TT Jax is a parent, partner, artist, aspiring midwife, and celebrant to-be living in the Pacific Northwest by way of 28 years in the deep South. He has work published under various pseudonyms in a variety of largely indie, experimental, and/or geeky lit magazines. He is a Lambda Literary 2011 Fellow in Nonfiction, lambdaliterary.org writer, and was recently nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He is also a food stamps recipient, lacks any form of health care, and has been unemployed since 2009. So it goes.

Tyesha is a Tall, Special dark chocolate, Gay, Femme Tomboy, Effervescent, model, musician, singer, writer, Leather woman, a ""paper schlepper"", activist, indexing archivist, bookworm, super sleuth and many other wonderfully positive things...

She is very active in her local Dallas community as well as nationally. She holds board positions with the National Leather Association-International as well as Women in Leather International as their Policies and Procedures Chair. She is a member of the United Court of the Lone Star Empire and juggles many community projects behind the scenes. Tyesha serves as a regular contributor for Leatherati.com as their Calendar Editor.

She can be reached at: oshun84@gmail.com, Tyesha Best on facebook or on Twitter and Fetlife as : TyeOshun

Alix Iron is a dapper rockabilly genderqueer FTM-ish dandy intersex pouf who is feminist to the core and perverted as all get out.
He's a proud pinky-extending, pompadour sporting, swagger in his stride stepping nice Jewish boy and faggy butchdyke creature.
He came out into the leather kinky BDSM community in the Bay Area in 1988 and was raised up believing in the ethos of the Old Guard.
He is a bottom leaning switch who's heart goes thump for fancy n foxy high femmes who have solid integrity, are extremely passionate, have a strong sense of style, who are down to earth and have firm political convictions.

He thinks manners, etiquette and chivalry are super hot, as are a killer pair of heels worn by a fierce lady. He writes, teaches and holds community panels on such topics as "Queer Mommy/Boy Dynamics", "Pansies, Dandies & Sissies: Fae Representations of Masculinity," and "Genitorture for the Trans Cock."

He is the owner of the Inverted Eye (www.InvertedEye.com) – an online store offering subtly kinky vintage items and discreet fetish antiques. He welcomes comments & correspondence regarding his story and/or any teaching opportunities.

Wintersong Tashlin is an activist, educator, writer, photographer, and shaman, living outside Portland ME. He has presented workshops on sexuality, BDSM, spirituality, polyamory, disability, and LGBT issues at some of the premier events in the U.S. and his writing and photography have been featured in books on BDSM and pagan spirituality. His writings on LGBT life have been on The Bilerico Project, one of the top LGBT social and political blogs. Photographing people has long been a passion of his, and erotic photography is a natural outgrowth of his passion for revealing people's inner nature through pictures, as well as his fascination with the varieties of human sexuality and expression. In addition to erotic and portrait photography, he also enjoys taking nature, architectural and industrial photographs. Go to his website: http://barkingshaman.com for contact info, to see his extensive class list, previous appearances, long running blog, and links to his photo work. Winter is available for photo sessions in the Portland Maine area, or on his many travels.

Photo by Syd London

Sassafras Lowrey is a queer author, artist and activist and has been involved in leather community for nearly a decade. Sassafras' prose have been included in numerous anthologies and ze tours to colleges, universities and community centers across the country facilitating workshops that support LGBTQ/leather people in telling their stories. Sassafras lives in Brooklyn, New York with hir Daddy. You can learn more about Sassafras at www.PoMoFreakshow.com

Justine (aka Jules Purnell) is an outspoken, (usually) sharply dressed, pansexual, genderqueer, femme transdandy, top-leaning, switchy dom(me), fetish/erotic model and actor, sexuality educator, and fun fur aficionado. Ze is a recent transplant from the Midwest, where ze was involved in LGBT advocacy and volunteerism, and is finding the habit hard to kick. Ze is on a tireless quest to promote sex positivism and feminism through the medium of wank material. A shameless fan of smut, ze only hopes to break down the stigma surrounding porn and sex work to make it accessible - and pleasurable - for a wider audience. Ze is one half of the burgeoning East-coast queer porn revolution otherwise known as Fruit Punch Productions, along with hir partner in crime, (and in love,) Syd Viscous. Ze is working toward degrees in Women and Gender Studies and Sexuality Education, and will have some fancy letters behind hir name before it's all said and done. Ze can be reached at fruitpunchproductions.com, and indiepornproducer@gmail.com.

Matthias Rand is a Portland, Maine-based maker earning his BFA in Metalsmithing & Jewelry at Maine College of Art. Currently, he makes non-gender specific leather fetishwear. Versatility is a cornerstone, quality is non-negotiable, and tradition is the guidance, but not the rule. He's developing lines that balance affordable, ready-to-wear gear with more expensive, one of a kind, handmade pieces. You can reach him via email at matt@matthiasrand.com

J. Levesque is foremost an image maker. Materials used are informed specifically by the project or issue. BFA in Photography. Technophile. J freelances at www.shopgeometry.com and specializes in photography, design & web.

