The Return of Innocence: A Fantasy Adventure has received a nomination for a 2007 Allbooks Reviewer’s Choice Award. Allbooks will announce the winners in January 2007.

The Return of Innocence: A Fantasy Adventure is a campy, fast-paced novel about a young swordswoman who can’t stay out of trouble but really just wants to buy some seeds. I tried to make it exciting and funny. Toni Davis also contributed to that novel.

The Whole 9 is a new interactive site for creative types to share their work and network with each other. Please see my writing portfolio at The Whole 9.

I’ve added Texas Tour, another look at Texas-related books. I’ve also updated my Link Trade page with new resources.

Books.

After its authors appeared on Oprah and various other programs, You, On a Diet: The Owner's Manual for Waist Management started selling out everywhere. You, The Owner's Manual has also flown back up the nonfiction charts, while Suzanne Somers is enjoying similar success with her alternative medicine book Ageless: The Naked Truth about Bioidentical Hormones.

If The Acorn Gathering: Writers Uniting Against Cancer sold anywhere near as much as those books, it would raise an incredible sum for the fight against cancer; please take a moment to read about The Acorn Gathering: Writers Uniting Against Cancer.

The Acorn Gathering:
Writers Uniting Against Cancer

Music and movies.

Visit Rainbow World Radio Presents StoneWall Society Birthday Show to hear new music from gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender musicians CRAYMO, Deb Barber, Elton Costello, fundamentalists, Andrew Suvalsky, Lipstick Conspiracy, D.C. Anderson, Daphne Rubin Vega, David Brown, Eliane Ellis, Joshua Klipp, Ember Swift, Moon Trent, Ochi, Shawn Ryan, Soce The Elemental Wizard, Oestrongenix, Tomas Bell, Tommy Johns, and Emily Nyman.

I recently heard and loved The Saints Are Coming, a CD single that combines two of my favorite bands, U2 and Green Day. They performed the song during half-time at the Superdome, when it reopened for a Saints game on September 25, 2006.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is a sure-bet for one of the top-selling DVD’s this holiday season, but I think Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition will also be popular. The alternate versions of the first two Superman movies make that box set appealing, and the enjoyable movie Superman Returns should find a larger audience on DVD than it did during a crowded box-office summer.

To promote the AIDS-themed movie 3 Needles and support AIDS Prevention in Africa, visit www.MySpace.com/3Needles.

Listen for my interview with the founder of StoneWall Society on the internet radio station Rainbow World Radio; it will premiere on November 15, 2006 at 7:00 PM eastern time and
run through December 1, 2006.

StoneWall Society promotes music, books, artwork, and other media that feature positive images of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

I previously received two 2002 Pride in the Arts Awards and a 2003 Pride in the Arts Award.

Book review: All We Have Is Now

Robert Taylor’s novel All We Have Is Now skillfully captures some of the worlds in which gay men find themselves: embraced by the supportive environment of the theater, hated in a small town, loved by a soul mate, or living with the grief of someone taken by AIDS or a hate crime. For narrator Ian McBride, however, the most troubling environment is one of openness and vulnerability. Ultimately, Taylor weaves a tale that not only reflects all those realities but also gives hope for gays, as well as anyone else who might feel different or isolated.

I especially enjoyed the stage scenes, in which McBride not only acts out but also internalizes some of the world’s most beloved plays. His interaction with the characters he portrays becomes an important and touching part of his budding relationship with a young admirer.

--Duane Simolke, author of The Acorn Stories, Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure, Holding Me Together, The Return of Innocence (with Toni Davis), and New Readings of Winesburg, Ohio.