Contributors

Joseph Gelfer was born in Southampton, England and studied Theology at Bristol University. He travelled extensively and spent several years as a researcher with The British and Foreign Bible Society. His work has appeared in Conscious Living, BootsnAll, Exquisite Corpse and Spirituality & Health. Joseph currently lives in Otago, New Zealand with his wife and son.

Dr. Payam Ghassemlou is an Iranian gay man who helps others through sharing his life experiences. He is 37 and currently lives in Los Angeles where he works as a psychotherapist. Ghassemlou moved to the United States in 1982 and struggled for many years to come to terms with being gay. He hopes his work inspires others to find meaning inherent in being gay. He maintains the website: iraniangaydoctors.com

Phil Hine is a spiritual theorist noted for his ground-breaking work in the field of Chaos (Kaos) Magic. He is the author of several books including Condensed Chas and Prime Chaos from New Falcon and the now out of print Pseudonomicon from Dagon Productions. He is also the author of several e-books and numerous articles, many of which are available at his site: http://www.phhine.ndirect.co.uk

Miriam R. Sachs Martín is hotter than flamin’ hot cheetos, and wetter than the Lexington Reservoir. She loves to muck around in the place where poetry becomes intimacy and the word becomes song. She’s a 5’ 1/2” Cuban, Jewish dyke who loves East San José, where she lives, teaches ESL, produces FIERCE WORDS TENDER (Women’s Open Mic @ Sisterspirit Bookstore, San Jose, www.angelfire.com/de/fierceness), and in every way worships things both feral and feline (purrrowrr!) Her work has been included in the anthologies Cliterature, Gynomite, and Latino Heretics and the journals Gertrude, A Nest of Vipers, Sinister Wisdom, Sisterspirit News, among others. She’d love to hear from all and sundry at FierceMiri AT aol.com.

Pitambara das was born in the north of Scotland on August 11th 1966 according to the Western calendar, or the 24th day of Purusottama-adhika Masa (the inter-calendary month) in the year Gaurabda 480 according to the Gaudiya Vaisnava calendar. “As this month only occurs only every 3 years or so, by western calculation, next year will be my 38th birthday, but by the Vaisnava calendar, I will be turning 12!!” He explored Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and Celtic and Native American spirituality before discovering Krishna Consciousness in 1985. Since then it has been a game of hide and seek between The Lord and him, with Pitambara doing the hiding! He is living in a gay male body, and was diagnosed HIV positive in March 2001. Since then, his faith has dramatically deepened and he received initiation in June 2003 from His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Goswami Maharaja in Birmingham, England.

Rama Kesava dasa, born in 1980, is a disciple of Swami B.V. Tripurari, one of the foremost western teachers of the Gaudiya Vaisnava lineage of Hinduism. He resides wish his family near to Edinburgh, Scotland (UK), working for the Police, but reminisces about monastic life. In addition to writing articles regarding the politics of sexuality and sectarianism in his religious tradition, he is a director of the Gay and Lesbian Vaisnava Association (GALVA -- http://www.galva108.org), and a member of the editorial board of the online Vaisnava news service Chakra (http://www.chakra.org).

Syamasundara dasa is an early disciple of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada. He has recently returned to the U.S. after spending time teaching at a gurukula in India.

Swami B.V. Tripurari has spent over 30 years as a Hindu monastic. Awarded the sannyasa order in 1975, Swami Tripurari has studied under several spiritual masters in the Gaudiya lineage, notably AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Maharaja. Noted as the 'Thomas Merton of the modern bhakti tradition,' Swami Tripurari has authored a number of ground-breaking works. Website: http://www.swami.org