Andrea Zanin, a.k.a. Sex Geek, wears glasses when she fucks. For over a decade, she has been teaching about queer sexuality, polyamory and BDSM/leather for universities, colleges, sex shops, community groups and conferences in Canada, the States and internationally, and she takes an anti-oppression approach to all her work. Andrea is pursuing a PhD in women's studies at York University with a focus on Canadian leatherdyke history. She writes about alternative sexuality for numerous newspapers and magazines, blogs at http://sexgeek.wordpress.com, and pens erotic fiction (recently appearing in Tristan Taormino's "Take Me There: Trans and Genderqueer Erotica"). Andrea co-organizes the annual Canadian leatherdyke weekend An Unholy Harvest, runs a pervy book club called The Leather Bindings Society and judges the occasional leather contest (including IMsL 2009). She lives in Toronto and enjoys doing yoga, cultivating M/s relationships with exceptionally high-quality individuals, eating fine dark chocolate and wearing really nice shoes.

Katie Seitz lives in DC, but always threatens to move to the West Coast, where she hears there are more Koreans. She has been a cheesemaker, a bookstore clerk, an office lackey, a writer and critic, and an employee of sex shops on two continents. She likes to mix up her sex and politics, particularly in challenging the organized kink community around issues of race and class. She aspires to push the boundaries of words like "race" and "queer" until they break local zoning restrictions.

Vespur was raised wild and magical in rural West Virginia and New Mexico, and holds a BFA from Elam School of Fine Art in New Zealand. Ze lovingly creates visual art, stories, animations, and erotic circus based performance art, and is also an established Iyengar-based yoga teacher, community organizer, queer activist, sustainability enthusiast, and holistic Mom. Hir playful work explores and celebrates transformational concepts of gender, sexuality, and identity with reverence for internal and cultural evolutions.To learn more about her projects, visit averykalapa.com, dandykor.com, or visit her online dandykor store at etsy.com.

LORD BYRON has been dancing, modeling, and performing everywhere from central Maine to Providence, RI since 2001 (appearing as ‘Lord Byron’, his belly dance moniker ‘Asmodeus’, and his Drag alter-ego ‘Breathless’).  He is co-founder and co-director of PV-Scene (a fetish-based performance art troupe celebrating their 10th Anniversary in 2010), creator of the performance art troupe 3 AM, Dancer, Choreographer, past Producer and Director, and current Board of Directors member for Vivid Motion (Portland’s innovative and kinda quirky dance company), and creator of OrGaNiZeD cHaOs, which has produced 6 highly successful shows here in Portland in the last 3 years: The Immortals, Pulp Friction, From The Deep, ReAwakened, Orient X-Press, and REVOLUTION!  In 2009 he was nominated for Best Artist in Portland by the League of Young Voters for their ‘Step Up to the Plate’ Awards, and was named one of Portland's Most Influential for 2010 by The Portland Phoenix, as well as a nominations for Best Performance Artist in the Phoenix 'Best of Portland' Poll 2010 and 2011.

Visit:
www.PV-Scene.com * www.myspace.com/lord_byron2000 * www.vividmotion.org

Cru likes boots that strut, heels that click, plastic bags, cigar ash, dogs, and hankie codes. He is a sadistic top collared to a sadistic top - he wrote this story for her. He's a bit of a thug and enjoys gang mentality.

Sam's been drawing since he was a little girl. He spends most of his days drawing comics about being queer and trans - especially for his comic blog; www.roostertailscomic.com. He's just finished a Masters degree writing short comics about queer people living in New Zealand. He's hoping the project will become a published resource.

[rife] is a genderqueer leatherboy from Texas. They work as the lead artist for the GENDER book project, which is a visual primer on all things gender. When he isn't doing that, he can be found doodling, pulling prints, welding, walking in the woods, or getting flogged by some butch hottie. Mel has a BA in studio arts from Rice University and even though he's a recent transplant to Oakland, he will always be a cowboi at heart. Follow his work at www.thegenderbook.com or see more of rife's art at www.rowdyferret.com.

