Happy Wednesday Scribblers. I was reminded that today is the third anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting. We has a humans are capable of great works of beauty and can show huge amounts of compassion. Conversely we are capable of mass destructions and cruelty beyond belief. We need to choose the kind of world we want to live in and focus our efforts on making that world. Kindness, compassion, and understanding should be the foundations we build our world on.
That said, this week I’m honored to have fellow Ninestar Press author Grace Kilian Delaney here to speak her truth and to share her story. Everyone, has their own story. This is hers.
Thank you, M. D. Neu, for having me at your blog! Before I get into the topic, I’d like to take a moment to remember the lives lost on this day, June 12th, at Pulse nightclub. I wish I had more to add, some words of hope. But this tragedy only fuels the importance of Pride to me, to celebrate the LGBTQIA community and to honor those who fought and continue to fight for equality.
In the little suburb of Boston where I grew up, I never heard the words bisexual, pansexual, gender fluid, or transgender. A person identified as gay or lesbian, and if they dressed in a way considered opposite of their assigned sex at birth, they had to be a musician. Or at least this was how my mostly sheltered, young teenage mind understood life back in the late 80s early 90s, a time when men wore makeup and drove up Aquanet’s stock value as much, if not more than women, and when Glam metal bands like Poison and Mötley Crüe ruled magazine covers and airwaves. It was also when I decided I wanted to be a badass musician like Chrissie Hynde or Joan Jett. Screw makeup. Screw dresses. But as acceptable as that was for those female musicians, I was a mere mortal, too afraid to present myself in such a masculine way for fear of being rejected by my family. So I settled for ripped jeans and thick, black eyeliner like every other girl at my high school, and silently accepted sometimes I was uncomfortable as a young woman.
It wasn’t until a shy male friend of mine asked if he could model a dress he bought that I realized I accepted, loved, and remained attracted to him however he chose to represent himself, and in turn grew more accepting of my own inclination to wear clothes that matched how I felt on the inside. This wasn’t a full-on revelation yet. This was more of a fuzzy awareness, a half-light of teenage sexual awakening. Full awareness came twenty years later. The main reason for such a gap is, I fell in love at a young age, got married, and presented as a straight, cisgender woman to the outside world. My partner knew I was bi (pan) from the beginning of our relationship, and he recognized, accepted, and even loved that sometimes I felt more masculine than feminine. But we lived in a mostly straight world, occasionally hanging out with friends who were cisgender gay or lesbian without ever discussing identities that fell under the transgender umbrella.
Writing romantic stories, gay and straight, had been a long-time hobby, and after reading The Backup Boyfriendabout five years ago, I became inspired to publish a novella about Devon, a cross-dressing mechanic and Stone, a bisexual heavy metal rock star. Devon identifies as gender fluid, a discovery he makes in Waking Oisin. Creating these characters helped me stitch together my own history and understand and accept that I am gender fluid, attracted to a person as a whole, not their parts, and overall be more comfortable with who I am.
Grace thank you for stopping by today and sharing your story. If you have questions for Grace leave them below and I’ll ensure she swings by to answer, or you can find her on Social Media, see the links below. Until next time have a great week.
About Grace Kilian Delaney:
Grace Kilian Delaney is a LGBT writer, musician, animal lover, and author of the sweet and sexy bisexual romance Living on a Dare: A Shore Thing Novel. She spends her free time performing kitchen concerts to an audience of her two cats and a dog and loves long beach runs. Her previous books include Seven Minutes(Dreamspinner Press) and Waking Oisin(NineStar Press).
Where to find Grace Kilian Delaney:
Twitter: @GracekilianD
Facebook Group: Delaneys Dirty Dearies
Goodreads: https://bit.ly/2HRcaqN
Amazon Author Page:amazon.com/author/gracekiliandelaney
Website:gracekiliandelaney.wordpress.com
Mailing List:https://tinyurl.com/yym8jvvp
About Living on a Dare:
Stuntman Draven O’Connor never turns down a dare—even if it means getting down on one knee to propose to his former college roommate and friend. The same man he’s been crushing on since the first day they met. The same man that has grown distant over the past year. And the same man who just agreed to be his fiancé.
Julien Bouchard is tired of living a lie. He spent the past year exploring his sexuality in secret, enduring countless dates with women to appease his mother, and dodging his best friend, Draven, who knows everything there is to know about him, except the one thing that could change their friendship. Ready to face his friend, he meets him at a bar and is greeted by an unexpected marriage proposal. The dare isn’t surprising; it’s the scorching hot kiss that sends Julien’s head and heart in a tailspin—and gives him an idea for the perfect plan.
But his plan hits a bump when news of their fake engagement spreads to their families as fast as a wildfire, forcing them to confront their true feelings about each other and hope they don’t get burned.
Where to buy Living on a Dare:
Available on Kindle Unlimited
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2WpmdN6
Universal Link: getbook.at/LivingonaDare