The (Brief) International Women’s Day Guide to Women’s Quotations

“We couldn’t possibly know where it would lead, but we knew it had to be done.” Betty Friedan

“What I don’t understand is, why don’t we nurture our artists?” Barbra Streisand

“What we do need is endless courage.” Katherine Anne Porter

“We’ve had dark times before, times that seemed just as dark to previous generations as our age seems to us.” Katherine Anne Porter

“Energy is the power that drives every human being. It is not lost by exertion but maintained by it.” Germaine Greer

“Let me apologize for all the faces I’ve worn, none of them my own.” Ruth Whitman

“Noise is an imposition on sanity, and we live in very noisy times.” Joan Baez

“Even doing nothing…is in effect, doing something, and in general it is doing something bad.” Donella H. Meadows

“I saw nothing was permanent. You don’t want to possess anything that is dear to you because you might lose it.” Yoko Ono

“The poetry is myself.” Gwendolyn Brooks

“I am the rock. The hard rock. You can’t break me.” Diane Wakoski

“Let us get on with creating the democratic and pluralistic society that we say we are.” Barbara Mikulski

“That’s what’s wrong with the country. There are too many ‘good soldiers’ accepting too many bad decisions.” Shirley Chisholm

“Creative minds always have been known to survive any kind of bad training.” Anna Freud

“Travel light and travel simple in your mind, through your world.” Buffy Ste. Marie

“If I don’t win, I keep fighting.” Bella Abzug

“Women must be free to determine their own life pattern and their destinies without suffering lifelong guilt for not having lived up to society’s or their family’s expectations.” Boston Women’s Health Collective, in Our Bodies, Ourselves

“Whether women are better than men I cannot say--but I can say they are certainly no worse.” Golda Meir

Of course you're a great kisser, but could you be an even better one?

Seal it with a Kiss: Tips, Tricks and Techniques for Delivering the Knockout Kiss by Violet Blue (Cleis Press, 2010, $12.95) is the ultimate guide to kissing, whether you’re a shy beginner or experienced make-out vixen. Blue’s tone in this book is conversational, like good girl talk. She orients her lessons toward women to want to make out with guys, but there isn’t a person alive who couldn’t benefit from some of the tips in this book.

The quiz in the early chapters will sort you into one of four kissing personalities: Sweet Lips, Power Puss (which happens to be the category this reviewer falls into), Hot Lips, or Pure Delicious Poison. Whatever your kissing style, Blue walks you through how to make that first kiss happen (and how to deal with any and all awkward situations that might arise therefrom), how to make it memorable, and even how to get your lips ready for the perfect kiss ahead of time.

The last chapters in this book are for more advanced students of the kiss. They include tricks on how to use all your senses to enhance that kiss experience, from the perfect make-out music and movies to treats you can eat to make your pucker irresistible. For the ultimate kissing fun, try some of the kissing games she suggests…either at parties (as is the great teen tradition) or one-on-one with your sweetie.

The kissing games and some of these techniques occasionally tend toward the risque, but overall this book is fairly appropriate for ages thirteen and up. It’s about kissing, not sex. A cool mom or aunt would get this book for her teenage daughter or niece. In fact, teens (especially boys) would do well to at least flip through it before making their way out into the world of making out.

Violet Blue should know what she’s talking about: she’s a nationally recognized sexpert. A popular columnist of the San Francisco chronicle and frequent lecturer at UC Berkeley and UCSF, she also writes the blog tinynibbles.com. She writes about the intersection of human sexuality and technology…though rest assured the tips in Seal it with a Kiss are all low-tech and gadget-free.

Andie Lee Eames: The Pagan Spirits Interview

Q. Andie, when did you write your first book? How did you get it published? How long did it take?

A. I wrote my first book 10 years ago but didn't publish it due to content. I was told I didn't have the name to publish this type of book. It was called Daddy's Little Girl. It dealt with the first black American President embroiled in an incestuous relationship with his daughter. She killed him by poisoning him with nicotine; the man smoked three packs a day. She developed Multiple Personality Disorder, which led her to kill.

