Contributor Ethereal is featured in this month’s edition of AboveGroundTesting Magazine. Click here to read about her poetry, her songwriting, her first album, and her upcoming music.

Ethereal on her piece in Queer Shorts, “Room for Rent”:

Now you’re a published author. Tell me about your story, the compilation it is appearing in and how was it to write?

I’m so happy you mentioned that. **smiles** I’m very proud of my new accomplishment as a writer. The story is called, “Room for Rent” and it is published in the new GLBT anthology, Queer Shorts released in September of 2006 by Merge Press. The story revolves around a young woman who moves into an apartment with whom she believes to be a gay male and becomes very attracted to him, only to find out there is much more to her roommate than she would have imagined. It’s a poignant love story dealing with the transgender and butch/femme community and how the characters further each other’s growth through mutual acceptance. The butch/femme and transgender community is still on the “outskirts” of the Gay and Lesbian community and I am honored to be able to put a spotlight on such a relationship through my writing and help spread awareness of this type of diversity. Writing “Room for Rent” was a lot of fun actually. When I put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, usually it’s my characters that tell me what’s going on and there are just some funny scenes that just sort of popped out that had me laughing out loud and moments that had me tearing up. It was a very emotional experience, as though I were not creating these characters, but merely telling their story and experiencing it with them.

Many people have been emailing Merge Press asking how they can help promote me. Here are some ways you can help spread the word about me and Merge Press from the MergePess.com Street Team page:

• Ask your school, local public libraries and local bookstores to carry our books, and, after you do, why not send us a note telling us whom you contacted? We’ll reward you. We have goodies.
• Let us know about opportunities for readings, especially if there’s a reading series that may be a good fit.
• We have postcards that you can leave in all the right places in your neighborhood. Give us your address, and we’ll send them your way.
• If you have a website or list-serve, please mention us. We have HTML code for images that link back to our site that you can use, or we can sic an author on you arrange an interview with one of our writers or photographers for you. You can also earn a percent of sales you refer to us by becoming an artist affiliate.
• Add a signature line to your emails or posts that links to us.
• The next time you visit Amazon.com, submit a customer review of one of our books. Be sure to follow Amazon’s review guidelines.
• Share news about Merge or our books on message boards you frequent, if that is permitted by the moderator.
• Read our books in public. In a really obvious way. Feel free to “ooh” and “ahh” out loud. We like that.
• Gossip about us. We can take it.
• Make our books part of your reading group selections, and call your local bookstore to make sure they have enough copies in stock for everyone in your group.
• Feeling your exhibitionism lately? Send us pictures of yourself and our books or just our books visiting strange and interesting places.

I recently posted that I am looking for queer reading series. I just learned of another series in New York City: GirlSalon

Janine Avril is the founder of GirlSalon, “a forum for queer women/trans artists/performers,” and is looking for queer writers who would like to read at a GirlSalon event in November. For more information, email Janine at: janinesays @ hotmail dot com

If you’ve read me and you’ve got something nice to say about me, why not send a quote over to Maria Angeline that she can use to promote me?

Go ahead, send it. You know you want to. If you don’t do it, I’m gonna post about that thing you told me after I swore I’d never tell anyone if you told me.

I want my authors to read from me, in bookstores, along with authors of other amazing books. I’m looking for queer reading series in or around the following cities that I could be a part of: Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, Atlanta, Minneapolis and Northampton.

I’m also looking for queer group readings/signings in the same areas.

Want to help me? If you have any information you think might be helpful, you know how to get it to me. I’ll be right here waiting to hear from you!

Here are some reading series I recently discovered. I thought I’d share these links in case you’re a book, author, or publisher looking for a series, too. One of these New York City ones might be a good fit for you:
Amanda Stern’s Happy Ending Reading Series

Rachel Kramer Bussel’s In The Flesh Reading Series

Desiree Burch’s weekly SMUT series at Galapagos

Also, Kate Evans is looking for authors of recently released (2005 or 2006) books of poems or fiction to do queer group readings/signings with in the Bay Area. Read more here.