writing portfolio

I have published a number of scholarly book chapters, as well as non-scholarly essays and erotic short stories in various collections. I’m also currently working on a memoir about pain, and have several other books on the back burner.

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. I’m always interested in tackling new projects!

Below is a fairly comprehensive list of my writing, with links for purhcase or online reading whenever possible. Older links may not be current.

Scholarly book chapters

• “The Meanings of Masochism.” Chapter in Binding and Unbinding Kink: Pain, Pleasure, and Empowerment in Theory and Practice, eds. Amber Clifford and Brenda Gardenour Walter. Palgrave-Macmillan, forthcoming 2019.
• “The Bogus BDSM Defence: The Manipulation of Kink as Consent to Assault,”
  co-authored with Chanelle Gallant. Chapter in Dis/Consent: Perspectives on Sexual Consent and Sexual Violence, ed. KellyAnne Malinen. Fernwood Press, 2019.
• “‘Your Cuntry Needs You’: The Politics of Early-1990s Canadian S/M Dyke Porn.” Chapter in We Still Demand! Redefining Resistance in Sex and Gender Struggles, ed. Patrizia Gentile, Gary Kinsman and L. Pauline Rankin. UBC Press, 2016.

Essay collections

• “Hitting the Books: A Brief History of M/s Training and Education Manuals.” Our Lives, Our History: Consensual Master/slave Relationships from Ancient Times to the 21st Century. Ed. Peter Tupper and david stein. New York: Perfectbound Press, 2016. Winner of the NLA International Geoff Mains Nonfiction Book Award for 2017.
• “On Leaving Without Saying Goodbye.” Stories from the Polycule: Real Life in Polyamorous Families. Ed. Elizabeth Sheff. Vancouver: Thorntree Press, 2015.
• “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. Toronto: Insomniac Press, 2009.
• “Just the Beginning.” Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World. Ed. Robyn Ochs. Boston: Bisexual Resource Center, 2005.

Journalism

• Features, news and comment:  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 The Tyee, the Globe and Mail, Xtra!, Montreal Mirror, Capital Xtra!, In Magazine, Outlooks Magazine and others. From 2012 through 2014 I also wrote a monthly sex column, “Ask the Sex Geek,” for In Magazine. (I loooved writing this column. I’d be thrilled to have a sex column somewhere else one of these days.) Scroll down for links to (most of) my journalism work.
• Comment on BDSM: I have authored a number of comment articles about kink, BDSM and consent. Here they are for easy reference: Fauxpologists like Jian Ghomeshi: How to Deal with Them (The Tyee, 2018, which also reprinted my blog post here under the title A Kinkster’s Take on the Jian Ghomeshi Saga: Read through the lens of a BDSM expert, there’s so much that doesn’t add up in October 2014); “In Healthy, Consensual BDSM, Saying ‘Yes’ Is Just the Beginning” (Globe and Mail, 2014); “Jian Ghomeshi’s Case is Not About a Kink—It’s About Abuse” (Bitch Magazine blog, 2014); and “Fifty Shades of F*cked Up: The Film on Its Own Terms” (Ms. Magazine blog, 2014). A portion of my reporting-style journalism has also been BDSM-related; among other things, I wrote the first-ever mainstream media article reporting on FetLife.com, for the Montreal Mirror in 2008, sadly now defunct. These articles are listed along with more general ones below.

Erotica

My erotic short stories have been featured in several anthologies and magazines, including:

• “Intrinsic Pleasures, or Twilight in the Bookstore.” The Flesh Made Word. Ed. Bernie Mojzes. Boston: Circlet Press 2015.
• “The Work.” The Big Book of Domination: Erotic Fantasies. Ed. D. L. King. San Francisco: Cleis Press 2014. The book took the silver medal in the Erotica category in the Independent Publishers Book Awards 2014.
• “Quiet.” Under Her Thumb: Erotic Stories of Female Dominaton. Ed. D. L. King. San Francisco: Cleis Press 2013. The book took the silver medal in the Erotica category in the Independent Publishers Book Awards 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. The book won 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.

For private clients

I have a hopping freelance practice as a writer, editor and translator. Some of my clients work within the spectrum of sexuality and gender, some don’t. I have edited memoirs, novels, dissertations, video scripts, anthologies, stories, articles and more for pervs and queers; I’ve translated for queer youth organizations, sex workers’ rights groups, LGBTQ+ researchers and more; and I’ve written copy for all manner of clients. Check out my LinkedIn profile for further info.

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Here are links to most of the articles I’ve written for newspapers and magazines. (Note as of January 2016: some of these links are broken, but all Xtra articles are still available online if you search their titles. I’ll fix up this list soon so you don’t have to do the extra work!)

Journal, magazine and news articles and comment

Xtra!

• Naked Heart festival gets real about success and struggles for queer and trans writers: The Toronto literary festival is in its fourth year. November 9, 2018.
• The four ways that LGBT communities are responding to Pride Toronto welcoming back police: Is it time to move towards a small-p pride? October 19, 2018.

The Tyee

• Fauxpologists like Jian Ghomeshi: How to Deal with Them: Fame is power. Abusive celebs have proven they can’t be trusted with power. September 24, 2018.
• A Kinkster’s Take on the Jian Ghomeshi Saga: Read through the lens of a BDSM expert, there’s so much that doesn’t add up. October 28, 2014. (Note: this is a reprint of my blog post here from a few days prior.)

The Globe and Mail

• In healthy, consensual BDSM, saying “yes” is just the beginning. October 28, 2014.

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.

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. I’m leaving this here as a sort of graveyard section on my portfolio.

• “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.

Miscellaneous

• “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.

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 https://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 Eternal Closet” on openpoly.net, August 2010.
• “What Trans Erotica Gets Wrong” on alternet.org. July 24, 2008.

The following articles are all from my brief stint writing for Go-Montreal.com in 2005:

• “The Village Comes Out: A Quick History”
• “Festive and Gay”
• “Valentine’s Day for Dummies”
• “Eating Well in Montreal”