Abstract Murder is my first book to be published. I published it myself through Authorhouse, which isn't a vanity press, September 2008. With editing it took about a year to complete that aspect of publishing.

Q. Which do you find leads you to your best writing: your triumphs or your tragedies? Do you write from joy or pain?

A. Hmm, that's an excellent and difficult question but I'll take a stab at it. My writings depend on what's going on in my life which is usually hectic and chaotic. I write from pain then turn it around and show the joy that comes from certain types of pain. Life is a journey and every once in a while we're going to hit pot holes that make child birth feel like a bad case of cramps. Not to sound cliché, but sometimes there is no growth or gain without pain…though I wish there were.

Q. Who has been the biggest influence on your writing?

A. My biggest influence that's a tough one but thinking back it had to be J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. For me it was the first book that let you know the world isn't exactly what it appears and neither are the people. But Edgar Allan Poe also influenced me via his personal struggles and losses that so eloquently appear on the pages he wrote.

Q. Do you read for pleasure? If so, what kind of books do you like to read?

A. I'm severely dyslexic so, I don't read a lot. I've been asked "How can you write if your dyslexia is so severe?" The only thing that I can tell you is it's less difficult to write than it is to read! My trouble is inverting words that create real words, so spell check doesn't pick up on them. I have to be extra diligent. If there is a book that catches my attention then I'll listen to them on audio. Thomas Harris and James Patterson have had influences on me.

Q. What has been the most significant book you've read (or listened to) in your life?

A. Again I'd have to say Catcher in the Rye is pretty significant though I've never seen myself as "Holden Caulfield." Growing up through my teens and early adult years I could understand why he did some of the things that he did, though.

Q. What project are you currently working on?

A. I'm currently working on a graphic novel with my cousin in Ireland, Sarah McCartney. It's called Carpe Ominous: The Rise of Aliens. The basis of this story is that the first human mistook the first aliens who came to Earth as Gods when they're just a superior species of aliens and that God and Satan are the same being but different aspects. The Alpha (God) The Omega (Satan) have started battling over who should have dominion over the human race. This time instead of having a celestial war, they're bringing it to earth to help rip away the blinders from the eyes of the human species that is on the brink of being wiped out. You can visit my website to view the origins of the book.

Excerpt from 'Midsummer Night:' Imbolc

Welcome to PS! When you're done here, please check out my guest blog post, "The Ten Best Jobs For Men in Romance Novels," at The Best of Everything. Now, enjoy a brief excerpt from Midsummer Night!

Zen completed the circle of candles around the two of them. She held up the candelabra with the white, red and black candles in front of Allie. She offered Allie the lighter in her other hand. “Would you like to do the honors, oh daughter of Brigid, goddess of fire?”

Allie nodded her head graciously and took the lighter. She lit the white candle as she composed an impromptu prayer. “Oh Brigid, our mother, goddess of fire, we dedicate this sacred feast of Imbolc to you. At this dark and gloomy time of year, when it seems winter will never end, we know the days are actually getting longer and warmer, and spring is coming soon, thanks to you. Care for us, mother, and do not neglect to give us your light and your heat so we may live. Give your light and your heat to the earth so the springtime crops grow so we may have food to sustain ourselves and our children. Let the young be birthed and plants renewed so that fresh breath is given to life. So let it be.”

“So let it be,” Zen echoed her. She set the lighter aside and placed the candelabra in the circle. She used its black candle to light the candle next to it, and then used that candle to light the next, until she had gone all the way around the circle. As she did, she added her own prayer. “Goddess, if it is your will for Allie’s son to be born today, on your sacred day, then please grant that she and the baby be safe in childbirth. And please don’t let us fall asleep and burn the house down. So let it be.”

“So let it be,” Allie said. “Now, what do you want to watch?”

“Since it’s just the two of us, how about Thelma and Louise?"

Allie shook her head. “How about something a little less tragic?”

“How about Romeo and Juliet, the Leonardo and Claire version?”

