The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast

Ma’am, This is a Fruit Stand by Maya Dworsky-Rocha

Ma’am, This is a Fruit Stand by Maya Dworsky-Rocha

The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 329 with Heather Rose Jones

This quarter’s fiction episode presents "Ma’am, This is a Fruit Stand" by Maya Dworsky-Rocha, narrated and music composition and performance by Heather Rose Jones.

A transcript of this podcast is available here.

Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
• Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
• RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
• Twitter: @LesbianMotif
• Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
• The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon

Links to Heather Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com
• Email: Heather Rose Jones
• Mastodon: @heatherrosejones@Wandering.Shop
• Bluesky: @heatherrosejones
• Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

Links to Maya Dworsky-Rocha Online

• Website: https://www.sylviabarrybooks.com/maya-dworsky-rocha

Christina Rosetti’s “The Goblin Market” (reprised) - The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 328

Christina Rosetti’s “The Goblin Market” (reprised)

The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 328 with Heather Rose Jones

This is an analysis and recitation of the poem “The Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti, with special attention to its homoerotic themes.

A transcript of this podcast is available here.

Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
• Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
• RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
• Twitter: @LesbianMotif
• Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
• The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon

Links to Heather Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com
• Email: Heather Rose Jones
• Mastodon: @heatherrosejones@Wandering.Shop
• Bluesky: @heatherrosejones
• Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

On the Shelf for November 2025 - The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 327

On the Shelf for November 2025

The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 327 with Heather Rose Jones

Your monthly roundup of history, news, and the field of sapphic historical fiction.

In this episode we talk about:

• Setting up context for this month’s fiction episode
• Additions to the website
• Progress on the Lesbian Historic Motif Project book
• Recent and upcoming publications covered on the blog
  • Pelliccia, Hayden. 1995. “Ambiguity against Ambiguity: Anacreon 13 Again” in Illinois Classical Studies, Vol. 20: 23-34.
  • Davidson, J.F. 1987. “Anacreon, Homer and the Young Woman from Lesbos” in Mnemosyne, Fourth Series, Vol. 40, Fasc. 1/2: 132-137.
  • Petropoulos, J.C.B. 1993. “Sappho the Sorceress: Another Look at fr. 1 (LP)” in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 97: 43-56.
  • Devereux, George. 1970. “The Nature of Sappho's Seizure in Fr. 31 LP as Evidence of Her Inversion” in The Classical Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 1: 17-31.
  • Lardinois, André. 1994. “Subject and Circumstance in Sappho's Poetry” in Transactions of the American Philological Association, Vol. 124: 57-84.
  • Most, Glenn W. 1995. “Reflecting Sappho” in Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, Vol. 40: 15-38.
  • Skinner, M.B. 1989. “Sapphic Nossis” in Arethusa 22:5-18.
  • Blondell, Ruby and Sandra Boehringer. 2014. “Revenge of the Hetairistria: The Reception of Plato’s Symposium in Lucian’s Fifth DIalogue of the Courtesans.” Arethusa 47: 231-64.
• Book Shopping
  • The A to Z of Charles II’s London 1682
  • The Whitehall Palace Plan of 1670
• Recent Lesbian/Sapphic Historical Fiction
  • No Love for an Outlaw by Kerri Reeves
  • Twin Flames of Namwon: The Reimagined Love Story of Chunhyang and Cheong by Velis Aenora
  • Neon Nights by William Ellison
  • Raised for the Sword by Aimée
  • The Salvage by Anbara Salam
  • A Lady for a Highwayman (from Lovers and Liaisons) by Dani Collins
  • My Mother's Spear by Ishtar Watson
  • Phoenix (Intertwined Souls #9) by Mary Dee
  • Ophelia by S.M. Namkoong
  • Between Two Silences by Shanon O'Brien
  • The Secret War (Hattie James #3) by Stacy Lynn Miller
  • The Duke by Anna Cowan
  • My Darling Clementine (Clementine #1) by Genta Sebastian
  • Where There's Room for Us by Hayley Kiyoko
• Other Titles of Interest
  • The Fault Mirror by Catherine Fearns
  • As Many Souls as Stars by Natasha Siegel
• What I’ve been reading
  • Angel Maker by Elizabeth Bear
  • A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
  • Murderbot Series (various titles) by Martha Wells
  • Daughter of Mystery by Heather Rose Jones
• Call for submissions for the 2026 LHMP audio short story series. See here for details.
• This month we interview Anbara Salam and talk about:
  • What grounds a story in a specific place and time?
  • Isolation, claustrophobia, and “things that should be gone but aren’t” as the essence of gothics
  • Researching queer sexuality in the mid-20th century
  • Exploring sapphic longing
  • The importance of not making the central conflict about queerness
  • The Salvage by Anbara Salam
  • Belladona by Anbara Salam

