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Through the Hourglass - Lesbian Historical Romance: A Lizzie's Bedtime Stories Anthology
This anthology captures days gone by, where romance is sometimes slow and tender, but seething with passion beneath the velvet, satin, and proper restraint. Join Ann Bannon, Lee Lynch, and fourteen other authors celebrate lesbian historical romance and love through the centuries.
A portion of the proceeds for Through the Hourglass will go to these charities that directly serve LGBT senior citizens: Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) and The Gay & Lesbian Association of Retiring Persons, Inc. (GLARP).
A portion of the proceeds for Through the Hourglass will go to these charities that directly serve LGBT senior citizens: Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) and The Gay & Lesbian Association of Retiring Persons, Inc. (GLARP).
- GenresRomanceLGBTShort Stories
283 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 16, 2015
21 people are currently reading
350 people want to read
About the author
Patty G. Henderson
20 books14 followersFrom the author's website: I’m a Tampa, Florida native and still live in beautiful, Palm tree-lined South Tampa. I got hooked on mystery and supernatural literature after I read Edgar Allan Poe in junior high and soon after, discovered H. P. Lovecraft. The dark side still fascinates me and I lament the loss of some of the old style literature of the greats in the genre.
I’m a firm believer in the romantic gothic element in horror and try to flavor all my books with a modern twist of the gothic. My vampire novel, SO DEAD, MY LOVE is a very strong modern day gothic written with all the trappings of the old greats. And if you are a fan of my Brenda Strange supernatural mystery series, then you’ll see a hint of the gothic in those books as well. The first book in the series is THE BURNING OF HER SIN, followed by TANGLED AND DARK and THE MISSING PAGE. The fourth book in the series, XIMORA, was published in 2009 by Black Car Publishing.
And on the opposite end of the spectrum, I also dearly love a good "cozy" mystery. No ghosts or ghoulies, just a good old-fashioned mystery with nary a drop of blood, violence or sex. I have many favorite cozy mystery books and authors I enjoy tremendously, like Juliet Blackwell, Ellery Adams, Lorna Barrett and a host of others!
I've also written a book in a favorite genre of mine.....Gothic Historical Romances. My brand new lesbian Gothic Historical Romance, THE SECRET OF LIGHTHOUSE POINTE, is a total homage to the old, campy paperback Gothics available at drugstores, department stores, grocery stores and every place paperback books were sold in the 1960s and 1970s. In my Gothic books, though, the girl gets the girl!
When I’m not writing or thinking of plot lines in my head, I love spending time with my family, coffee shops, fine wine and enjoying being out in the weekend evenings under the soothing power of the moon. I love thunderstorms with rolling thunder and the quiet beauty of cemetery. There is also lots more room for cats in my home. One can never have enough felines. I’ve had cats since I can remember and fondly recall each one with love for all the joy they brought me. I also create book covers and still enjoy collecting and detailing model cars which is something I began doing since I was child. I have a nice collection of little cars made of “white metal” which are highly collectible. During the year, you might find me at a local car show, snapping pics of my favorite cars of the 40s, 50s and 60s.
I’m a firm believer in the romantic gothic element in horror and try to flavor all my books with a modern twist of the gothic. My vampire novel, SO DEAD, MY LOVE is a very strong modern day gothic written with all the trappings of the old greats. And if you are a fan of my Brenda Strange supernatural mystery series, then you’ll see a hint of the gothic in those books as well. The first book in the series is THE BURNING OF HER SIN, followed by TANGLED AND DARK and THE MISSING PAGE. The fourth book in the series, XIMORA, was published in 2009 by Black Car Publishing.
And on the opposite end of the spectrum, I also dearly love a good "cozy" mystery. No ghosts or ghoulies, just a good old-fashioned mystery with nary a drop of blood, violence or sex. I have many favorite cozy mystery books and authors I enjoy tremendously, like Juliet Blackwell, Ellery Adams, Lorna Barrett and a host of others!
I've also written a book in a favorite genre of mine.....Gothic Historical Romances. My brand new lesbian Gothic Historical Romance, THE SECRET OF LIGHTHOUSE POINTE, is a total homage to the old, campy paperback Gothics available at drugstores, department stores, grocery stores and every place paperback books were sold in the 1960s and 1970s. In my Gothic books, though, the girl gets the girl!
When I’m not writing or thinking of plot lines in my head, I love spending time with my family, coffee shops, fine wine and enjoying being out in the weekend evenings under the soothing power of the moon. I love thunderstorms with rolling thunder and the quiet beauty of cemetery. There is also lots more room for cats in my home. One can never have enough felines. I’ve had cats since I can remember and fondly recall each one with love for all the joy they brought me. I also create book covers and still enjoy collecting and detailing model cars which is something I began doing since I was child. I have a nice collection of little cars made of “white metal” which are highly collectible. During the year, you might find me at a local car show, snapping pics of my favorite cars of the 40s, 50s and 60s.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 3, 2016
i got this for free through kindle unlimited, which was a nice find!
good:
- for the most part, these all have positive endings, though some may fall more under hopeful or bittersweet.
- this includes an excerpt of beebo brinker! that was a nice surprise.