“Zen, that movie is tragic in every sense of the word. Since you want to be all Shakespearean, how about A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Rupert and Michelle version? There’s nothing like Midsummer to get your mind off a long winter’s night.”

“Good call. Romance, magic, fairies, and a young Christian Bale. Yummy.”

“Down, girl!” Allie laughed. “Is it possible my pregnancy estrogen is screwing with your brain?”

“It’s almost certain, and yet knowing this does nothing to diminish Christian Bale's deliciousness."

She gave Allie a satisfied smile, then went to the entertainment center and looked through her sister’s movie collection until she found the right disc. The costumed fantasy, with its star-crossed lovers and mischievous fairies, distracted them from Allie’s discomfort. When the movie ended, they started it up again.

The candle light aided the mood, and soon Zen almost forgot they were waiting for Kameko and Melissa. The headlights of Melissa’s ancient, battered Volkswagen outside of Allie’s house snapped Zen back to reality. She got up and opened the door for them.

************

Midsummer Night by Erin O'Riordan, new January 2010 from eXcessica Publishing. In print, e-book and for Kindle.

Happy Candlemas/Imbolc/Brigit's Day/Groundhog Day!

Happy…um, well, today is at least four different things. In the United States, popular culture celebrates today as Groundhog Day. The famous rodent known to his friends as P. Phil emerges from his burrow. If he sees his shadow, we have six more weeks of awful Northern Hemisphere winter weather. In my Midwestern U.S. home, that means snow, ice, freezing temperatures and gray skies. Six weeks takes us almost all the way up to the spring equinox on Saturday, March 20th. If P. Phil doesn’t see his shadow, we get early spring-like weather, and we may actually see the sun again before April. At least, that’s what popular legend claims. In reality, I’ll probably be wearing long sleeves until mid-June.

On the Pagan calendar, today is Imbolc. “Imbolc,” I’m told, comes from the Gaelic for “in belly,” meaning the sheep are breeding and the ewes are getting lambs in their bellies. Imbolc is a hopeful day, when we look forward to the rebirth of spring even in the midst of the gloom of winter. Traditionally, yellow and white are the colors of Imbolc, worn to invoke the promise of spring sunshine. Another Imbolc tradition is lighting candles, another symbol of the lengthening days and shrinking darkness.

White is also worn by Pagans and Wiccans celebrating Brigit’s Day. Brigit (also spelled Brigid or Brighid) was one of the most important of the ancient Irish deities. She was the goddess of blacksmiths, associated with fire. She was also patroness of music, poetry, and all the arts. She was also responsible for making the crops come up in the spring. Brigit rode through the Irish countryside on a white cow with red ears, and its milk had magical healing powers. Brigit was basically your life-giving, life-sustaining mother goddess, akin to Demeter in Greek mythology.

In ancient times, the priestesses of Brigit kept themselves ritually pure to attend Brigit’s sacred fire. Her fire temple was, and still is, located in the Irish town of Kildare, south of Dublin. The name “Kildare” comes from the Gaelic for “church of the oak,“ and there was an ancient oak tree near the fire temple where Brigit was worshipped.

When the local people converted to Christianity, nuns took over the job of attending the fire temple, and Brigit was made a saint. The historical St. Brigit is said to have founded a convent and an abbey for monks in the late 400s, and today there is a magnificent cathedral in Kildare in Brigit’s honor. Its carvings are great works of art. Among the realistic carvings of bishops who are buried there, there is also a fine carving of a dragon…perhaps representing the Pagan religion, which never completely died out in Kildare.

On the Christian calendar, Imbolc and Brigit Day became Candlemas. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Catholic Church celebrates Candlemas as the day Mary the mother of Jesus took her son to the Temple of Jerusalem and offered a sacrifice so she could be considered ritually clean after giving birth, according to the ancient Jewish law. February 2nd is forty days after Christmas on the Roman calendar.

Candlemas was celebrated with a mass in which the church’s yearly supply of beeswax candles were blessed and carried in a procession while hymns were sung to Mary. Thus, Catholicism retained the Celtic customs of lighting candles and venerating a mother-goddess-archetype. The light from the candles is said to represent the guiding light of Jesus.

