--Gaydar Magazine
Angel
Food and Devil Dogs featured in the Summer, 2008 issue of
Gaydar Magazine:
It's
both a classic who-done-it style mystery and a hot lesbian
romance. Who could ask for anything more!?!
- Gaydar Magazine
Gaydar
Magazine Interview
Activist
Liz Bradbury's new lesbian mystery/romance novel Angel Food
and Devil Dogs has just been released by Boudica Publishing
Inc.
Angel Food and Devil Dogs by Liz Bradbury
Gaydar caught up with Liz as she found a free moment
between running the GLBT community organization
Pennsylvania Diversity Network and working on her next
novel.
GM: I've had the chance to read Angel Food and Devil Dogs,
and I loved it! It's both a classic who-done-it style
mystery and a hot lesbian romance. Who could ask for
anything more?! What made you to write it?
LB: I love mysteries and have been reading them forever,
but I've just never found one that had the kind of
characters I could really relate to on a personal level. So
I created a private detective who was a lesbian, and made
the plot as much about her unraveling her current case, as
about the sparks between her and a woman she meets while
working on the case. The people that surround her are the
kinds of friends a lesbian would have. I've tried to make
her the type of person GLBT readers would want to have as a
friend.
GM: Private Eye Maggie Gale seems very sure of herself. Did
you do that on purpose?
LB: I've tried to make Maggie a character or even on some
level a hero that lesbian readers might identify with or
aspire to be. She's smart, she's in great shape, she's a
good friend, she has interesting hobbies… but I don't think
Maggie is sure of herself all the time, she's a skilled
investigator and she knows it, but she has personal doubts
just like all of us. I did consciously make her sure of her
sexual orientation and her attraction to Kathryn, because I
really hate it that so many contemporary writers feel they
have to make lesbian characters so flawed and angst ridden.
GM: Too many books have weak lesbian characters?
LB: Way too many novels and movies cast the lesbian
character as someone with crippling addictions, or horribly
low self esteem that's based in internalized homophobia.
Being a lesbian is an important part of Maggie Gale's life,
but constantly questioning whether it's OK to be a lesbian
is not a problem for her. She's way past that. She doesn't
struggle with personal demons when she realizes she's
attracted to Kathryn. Maggie just plans out what might be
the best way to ask her for a date and get her...in the
mood… (laughs)… and because the book is in first person,
the reader gets to follow Maggie's train of thought, which
can be pretty funny at times.
LB: With the exception of “Tipping the Velvet,” by Sarah
Waters, which I loved, I just haven't found any lesbian
novels that deal with sex and romance in the positive way
mainstream novels do. Meaning that too often in lesbian
novels the...um...consummation
of the
encounter is skipped over. I read a lesbian mystery once
where the entire first encounter sex scene consisted of the
sentence, They
made love. I
wanted to create an interesting mystery where the lesbian
romantic tension goes somewhere exciting and real.
GM: It sure does that! There were parts of this book that
were so hot... I couldn't have quit reading if a fire truck
had run into the house!
LB: Thanks, that's what I was aiming for! But I don't want
anyone to misunderstand. It's not just erotica. It has two
intricate mystery plots that weave together with some
really interesting characters. The romantic situations are
a tight part of the story.
GM: How did you get the ideas for the characters and the
location?
LB: I like strong, funny characters. Maggie's friends and
family are like that...supportive and caring but
wisecracking and direct. I think that's a great part of the
GLBT community, that we so often have friendships that fuel
and sustain us. There are also the suspects and others in
Maggie's community. Since this is the first book of the
series, I fleshed out a lot of the people in her life.
For character ideas, I make them all up. I sometimes start
with TV and movie characters as the very basic inspirations
and then make up changes and embellishments that the plot
requires. The location is a very modified version of
Allentown with huge alterations of locations and additions
of institutions and businesses. Irwin College of Art and
Architecture is made up.
GM: So there are going to be more novels about these
characters? It's part of a series?
LB: Yes, I'm working on the next books in the series right
now. The titles of the books map out the series. This one
is Angel Food and Devil Dogs, beginning with A, the next
one is Being the Steel Drum Man. The third one is C-notes
and Ski-nose. The titles progress alphabetically.
GM: Like the Kinsey Millhone or the Stephanie Plumb series?
LB: Yes, but my titles refer to the actual stories.
GM: Where can people buy this book?
LB: I'll be doing some book release parties around the area
and people can buy the book at those. Twenty percent of the
net profit from the sales of these books goes to local GLBT
support and advocacy organizations. I'll be marketing this
novel up and down the East Coast. Any GLBTA group that
hosts a reading or a book signing will receive 20% of the
sales revenue from that event.
Also people can buy it direct from the publisher at
www.boudicapublishing.com or through Amazon - but buying it
through Boudica Publishing brings more donated money to the
GLBT community.
GM: Hey, thanks for talking to us…now, get back to work on
your next book!
LB: I'm on it!