Q is a self-identified queer, gender-morphing, polyamorous, porn star, leather boi. It’s well known that flirting is Q’s default mode of communication. She can often be found with a charming smile on her face or looking mischievous with the other bois. On rare occasions this boi might even be found dancing on a table for the right amount of money…for charity of course! Easily recognized by her blonde mohawk, Q is a two-time award winning bootblack and internationally recognized presenter both within and outside of the leather community. An activist for more than 15 years, Q has consistently made strides to bridge the various communities to which she belongs. Her most recent journey as a titleholder in the leather community provided her with the opportunity to continue a rich tradition of education while indulging her activist side. http://DirtyBlaQboi.com

photo by Rich Stadtmiller

Sara Vibes was born and raised in New York City. She is a black, polyamorous, queer, kinky, dandy top heavy princess. Vibes is a musician, writer, sex blogger and educator in training and a star fucker.  She was abandoned in a hospital in the Bronx in the late 80’s weighing under two pounds and addicted to crack.  She was adopted by a white Jewish women with cerebral palsy  from Brooklyn and a black Christian man from Jersey with spina bifida who both passed before she was 9.  Vibes’ mother was a social worker and sex therapist who specialized in sex and disability.  Her book selections encouraged and influenced Vibes exploration into sex and sexuality. 
Vibes is an active member in BDSM and LGBT communities in New York City and beyond.
She is a founding member of Nina Hartley’s SexWise.me, a sex-positive online community, and worked as a curator and contributor of SexWise Magazine.  Vibes has been interviewed by Nerve magazine and appeared on Reid Mihalko’s “Queer, Poly, & Under 30″ panel at Dr. Carol Queen’s Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco.  She has taught with her partner Indigo at Playhouse in Baltimore and recently hosted “Sexxy Game Night” at Dark Odyssey: Winter Fire.  She will also be a contributor to Perverts of Color Anthology.

As humans, we speak many languages. But since the language of Self-Pleasure and Self-Expression is universal, that matters not at all. I have spoken that Universal language of Self-Pleasure and Self-Expression with women all over the world.

I am a sex positive, gender-queer, feminist, leather dyke. I play hard, I play on the edge. I am Washington State Ms Leather 1996. I am International Ms Leather 2008. I am Hobbit.

Photo courtesy of
 Shameless Photography.

Maria See is a Brooklyn native living in San Francisco. Her writing can be found in collections including Visible: A Femmethology, Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex and the upcoming anthology Say Please: Lesbian BDSM Erotica. You can write Maria at maria@mariasee.com and follow her on Twitter (@aproblemlike).

photo taken by ava at Kink.com

Leland Carina is a full-time graphic designer at Kink.com in San Francisco with a couple of graduate degrees in Fine Art. She's also a writer, photographer, and hard player. Leland is deeply involved in the Leather community as President of the San Francisco girls of Leather, Chair of the San Francisco Bay Area Leather Alliance PR Committee, SF corespondent for Leatherati.com, and Editor in Chief of Leatherpage.com. She is a recent recipient of Leathermen Discussion Group's "We are Everywhere" service award. You can check out her work at LelandCarina.com.

Elenore Toczynski is a queer cartoonist recently moved from her home of the Bay Area, California, all the way to Portland, Maine. She has an continuing comic called "brain crease" as well as a few other small comics. Some things she likes are self publishing, walking, biking, dogs, and telling stories through comics. She has an occasionally updated art blog at ghostlytoast.blogspot.com, and a website coming soon. She finds writing about herself in the third person odd and unnatural.

Christina is a self-identified Femme and feminist Submissive with heavy masochistic tendencies. She is a "Capital 'S'" Submissive. Though newer to the Leather scene, she's been kinky since shortly after she lost her virginity, 20 years ago. Holding a Masters degree in English and Comparative Literature, Christina enjoys writing fiction that explores the struggles and joys women of the third wave/post-third wave feminist movement experience as they seek to locate their authentic selves. She is currently working on a novel about the feminist female s/Submissive's often-rocky Journey. You can follow her mostly-filthy Twitter feed at @TrysteroTweets.

Tillie King has been practicing BDSM for over half her life now. She is most often a fat, queer, gender fluid femme, dedicated pervert, spiritual trickster, crafter and loving friend. Having grown up around Vancouver, B.C., she is connected to many folks in other cities as well. Often seen and heard being loud in dungeons, presenting on 'soft' skills in BDSM, and poking at the cultural and social aspects of the scene, as well as hand-embroidering hankies.

Tristan Crane is a writer and photographer based out of San Francisco. You can find him online at tristancrane.com, and his adult photography work at crashpadseries.com

Kira is a queer artist& illustrator whose work often explores the intersections of body image, identity, sexuality and media with hand embroidery, portraiture, digital art and historical textile design. More of her work can be found at Scarlet Tentacle. She's also a proud working-on-being-a-full-member of the SF girls of Leather and Bay Area Derby Girl's recreational team Reckless Rollers; she suggests that you check both out if you live in the Bay Area.  

Helena Swann is a polyamorous dyke of the queer femme persuasion. She's also white, borderline, kinky, and bottomy, a nonstop (over)thinker whose current musings revolve around mental health in connection with other axes of oppression, butch/femme dynamics and lineage, and leather community traditions. Hailing from coast of the recently dubbed "worst-run state" of California, she now lives in Montréal, where she hates the winter but loves how excited it makes people about summer. She has been known to say that fucking is the only thing she's into working hard at, and she writes about poly relationships, kink, gender, pussy, and its accoutrements at www.cuntext.com. This is her first printed piece.

