John V. Amodeo Facebook.com/JohnVAmodeoAuthor Born in Troy, New York, John V. Amodeo now lives in the Hell’s Kitchen area of Manhattan. For three decades, Amodeo worked for the NYC public school system as assistant principal and history department head; now retired from that post, he is an adjunct professor of American history and political science at Mercy College. Amodeo exercises his love for NYC as a part-time tour guide. His previous books include: Voices of Hell’s Kitchen, a fictional account of the myriad personalities of his unique neighborhood. In addition, he wrote, Believe—Journey from Jacksonville, a biography of former world boxing champion, Ken Norton and Blessed or Cursed, a biography of WBF current light heavy champion, Rayco Saunders.

Renair Amin www.lifestylinwithrenair.com Claiming Brooklyn as her home, native Philadelphian Renair Amin is a true reflection of a “LifeStyler.” Renair has turned her tribulations into avenues of encouragement, inspiration and change. Under her life coaching practice, Spiritual Pit Stop Life Solutions, Renair launched Life Stylin’ with Renair to help individuals to “live life fabulous, again!” Already a Certified Relationship Coach, Renair took her teachings along with her own personal methodologies and created Reciprocity with Renair for couples who “love to give and give to love.” Being a licensed minister and a certified spiritual coach has helped her to understand that only through a Higher Power are all things possible and this paradigm she shares with the world. She has published a collection of poetry, Mental Silhouette and a self-help book, Pit Crew: How to Survive a Spiritual Pit Stop and will also release Domestically Cursed: A Story on Partnership Violence, a non-fiction eBook in April 2013. Renair Amin believes her Voice is her Purpose and uses it to help others turn their testimony into their living testament. Pit Crew: How to Survive a Spiritual Pit Stop is filled with accounts of how she overcame her own personal tragedies, she uses racing as a metaphor for life to give the reader two essentials—instructions on track navigation and insight on developing their own support structure, affectionately known as the Pit Crew.

Laura Antoniou lauraantoniou.com authored the well-known Marketplace series of erotic novels. She has also edited the groundbreaking Leatherwomen anthologies, and writes scholarly work on BDSM. In 2011, Antoniou won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Leather Association. Her work has been translated into Spanish, German, Hebrew, Japanese and Korean. With over 20 years of experience writing, teaching, and speaking about kinky sex communities, Antoniou has sold over 600,000 books and counting. She resides in Queens, New York.

Ryka Aoki is a writer, performer, and educator who has been honored by the California State Senate for her “extraordinary commitment to free speech and artistic expression, as well as the visibility and well-being of Transgender people.” Ryka appears in the recent trans documentaries Diagnosing Difference and Riot Acts, as well as the anthologies Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation (Seal Press), and Transfeminist Perspectives (Temple University). Ryka has an MFA in Creative Writing from Cornell University and is the recipient of a University Award from the Academy of American Poets. Her chapbook, Sometimes Too Hot the Eye of Heaven Shines, won the RADAR’s 2010 Eli Coppola Chapbook Contest. Her first full-length volume, Seasonal Velocities, was released this year by Trans-Genre Press, the first press operated by and for trans people in the United States. Ryka was the inaugural performer for San Francisco’s first ever Transgender Stage at San Francisco Pride 2005, and has performed in venues including the San Francisco Pride Main Stage, the Columbus National Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival, the National Queer Arts Festival, Ladyfest South, Atlanta Pride, UCLA’s OutCRY, Santa Cruz Pride, and Emory University’s Pride Week. Ryka was keynote speaker at UC Santa Barbara’s 2005 Pride Week, GenderFusions 2008 at Columbia College, and UW Madison’s Trans Awareness Week 2009. She is a professor of English at Santa Monica College.

Norman Beim is a veteran playwright, author and actor. His plays have been  produced nationally and internationally and have won a number of awards. As an actor he has worked on Broadway and off Broadway.

