As a writer, I work in a number of areas and am always interested in tackling new projects. Currently, I write a monthly sex column for In Toronto Magazine, and my erotic short stories and essays appear in a number of recent and forthcoming anthologies. I’m also working on my first (non-fiction) book, with at least two others in the pipeline after that, based in part on my blog posts here. Last but not least, as a result of my graduate work, I’ve got a couple of scholarly articles forthcoming, among others in the first-ever anthology on Canadian history of sexuality, based on the proceedings from the We Demand conference of August 2011.
If you’d like to hire me for a writing project or solicit a contribution to a collection, feel free to e-mail me at veryqueer3 at yahoo dot ca.
Here are some examples of where you can find my writing, updated as of December 2012.
Journalism
- Column: I’m currently the monthly sex columnist for In Toronto Magazine, with Ask the Sex Geek. I accept questions anytime you have ‘em! E-mail me at veryqueer3 at yahoo dot ca or find me on Twitter at @sexgeekAZ.
- Features and news: Since 2005, I’ve written features and news stories on a wide range of topics, generally related to LGBT and feminist issues, for queer publications including the Montreal Mirror (now defunct), Xtra! (Toronto), Capital Xtra! (Ottawa, now defunct) and Outlooks Magazine (a Canadian magazine). I’ve interviewed big stars such as RuPaul and Martina Navritolova, and I’ve written about underground communities such as Montreal’s drag king scene and Toronto’s puppy play enthusiasts. I’ve investigated Toronto’s swingers’ clubs to see if they’re queer-friendly, chatted with gay comedians, brought media focus to trans and queer health issues, and written major feature articles on such topics as sexual shame. I wrote the first article on Montreal’s emerging roller derby scene in the mid-2000s and the first-ever mainstream media article reporting on FetLife.com. Scroll down to the bottom for links to (most of) my journalism work.
Porn
My erotic short stories have been featured in several anthologies and magazines, including:
- “Quiet.” Under Her Thumb: Erotic Stories of Female Dominance. Ed. D. L. King. San Francisco: Cleis Press, forthcoming March 2013.
- “Leather: A Love Story.” Salacious magazine, the Leather issue (no. 3), spring 2012.
- “The Perfect Gentleman.” Take Me There: Trans and Genderqueer Erotica. Ed. Tristan Taormino. San Francisco: Cleis Press, 2012. Winner of the 2012 Lambda Literary Award in the Transgender Fiction category.
- “The Butch, the Boy and Me.” Lust: Erotic Fantasies for Women. Ed. Violet Blue. San Francisco: Cleis Press, 2007.
Essay collections
- “Pinning Smoke to the Wall.” Power Circuits: Polyamory in a Power Dynamic. Ed. Raven Kaldera. Massachusetts: Alfred Press, 2010.
- “The Spawn, the Spawnlet and the Birth of a Queer Family,” co-authored with Torsten Bernhardt, Marcie Gibson, Erin Sandilands and Jake Szamosi. And Baby Makes More: Known Donors, Queer Parents and Our Unexpected Families. Eds. Chloë Brushwood-Rose and Susan Goldberg.
- “Just the Beginning.” Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World. Ed. Robyn Ochs. Boston: Bisexual Resource Center, 2005.
Magazines and journals
- “Where Is It Safe2Pee? An Irreverent Interview with Bailey Stevens of Safe2Pee.org.” Women and Environments International Magazine, Winter 2009, “XYZ Trans-Formations of Urban Space: Transgendered and Transsexual Experiences of the City.”
- “Notes from Outside the Gender Spectrum.” Other Magazine, Issue 12 “Bad Gender,” July 2007, p. 11-15.
- “To Lesbians with Love: In Defence of Bi Girls.” The Fence, vol. 6, 2005, p. 4-6.
- “Of Blood and Kisses.” Treize Revue Lesbienne no. 59, spring 2005, p. 5-6.
- “SM 101.” The Fence, vol. 4, 2004, p. 32-34.
- “Snapshots of a Bi Girl’s Life.” The Fence, vol. 3, 2003, p. 10-12.
Websites
In addition to this here blog…
- “The Eternal Closet” on openpoly.net, August 2010.
- “What Trans Erotica Gets Wrong” on alternet.org. July 24, 2008.
For private clients
Here’s a summary. For a detailed list under each category, with links, scroll down to the very bottom!
- Copy: I write (almost) all the copy for the Unholy Harvest website, the annual Canadian leatherdyke event I co-organize. If you want a sense of my copywriting abilities, it’s probably the best place to look!
- Film writing: On and off over the last ten years, I’ve written film synopses for the festival programs for Inside/Out LGBT Film Festival (Toronto) and Image+Nation LGBT Film Festival (Montreal). I’ve also done editing, proofreading and translation work for both festivals.
- Book reviews: I have written reviews for CandianLesbianLiterature.ca and NoMorePotlucks.org, among others.
- Web content:I wrote for the website go-montreal.com for a few months in 2005, and my articles are still getting traffic today.