A transcript of this podcast is available here. (Interview transcripts added when available.)

Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
• Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
• RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
• Twitter: @LesbianMotif
• Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
• The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon

Links to Heather Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com
• Email: Heather Rose Jones
• Mastodon: @heatherrosejones@Wandering.Shop
• Bluesky: @heatherrosejones
• Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

Links to Anbara Salam Online

• Website: anbarasalam.com
• Instagram: @anbarasalam

Speculative Fiction and Sapphic Plots - The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 326

Speculative Fiction and Sapphic Plots

The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 326 with Heather Rose Jones

In this episode we talk about:

• Historic “speculative fiction” as a context for neutral depictions of sapphic characters

A transcript of this podcast is available here.

Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
• Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
• RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
• Twitter: @LesbianMotif
• Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
• The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon

Links to Heather Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com
• Email: Heather Rose Jones
• Twitter: @heatherosejones
• Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

On the Shelf for October 2025 - The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 325

On the Shelf for October 2025

The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 325 with Heather Rose Jones

Your monthly roundup of history, news, and the field of sapphic historical fiction.

In this episode we talk about:

• Recent and upcoming publications covered on the blog
  • Bray, Alan. 1996. Homosexuality in Renaissance England. Columbia University Press, New York. ISBN 9780231102896
  • Downing, Christine. 1989. Myths and Mysteries of Same-Sex Love. The Continuum Publishing Company, New York. ISBN 0-8264-0445-6
  • Reineke, Martha & Christine Downing. 1993. “Within the Shadow of the Herms: A Critique of "Myths and Mysteries of Same-Sex Love" [with Reply] in Historical Reflections / Réflexions Historiques, Vol. 19, No. 1: 81-101, 103-106
  • Downing, Christine. 1994. “Lesbian Mythology” in Historical Reflections / Réflexions Historiques, Vol. 20, No. 2, Lesbian Histories: 169-199.
  • Nelson, Max. 2000. “A Note on the Olisbos” in Glotta, 76. Bd., 1./2. H.:75-82
  • Bremmer, Jan. 1980. “An Enigmatic Indo-European Rite: Paederasty” in Arethusa, Vol. 13, No. 2, Indo-European Roots of Classical Culture: 279-298.
  • Arkins, Brian. 1994. “Sexuality in Fifth Century Athens” in Classics Ireland, Vol. 1: 18-34.
• Recent Lesbian/Sapphic Historical Fiction
  • Florence Syndrome by Catherine Martini
  • Red Wake, Black Flag by Dahlia Quinn
  • Boardwalk Desire by Melody Ashford
  • Thrall of Deception (Tales from Norvegr) by Edale Lane
  • Angel Maker (Karen Memory #3) by Elizabeth Bear
  • Secrets of the Night by Shelby Banks
  • Gold for the Dead (Cantor Gold #7) by Ann Aptaker
  • A Lady Most Wayward (The Queen's Deadly Damsels #5) by Darcy McGuire
  • The Impossible Act of Georgia Cline by Eline Evans
  • Iceberg by Gun Brooke
  • A Legacy of Blood and Bone by Millie Abecassis
  • Gladiator, Goddess by Morgan H. Owen
  • Her Wicked Roots by Tanya Pell
  • The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri
  • When They Burned the Butterfly by Wen-yi Lee
• Other Titles of Interest
  • Toni and Addie Go Viral by Melissa Marr
• What I’ve been reading
  • Hemlock and Silver by T. Kingfisher
  • Illuminations by T. Kingfisher
  • A Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones
  • The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones
  • The Magicians of Caprona by Diana Wynne Jones
  • Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
  • The Rosetti Diaries by author
  • The Illhenny Murders by Winnie Frolik
  • Copper Script by K.J. Charles
  • That Self-Same Metal by Brittany H. Williams
  • The Tropoholic's Guide to Internal Romance Tropes by Cindy Dees
  • Ladies in Hating by Alexandra Vasti
• Call for submissions for the 2026 LHMP audio short story series. See here for details.
• This month we interview Raven Belasco and talk about:
  • The real historic background of Sadie the Goat and Gallus Mag
  • Vampire stories and time-travel stories as mirror images
  • Expanding formats
  • World-building and inventing languages
  • Lesbian sex in the 19th century
  • That Lesbian Vampire Pirate Story by Raven Belasco
  • Sadie the Goat (Wikipedia)
  • Gallus Mag (Wikipedia)

