To start with the trivial (self-promo) and then work up:

There is a Holiday Gallery up at the Erotic Readers & Writers site, and it includes two Christmas stories of mine:

"A Visit from the Man in Red" (an in-the-closet drama of two women, a child and a impressive "brother" in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, circa 1968)

"Amanda and the Elf" (a divorced mother who has worked hard all year gets her wish - a man too good to be real).

There is a new column of mine in "Sex Is All Metaphors" in "Smutters Lounge" -  www.erotica-readers.com

There is a whole new set of reviews for December here: www.eroticarevealed.com

The list of finalists in the EPPIES (annual awards from the Electronically Published Internet Connection) is up. Nothing of mine is there. Congratulations to all who made it.

I got a relatively no-frills, straightforward (so to speak) contract for a story in an erotic lesbian anthology today. On the weekend, I got a contract from Ravenous Romance for one story in one anthology. The document resembles the Treaty of Versailles or the Edict of Nantes. Lucky I had the envelope weighed - I had to add extra postage to mail back 2 copies. This is okay - I suppose all the legal bases must be covered.
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Why I have not blogged about violence in Mumbai: because I don't have a firm grasp on it. Yes, it's horrific, and yes, Canadians are involved, and yes, I sympathize with the victims and survivors of all nationalities. But I'm not sure what was the desired outcome. If the English-Speaking Devils were the targets, the attack was not very efficient - too many local folks were harmed as well, and some foreigners escaped. And the attack on world-famous Indian architecture leaves me baffled. I would like to see an analysis by someone who has one.

Everyone should watch the news about the Canadian federal government!! We haven't seen such political drama since the Quebec Referendum of 1995 or maybe since the October Crisis of 1970 - maybe since the country was formed (without bloodshed) in 1867.
Of course everyone (esp. in Canada) knows that nothing exciting happens here - we are too civilized for that. :)

Some folks here might remember my private posts about the local GLBT community. Well, now I've heard about the "health committee" (to find funds for health/counselling services which already exist elsewhere in this province) from 2 gay men who will not work with or even speak to each other. Partner & I met with one yesterday, I ran into the other at noon today. Clearly, there is no unified committee, no unified plan, no proposal, no $$$. Something of this nature took place in the 1990s. I still have ridiculously old handwritten minutes from the older group, and here we are, reinventing the wheel.

Two local GLBT orgs died several weeks ago. One was the only lesbian org in this town. Some days I seriously feel as if there is a huge, poisonous cloud of homophobia overhead which prevents any progress from being made. I am really tempted to withdraw from every queer thing except the choir, which gives me energy instead of draining it away.

On Wed, we'll be singing in the local carol festival in a big downtown church:

"What child is this, who laid to rest
On Mary's lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthem sweet
While shepherds watch are keeping."

Coalition-building seems to be working for President-Elect Obama, at least so far. We shall see. The biggest challenge will be the economy. I hope ordinary people on the ground (as distinct from multi-billionaires) aren't being hit hard yet.