Jean is Girlphoria's review editor.To Submit Reviews to Jean email her at editor@girlphoria.com

Jean Roberta is the pen name of a writer who promised her parents to avoid using the family name when her collection of lesbian short stories was published in 1988 by a one-woman Canadian publisher who has since gone out of business.

Jean grew up in Idaho and moved to the Canadian prairies as a teenager when her father was hired in the 1960s by the local university where she now teaches English. In her last year of high school, she won an award for a short story in a national student writing contest, but her first published pieces were poems. She has also written articles and reviews for a variety of literary, feminist, gay/lesbian and leftist publications; she is currently a regular columnist for a gay/lesbian newsmagazine, PERCEPTIONS.

In the 1970s, Jean was briefly married to a Nigerian she had met in London, England. After escaping from her husband's custody, she raised a daughter alone while working on a graduate degree and dating a motley crew of women. Eventually she acquired a teaching job and a serious partner with whom she still lives. Jean will become a crone (50-year-old witch) in 2001.

Jean began writing erotica in the late 1980s. She has promised her sweetie not to embarrass her in print.

EROTIC FICTION - Jean Roberta

Fall 2000: A short story, "Opening Ceremony" (longer version) in Best Women's Erotica 2001, edited by Marcy Sheiner (Cleis Press).

Fall 2000: "Splitting the Infinitive" on short-list for Best Lesbian Erotica 2001.

October 2000: A short story, "Journal Entry: Mermaid" in Blue Food (print magazine, 1529 West Lynwood Street, Phoenix, Arizona 85007), edited by David Salcido.

August 2000: Two short stories, "Meeting the Bitch" and "Hades and Persephone," in Wicked Words 3, edited by Kerri Sharp (Black Lace, Virgin Publishing Limited, Thames Wharf Studios, Rainville Road, London W6 9HA). This story already published in Prometheus, journal of TES Society ( P.O. Box 2783, New York, New York 10163-2783), Volume 34.

December 2000: A short story, "Learning a New Game" (in "Wide World" section) in Penthouse Variations, 11 Penn Plaza, 12th Floor, New York, New York 10001 (Editorial Director: V.K. McCarty).

May 2000: A short story, "Smoke," in Tears on Black Roses, edited by Kate Hill (Anxiety Publications, PMB 314, 101 Middlesex Tpke, Ste 6, Burlington, Massachusetts 01803-4914).

May 2000: A short story, "Cycles," In Best Women's Erotica 2000, edited by Marcy Sheiner (Cleis Press, P.O. Box 14684, San Francisco, California 94114-0684).

February 2000: A short story, "Opening Ceremony" (shorter version) in Desires, edited by Shivaji Sengupta and Adrienne Benedicks (AmarMira Press, 6 Prospect Avenue, Medford, New York 11763 ).

January 2000: A short story, "The Princess and the Outlaw," in Best Lesbian Erotica 2000, edited by Tristan Taormina (Cleis Press).

Fall 1999: A short story (under 1000 words), "War Story," in Hot and Bothered 2: Short Short Fiction on Lesbian Desire, edited by Karen Tulchinsky (Arsenal Pulp Press, 103 - 1014 Homer Street, Vancouver, B.C. , Canada V6B 2W9).

Fall 1999: A short story, "When Less Is More," on website of Dare magazine for women (P.O. Box 99, Quantico, Virginia 22134, www.daremag.com), edited by Gin Smith.

Week of September 29, 1999: A short story, "Communion," on website of Jane's Net Sex Guide Newsletter (www.janesguide.com) run by Jane Duvall.

Week of August 11, 1999: A short story, "Splitting the Infinitive," on website of Jane's Net Sex Guide.

May 1999: A short story, "Something Natural," in Batteries Not Included, an anthology on lesbians and sex toys, edited by Alison Tyler (Diva Books, a division of Millivres Ltd., Worldwide House, 116 - 134 Bayham Street, London, NW1 0BA, UK).