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"It Takes a Village"

The Temple of Diana is a religious and educational organization providing services and education to nurture the spiritual needs of women through the teachings and practices of Dianic tradition. Also visit their site Dancing Tree to see the wonderful music and writing of Ruth Barrett.

Artemis Archery is dedicated to the empowerment of women through the ancient art of instinctive archery.

LAMBDA is a non-profit, gay / lesbian / bisexual / transgender agency dedicated to reducing homophobia, inequality, hate crimes, and discrimination by encouraging self-acceptance, cooperation, and non-violence.

Lesbian Alliance was built in the summer of 1989 when nearly 150 Lesbians gathered in response to homophobic actions by the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, anti-Lesbian/Gay organizing by the religious right and lack of Lesbian representation in the media and in the community. Its purpose is to unify and organize the Milwaukee area Lesbian community by providing education and role models to the Milwaukee community, impacting relevant issues in the political and legislative arena as they affect Lesbians, and by providing meeting space and opportunities for more social contact and communications among Lesbians.

Circle of Aradia (COA) provides services and education that nurture the spiritual needs of women in Los Angeles. COA serves the community by facilitating public rituals, offering classes in the Dianic tradition and developing the religious leadership skills of women through participatory opportunities.

LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. Our goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books. We are a totally volunteer, open source, free content, public domain project.

Growing Power is an urban agricultural organization headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It runs the last functional farm within the Milwaukee city limits and also organizes activities in Chicago. Growing Power aims for sustainable food production, as well as the growth of communities through the creation of local gardens.

Matrafocus e-zine, a Cross-Quarterly for the Goddess Woman.

The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers represent a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Mother Earth, all Her inhabitants, all the children, and for the next seven generations to come. We are deeply concerned with the unprecedented destruction of our Mother Earth and the destruction of indigenous ways of life. We believe the teachings of our ancestors will light our way through an uncertain future. We look to further our vision through the realization of projects that protect our diverse cultures: lands, medicines, language and ceremonial ways of prayer and through projects that educate and nurture our children.

Thoughts on Motherhood A discussion blog created by Lara Zielinsky for those women with alternative sexualities (lesbians, bisexuals, pansexuals, etc) to discuss the unique perspectives and experiences of motherhood. Whether it is from adoption, getting involved with a woman who already has children, introducing your children to a new partner, let's share here.

Women of Wisdom is an internationally recognized organization that provides diverse and innovative programs offering women opportunities for personal growth and transformation, including an annual conference on women’s spirituality held each February in Seattle, Washington.”

Z Budapest, Psychic, Wiccan, Author, Mother of Feminst Witchcraft.

Located in Greenfield Wisconsin, Timber Wolf Preservation Society is devoted to the preservation and protection of the Eastern Timber Wolf, and owns and maintains a number of pure blooded Eastern Timber Wolves. Primary interest has been in educating people in the value of the wolf, and reintroduction of wolves into a suitable habitat.

Rosewoods is the creation of Rose Casey, a gifted green witch and avid educator in the Wise Women Tradition. Visit her site and come take a workshop with this amazing crone. You won't be disappointed.

Trust for Natural Legacies, Inc. is a non-profit land trust committed to preserving, conserving and restoring natural areas throughout the Midwest. We will accomplish this by owning, operating and promoting conservation cemeteries, as well as by building and supporting a multi-generational network of people and organizations interested in green burial. These multi-use, affordable cemeteries will be created for conservation, recreation, solace and healing and will honor the natural cycles of life and death.

(RCG-I), the Re-formed Congregation of the Goddess, International, is a multi-tradition women's religion. Our members embrace a variety of spiritual paths, the common element among them being a belief in female divinity and a commitment to positive spiritual practice.

Lena Austin is the author of gay and bisexual erotica like Deadly Sins: Pride, Dragon's Egg, Black Widow Spinnerette, After the Flood 1:Blood and Magic , After the Flood 2:Rise to Power, Eyes of the Cowan, Berdache, Sex World 1: Assassin, Unicorn Valley 1: Gryphon's Heart, Unicorn Valley 2: Stallions's Heart, Unicorn Valley 3: Healer's Heart, Unicorn Valley 4: Moontyger's Quest, The God's Wife, Room to Play, Black Widow, and Yule Fire.

