A Phoenix Rising Followup

A lengthy thread of comments on Kimberly Gardner's book evolved into discussion on more books and Proposition 8 and... well, the end result is information worthy of its own post. It began when author James Buchanan noted the success of Phoenix Rising and books of the M/M Romance genre:

JB: And they said nice girls wouldn't buy that shit...

Author Z.A. Maxfield followed with: Or write it. ;-)

JB: Yeah, but can I send your Stake President a copy of Hard Fall?

ZA: Please do!

JB: Yeah, but then I’d get a bill when he had an aneurysm and had to be rushed to the emergency room and the Relief Sisters had to go help his wife and their ½ dozen kids… sheesh we finally got the missionaries to leave us alone. The Elders were getting desperate, sending the female Elders out and they’re the rare, big guns you know (24-25 year old unmarried gals as opposed the 19 year old boys)

ZA: yep. You know, I always feed the boys but it's funny how those no on prop 8 signs seem to have kept them away as nothing else has.... Shun the non-believers...

These were references to missionaries from the Church of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, who played a significant financial role in California's Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the state, and the authors were asked to explain.

JB: Various lay positions in the Mormon Church. The only paid position is the Janitor, all others are “called” into service. Elders (Missionaries) are usually boys between the ages of 18-21, but if a girl hasn’t gotten married by 21 she can go on a mission…and those women are FANATICAL. The Relief Society is Women who have been called to take care of the sick and elderly in the church. They bring meals, drive elderly members to Dr’s apt’s yadda. If you simply stop going to church and stop tithing (10% required) they send the older, more experienced Missionaries out to your house with a vengeance…often bringing the Stake President with them to discuss your absence. SG finally got rid of them when the Stake President said, “Well if you really don’t like the church, you should petition to have yourself removed from the rolls.”

His answer: “That would mean I cared…” They stopped coming, even when they’re in the neighborhood, although as with ZA we always fed them. It’s like being a door to door salesman with nothing people want to buy. SG did his two years among drug addicts in Northern England…he refuses to travel anywhere in Great Britain because of that time…

OH…and Hard Fall.. next book coming out…Gay Mormon Back Country Sheriff in Utah…

ZA: I cannot wait for that book, when again?

JB: It is in formatting…so soon

End of discussion!

James Buchanan's upcoming Hard Fall is shown in column right, as is the I Do Anthology of which Z.A. Maxfield was a contributing author. The proceeds from sales of I Do go to the Lambda Legal Defense Fund in their court battle to overturn Prop. 8, and was organized by contributing author Alex Beecroft. Book cover link takes you to Amazon.com where you can learn more about the project, see a full list of authors involved and, if you wish, purchase the book.

Thank you to Z.A. and James for taking this conversation to a good place. Comments to this post are definitely encouraged.

Jardonn