Imogen Binnie is the author of the zines The Fact That It’s Funny Doesn’t Make It A Joke and Stereotype Threat. She is currently a monthly contributor to Maximum Rocknroll and has previously written for Aorta Magazine, The Skinny, and PrettyQueer.com. She writes about books at keepyourbridgesburning.com and performs in the queer doom metal band Correspondences. Her first novel, Nevada, has just been released from Topside Press.

Dustin Brookshire Atlanta poet. Full bio to come
Sibling Rivalry Showcase

Brian Centrone is an author and playwright. His short stories and poems have appeared in literary journals from Westchester Community College, Fordham University, and The University of Manchester (UK), where he received his MA in Novel Writing. In 2012 New Lit Salon Press published a mini eBook collection of Brian’s short stories entitled, I Voted for Biddy Schumacher: Mismatched Tales from the Mind of Brian Centrone.  Four of his one-act plays have been produced for the stage as part of the National Foundation for the Arts’ The Big Read Program in Massillon, Ohio. His debut novel, An Ordinary Boy, was an instant bestseller on Rainbow eBooks and topped the Gay and Lesbian Literature section on Amazon. You can find out more about Brian and his work at www.briancentrone.com.

Jane Chambers, feminist author of the seventies and eighties, best known for her play Last Summer At Bluefish Cove, also wrote several novels and poetry, as well as other plays. She won multiple writing awards during her short life, and has been honored by various playwriting awards given in her honor. Last Summer.. .continues to be taught in many universities and is still performed world wide. Read by Francine Trevens.

Roberta Degnore is a novelist, Jack Nicholson Prize screenwriter and filmmaker. Her thirteenth novel, Until You See Me, is a love murder inspired by events in the 1930s. Her earlier twelve books were romances in which the heroine declined to be happily married. Written under pseudonyms, they are being reissued with a vengeance under her own name. Ms Degnore’s fourteenth novel is a departure into science not-so-much fiction. Invisible Soft Return:\ visits sex and identity changes‑or not‑throughout time. Moving in arcs instead of boring straight lines Ms Degnore travels widely. She regrets not heeding Blondie’s suggestion to die young and stay pretty. Oh well… Ms Degnore lives in New York but bi-coasts to LA in addition to hanging out outside the US. robertadegnore.com

Nicolas Destino, originally from Niagara Falls, New York, is a poet and essayist whose work includes a co-authored chapbook, Of Kingdoms & Kangaroo, and an essay, “Travel of Sound,” which received notable mention in the Best American Essays series. He studied violin performance at SUNY Fredonia and received an MFA in poetry from Goddard College. Destino currently lives in Montclair, New Jersey, and teaches English at The College of New Rochelle in New York.
Sibling Rivalry Showcase

Terence Diamond is a playwright, journalist, and short story editor whose work has been listed in Gay and Lesbian American Plays. He is formerly an assistant professor of English at Long Island University and a member of the Dramatists Guild. Terence teaches grant writing to artists at 3rd Ward Education in Brooklyn, contributes to PrettyQueer.com and Curve Magazine. Terence worked on the novel Big Pink Meat, from which his story is excerpted, at the PAF residency in France.

Joel Gomez-Dossi became a novelist by way of journalism, theater, television, and web production. He has been a stage manager; a producer for PBS; and was the production manager for the Emmy Award-winning science series, Newton’s Apple. Joel has written about film and theater for regional publications across the country, and he penned an entertainment column for the queer press that ran in twelve states. Pursued was published by Bold Strokes Books in December 2012. Deadly Cult will be released this August. Joel and his husband live happily ever after in upstate New York.

Aimee Herman is on a strict diet of peanut butter, coffee, and farmer’s markets. Sometimes she also eats meat. Read her work in It’s Animal but Merciful (great weather for MEDIA, 2012), Wilde Magazine, and Lavender Review. Or binge on her book of poems, to go without blinking (BlazeVOX books, 2012).