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Since you wanted the details, here are links to most of the articles I’ve written for newspapers and magazines, up to date as of December 2012.
Journal and magazine articles
Outlooks: Canada’s GLBT Magazine:
- “Funny Like That: interviews with queer comics Elvira Kurt, Darcy Michael and Trevor Boris.” December 2009/January 2010 issue, p. 52.
- “Getting Sweaty at Canada’s Women and Trans Bathhouse Events.” July/August 2009 issue, p. 10.
- “Funky and Fabulous: John Fluevog.” July/August 2009 issue, p. 36.
- “It’s All Smoke and Mirrors: RuPaul on Drag Race.” April 2009 issue,p. 14.
- “Where’s the B?” March 2009 issue, p. 9.
Newspaper articles
Capital Xtra, Ottawa
- “Sex & Shame: let’s talk: How does shame play out in queer lives?” Feature article, December 8, 2009.
- “Visiting Sex Educator Midori on Rope Bondage, Nervous Beginners and Making Art Out of Blow-up Dolls.” June 17, 2009.
Xtra! Toronto
- “Fighting for Queer Healthcare in Rural Ontario: ‘There’s a kind of frontier mentality.’” October 30, 2009.
- “Oppression By Omission: ‘It’s not fair… to expect people to travel over an hour to get their healthcare.’” August 25, 2009.
- “Former Employee Files Complaint Against Mr Greenjeans: ‘I don’t want anyone else there to go through what I’ve been through.’” July 16, 2009.
- “Asking 1,000 Women: Women’s College Hospital reaches out to dykes & trans people.” June 12, 2009.
- “Marching for Trans Rights: Grassroots event gets pulled under Pride umbrella.” May 26, 2009.
- “Queer Healthcare Outside Hogtown: ‘People are just getting turned away.’” May 14, 2009.
- “Sexual Healing: Kinkalicious offers a warm & fuzzy fet weekend.” May 7, 2009.
- “Spreading the Health: LGBTQ Health Matters Week.” April 8, 2009.
- “Taking the Pulse: Surveying 1,000 trans Ontarians.” January 29, 2009.
- “Puppy Play Unleashed: Dog role-play gains popularity in Toronto scene.” November 6, 2008.
- “Decade of Debauchery: Savouring 10 years of women & trans bathhouse parties.” September 25, 2008.
- “Sex in This City: Inside Toronto’s mixed sex clubs and parties.” Cover story, September 11, 2008.
Montreal Mirror
NOTE: The Mirror went belly-up in spring 2012, and Quebecor, in one fell swoop, took down the paper’s website including all of its archives. As a result, none of the links below will work anymore. As a scholar of history, I think this is practically criminal – digital archives are crucial in this day and age, and the Mirror held a huge place in the hearts of English-speaking Montrealers and well beyond.
- “Out of the Village, Into the Gallery: The Montreal Erotic Art Festival puts the highbrow into the down ’n’ dirty during Pride Celebration.” August 13, 2009.
- “Homophobia High: Classrooms become labs for a multi-university study on attitudes toward LGBT students.” February 19, 2009.
- “Facebook for the Kinky: Montreal-based FetLife.com networks fetishists of the world.” September 4, 2008.
- “Other Tongues: Trans performer Lazlo Pearlman gets naked with language and gender at the Edgy Women Festival.” February 28, 2008.
- “Mad About Mannequins: Mysterious indecency accusation confuses both Village storeowners and borough officials.” September 13, 2007.
- “Rising Lesbian-Lit Star: Author Nairne Holtz heats up the summer with her erotic prose.” August 2, 2007.
- “Living Colours: Célébrations LGBTA paints a different picture of Montreal’s queer community with their pride parade and community day.” July 26, 2007.
- “Race and the Rainbow: Queers of colour tackle tough questions at this year’s Ethnocultural Day.” May 3, 2007.
- “Long Live the Kings: A new generation of performers fill Montreal’s drag king void.” April 26, 2007.
- “Cruise Lines Crossed: Queer history and dirty dyke dance jams collide on the latest from Lesbians on Ecstasy.” April 12, 2007.
- “Rocking the Rink: Roller derby mania hits Montreal.” Cover story, February 22, 2007.
- “Lesbian Chic: Boutique Mad-Âme brings a sense of style to the local dyke community.” January 4, 2007.
- “50 Love: Tennis goddess Martina Navratilova dishes about her age, not quite retiring and her new focus on LGBT charities.” November 16, 2006.
- “Science, Ethics and Stella: An HIV vaccine trial focuses on sex workers.” September 21, 2006.
- “Playing Gay: The first Outgames offers more than just hot jocks getting sweaty.” July 13, 2006.
- “Crystal and Condoms: Séro Zéro invites NYC shrink Jean Malpas to discuss meth addiction and treatment.” May 4, 2006.
- “Trans By Any Other Name: Individual identity only one of the topics under discussion during this weekend’s Trans Day of Pride.” April 27, 2006.