A transcript of this podcast is available here. (Interview transcripts added when available.)

Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
• Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
• RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
• Twitter: @LesbianMotif
• Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
• The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon

Links to Heather Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com
• Email: Heather Rose Jones
• Mastodon: @heatherrosejones@Wandering.Shop
• Bluesky: @heatherrosejones
• Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

Links to Raven Belasco Online

• Website: ravenbelas.co/
• Twitter (X): @RavenBelasco
• Instagram: @raven.belasco
• YouTube: @ravenbelasco
• Facebook: author.ravenbelasco

Emma Stebbins Exhibition Interview - The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 324

Emma Stebbins Exhibition Interview

The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 324 with Heather Rose Jones

In this episode we interview Heckscher Museum curator Karli Wurzelbacher about her upcoming exhibition of the work of American sculptor Emma Stebbins:

• Stebbins’ background and biography
• Genres that Stebbins worked in
• Technical process of creating sculptures
• Rome as a magnet for the international sculpture community
• Discrimination against female sculptors
• The expatriate community in Rome
• How Stebbins met actress Charlotte Cushman and their relationship
• Major works
• Exhibition contents
• Her groundbreaking subjects
• The intersection of allegory and industry
• Stebbins’ reputation in her own time Exhibition details: Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, New York, September 28, 2025 - March 15, 2026
• Support for the exhibition includes:
  • Terra Foundation for American Art
  • Henry Luce Foundation
  • Robin T. Hadley and Richard T. Cunniff, Jr.
  • Andrea B. and Peter D. Klein
  • Priscilla and Robert Hughes
• This topic is discussed in one or more entries of the Lesbian Historic Motif Project here: Emma Stebbins
• For additional historic context, check out our podcast on Charlotte Cushman.

A transcript of this podcast will be added here when available.

Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
• Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
• RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
• Twitter: @LesbianMotif
• Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
• The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon

Links to Heather Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com
• Email: Heather Rose Jones
• Mastodon: @heatherrosejones@Wandering.Shop
• Bluesky: @heatherrosejones
• Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

Links to the Heckscher Museum of Art Online

• Website: Stebbins Exhibition
• Instagram: @heckschermuseum
• Facebook: Heckscher.org

On the Shelf for September 2025 - The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 323

On the Shelf for September 2025

The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 323 with Heather Rose Jones

Your monthly roundup of history, news, and the field of sapphic historical fiction.