Jove Belle is a wonderful creatrix of lesbian romance stories, and the fist run of the core of my beta goddesses. In fact I trust her eyes and skill so much she is the only person who gets to read my work as I am writing it :) Read some of her work, you'll see why I trust her skill so much. She's written such stories as Edge of Darkness and Split the Aces.

Larry Coles author of Freshman Pledge, the Magic of Love. He's a gifted son of the goddess, with a gentle heart and wit.

Jolie's du Pré's stories have appeared in a variety of webzines including Scarlet Letters, Word Riot, Peacock Blue, Sensual Venus and Litbits. In addition, her work has been chosen many times to appear in the Galleries of the Erotica Readers and Writers Association. Her stories “Itching for It” and “Smile Like You Mean It,” which was awarded a 2005 Fallen Angel Reviews Book of the Year Award, have been published in e-book by Extasy Books. “Rachel” and “Pet” are with Ocean's Mist Press.

If you've read lesbian fiction and don't know who Jane Fletcher is, I'd be very surprised. She has a sharp wit that I have log admired, and that same flair colors her fiction nicely. She's written such fantasy series as the Lyremouth Chronicles and the The Celaeno Series.

Roselle Graskey is not only an author I consider one of my special tribal sisters (okay different tribes, picky picky) but a engaging writer. She's written such tales as October Echoes and Life's Little Edges, as well as been a contributor on the Royal Academy of the Bards.

On her site Karin Kallmaker says "My philosophy of lesbian romance. I am of the opinion that lesbian romance stories are the only novels where a woman can go to find affirmation of her hopes, her dreams and her choices in life. They contain the evolving nature of our relationships, friendships and community. For many women, even in 2008, the only community they can safely find is in books written by lesbians and for lesbians. Depictions of real lesbian lives -- or lives we hope some lesbians somewhere are leading -- remind us that, even though we may not get it, we have a right to respect and happiness." With such amazing word such as those, is there any doubt why this woman is a favorite writer of mine?

Lori L. Lake is a speaker that travels all over to educate writers and somehow still finds time to write her own books in the genre of lesbian fiction. Those titles include Romance for LIFE, Have Gun We'll Travel, Different Dress, Under The Gun, Gun Shy, Ricochet in Time, a book of shorts called Stepping Out, as well as a anthology on The Milk of Human Kindness: Lesbian Authors Write About Mothers and Daughters which include other talented writers like SX Meagher.

Lee Lynch has been proudly writing lesbian stories since the 1960s when she was a frequent contributor to The Ladder, the only lesbian publication at the time. Lee's new novel, Sweet Creek, is now available from Bold Strokes Books.

Andi Marquette, author of Land of Entrapment and one of my most thorough betas. saved my creative butt many times she has. She is a A#1 editor, and a amazingly skilled storyteller.

SX Meagher works include Arbor Vitae, All That Matters, and the I Found My Heart In San Francisco series (Awakenings, Beginnings, Coalescence, Disclosures, and Entwined) as well as a wonderful addition to many anthologies you can find by visiting her website.

Lyda Morehouse has penned such Science Fiction tales as Archangel Protocol, Fallen Host, Messiah Node, Apocalypse Array and numerous published short stories.

Bett Norris is the author of the groundbreaking lesbian romance Miss McGhee.

Larkin Rose (aka Sheri Livingston) an author of lesbian erotica such as In the Eyes of Love and Watching You.

Mari SanGiovanni, author of the hilarious lesbian romance, Greetings From Jamaica, Wish You Were Queer.

Xakara author of poly-friendly Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. The novella Shifting Passions will be available Feb. '08

Lara Zielinsky is formerly LZClotho of online Xena and Voyager fanfiction, now most recently this talented author has released Turning Point, a Hollywood flavored lesbian romance and winner of a 2007 Lesbian Fiction Readers Choice favorite romance novel award.

WisCon 31 ( Memorial day weekend at the Concourse Hotel in Madison, Wisconsin) is the first and foremost feminist science fiction convention in the world. WisCon encourages discussion, debate and extrapolation of ideas relating to feminism, gender, race and class. WisCon honors writers, editors and artists whose work explores these themes and whose voices have opened new dimensions and territory in these issues.

GCLS Literary Convention (first weekend in June, location varies) This convention is an opportunity for Publishers, Distributors, Authors and Supporters to meet, share ideas, learn and explore the many facets of our growing genre of lesbian literature.

