Jan 26 Edition: Top Sapphic Books, Genta Sebastian, Guess the Author Clue #5, Freebies, and More

1. The internet and I were young, celebrities hadn’t learned to hide from stalkers, and I found Robin Williams’ home address. I wrote to him for years, never getting or expecting an answer. It slowed to once a year at Christmas. I’d send a card with a here’s-what-I’ve-been-doing-for-the-last-year catch up letter. I decided to stop writing but had to send one more to let him know, so he wouldn’t worry, don’tcha know. He sent me back an autographed photo of Mrs. Doubtfire and signed it: Genta: Write on!

2. In my misspent youth I married men twice. One marriage lasted eighteen months, the other four years. I’ve been with my wife for twenty-three years (and those are lesbian years!) and counting.

3. My first novels gathered over two hundred rejection notices and those were the mail-in thirty pages and wait days. Discouraged and doubting my talent, I gave myself a year to sell a short story to an anthology, and started answering submission calls for lesbian erotica. Within six months I wrote fourteen stories to specifications, sold twelve, and saw eleven in print (one anthology accidentally bought two and honored their signed contract) under the pen name Aunt Fanny. Two years later I self-published my first novel and won a Goldie.

4. As a teacher living in a small mountain community, and while dealing with a psychological disorder, my therapist helped me recognize my lesbianism. In my excited self-awareness I confided in a friend, who told my school district superintendent. Three days later I was fired, my mortgage was called, my church said I had to repent, and longtime friends were no longer speaking to me. I sold everything, bought an RV, and traveled the country. Best thing I ever did.

5. I’ve been a professional storyteller for almost four decades and can spin convincing tales. For instance, one of these five statements is mostly fictional, but I’m not telling..