Collin Kelley is the author of the novels Conquering Venus and Remain In Light, which was a 2012 finalist for the Townsend Prize for Fiction. His poetry collections include Better To Travel, Slow To Burn, and After the Poison. Kelley is also the author of the short story collection, Kiss Shot. A recipient of the Georgia Author of the Year Award, Deep South Festival of Writers Award, and Goodreads Poetry Award, Kelley’s poetry, essays and interviews have appeared in magazines, journals, and anthologies around the world. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information, visit www.collinkelley.com.
Sibling Rivalry Showcase

D.L. King dlkingerotica.com and dlkingerotica.blogspot.com, editor of two Lambda Literary Award Finalists: this year’s The Harder She Comes and 2010’s Where the Girls Are, as well as Under Her Thumb, Seductress, Carnal Machines and The Sweetest Kiss, among others, can also be found in Best Lesbian Erotica, Best Women’s Erotica, Say Please, Girl Fever and many more. She’s published two novels and edits the review site, Erotica Revealed.

Jeremy Jordan King Jeremy grew up in South Jersey, where his primary life goal was to become a mermaid. When that proved impossible, he decided that the next best thing would be to move to New York City and study theater at Marymount Manhattan College. He lived an actor’s life for several years before he realized that he’d be more satisfied as a writer. And he was. Most of his work centers on the gay “emerging adult” as he struggles with finding purpose, happiness, and love in a world not quite built for him. He’s also inspired by the fantastic (or what he hopes to be fantastic). Bringing the extraordinary into a rather ordinary world is a theme that he loves to revisit. Besides fiction, he dabbles in essays, screenwriting, and illustration.

Michael Klein’s previous poetry collections are then, we were still living, a Lambda Literary Award finalist, and 1990, which won the award in 1993.  His books of prose are Track Conditions, a memoir, and The End of Being Known, essays.  He lives in New York City and Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Sibling Rivalry Showcase

D. Jackson Leigh A Georgia peach transplanted to North Carolina, D. Jackson Leigh has worked the past thirty years as a print journalist and played an endless parade of sports. Although she works long hours commanding reporters and editing on deadline, the first thing she wants to do when she gets home is dive into a good book … or write one for herself.

James Lecesne is co-founder of The Trevor Project, the only nationwide 24-hour crisis intervention and suicide prevention lifeline for LGBT and Questioning teens. He has published two young adult novels, Absolute Brightness and Virgin Territory. His solo show, Word of Mouth, was awarded both a NY Drama Desk Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award. Trevor, a novella for young adults based on his solo show, was published last fall.

Charlie Maffei—Charlie The Matchmaker—is a professional matchmaker for men and women from all walks of life. With his reasonable membership fees and reputation for personalized 1 on 1 service, MEN and WOMEN both STRAIGHT and GAY are flocking to Charlie for guidance in finding love. Charlie prides himself on 1 on 1 contact with every single client and works personally with him OR her to help find their perfect match. Having been in a relationship with his husband of 22 years has not only given Charlie the knowledge of how to find the perfect match, but just as importantly, how to keep it. Many of his past clients actually turn to Charlie for ongoing relationship advice. For insight into his dating advice, you can purchase a copy of his new book Love Made Easy With CharlieTheMatchmaker available on Amazon and Kindle. Charlie is also a contributor for The Huffington Post and MyLifestyle Magazine.

Shelley Marlow is a writer and artist living in Brooklyn. Marlow is the author of the manuscripts, Two Augusts in a Row in a Row, and Lesbians of Arabia. Excerpts appear in The Bonds of Love catalogue; Zingmagazine; and Sandbox magazine. Marlow wrote the book and lyrics to the feminist musical, UnKnot Turandot, performed at La Mama. Marlow presented the project: International Witch Stories, in the Italian Pavilion at the 48th Venice Biennale. Anne Wolfe wrote about Marlow’s essay published in the St. Petersburg Review, Notes in Kyzyl, “describes a woman traveling across Russia, looking to meet a shaman……
Her true story of self-discovery takes one on a trip further out of the ordinary, bending one’s mind more than much fiction.”

