This might be my first finished fiction for 2019. I need deadlines and discipline.
Mmmm
Discipline.
Where was I?
As we countdown to the launch of the fourth YYC Queer Writers anthology, you get to meet our fab contributors, and listen to some fab music. We’re almost there! Launch party TOMORROW!
Today’s featured author is me. You know me. No? First time here?
M. JANE COLETTE thinks the best fiction reads like truth and the best truth reads like fiction. Her published ‘is it literature or is it porn’ novels include Tell Me, Consequences (of defensive adultery), Cherry Pie Cure, and Text Me, Cupid, a (slightly) dirty love story for 21st century adults who don’t believe in true love but want it anyway. She’s also the author of the non-fiction collection of essays on language, taboos, and the business of writing, CUNT versus PUSSY (reissued in 2017 with the more library-friendly title Rough Draft Confessions). Connect with @mjanecolette on Twitter and Instagram or whisper secrets to her at TellMe@mjanecolette.com.
This is how my story, “DHAKIRA,” starts:
Sheesha. Smoke. Delicious. I inhale. Cough.
“I can’t believe you brought me here.”
She refuses to take the pipe. I shrug. Take another puff.
“Seriously. What were you thinking?”
She’s pissed off, and I suppose I understand. The air outside is disgusting—Apocalypse Now, the globe is on fire, motherfuckers, as Bill Nye so eloquently put it. More than 500 summer fires raging in Northern Alberta, and a smoke blanket covering pretty much all of the 661,848 km² of the province.
“I figured, why not? We’re all going to die of lung cancer at this point anyway,” I say. Inhale. Hold it in my lungs for just a little longer than I ought to. Swallow. Exhale without coughing. “Anyway. This smoke—it’s different. Magic. Sensual.”
“It’s not that.” She’s agitated and I try to pay attention to her, and not the pipe. Which is gorgeous and ornate, and probably hasn’t been properly cleaned for years, and makes me homesick and happy all at the same time.
This is the song you should listen to as you’re reading it:
Want all of A QUEER SUMMER NIGHT IN COWTOWN? Pre-Orders now available at:
- AMAZON (live)
- AMAZON – CANADA – Prime-eligible paperback
- KOBO (available now!)
- CHAPTERS (paperback coming antyime now….)
And, if you’re in Calgary, our launch party closes Calgary Stampede week:
RSVP via EventBrite or Facebook
All profits from the anthology’s sales go to benefit Alberta’s Camp Fyrefly.
Camp fYrefly is a summer camp and leadership retreat designed for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-identified, two-spirited, intersexed, queer, and questioning youth, (LGBTQ2S+) and planned in part by a committee of the same youth it seeks to serve. Camp fYrefly is designed to help youth develop the leadership skills and personal resiliency necessary for them to become agents for positive change in their schools, families, and communities. In a word, it helps keep queer kids alive.
WARNING: Although we are fundraising for a youth program, the content of our anthology contains mature themes, frequently of a sexual nature, and is intended for an adult audience.
But, the launch party is all ages. Bring your kids, bring your granny; dress accordingly.
Drop-ins welcome. but if we know you’re coming, we can make sure we don’t run out of books for you.
mjanecolette
TellMe@mjanecolette.com
YES! MY LIFE NEEDS MORE LOVE LETTERS!
m jane colette 