In this episode we talk about:

• My new book: Skin-Singer: Tales of the Kaltaoven
• A Worldcon report
• Recent and upcoming publications covered on the blog
  • Donoghue, Emma. 2007. “Doing Lesbian History, Then and Now” in Historical Reflections / Réflexions Historiques, Vol. 33, No. 1, Eighteenth-Century Homosexuality in Global Perspective: 15-22
  • Lanser, Susan. 1998. “Befriending the Body: Female Intimacies as Class Acts.” in Eighteenth-Century Studies 32 (winter 1998-99): 179-98.
  • Lanser, Susan. 2001. “Sapphic Picaresque: Sexual Difference and the Challenges of Homoadventuring” in Textual Practice 15:2 (November 2001): 1-18.
  • Park, Katharine. 1997. “The Rediscovery of the Clitoris: French Medicine and the Tribade, 1570-1620” in The Body in Parts: Fantasies of Corporeality, ed. David Hillman and Carla Mazzio. London: Routledge. 171-93.
  • Wagner, Corinna. 2013. Pathological Bodies: Medicine and Political Culture. University of California Press, Berkeley. ISBN 978-1938169-08-3
  • Vicinus, Martha. 1996. “Turn of the Century Male Impersonation: Rewriting the Romance Plot” in Sexualities in Victorian Britain ed. Andrew Miller and James Adams. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
• Book Shopping
  • The Transvestite Memoirs by the Abbé de Choisy
• Recent Lesbian/Sapphic Historical Fiction
  • Of Velvet and Stone by Catherine Martini
  • In the Wings by Charlotte Monet
  • Bound to the Sea by Chloe Clarke
  • The Girl from Berlin by Johanna Weiss
  • Hibernia: An Antiquity Sapphic Romance by Kimia Kore
  • A Lady Called Trouble by Lauren Leigh
  • The Mistress of Hannasbury by M.C. Collins and Susan M. Gaffney
  • The Scandal at Pemberley by Mara Brooks
  • Ladies in Hating by Alexandra Vasti
  • When the Light Pulls You Back by Carey Miller
  • A Murderous Business (A Harriman & Mancini Mystery) by Cathy Pegau
  • Claiming the Tower (Council Mysteries #1) by Celia Lake
  • Tides of Reckoning (Daughters Under the Black Flag - Tides #2) by Eden Hopewell
  • To the Moon and Back by Eve Noble
  • Lady Like by Mackenzi Lee
  • The Shocking Experiments of Miss Mary Bennet by Melinda Taub
  • The Crooked Medium's Guide to Murder by Stephen Cox
  • I Am You by Victoria Redel
• Other Titles of Interest
  • Dora Copperfield: A Quiet Bloom by Kit Indigo
  • The Book of Susan by Roxanna di Bella
  • A Flower in Auschwitz by Roxanna di Bella
• What I’ve been reading
  • All Systems Red by Martha Wells
  • Lake of Souls by Ann Leckie
• Call for submissions for the 2026 LHMP audio short story series. See here for details.
• This month we interview Cathy Pegau

A transcript of this podcast is available here. (Interview transcripts added when available.)

Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
• Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
• RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
• Twitter: @LesbianMotif
• Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
• The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon

Links to Heather Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com
• Email: Heather Rose Jones
• Mastodon: @heatherrosejones@Wandering.Shop
• Bluesky: @heatherrosejones
• Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

Links to Cathy Pegau Online

• Website: cathypegau.com
• Instagram: @Cathy_Pegau
• Bluesky: @cathypegau.bsky.social

An Encounter With a Lady by Catherine Lundoff - The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 322

An Encounter With a Lady by Catherine Lundoff

The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 322 with Heather Rose Jones

This quarter’s fiction episode presents “An Encounter With a Lady” by Catherine Lundoff, narrated by Heather Rose Jones.

A transcript of this podcast is available here.

Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
• Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
• RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
• Twitter: @LesbianMotif
• Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
• The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon

Links to Heather Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com
• Email: Heather Rose Jones
• Mastodon: @heatherrosejones@Wandering.Shop
• Bluesky: @heatherrosejones
• Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

Links to Catherine Lundoff Online

• Website: CatherineLundoff.net
• Website: Queen of Swords Press
• Bluesky: @qospress.bsky.social

Our F/Favorite Tropes Part 18: Mutually Oblivious - The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 321

Our F/Favorite Tropes Part 18: Mutually Oblivious

The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 321 with Heather Rose Jones

In this episode we talk about:

• The “mutually oblivious” trope in f/f historic romance

A transcript of this podcast is available here.

Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
• Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
• RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
• Twitter: @LesbianMotif
• Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
• The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon

Links to Heather Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com
• Email: Heather Rose Jones
• Mastodon: @heatherrosejones@Wandering.Shop
• Bluesky: @heatherrosejones
• Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

On the Shelf for August 2025 - The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 320

On the Shelf for August 2025

The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 320 with Heather Rose Jones

Your monthly roundup of history, news, and the field of sapphic historical fiction.

In this episode we talk about:

• Upcoming travel and events
• My new book
  • Skin-Singer: Tales of the Kaltaoven by Heather Rose Jones
• Recent and upcoming publications covered on the blog
  • Klein, Ula Lukszo. 2021. “Busty Buccaneers and Sapphic Swashbucklers” in Transatlantic Women Travelers, 1688-1843 edited by Misty Kreuger. Lewisburg PA: Bucknell University Press.
  • Wingard, Tess, 2024. “The Trans Middle Ages: Incorporating Transgender and Intersex Studies into the History of Medieval Sexuality”, The English Historical Review.
  • Black, Allida M. 1994. “Perverting the Diagnosis: The Lesbian and the Scientific Basis of Stigma.” Historical Reflections / Réflexions Historiques, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 201–16.
  • Chauncey, George, Jr. 1982. “From Inversion to Homosexuality: Medicine and the Changing Conceptualization of Female Deviance” in Salmagundi 58-59 (fall 1982-winter 1983).
  • Blank, Paula. 2011. “The Proverbial ‘Lesbian’: Queering Etymology in Contemporary Critical Practice” in Modern Philology 109, no. 1: 108-34.
  • Cassio, Albio Cesare. 1983. “Post-Classical Lesbias,” The Classical Quarterly, n.s., 33:1, pp. 296-297.
  • Ingrassia, Catherine. 1998. “Fashioning Female Authorship in Eliza Haywood’s ‘The Tea-Table’” in The Journal of Narrative Technique, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 287–304.
  • Ingrassia, Catherine. 2014. “’Queering’ Eliza Haywood” in Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies, Vol. 14, No. 4, New Approaches to Eliza Haywood: The Political Biography and Beyond: 9-24
  • Katz, Jonathan. 1978. Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A. Avon Books, New York. ISBN 0-380-40550-4
  • Pohl, Nicole, and Betty A. Schellenberg. 2002. “Introduction: A Bluestocking Historiography” in Huntington Library Quarterly, vol. 65, no. 1/2, pp. 1–19.
  • Lanser, Susan S. 2002. “Bluestocking Sapphism and the Economies of Desire” in Huntington Library Quarterly, Vol. 65, No. 1/2, Reconsidering the Bluestockings: 257-275
• Recent Lesbian/Sapphic Historical Fiction
  • The Painter's Palette (The Legacy Lane Series #2) by Gina Everleigh
  • The Needfire by M.K. Hardy
  • The Worst Spy in London (The Luckiest With Love #2) by Anne Knight
  • The Unexpected Heiress by Cassidy Crane
  • This Vicious Hunger by Francesca May
• What I’ve been consuming
  • The Tapestry of Time by Kate Heartfield
  • Murder by Post by Rachel Ford

A transcript of this podcast is available here. (Interview transcripts added when available.)

Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
• Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
• RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
• Twitter: @LesbianMotif
• Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server
• The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon

Links to Heather Online

• Website: http://alpennia.com
• Email: Heather Rose Jones
• Mastodon: @heatherrosejones@Wandering.Shop
• Bluesky: @heatherrosejones
• Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)