Talk of the Town
by Saxon Bennett
Talk of the Town
Saxon Bennett
Bella Books
Saxon Bennett introduces readers to the sun-baked, over-indulging lives of Gigi, Mallory and their fun-loving friends in Talk of the Town.
Friends since childhood, party-girl, Gigi, and the solitary responsible business woman, Mallory, take us on a wild ride that sees their lives twisting and turning. Mallory is struggling to grow up and to understand her life - including her love for Gigi. Meanwhile, Gigi continues to bounce from one risky, albeit usually humorous, situation to another.
While their circle of friends can always keep things light and interesting, they can’t shield Mallory from a betrayal that could upset her newfound happiness. Nor can they stand Gigi’s reckless ways. Of course with enough beer, barbecue and B.S., anything is possible with these gals in this human, comic tale of contemporary lesbian life.
I would have to say of all the lesbian books I’ve read in the past couple of months, this has to be my favorite, probably because the characters, and the situations, are so real. In fact, I saw a lot of my friends in these characters. There are times you’ll find yourself laughing out loud and times you’ll find yourself provoked to anger by some of the things Gigi does. But, as a writer and reader, I find this makes for a good book.
Publisher’s Note: You’ll find the Bella After Dark logo on some of Bella’s newest books. The logo symbolizes that the book is a bit spicer and has a higher erotic content than the traditional lesbian romance.
(as published in Family & Friends Magazine, April 2004)
Higher Ground
by Saxon Bennett
HIGHER GROUND
Saxon Bennett
Bella Books
Saxon Bennett is quickly becoming one of my favorite lesbian authors of the new millennium. I first met Bennett, and her characters, in the pages of Talk of the Town, which I reviewed in our April 2004 issue. She wowed me then, and I was thrilled when her most recent novel, Higher Ground, showed up for our review. If I hadn’t been the publisher (ie. “The Boss”) I would have fought tooth-and-nail to be the one to review this book.
In doing a bit of research on Bennett, I discovered a Dallas/Ft. Worth reader’s review of her 1997 release, Old Ties, published by Naiad Press. While the reviewer called Bennett’s work “disappointing” and “transparent ... predictable,” if this were so, Bennett has apparently matured as a writer in the past seven years.
Why? Because Higher Ground couldn’t be farther from disappointing, transparent or predictable. Her main characters, Edie, Vida and Laura, right down to her minor characters, including a likeable dyke named Bear, are complex creatures not of habit. Perhaps this particular novel spoke to me more than it might most folks. I know it spoke to me on a myriad of levels:
1) From the very beginning in the “acknowledgements,” Bennett
writes, “To my furry family for helping out in their own unique ways: Sarah, the sassy calico cat, for sitting on the manuscript, which is always a good sign, it is like a cat blessing that everything will work out and Gunter, the biggest cat in Texas, and we don’t live in Texas ...”
I have three cats (one of which is from Texas), and one, while not a calico, couldn’t keep himself from lying on the pages of this book while I was trying to read it. A good sign, indeed. Cats must truly have some kind of sixth, literary sense, after all, his name is Hemingway (named after Ernest, this will make even more sense in a minute).
2) One of the main characters, Edie Farnsworth, is employed as the senior editor of the Phoenician magazine, a magazine which she and her friend, Oswald, began together. I’ve been a senior editor, and I started this magazine, Family & Friends, with my best friend (and former partner) about seven years ago.
3) Another of the main characters, Laura Barnes, is employed as the head of the advertising department at the Phoenician. Heck, I’ve done a few stints in advertising departments through the years.
4) The story is set in Phoenix, Ariz., which is only a hop, skip and a jump from my hometown of Amarillo, Texas, situated almost exactly in the center of the Texas Panhandle.
5) On into the story, there’s a playwright. I’m a playwright.
I know a lot of these commonalities won’t hold true for the average
reader, but, I’m a sucker for any story set against a publishing background (one of my favorite movies is The Paper).
Regardless of how it connected with me, Bennett’s writing connected with me when I began the first page of Talk of the Town. I read Higher Ground in one sitting (even the loss of our electricity due to a summer storm wasn’t enough to get me to put the book down).
And while I’ve been accused of being a “fast reader,” (which I don’t believe is the case at all), I think anyone who picks up a copy of Higher Ground will find they, too, can’t stop turning those pages.
Bennett, I’ll make you a promise. You keep writing and I’ll keep reading and don’t let that reader in Dallas/Ft. Worth get to you – it’s probably one of my exes who actually thought she could write.
(as published in Family & Friends Magazine, September 2004)