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Whether we embrace or reject our Catholic
upbringings, they affect and shape who we are and bump up against
our queer identities. Give us the light-hearted stories of profound
discovery that you made as a Catholic youth and connect those
memories of incense, vestments, saints, prayers, sacraments, and
images to your then budding queer identity. Do you to this day
eroticize rituals that have their roots in the Catholic Church? Did
Joan of Arc shape your queer identity, or was she the standard you
held your first dates up to? What messages did the church send you
as you discovered your queer identity and how did you filter or bend
what you were discovering about yourself to make it fit church
doctrine? Or, how did you interpret--or misinterpret--the church’s
Byzantine reality through your queer sensibility? How did growing
up in the Catholic faith affect the adult you have become?
Tell us these
stories:
I’ve felt different from the kids around me my entire
life. When I was 8, I was sure I would be a martyred saint. This
would prove I was special to God. I went so far as to plan out how
the Church would kill me and pick the date and duties of my
Sainthood. My favorite game became Saint.
I remember when I was in second grade during lent
they would send home a paper bowl into which we as a family were to
put the difference between the meal we would have eaten—steak,
potatoes and green beans—and the actual meal we ate—rice and
vegetables—each Friday during lent. That money was used to buy
babies in third world countries. Imagine my surprise at the end of
the year when I learned we didn’t actually own the babies.
My first real crush was on another altar boy who
served with me on Saturdays. But before Jason there was Jesus who I
desperately wanted to hold in my arms and kiss.
I had a thing for a nun who coached softball, and
used to love to watch her run.
I had hoped to be the first female pope, until I
found out there already was one.
I was devastated to discover that as a boy I wouldn’t
be allowed to wear a first communion dress to my first communion,
nor could I ever wear the habit.
I was devastated that as a girl I couldn’t wear a
collar and sit in the confessional, or lead Mass.
As you can see, we are more interested in the culture
of Catholicism rather
than the dogma or letter of it. Tell us about it from your heart,
not your head. Personal essays, narrative prose, and creative
nonfiction preferred. Short stories or novel excerpts that
illustrate the theme will also be considered. 5000 word max. Limited
poetry will be accepted. For poetry, query first. Previously
unpublished work only.
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DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS
Ash
Wednesday, FEBRUARY 21, 2007.
Submit stories to:
Amie M. Evans/Trebor Healey
33 Campbell Street
Woburn, Ma 01801
For information
ONLY:
Pussywhippedproductions@hotmail.com
GUIDELINES:
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Submissions
should be no less than 1,500 words and no more than 5,000 words,
and must be typed (preferably in Times New Roman, 12 font),
double-spaced, and printed on one side of the page only. Please
number the page.
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Submit TWO HARD
COPIES, INCLUDING TWO COVER LETTERS AND BIOS. All manuscripts must
be disposable. (If accepted, final manuscript must be submitted on
disk).
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Name, address,
phone number, E-mail address, and word count should appear on the
first page. Last name and email in the footer of every page
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Please include a
brief bio (75 words max).
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SASE
(self-addressed stamped envelope) must be provided if you wish to
be notified by “snail mail”. Others will be notified by email.
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Only unpublished
materials will be considered at a pay rate of $75 to $100.
Contributors will receive one copy of the book.
About the Editors
Amie M. Evans
is widely published creative nonfiction and literary erotica writer,
experienced workshop provider, and a retired burlesque and
high-femme drag performer. Her short stories and essays have
appeared most recently in the Ultimate Lesbian Erotica 2006
(Alyson) and Show and Tell (Alyson), Call of the Dark
(Bella 2005); 2006 Lambda Literary Award Nominated Rode Hard and
Put Away Wet (Suspect Thoughts Press 2005); Best of The Best
of Lesbian Erotica (Cleis Press); and Ultimate Lesbian
Erotica 2005 (Alyson Publications). She also writes gay male
erotica under a pen name. Evans is on the board of directors for
Saints and Sinners GLBT literary festival. She graduated Magna cum
Laude from the
University
of Pittsburgh
with a BA in Literature and is currently working on her MLA at
Harvard. She is currently co-editing an anthology on Drag Kings for
Suspect Thoughts Press with Rakelle
Valencia.
Evans is the author of Two Girls Kissing, a column on writing
lesbian erotica which can be found at erotic readers association and
co-author of a writing tips column, unsolicited advice, with
Toni Amato which can be found on
www.sasfest.org.
Trebor
Healey, recipient of the 2004
Ferro-Grumley and Violet Quill awards for his first novel,
Through It Came Bright Colors (Harrington Park Press, 2004), is also the author
of a collection
of poems, Sweet Son of Pan, (Suspect Thoughts, 2006) and a
short story collection, A Perfect Scar & Other Stories
(Harrington Park Press, 2007), due out next fall. He
co-edited, with Marci Blackman, Beyond Definition:
New Writing from Gay and Lesbian San Francisco
(Manic
D Press, 1994), and wrote
the song "Denny" for the homocore punk band, Pansy Division.
His work has appeared in The Chiron Review; Long Shot;
The James White Review; Holy Titclamps; The Lodestar
Quarterly; The Blithe House Quarterly; VelvetMafia.com; Ashe!; Queer
Dharma; Quickies 3; M2M; Pills, Thrills, Chills and Heartache; Skin
and Ink; Best Gay Erotica 2003, 2004, 2006, and Best of Best
Gay Erotic 2, as well as Best American Erotica, 2007, and
his short story, “Mercy Seat,” was selected as one of the top
ten online stories of 2004 by StorySouth.com. A graduate of U.C.
Berkeley and raised an Irish Catholic, Trebor was a Marian heretic
growing up and became a Buddhist in his early 20s. He now lives in
LA,
where he is working on a second novel.
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