- “Lips Wide Open: There’s a new club for bent girls out to get some.” April 13, 2006.
- “Trans of Many Hats: American writer and activist Patrick Califia speaks out against stigmatization and the epidemic.” January 26, 2006.
Book reviews
- “What Trans Erotica Gets Wrong.” Review of Transgender Erotica: Trans Figures, ed. M. Christian, New York: The Haworth Press, 2006. AlterNet.org, July 24, 2008. Originally published on http://sexgeek.wordpress.com; reprinted by request of AlterNet.org.
- Review of Sons of the Movement: FtMs Risking Incoherence on a Post-Queer Cultural Landscape by Jean Bobby Noble, Toronto: Women’s Press, 2006. NoMorePotlucks.org, May 19, 2007.
- Numerous book reviews for the annotated online bibliography CanadianLesbianLiterature.ca, ed. Nairne Holtz. Titles reviewed (throughout 2006 and 2007, publication dates not specified). NOTE: Nairne took down this website in 2010 or thereabouts. She tells me she’s considering publishing it as a book at some point, but for now it remains unavailable.
- Alonzo, Anne-Marie. Galia que’lle nommait amour. Laval: Les Éditions Trois, 1995.
- Auger, Lise. Ev Anckert. Laval: Les Éditions Trois, 1994.
- Beaulieu, Germaine. Textures en textes. Montreal: Éditions du Noroît, 1986.
- Charest, Danielle. L’entrave. Paris: Éditions du Masque, 2002.
- Harou, Lise. À propos de Maude. Montreal: VLB Éditeur, 1986.
- Jutras, Jeanne-d’Arc. Délira Cannelle. Montreal: Éditions Québec/Amérique, 1983.
- Yvon, Josée. Maîtresses-Cherokees. Montreal: VLB Éditeur & Le Castor astral, 1986.
Film reviews
Reviews for the Inside/Out Film Festival program and website, May 2009 (search by title for my reviews).
- The New Twenty. Dir. Chris Mason Johnson. DVD. 2009.
- America: Love It, Or… Dir. Nancy Rosenblum. DVD. 2009.
- Ask Not. Johnny Symons. DVD. 2008.
- Sex My Life. Bahman Motamedian. DVD. 2008.
- The Other War. Tamar Glezerman. DVD. 2008.
- Seeds of Summer (Zirei Kayitz). Hen Lasker. DVD. 2008.
Reviews for the Inside/Out Film Festival program and website, May 2008 (search by title for my reviews).
- The Believers. Dir. Todd Holland. DVD. 2007.
- Like a Virgin. Dir. Lee Hae-yeong and Lee Hae-jun. DVD. 2006.
- Mulligans. Dir. Chip Hale. DVD. Border2Border Entertainment, 2008.
- Out at the Wedding. Dir. Lee Friedlander. DVD. Goff-Kellam Productions, 2007.
- Punch Like a Girl. Dir. Maya Gallus and Justine Pimlott. DVD. 2007.
- Searching 4 Sandeep. Dir. Poppy Stockell. DVD. Cecilia Ritchie, 2007.
- Shelter. Dir. Jonah Markowitz. DVD. Here! Films, 2007.
- Stealth / Comme des voleurs (à l’est). Dir. Lionel Baier. DVD. Saga-Productions, 2006.
- This Kiss. Dir. Kyle Eddie. DVD. The Australian Film Commission, 2007.
- The Walker. Dir. Paul Schrader. DVD. Kintop Pictures, 2007.
- Water Lilies. Dir. Céline Sciamma. DVD. Balthazar Productions, 2007.
- The World Unseen. Dir. Shamim Saif. DVD. DO Productions, 2007.
- You Belong to Me. Dir. Sam Zalutsky. DVD. Wolfe, 2007.
Reviews for the Image+Nation Montreal International LGBT Film Festival program and website, May 2007 (search “AZ” for my reviews).
- D’ici et d’ailleurs. Dir. Nada Raphael. DVD. 2007.
- Dialogue sur l’homoparentalité. Dir. Julie Huard. DVD. 2007.
- A Four Letter Word. Dir. Casper Andreas. DVD. Embrem Entertainment, 2007.
- In Search of the Wild Kingdom. Dir. Shine Louise Houston. DVD. Pink and White Productions, 2006.
- Itty Bitty Titty Committee. Dir. Jamie Babbit. DVD. Power Up Films, 2007.
- She’s a Boy I Knew. Dir. Gwen Haworth. DVD. Shapeshifter Films, 2007.
- Tick Tock Lullaby. Dir. Lisa Gornick. DVD. Valiant Doll, 2007.
- Times Have Been Better. Dir. Régis Musset. DVD. BE-FILMS, 2007.
- Triple X Selects The Best of Lezsploitation. Dir. Michelle Johnson. DVD. 2007.
- The Two Sides of the Bed. Dir. Emilio Martínez Lázaro. DVD. Telespan 2000, 2005.
Web writing
The following articles are all from my brief stint writing for Go-Montreal.com in 2005.
