Showing titles in Biographies & Memoirs

Forever Her Mother’s Son: The Dina Jacobs Story is a biography about Dina Montalbo. She was born Clifford Amado Montalbo and has lived most of her life as a performer, providing entertainment to those who appreciate her talents and illusions. Dina’s life has had many ups and downs, successes and disappointments, and has taken her all around the world. Dina believes in living life in the present. She recognizes that the past has happened and the future will occur. 

Charles St. Anthony dreamed of living in San Francisco his whole life, and after a sudden return to the USA from Japan, he makes his way to the Bay. In this novella-sized mini-memoir, Charles finds the humor in every situation - whether it be a series of dating fiascoes in the Castro or beating a path down to Silicon Valley. He takes you on a tour of the New Age Babylon by the Bay, and Charles describes his notable adventures in political canvassing, polyamory, getting fired from a Jamba Juice knock-off and driving a sketchy San Francisco taxi cab (in the age of Uber). 

In his first collection of condensed stories, James uses his quick wit and bizarre sense of humor to provoke laughter and gaiety. From the awkward moment that ensues after his boss mistakenly discovers a pornographic image on his cellphone, to the struggles of toilet training three cats in a one-bedroom apartment, James always has a way of finding the silver lining.

Imagine thinking you had the ideal life. The perfect partner, on whom you relied and trusted. An infant child, newly adopted. Then one day, you wake up, and the life you’ve been living has suddenly turned upside down. Everything thought true becomes suspect. And you learn, quite quickly, that you can never again trust the person sleeping beside you.

Going to Wings, by Sandra Worsham, is a tender and entertaining memoir about love, family, sexuality, and faith. The author loves women, she loves Catholicism, and she loves her small hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia, the home of the Catholic writer Flannery O’Connor. The result is a dramatic struggle well worth following. This is a journey of stunning losses and successes, of fear and courage, told with admirable style and wit, with charming innocence, and with honesty.

Have you ever heard of the little saying “The truth will set you free?” Of course, you have. A riveting story of what happens when you find your voice and quiet the self-sabotaging voice in your head! Moving, thought provoking, and powerful. 

Event producer, music director, and community organizer Elaina Martin has over the past three decades become widely known in Eastern Ontario, bolstering queer representation, community sustainability, and the arts. In this soulful narrative, she shares how she grew into these roles and what she learned along the way. 

House on Fire, a raw and riveting memoir by author and publisher Jenn T. Grace, explores her journey growing up as an adopted child in a chaotic household. Surviving a turbulent childhood marked by family conflict, mental illness, and alcoholism, Grace promises herself that life will get better. But as an adult, Grace’s personal and professional successes belie her inner turmoil.

In the summers of the early 1970s, Morris Ardoin and his siblings helped run their family's roadside motel in a hot, buggy, bayou town in Cajun Louisiana. The stifling, sticky heat inspired them to find creative ways to stay cool and out of trouble. When they were not doing their chores — handling a colorful cast of customers, scrubbing motel-room toilets, plucking chicken bones and used condoms from under the beds — they played canasta, an old ladies’ game that provided them with a refuge from the sun and helped them avoid their violent, troubled father.

The decision to write my life story began as an exercise to make sense out of it all. But it moved quickly to being a tool that would help me put it all in order. My life has been punctuated by some pretty dramatic events. I wanted to recall stories that had been forgotten or buried. I wanted it all out there. For some, the adage "Change is the only thing constant in life" may relate primarily to the weather or one's outfit. Those have not been my changes, although I do worry about both. Joys and tragedies have steered my direction.

Boys’ Secrets and Men’s Loves is the memoir of a law professor who has written over 20 books on the basic rights of American constitutionalism. He has been a prominent advocate of gay rights and feminism, which joins men and women in resistance.

In 1980s America, coming out as gay as a father and husband was a significant journey for anyone to make. Coming out as gay as a priest guaranteed immersion into controversy, contradiction, and challenge. This audiobook tells of the Reverend Canon Ted Karpf's navigation of new social and romantic journeys, all within the context of his priestly vocation in the Episcopal Church.

Martin Milnes was born in the wrong era or at least that's how it seemed. As a child, he wore jazz-shoes to his junior school disco, expecting eight-year-olds to Mambo like the dancers in West Side Story.... But his childhood and school days were no Broadway musical. Martin was different: the cat who walked alone. Birthdays, stingingly empty, held a horrific reminder that he possessed no talent for friendship. Yet once Martin emerged on stage, the jeering turned to cheering; the lonely void was filled by Hollywood stars of yesteryear, worshiped from afar.  

From the 1950s through the 1970s, downtown Manhattan was a hotbed of creative life where artists and writers were free to explore ideas and push boundaries. As a young man, celebrated author and playwright Joseph Caldwell arrived from Milwaukee to become one of the original pioneers of New York's gay bohemian community. In this charming, brutally candid memoir, Caldwell describes his tenure working at the venerated classical music station WQXR, marching in civil protests and being arrested, his evolution as a writer, and his many accomplished acquaintances.

On her journey to near stardom in the music business, Monica Madrid wound up a broke, demoralized alcoholic. Through the twists and turns of a colorful life, she rubbed elbows with Prince, Rick James, and other artists and was in a musical battle with Tupac Shakur. She came close to fulfilling her childhood dream, but once it was stripped from her grasp, her path led to money, prestige - and broken relationships. Monica's story is one of loss, love, and redemption.

[Contains explicit content] Susie talks to writer Steven Gaines. His memoir One of These Things First is about growing up gay in Brooklyn and his time in the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic. And then, it's on Audible: The Cigar Factory, a story of two families in South Carolina during the world wars. 

In a true story, the author writes of a brutal childhood interrupted by occasional spurts of Disneyland and ponies. After a fumbled ax attack by her mother, she takes to the streets at 14 years old. She is a prey looking for a predator. Predators she finds, as well as the unlikeliest of heroes. There is no “road less traveled”. There is no road. She makes her way through back alleys that are dark and mesmerizing. Occasionally brutal, occasionally flat out funny.

Willa Cather had a secret. She called it "the thing not named" and did her best to take the details to her grave when she died in 1947. Her last will and testament stated that her letters could not be published or quoted. You'll love this new and personal look at the world-famous author because it brings into focus the tremendous struggle it took for a confused little kid and a cross-dressing adolescent to become the one and only Willa Cather. 

This is a story of three magical years. Magical because they house immense personal growth and some of my best and worst times. This is a coming together of two stories, one of coming out, embracing your inner self, and the other managing your mental health and the strain and stress that come with University. Relationships and coming to terms with this newfound self. It is a journey, of emotions, fun, heartache, romance, and sheer determination. 

Cory Calvin is a successful New York City corporate executive-turned-entrepreneur. His story reveals a difficult childhood as a closeted teen with a stern father, school bullies, and a strict religious upbringing in a rural town. But Cory’s story is more than his struggle - it is a story of self-discovery, self-acceptance, and success. For Cory, leaving behind his small town and climbing the corporate ladder was empowering, until he realized that there are many more closets in this world.