Joshua Martino is a writer from New York. Fontana is his first novel

Annemarie Monahan annemarie-monahan.com Three (PM/Flashpoint Press, 2012) One yellow April morning, a 17-year-old girl asks herself, “Do I dare to eat a peach?” What she decides will send her life in one of three radically different directions. That morning is long past. Now she is forty-one. On one life path, she calls herself Ántonia. She’s barely survived the implosion of a lesbian Utopian commune, one built on an abandoned oil rig. Her lost Eden built by Eves. On another path, she is Katherine, a physician. Memory of two lovers chafes her like a hair shirt. After the death of one, she contacts the other: the deeply religious Amanda. On a third, she is Kitty. She’s been happily married for twenty-three years. Happily enough. Until her professor asks her for coffee and kisses her. Who are we? Who haven’t we been? Have we dared? Three of one woman’s possible lives are about to collide. As beautifully written as it is thought-provoking, Three is literature for grown-ups. It is for anyone who has ever yearned­– for a person, for a better world, for the whisper of the sacred. As one advance reader wrote, “If Woolf, Winterson, and Russ set sail for that lighthouse together, the result might be Three.”

Nora Olsen ora Olsen was born and raised in New York City. She received a B.A. from Brown University. Although her mother, a prize-winning author, warned her not to become a writer, Nora didn’t listen. Nora’s debut novel The End: Five Queer Kids Save The World was published in 2010. Swans & Klons is her second YA novel. Her short fiction has appeared in Collective Fallout and the anthology Heiresses of Russ 2011: The Year’s Best Lesbian Speculative Fiction. Nora’s goal is to write thrilling stories and novels that LGBTQ teens can see themselves reflected in.  Nora lives in New York’s Hudson Valley with her girlfriend, writer Áine Ní Cheallaigh, and their two adorable cats. When not writing, Nora works as a babysitter. She also enjoys volunteering for Room to Write, an organization of publishing professionals and writers who visit NYC classrooms to teach creative writing. The highlight of Nora’s year is volunteering at Camp Jabberwocky, a summer camp for children and adults with disabilities.

Ken O’Neill was born in Bridgeport Connecticut to an Irish Catholic father and a Romanian Orthodox mother, which  means that most years he had the good fortune to receive Easter candy not just once but twice. Ken lives in New York City with his partner and their two cats. When he’s not checking his Amazon rating to see if anyone has purchased his book, he enjoys reading, dancing (though usually when no one is watching), and eating dark chocolate, purely for medicinal reasons.

Dr. Joel Palathinkal is a seasoned technology manager, author, and entrepreneur. He is currently a Project Manager for for a major publisher in New York City.  He interfaces with magazine editors, fashion bloggers, social media mavens, and business teams to ensure smooth Ad campaigns. In addition, Dr. Palathinkal also has a passion for mentoring young professionals in leadership; and serves as a graduate faculty scholar at a major university. He has authored a book on emerging technologies in healthcare and is currently publishing books and educational lectures on professional development and leadership.

Doreen Perrine has published two novels, Clara’s Story and the sequel Iz’s Journey, through Bedazzled Ink’s Nuance Imprint. Doreen’s short stories have been published in numerous anthologies and literary ezines including The Copperfield Review, Lacuna, Harrington Lesbian Literary Quarterly, Lesbian Connection, Queer and Catholic, Gay Flash Fiction, Read These Lips, and Queer Collection. Her plays have been performed throughout New York City and she is also an artist and art teacher who resides in the Hudson Valley region of New York. Her website address is http://doreenperrine.tripod.com/
Clara’s Story: nuancebooks.bedazzledink.com/nuance-clarasstory.html
Iz’s Journey: nuancebooks.bedazzledink.com/nuance-izsjourney.html

Andrew J. Peters likes retold stories with a subversive twist, particularly when that twist turns heteronormativity on its head. The Seventh Pleiade, the story of a gay teen who becomes a hero during the last days of Atlantis, is his first novel. A 2011 Lambda Literary Foundation Fellow, Andrew has written short fiction for numerous publications. He lives in New York City with his partner and their cat, Chloë.