- there are nice scenes/mentions of recognizing each other as lesbians through history; many of the characters in these stories have histories with women and with lesbian social circles--it's not all "first time i've ever liked a girl" stories
- "with ball due respect" is delightfully packed with softball metaphors/slang for E V E R Y T H I N G. it could have really been annoying or hard to understand, but it matched with the feel and pace of the story and instead was just really fun.
- this anthology has a lot of respect for older lesbians. some of the stories contain brief footnotes/afterwords about the kind of legacy the protagonist left. "honeydew moon" is narrated entirely by an elderly lesbian (still with her wife) and talks about how finding an older lesbian couple as friends when they were younger was so important to seeing their own future. yeah i may have gotten a little misty.
not so great:
- stories are all white, taking place in the united states and europe (england, greece, and italy). really, this is historical fiction but you couldn't include one non-white person?
- some of the stories felt repetitive after a while; young women, with some difference in station, fall unexpectedly in love until the expectation that one marries a man comes between them.
- the shortcoming (pun intended) of all short story anthologies, for me, is that you can't craft really plotty, complex stories, which is what i enjoy more; but that's the fault of the medium, not these writers.
in all, while i wasn't blown away by this, it was a light enjoyable read and i'm glad i found it.
good:
- for the most part, these all have positive endings, though some may fall more under hopeful or bittersweet.
- this includes an excerpt of beebo brinker! that was a nice surprise.
- there are nice scenes/mentions of recognizing each other as lesbians through history; many of the characters in these stories have histories with women and with lesbian social circles--it's not all "first time i've ever liked a girl" stories
- "with ball due respect" is delightfully packed with softball metaphors/slang for E V E R Y T H I N G. it could have really been annoying or hard to understand, but it matched with the feel and pace of the story and instead was just really fun.
- this anthology has a lot of respect for older lesbians. some of the stories contain brief footnotes/afterwords about the kind of legacy the protagonist left. "honeydew moon" is narrated entirely by an elderly lesbian (still with her wife) and talks about how finding an older lesbian couple as friends when they were younger was so important to seeing their own future. yeah i may have gotten a little misty.
not so great:
- stories are all white, taking place in the united states and europe (england, greece, and italy). really, this is historical fiction but you couldn't include one non-white person?
- some of the stories felt repetitive after a while; young women, with some difference in station, fall unexpectedly in love until the expectation that one marries a man comes between them.
- the shortcoming (pun intended) of all short story anthologies, for me, is that you can't craft really plotty, complex stories, which is what i enjoy more; but that's the fault of the medium, not these writers.
in all, while i wasn't blown away by this, it was a light enjoyable read and i'm glad i found it.
December 13, 2017
Enjoyable anthology with a number of standout stories. I particularly liked Heather Rose Jones' "Where My Heart Goes," Susan Smith's "Saffron and Fennel," Connie Wilkins' "The Bridge" and Allison Fradkin's "With Ball Due Respect." The stories cover a wide range of time periods and locations, which makes for an entertaining read. I would have liked to have seen more cultural diversity represented, as pretty much all the stories are about white women, as far I could tell. It was nice to see an excerpt of Ann Brannon's "Beebo Brinker" as well as a new to me story by Lee Lynch. So recommended, with the above caveat about the lack of diversity.
June 5, 2018
A really lovely, high quality collection, will definitely revisit at some point and read more work from a lot of these authors.
The reason I did not give this wonderful collection a five is because the stories could be far less white/Europe & America centric. I also thought the introduction was a little illogical, yes it's nice to take a break from the busy world and escape into the past, but how much is the past an escape when you inevitably have to talk about the things queer woman have had to sacrifice (which is a theme in many of the stories).
The reason I did not give this wonderful collection a five is because the stories could be far less white/Europe & America centric. I also thought the introduction was a little illogical, yes it's nice to take a break from the busy world and escape into the past, but how much is the past an escape when you inevitably have to talk about the things queer woman have had to sacrifice (which is a theme in many of the stories).
January 8, 2021
Loved the changing times
These stories are about women who find love with another woman in different eras and in many cases kept their love in spite of the hardships.
One story is particularly my favorite “My Elizabeth” by M J Williams. It takes place during WW2 and is about a young woman who goes to work at airplane factory. Being an older woman I have always been amazed at how we, women, managed to find each other at a time when it was essential we had to hide who attracted us and what we had to do to avoid marriage.
These stories are about women who find love with another woman in different eras and in many cases kept their love in spite of the hardships.
One story is particularly my favorite “My Elizabeth” by M J Williams. It takes place during WW2 and is about a young woman who goes to work at airplane factory. Being an older woman I have always been amazed at how we, women, managed to find each other at a time when it was essential we had to hide who attracted us and what we had to do to avoid marriage.
April 20, 2016
THROUGH THE HOURGLASS is an anthology on the write side of history, and the superlative Sapphic storytellers in this collection present readers with one L of an en-gay-ging history lesson. In her own way, each author has contributed a story that elevates and celebrates us, refines and redefines us -- and reminds us that there's no time like the present to take pride in our past.
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June 4, 2016I'm not posting a proper review because I'm a contributor to the anthology and feel that would be inappropriate. If you're interested, I did write up my thoughts on it on my blog. http://hrj.livejournal.com/586013.html
March 5, 2016
Excellent and thought provoking.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews