove Belle and I (that would be moi, Andi Marquette), will be discussing…something at the VLR and taking questions. The SOMETHING is in the works, and if there’s anything anybody would like to chat about, drop in!

Also for Valentine’s Day, check this awesome-ness out. The University of Washington Bookstore in Seattle is hosting, with Old Growth Northwest’s Gay Romance Northwest initiative, a gathering of Pacific Northwest LGBT authors. That event is Thursday, February 13th, at 7 PM PST and it’s called Rainbow Valentine: A Celebration of LGBT Romance Fiction.

Lesfic author and international woman of mystery Victoria Oldham is doing all kinds of cool-ass things across the pond. She’s currently in Belgium traipsing about. She’ll be doing a writers’ retreat, however, in Spain coming up. Want more info on that? Check it out at Global Words.

Speaking of across the pond, for the haps in the UK region, check out the site UK Lesbian Fiction. All kinds of goodness regarding authors, books, and events. Well worth the virtual trip (and hopefully an actual trip in the future!). Here’s their “Events” page for easy-peasy-ness. Find them on Facebook HERE.

Have you checked out these two sites that list lesfic indie authors? NO? Well, gol’ durn it, here you go! Indie Lesfic (launched by RJ Samuel) and Sapphica Books (.net — not to be confused with the .com Sapphica). [Full disclosure — I, Andi Marquette, have a couple of listings on Sapphica]. Sapphica was launched by New Zealander author Kate Genet and her wife, Kelli Jae Baeli.

Other things to be apprised of:

Golden Crown Literary Society will hold its annual conference in Portland this year in July. The dates are July 9-13, at the Red Lion Hotel in Portland (which OMG is right next to the Columbia River SHUT UP HOW AWESOME IS THAT). More info for the conference HERE. Nominations listed for Goldie Awards HERE. Super fun. Readings, author chats, workshops, signing events, and hanging out.

The Left Coast Lesbian/Lesfic Conference is a go for this year, too. Its inaugural year was 2013. Well, it’s roaring out of the gate for the second year. It’ll be held in Palm Springs, CA again at the lovely Casitas Laquita women’s resort October 8-12. Workshops, talks, hanging out with authors, local entertainment. Here’s my rundown of last year’s LCLC (or, as I’ve taken to calling it, the “lick-lick.” STOP! JUST STOP!). It’s a BLAST and well worth it if you can go. Here’s the Facebook page for more info.

The Bold Strokes UK Book Event is in Nottingham this year, June 7th-8th (or, in proper English format, 7-8 June). They’re still getting the program set up, but stay tuned to this link for more info.

The Lambda Literary Awards are June 2, 2014. To check on current submissions for the awards (and for more info about them), go HERE.

And finally, how about some Calls for Submissions (take that any way you want…heh):

Skin to Skin, a quarterly coffee table mag for women of the LGBT community is “mixes poetry, prose, essays, and fiction/nonfiction with the artistry of the female art form. It is a platform that promotes unity, freedom of expression, and the sharing of ideas.” You’ve got ’til March 1 to get stuff in. Click HERE for more info.

Bold Strokes Books is doing an anthology of re-imagined fairy tales. Deadline for submissions is fast approaching (March 1), but there’s still time! Here’s the info.

But there’s still plenty of time to get in on Ylva Publishing’s lesfic Halloween anthology! Deadline is July 31, 2014. Guidelines HERE.

AND! Liz McMullen is looking for original non-English language short stories or poems for Lizzie’s Bedtime Stories, International Languages Special! Click here for more info! Deadline is March 15!

Okay, all! Just some of the things going on in lesfic-land. If you have an event coming up, let us know at our “Contact” page above. Please send it at least a week in advance (ideally 2 weeks or more) so we can try to get it mentioned or posted in something like this. Don’t send us notice the day before. That causes us to go all Frownie McCrankypants and we probably won’t be able to post it because it’s too short notice. Thank you. 🙂

Happy Monday!