Janet Rose Born a “red diaper baby,” Janet Rose came of age in the sixties. While earning her master’s degree in English Literature at Berkeley, she participated in the Free Speech Movement, and has remained active in the anti-war, civil rights, LGBTQ and women’s movements. The younger Janet was a fan of comic book superheroes, her first introduction to science fiction. The older gobbled up Asimov, Le Guin, Delany, and her favorite, Octavia Butler. All profoundly inspired her own work; she learned that science fiction is among the most versatile genres for political expression. Beyond the Horse’s Eye is for the 99%.

Mark Brennan Rosenberg is the author of Blackouts and Breakdowns and writes the blog The Single Life. He currently resides in New York City and is single—so if you know of anyone, let him know.
Random House Showcase

Sam Rosenthal‘s debut, RYE, is a sex+positive genderQueer erotic novel. Time Out Chicago wrote, “Underneath all the androgyny and fluctuation, the book’s about human connection. Rosenthal’s use of sex and gender identities to illustrate how we reach toward and away from relationships is merely a new approach to an old idea: We all need intimacy with others to deepen our understanding of ourselves.” Rosenthal’s underground rock band Black Tape For A Blue Girl has ten self-released studio albums with over 100,000 sales worldwide. The band’s fans include filmmaker David Lynch and actress Sasha Grey.

Dr. Ronni Sanlo is a well-known speaker and workshop presenter at colleges, universities, organizations, and businesses around the country. While her focus is on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) issues and history, Ronni’s passion lies in helping LGBT folks tell their stories and write their books. As owner of Purple Books/Distinctions Publishing, Ronni speaks not only from her perspective as a publisher but also from her personal and professional life experiences. Ronni retired from UCLA as the Senior Associate Dean of Students, Professor/Director of the UCLA Masters of Education in Student Affairs, and as director of the UCLA LGBT Center. Formerly, she was the o LGBT Center director at the University of Michigan, and  prior to entering higher education, Ronni was an HIV epidemiologist in Florida. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida, and a masters and doctorate in educational leadership and organizational development from the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, FL. Ronni lives in Palm Springs, CA, where she continues to write, help people publish independently, and creates lesbian writing retreats.

Justine Saracen After years of ‘professing’ at universities and writing for international literary journals, Justine Saracen began creating from the imagination and the heart. Trips to Egypt, Morocco and Palestine inspired the Ibis Prophecy books, which move from Ancient Egyptian theology to the bloodthirsty Christianity of the Crusades. The playful first novel, The 100th Generation, was a finalist in the Queerlit Competition and the Ann Bannon Reader’s Choice award. The sequel, 2007 Lammy nominated Vulture’s Kiss, focuses on the first crusade and vividly dramatizes the dangers of militant religion. Lest anyone think that Saracen is done confronting religion, her current work in progress is about a transvestite in Venice who meets the terrors of the Inquisition and finds out something important — one might almost say appalling — about God. Scanning a fictional eye along the centuries, Saracen has a self-declared mission, to repopulate history with “the likes of us,” by which she appears to mean people who, not by their acts, but by their very lives, still scare the ignorant.

Shye is a performing poet who considers herself a “voice for those yet unable to speak.” She has appeared in the Inaugural edition of Kalyani Magazine, which featured The Cleansing, her first published work. She facilitates a writing workshop for LGBT youth and young adults who struggle with the circumstances of growing up LGBT. She has co-written a play, Suga-Free with Kevin E. Taylor Shye currently hosts, “Crack the Mic”, a monthly Open Mic series at the Artisan Collective in Newark and co-hosts, “LPJ’s Friday Night Jam” and appears as a contributor on the Women Writers in Bloom.

Cory Silverberg is a sexuality educator, author, consultant, and was a founding member of the Come As You Are Co-operative. He received his Master’s in Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. He served as the chair of sexuality educator certification for the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT), and teaches on topics including sex and disability, sex and technology, and pleasure, inclusion, and access across North America. He is currently writing a series of three books for children about sexuality for Seven Stories Press. Cory can be found online at sexuality.about.com, where he writes about sexual politics, education, culture, and health.

