Author Interview || Aliette de Bodard

When I first heard about In The Vanishers’ Palace being a Beauty and the Beast sapphic retelling involving dragons I knew right away I had to have this novella on my reading list as soon as possible. Putting together all these themes I love is an easy way to get me hyped about a story! So, when Aliette de Bodard answered my call for authors I was pleasantly surprised and eager to do this interview. If my short introduction to this book is enough to get you interested, I know her answers will get you to buy this book or to run to a library catalog to get a copy as soon as possible (like I did!).

Interview 

Q1: The premise of your novella sounds so interesting and it caught my attention right away. Where did the inspiration come from for this tale?

I grew up with stories of fishermen who found dragon kingdoms under the sea, so the idea of a scholar falling in love with a dragon strongly resonated for me. I merged this story with a favourite of mine, Beauty and the Beast–I absolutely love the dynamic of a distant and fey person falling in love with a gentler one, but the consent dynamics of BatB are particularly bad, in the sense that it’s pure Stockholm Syndrome: one cannot possibly give consent to one’s jailer. This story was about rewriting Beauty and the Beast in a way that addressed the issues of consent and freedom and what love means, and it ended up being about post-colonialism as well, what it means to be left behind in a country ruined by war and exploitation, what it means to find one’s own destiny, and how to break the cycle of seeing other people as only resources.

Author Interview || Chi Yu Rodriguez

If you still don’t know about #romanceclass, it’s more than time for you to check this wonderful group of authors from the Philippines who write romance! I always love their books and I’m so happy to see them publishing more LGBTQ+ books lately. When I found Chi Yu Rodriguez’s No Two Ways on twitter and ran to read the summary on Goodreads, I had no doubt that I needed to interview the author so more people could hear about it. Gladly, she was excited to be on the blog as much as I was excited to have her over.

Interview

Q1: First of all, let me just say I absolutely adore the premise of your book! Where did the inspiration come from to write a story with a makeover reality show for a romance?

Thank you, Maria! ❤

I already knew I was going to write a book with a bisexual MC and that I wanted it to be the queerest book I’ve ever written in my life. A short story with high school age AJ already existed though the anthology it belonged to hadn’t been published yet. I also knew I wanted a botched one-night-stand and a queer group of friends. But I had no idea how I was going to tell the story.

I’d been watching this makeover show on Netflix called 100% Hotter. It was a trainwreck, really. The makeovers were all over the top makeunders and oh boy the commentary. But I couldn’t stop watching. One night they made over this artsy/grungy girl I think? She was rated so low in the beginning and after they turned her as vanilla as vanilla could go, she was suddenly a ten. They completely erased her personality and it annoyed me so much.

I don’t remember exactly what happened after that. But the next thing I knew, I had typed up the initial blurb to No Two Ways on my phone. On the eve of Bi Visibility Day, no less! Then I just ran with it.

Maria recs || Sapphic media to watch on Netflix

Every time I open Netflix, there is a moment of struggle to find something new that I’m actually interested in watching. I scroll through all the different genres until I get stuck in the LGBTQ+ section that barely has anything that I find enjoyable or that I haven’t watched a hundred times already. But sometimes I find one or another new surprise! So I’ve decided to share some of the movies and series that I loved because I’m sure someone else will need this small but nice list. Hopefully, more sapphic media will be added to the catalog or someone will recommend me some more options! Feel free to add your own favorites at the comments.

 

Movies

 

Ed Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga

Trailer:

Summary:

Some love stories are not simple, Sweety’s is one such story. She has to contend with her over-enthusiastic family that wants to get her married, a young writer who is completely smitten by her, a secret that she harbors close to her heart and ultimately the truth that her true love might not find acceptance in her family and society. Resolving these issues proves hilarious, touching and life-changing.

Brigitte Bautista releases You, Me, U.S.

Brigitte Bautista, author of f/f new adult novel “Don’t Tell My Mother” and co-editor of the romanceclass queer anthology “Start Here: Short Stories of First Encounters”, is set to release her second novel “You, Me, U.S.” on April 15.

You, Me, U.S. is a stand-alone novel set in the grit and hustle of Manila, where the prospect of love and happiness is complicated by lifelong ambitions and family expectations. The story follows the story of best friends Jo and Liza, who are as opposite as night and day. Sex worker Jo swears by the worry-free, one-day-at-a-time dance through life. Salesclerk Liza has big plans for her family’s future, and there is nothing bigger than a one-way trip to the U.S. But an almost-kiss, a sex dare, and news of Liza’s engagement to her American boyfriend unveil feelings Jo and Liza never thought they had. Deciding between staying together and drifting apart puts Liza’s best-laid plans and Jo’s laidback life in jeopardy.

If friends-to-lovers romance trope and navigating family expectations is your jam, be sure to grab a copy of You, Me, U.S. on Amazon Kindle while it’s still $0.99. Price stands until release day.

Need to hear what other readers thought of You, Me, U.S.? Check out a few early reviews on Goodreads.

Author Bio:

Brigitte Bautista is currently juggling her day job as a software engineer and her passion for writing. She was a participant in Anvil Publishing’s  #SparkNA writing workshop, where her first novel “Don’t Tell My Mother” was produced. Since then, the novel has been included in National Bookstore’s best-selling list. More recently, she worked with #romanceclass as co-editor and contributor of Start Here, a romance anthology of m/m, f/f and nonbinary/f stories.

