Slamming Bricks: An Anthology features poetry from LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and AAPI poets addressing themes of resistance and liberation. The third edition of the anthology highlights work from fifteen poets ranging from debut poets to multi-award-winning slam poets. This powerful collection brings together diverse perspectives while illuminating the common bonds that unite us. All proceeds from the sale of the anthology go to the Western Colorado Writers' Forum to help fund Slamming Bricks event costs.
The Slamming Bricks Anthology 2nd Edition features poetry from fifteen LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and AAPI poets on the themes of resistance and liberation. The Slamming Bricks Anthology grew from the annual poetry slam competition, Slamming Bricks: A Riot on 1st Street, that LGBTQ+ slam poet Caleb Ferganchick started in 2019. The 2022 event marks the fourth year of the poetry slam and the anthology features poetry by six of the slam poets competing in 2022. The anthology was made possible due to the financial support of the Western Colorado Writers' Forum, the Western Colorado Community Foundation, and the Grand Junction Commission on Arts and Culture. All proceeds go to the Western Colorado Writers' Forum to help fund future Slamming Bricks poetry slam competitions.
The Slamming Bricks Anthology features poetry from nineteen LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and AAPI poets across the world ranging from debut artists to award-winning slam poets. It includes over 80 pages of beautiful prose and meaningful expressions of liberation and resistance. The Slamming Bricks Anthology grew from the annual poetry slam competition, Slamming Bricks: A Riot on 1st Street, based in Grand Junction, Colorado that LGBTQ+ slam poet Caleb Ferganchick started in 2019. The 2021 event marks the third year of the poetry slam and the anthology features poetry by eight of the slam poets competing in 2021. The anthology was made possible due to the financial support of the Western Colorado Writers' Forum and Colorado Arts in Society.
All proceeds go to the Western Colorado Writers' Forum to help fund future Slamming Bricks poetry slam competitions.
Sam and Ashley were once other girls . . .
Three years after the sudden loss of her wife to a brain aneurysm, thirty-four-year-old Samantha Parker focuses her attention on caring for her five-year-old son Jake. She lives in her hometown of New Orleans where she has a close relationship with her family and her best friend, Drea, who is a loyal friend when she’s not busy sleeping her way through the local lesbian population.
Sam’s wife Anna was the love of her life and she can’t imagine ever finding such a love again. Instead, she focuses on being the best mother to Jake she can be and getting through each day as it comes. It’s not exciting, but she understands that she had her love story with Anna. As long as she gets her weekly girls’ night out with Drea and her softball team keeps winning, everything is fine.
That is, until Ashley Valence, the girl who tormented Sam throughout high school, moves back home after sixteen years. Ashley, the former softball star, joins Sam’s softball team, sending Sam into a series of nightmares. As tensions rise on the softball field, the unexpected and undeniable chemistry between the women grows.
No matter how much Sam wants to hate Ashley, those once icy green eyes only hold warmth now. As Sam introduces Ashley into her life with Jake, she begins to let go of the past to follow her heart. But when Jake is bullied by a student at school, all of the former hurts resurface for Sam, and she lashes out at Ashley in an attempt to protect both herself and her son. Though Sam realizes her knee-jerk reactions are wrong, she also begins to realize that she’s in love with Ashley.
One last problem remains—can she trust her heart to someone who once hurt her so deeply?
"Avery Brooks’ debut novel, Other Girls, is not only a poignant, heartfelt romance, but it is also a love letter to the magic city of New Orleans. The writing is strong, the characters unforgettable and their struggles to put the difficulties of the past behind them hit all the right emotional notes. Welcome to the world of lesbian fiction, Avery Brooks."—CINDY RIZZO, Goldie Award-winning author of Exception to the Rule
An anthology of short stories about women who love women to benefit the Golden Crown Literary Society's Writing Academy. “New Year, New You” by Avery Brooks.