Whether you’re calling it Candlemas, Brigit’s Day, Imbolc, or Groundhog Day, have a good Y Mis Bach (Welsh for February). Now, please click this link to enjoy some sacred music about a candle kept burning in the window.

"Hysteria" by Rushmore Judd

I had the pleasure--and I do mean pleasure--of reading Rushmore Judd’s erotic novella “Hysteria” the other day. Set in 1890, the fictional story is based on fact. In the Victorian era, vibrators were medical devices. Women made appointments to see their (always male) doctors for vibrator treatments that induced orgasms. This was seen as a legitimate cure for hysteria, a vague disorder said to make women irritable and causing headaches and other womanish ailments. The word “hysteria” comes from the ancient Greek word for “uterus,” and the ancient Greeks imagined a woman’s uterus getting restless or angry and wandering around inside her body, causing all kinds of mischief.

Isabelle has heard the other ladies in her social circle talking in hushed tones about the wonders of Doctor Tunney and his treatments for female hysteria. She makes a clandestine appointment to see him, without telling her husband. Isabelle, a typical Victorian lady, is shy about letting a strange man see her body. When she sees Dr. Tunney, a handsome thirty-something single man with dark, curly hair, broad shoulders, muscular arms and a deep voice, she’s torn between her modesty and a coquettish desire to flirt with him. Isabelle’s “cure” is so pleasurable, she can’t wait to see Dr. Tunney again.

In fact, Isabelle so enjoys the world of secret pleasures behind the doctor’s soundproofed door, she makes an appointment for her willful daughter Margaret. “Spirited” Margaret is just coming into her young womanhood, unmarried, and still a virgin. By the time her first appointment is over, Margaret would very much like Doctor Tunney to change that. Will he be able to maintain his professional demeanor? Or will he give in to Margaret’s unspoiled charms?

“Hysteria” reminded me of “The Ontological Engine, or, The Modern Leda” by Vinnie Tesla, one of my favorite erotic stories ever. Like Mr. Tesla, Rushmore Judd is gifted with a fertile and wonderfully shameless imagination. This story is very sex-positive. All the participants are willing and joyful, despite the restrictive Victorian atmosphere. The only problem with “Hysteria” is that it will leave the reader panting for more.

You can get “Hysteria” and Rush’s other stories online at http://completelynovel.com/readers/rushmorejudd.

A Modern Day Witch Hunt by Kiki Howell (review)

Kamillia, the heroine of Kiki Howell’s A Modern Day Witch Hunt (eXcessica Publishing, 2009), is like a female version of Harry Potter, mixed with Sookie Stackhouse and Sarah Connor.

Kamillia, as far as she knows, is a fantasy writer. Like Harry Potter, she has no idea of her true powers. She’s a witch, just as her parents were. Like Harry, Kamillia lost her parents to an evil group of dark wizards. Like Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse, Kamillia can read minds, an ability that has made it difficult for her to fit in with others. Like Sookie, the orphaned Kamillia was raised by a fiercely honest, deeply beloved grandmother.

Luca, a Watcher who appears to be eternally twenty-five years old, was sent to protect her. This part of the story reminds me of Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor in the original Terminator movie. Like Kyle and Sarah, Luca and Kamillia are headed down an inevitable path of attraction. Unlike Kyle, Luca sees colorful auras swirling around human beings. He’s acutely sensitive to emotions, and the way human emotions affect the world around them.

The sex? Scorching, yet still achingly romantic and mystical. The sadness? Just as overwhelming. Although Luca and Kamillia feel an inexorable attraction to one another, his job as a Watcher, watching over the river of life, means he will inevitable have to leave her. When Kamillia and Luca must travel to Florence, Italy, they learn their lives have been linked for centuries. Are they destined to be star-crossed lovers for eternity, or will the universe finally let them be together? It will take a powerful kind of magic to right the wrongs that have been done to them, but Luca just might know a way.

A Modern Day Witch Hunt on Amazon