The Wisconsin Council of the Blind is a private, not-for-profit agency. Its mission is to promote the dignity and independence of people in Wisconsin who are blind and visually impaired by providing services, advocating legislation and educating the general public. WCB is funded through an annual drive, private grants and bequests.

The Badger Association of the Blind is an independent organization, governed by its members, promoting personal development, career growth, and community awareness through specialized services and programs for people who are blind and visually impaired.

The Navajo Nation extends into the states of Utah , Arizona and New Mexico , covering over 27,000 square miles of unparalleled beauty. Both the people I spoke to within the Navajo Nation and the folks from the Navajo Museum, were wonderful resources and very helpful to me.

Guide Dog Foundation For The Blind, Inc, Leader Dogs, and The Seeing Eye were all amazingly helpful in my quest to find a way to explain a youth as young as Drake being able to have a legal guide dog. They walked with me through hypothetical scenarios until we found a way to make the realism of it stick.

Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Eye Clinic, and the Blind Babies Foundation were instrumental in helping me understand the technical side of congenital birth defects and conditions/diseases that effected vision.

University of Manitoba, and the archives of Stanford University, had some amazingly insightful articles on alternative lifestyles and families as well as some fascinating cultural studies.

Wikipedia the only place for a research junky to get her fix. They may not be perfect, but it's a fun place and they have stuff not one else seems to cover.

I discovered these places while working on Natural Order, and some of the people who made that story's birth possible. More links will be added periodically as I find my notes. Enjoy.

Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. Their Language, Environmental, Land Management, and Cultural departments gave a great deal of their time to give me all the answers and the information I needed to portray the Oneida family in my story respectfully and accurately, as well as share the history and stories with anyone willing to listen to the wisdom within them.

The Turtle School. The Oneida Nation elementary school, and the coolest building I have even seen. The Turtle is symbolic of Mother Earth to the Oneida People. In their creation story the creatures of the water and sky helped Sky Woman by creating the world on the back of a turtle.

Village of Ashwaubenon. The setting for the town in my story. A real place with very nice people. Go for a visit if you get a chance. It's got a small town feel and big city places to go. Ashwaubenon surrounds Lambeau Field on three sides of the village, so between the Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame and the Oneida Reservation nearby there is no shortage of history to explore.

“The name is from when the Menomonee people lived on the land that surrounds the Neenah River, what the white people now call Fox.” Orion gently explained as he waited for Elizabeth. “The town of Ashwaubenon and the creek Ashwabena, were named for chief Ashwaubemie. As the story goes, Ashwaubenon was where the great chief brought his wife Waubenuquq after she left her people.”

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources who made certain I really understood the law of the area I was writing about and were to get the information I needed.

Yacao Project. small co-op of farmers in the Dominican Republic that cultivate cocoa beans using environmentally sustainable methods.

For more than 35 years, Mother Earth News has been the nation’s largest environmental magazine. Today the magazine continues to be the leading how-to publication for rural and urban homesteaders, environmentalists and conscientious citizens seeking more secure, satisfying and self-sufficient lives. Every issue brings you the latest innovations, the best time-tested information, and the most practical advice on how you can create a more fulfilling future.

And here are some great places to take a peek at that really helped in my research for Worlds Collide

The Alexander Company’s mixed-use development of Capitol West will create a vibrant urban neighborhood. The property encompasses an entire city block bordered by West Washington Avenue, and South Henry, West Main and South Broom Streets. The site plan and architecture will be guided by the integration of natural light, air and ventilation into the block and into the homes. The buildings will be sited to take advantage of the best views and site lines. The use of features such as terraces, roof gardens and fold away living room walls will link the outdoors with the interior living spaces. Common areas are urban parks with linkages between neighborhood shopping, homes, and convenient, covered parking. The design will be clean, contemporary and modern. Construction begins September 2006, and homes will be available for move-in Summer 2007.

Situated above the In Arcadia shop in Darlington, UK, the Arcadia Cafe offers a selection of dishes from all around the world but with a distinctly Latino flavor. We use organic, fair trade and locally-produced ingredients wherever possible. We also specialize in luxury fair trade coffees. Why not visit us for lunch, and try a tarot reading as well?

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources who made certain I really understood the law of the area I was writing about and were to get the information I needed.