Artemis Smith Homophile activist and best-selling pulp fiction author Artemis Smith (Annselm Morpurgo) is currently completing her memoirs and a set of mystical texts building on her newly republished philophical and futurist titles. Before Stonewall, she published in ONE, was elected Vice President at the first meeting of Mattachine Society of NY and was on the cover of Vol. 5 #6 of The Ladder. Artemis is thrilled to be showcased at this year’s Rainbow Book Fair.
Special “Queer Treasure” Showcase

Natty Soltesz nattysoltesz.com Natty Soltesz’s debut book Backwoods (Queer Mojo, 2011) was a 2011 Lambda Award finalist. Conceived as a gay-themed erotic take on Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, Backwoods is a novel-in-stories of the steamy underside of rural America; the back roads, back doors and back rooms of a town called Groom, Pennsylvania. Featuring nine beautiful black and white illustrations by master erotic illustrator Michael Kirwan, Backwoods is by turn poignant and pornographic, romantic and raunchy, tender and titillating….

Nell Stark grew up predominately on the east coast of the USA, attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and is now pursuing a doctorate in medieval English literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  When she is not teaching, writing, or teaching in the university’s Writing Center, she enjoys cooking, sailing, reading, and any sport that involves running around maniacally.

Trinity Tam is an award-winning writer-producer of movies and television.  Her favorite job was in video games.  Her least favorite, in mutual funds.  Everything in between ended in dotcom.  In 1996, she graduated cum laude with a BA in East Asian Studies.  She giggles whenever someone says cum laude but she doesn’t blush.  She thinks twelve years living in Manhattan makes her a New Yorker but concedes that loathing the Yankees makes her a bad one.

Mark Thornton resides in the backwoods of the Pocono Mountains with his trusted canines, Apollo & Bo. His first two books of horror short stories, Twisted Tales of an Otherwise Ordinary Mind Volume 1 & 2, were widely enjoyed by horror fans. His writings have been compared by some readers to the masters of horror, King and Koontz. Fans of his writing can check out the Twizted Talez channel on You Tube where the author presents a new short story to scare and entertain you monthly. Mark Thornton attended Shippensburg University and studied Radio/Television, but his spare time was spent writing for the local newspaper as well as for himself. He is currently working on the second chapter of ‘The Bridesmen’ and the continuing adventures of Madison County, as well as the final volume to the Twisted Tales trilogy. His first YA novel, The Ringmaster’s Passage, is expected later this year. http://www.markthorntonbooks.com

Marshall Thornton is a novelist, playwright and screenwriter living in Long Beach, California. He is best known for the Boystown detective series, which received an honorable mention in the 2011 Rainbow Awards and was also a finalist for the 2011 Lambda Book Award–Gay Mystery. Other novels include the erotic comedy The Perils of Praline, or the Amorous Adventures of a Southern Gentleman in Hollywood, Desert Run and Full Release. Marshall has an MFA in screenwriting from UCLA, where he received the Carl David Memorial Fellowship and was recognized in the Samuel Goldwyn Writing awards.

Francine L. Trevens, a writer herself, was the publicist who moved Last Summer… to off-Broadway, later directed an Off Broadway production of Jane’s A Late Snow, and ultimately took over JH Press, (now TnT Classic Books) helped found the Greater New York Independent Publishers Association and is offering  Jane’s (and other major gay writers from the 80’s) books at the GNYIPA booth. Reading the work of Jane Chambers.

Douglas Blair Turnbaugh wil be presenting Free Hand: Sketchbook Drawings from 1940-Present,by Douglas Blair Turnbaugh, New York and Innsbruck, 2013; Beat It: 28 Drawings by Douglas Blair Turnbaugh, New York 1983; Cherubim and the Ecstacy of Saint Teresa: Photo portrait heads of men before, during and after Orgasm, New York, 2009; Patrick Angus: Los Angeles Drawings, New York and Berlin, 2003; Duncan Grant and the Bloombury Group, Bloomsbury Books, 1987. Plus a selection of rare editions of fine arts titles from Allerheiligenpresse/All Saints Press, Innsbruck, Austria.