Jalene lives and photographs things in Washington DC, more of her work can be found at http://doitherself.tumblr.com

Junction is a queer femme lover of (almost) all things erotic, most particularly the things that make us ignite.

Frenchie is a kinky Quebecois Femme who has been writing smut for more than 15 years. She hails from Montreal, land of all things risqué. A fat activist, she recently decided to take her politics a little further, by posing nude for a local magazine in Montreal. A former Bostonian, Frenchie has performed with Big Moves, a size diversity dance troupe, as well as the Femme Show. Her art mainly focuses on fat sexuality, body politics with a dash of funny mixed into the blend. She curently working as a Sex Ed curriculum designer, and is having loads of fun educating Young minds on all things sexual.

Blue Harvest Foto is the bastard brain child of a Photographer who wishes to keep his super hero identity private. The focus of the Blue Harvest endeavor is to explore, reflect and bring to an audience the art and beauty of Erotica. Tasteful yet titillating, provocative yet artistic, sometimes shocking but hopefully thought provoking. There is beauty to be found in people of all shapes, sizes, genders, gender identities, and in the many forms that human sexuality takes. There is no right or wrong here, no preference to one nor the other, there is only the moments captured and the images created. It is the wish of the photographer that the images viewed will give the viewer a glimpse into a world they do not know, or a different view of a world they do know. Life is about exploration in its many forms, through this venue, let us explore together.

foxboi is a soon-to-be-graduated college student based in Massachusetts who likes to mix all things queer and art. He is a trans and poly identified kinkster, and lover of laughter and sleep. Also a well traveled fox person with a penchant to trying and exploring all sorts of new things, having lived all around the world growing up, (and being French) he speaks a couple of languages. He is a dedicated bibliophile and academic, musician and visual artist. (sometimes-poet, too!) Current interests include spirituality, tales and narratives that aren't ones typically taught or told, activism, experimenting with self-taught cooking, and new (sometimes unorthodox) ways of crafting things. Some of foxboi's past projects have included full scale murals, people and animal portraits, printmaking, and various creations for literary magazines. He currently keeps a lot of his art at www.fleetfoot.deviantart.com, and is very open to projects of all kinds!

CrashPadSeries.com is the ongoing web series based on the award-winning The Crash Pad by Shine Louise Houston. In 2005, Shine quit her day job and started the queer porn company Pink & White Productions, putting her film degree to use when she saw a void in representation of quality queer adult cinema and decide to "fill the gap". Since then, her four feature films have garnished multiple awards, honors, and nominations in cinema, LBGT and adult industries, and have screened world-wide. Dedicated to producing sexy and exciting images that reflect today's blurred gender lines and fluid sexualities, Shine's signature style brings cinematic flare, an intelligent blend of raunchy humor, and authentic sexual display from a diverse pool of models that is as much a cultural documentation as it is, quite simply put, "fucking hot."

The site offers steamy photos, hot episodes, brainy and intimate behind the scenes performer interviews about queer pornography, sexuality, politics and desire.

Want to see for yourself? Sign up for a membership today, and receive 5% off your 1st month with code "C7".

Indigo is a Black, queer, poly/partner, femme dyke.  She runs a blog called Indigo’s Theory at www.indigostheory.wordpress.com about her journey through sexuality, polyamory and womanhood.  She writes a column on Polyamory for Fearless Press, an online magazine about relationships and sexuality (www.fearlesspress.com). She is a featured writer in Salacious Magazine Issue #2 and the essay anthology “Perverts of Color” to be published in 2012.   She is currently working on an erotic novella about being partnered, poly and queer.  She lives in New York City's West Village with her partner and their four cats.

Prince Justin Alves was born in Rhode Island and moved to Portland, ME to pursue an education and career in design and illustration. After rightfully assuming his thrown as Prince of Portland, he has been working as a freelance Illustrator and Designer for the past 4 years. Brooches, Toast, Weeble Wobbles, Bears, Wombats, Bykes, Beards, Bow Ties, Social Media, Bette Davis, Dancing, and Princely things are all part of his interests. www.justinalves.com

Syd Viscous is a gender queer transdyke switchy sub living in Portland ME.  Co-founder of Fruit Punch Productions, the East Coast's newest indie queer porn company, Syd also works as a LGBT advocate to pay the bills.  When not busy making the world a better place for queers and those that love them, she is a shameless geek. Syd runs a monthly live-action role playing game while playing in two others. 

You can find out more about Fruit Punch Productions at fruitpunchproductions.com or follow them on twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/fruitpunchporn.  You can reach Syd at indiepornproducer@gmail.com.