Author Interview || Shelby Eileen

Hi, everyone! It’s been a while. After almost eight months on hiatus, I’m finally trying to bring this blog back. And what better way to restart than sharing a friend’s work over here? It’s my pleasure to have Shelby Eileen interviewed at Bibliosapphic. Their poetry has always been such a great inspiration for me so check it out if you also love heartbreaking but powerful words full of emotions that will make you feel less alone.

Interview

Q1: Introduce new readers to your poetry. What are each of your collections about?

My first collection, soft in the middle, is based around a breakup I went through where the lines between friendship and romantic relationship were really, really blurred. It was a breakup nonetheless. It was my first experience with writing about my queerness and feelings for a girl. It also deals with body image issues and fat positivity.

My second collection, sunfish, is a collection of poems exclusively about my family. How much I miss my late grandparents, how I struggled with feeling like I didn’t belong in my family and in my religion(s), and shamelessly, honestly, exposing how difficult it is to navigate familial relationships especially between me and my parents. Very different vibe from soft in the middle!

My latest collection, Goddess of The Hunt, is about the Greek Goddess Artemis and her aromantic-asexual identity. She was a virgin goddess of many things- nature, young girls, childbirth, the moon, the hunt- and I wanted to explore how the queer aroace identity would interact with and affect the other iconic elements of her. Artemis also inspired me to show different kinds of strengths in my poems- the hard, violent warrior kind, as well as the soft, self-aware kind.

Author Interview || Ceillie Simkiss

 

Ceillie Simkiss is publishing her first novella Learning Curves today. It’s a sweet and fun f/f story about a plus size Puerto Rican lesbian and a panromantic asexual girl who form a relationship while trading college notes and studying together in the library.
Ceillie has written a wonderfully diverse story about two strong career-focused women who find love and companionship together, and I couldn’t miss the chance of having her here to share her inspirations and favorite lesfic, on our blog!

Q1: How does it feel to be publishing your first F/F novella?

Honestly, it’s a little terrifying, but I’ve seen a ton of support from my friends and online community. I’ve always heard that f/f doesn’t sell, but I’ve almost reached 100 preorders in the month that it’s been available, with many other promising to order once it’s available for real.

I think, given that this is the first book I’ve ever put out into the world, that this is a great start. Now I just have to wait until it publishes and hope that the readers love it as much as I do!

Sapphic Music Videos

It’s no news that books and girls are some of my favorite things. But this pride month I wanted to share with everyone my love for music too! From Hayley Kiyoko bringing 20gayteen to a new level to Janelle Monáe opening up about her sexuality, this year has been a great one for us. I feel like music videos are kinda filling the void of F/F love stories we still can’t find in movies, especially when I watch videos like What I Need by Hayley Kiyoko ft. Kehlani that just came out yesterday (I mean, how epic was that last kiss??),

I put together a list of some of my favorite music videos where LBPQ+ women are singing about their love for other women and I hope you can blast this playlist for the whole month to make your pride better.

Feel free to tell me about your favorite music videos in the comments! I love finding more songs to listen to.

Youtube Playlist

What I Need – Hayley Kiyoko ft. Kehlani

We could be bigger and brighter than space
Ain’t no running away
No, real loving is sure
The way that I love, there’s no taking my place
Stare at you, right in your face
No, don’t look away no more

F/F Books turned into Movies and TV Shows

I’ve been interested in doing a post about F/F books who were adapted into movies or TV shows for a while now and this research proved to be harder than I thought. The only useful article I found was a post by Autostraddle from two years ago. But mostly, my own post was prompted by the fact that we have four new adaptations coming out in 2018 and I suddenly felt excited about it! So I thought I’d make this list with all links included to help the avid readers who like to watch and read both formats of stories.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the chance to watch all of these and can’t tell you which ones end happily or not. But I hope to add most of them to my watch list soon. I’m leaving them in the order of which movie came out first so you can take a look at the history of F/F adaptations in these last years.

What about you? Leave in the comments if you have watched or read any of these stories! What books do you want to see turned into movies next? I’d love to see more YA books and romcoms in the big screen that aren’t so rooted in drama and tragedy, personally.

Author Interview || Elizabeth Tammi

This November, Elizabeth Tammi will release her sapphic novel Outrun the Wind, based on Greek mythology. Going by the number of asks we see on Tumblr from readers who are looking for books set in Ancient Greece, I’m thinking this is a story that will get people hyped. And hopefully, we can get more historical recommendations soon!

Interview

Author Interview || Lee Blauersouth

Lee Blauersouth self-published her superhero YA book this year and we finally got to interview them for the website. I have a feeling Lee’s book about a group of diverse LGBTQAP+ superheroes is the kind of genre many people around here like to read so I’m excited to let them share more about their writing here.

Interview

Q1: Hi, Lee. Tell us a bit about what’s your superhero book about.

It’s about Opal- whose come to Chicago with the ambition to join a superhero team, the Sentinels

And Issac, whose keeping illegal and high-tech secrets in the high-security Sentinels base of operations.

And Yael, whose supervillainous birthparents are a taboo subject in xyr own household

And Jamie, who wants to save the world but can’t figure out how to save her family.