Conquering Venus, Alex Gildzen & more

The poor photo at left is of the chapbook created by good friend Cleo Creech of the first two chapters of Conquering Venus. We only made 125 copies and these will go in the swag bags at the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans. Cleo and I spent the afternoon with his nifty chapbook stapler putting these together, and they'll be on their way to NOLA tomorrow. 

Speaking of Saints & Sinners, I'll be sitting on a panel called "What's All This?!: Getting Online Without Getting In Over Your Head" with Megan Volpert, Theresa Davis and Amy King. We'll be discussing new media and how to navigate Facebook, Twitter and blogs and how to use them for reaching an audience. I'll also be reading with Michael Montlak, C. Cleo Creech, Lewis DeSimone, Peter Dube and Christopher Hennessy as part of a special event at the festival to mark the release of My Diva: 65 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them anthology. It's shaping up to be a fab weekend.

If you haven't read the interview with poet Alex Gildzen (Alex in Movieland, Postcard Memoirs) at the Otoliths' blog, go now. It's one of the best interviews I've read in ages -- courageous and thought-provoking. My favorite line: Being gay is a gift. Alex said the response to the interview has been amazing and he's having his "Susan Boyle moment." It's highly deserved. He's a fantastic poet.