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Ask AfterEllen.com (September 29, 2009)

Want to know the status of a particular movie, TV show, or band? Wondering what a certain actress is up to these days? Send your entertainment-related questions to [email protected] – with your first name, city and country – and we’ll try to answer as many as we can.

Question: I absolutely loved Linda Villarosa‘s book, Passing For Black. I was wondering if she’s working on another novel.

? Janay, Detroit, MI

Answer: Linda Villarosa is a busy woman, but I tracked her down and asked her to give us the scoop on how she’ll be following up on the success of her first novel:

Thank you for asking! I have another novel in my head but that’s the only place it is right now. I’m teaching writing and media studies full time at City College in New York, so my time is short these days.

And I’m co-writing a documentary for PBS on AIDS in the African-American community beginning in November, which means I’ll be more journalistic than novelistic for at least half of next year. But I’ve got a notebook full of notes and ideas. And I loved writing Passing for Black and was very encouraged by my Lambda Literary Award nomination this year. So I’ll keep you posted!

In the meantime, you can always check out Villarosa’s non-fiction work, including Body & Soul: The Black Women’s Guide to Physical Health and Emotional Well-Being (2003) and The Black Parenting Book: Caring for Our Children in the First Five Years (2003).

Question: I read some where the ABC’s Defying Gravity will only air the remaining episodes in Canada. I’m from Canada so this doesn’t effect me, but did the show get cancelled?

?Ana, Vancouver, Canada

Answer: No one is using the “c-word” at this point, but things don’t look good for the astronauts of Defying Gravity, starring starring Christina Cox, Laura Harris, and Ron Livingston.

The fate of the relatively new show, described by cast and crew alike as “Grey’s Anatomy in space,” is still up in the air (no pun intended). With the airing of the eighth episode on September 13, ABC announced it as the “Season Finale, ” though the series was supposed to have at least two more episodes running through October.

Canadian network CTV aired a ninth episode (“Eve Ate The Apple”) on Friday, September 18, but hasn’t aired any episodes since. Space TV (part of CTV), is slated to run the remaining four episodes on October, 2, 9, 16, and 23. That would wrap up the first, and perhaps only, season of the show.

Question: I have just started watching The L Word and fell completely in love with it and now I find that its ended! I had heard that maybe there would be a movie and I had some great ideas, but am by no means a professional. I just have a good imagination. I want to send Ilene Chaiken my ideas, but have no idea what the best way to do that is. If you can help that would be great.

ÔÇò Shaleen, OR

Answer: Back in July, our own Trish Bendix attended the BlogHer conference in Chicago. Trish reported that one of the many panelists there was L Word creator Ilene Chaiken, who talked about a possible L Word movie and some of the challenges and victories she experienced in the making of the historic Showtime series.

Trish also told us about a Chaiken revelation: “After initially admitting that she wanted to be the one dictating where her characters would go with The L Word, she realized viewers wanted to see their own stories told, and that became more important than having one person holding all of the power.”

Given her new-found interest in viewer input and with the The Real L Word looming on the horizon, now might just be the perfect time to share your thoughts with Ms. Chaiken. I don’t have her personal email, but Chaiken does have a Twitter account.

Let the pitching begin!

Question: Do you have any info on Rachel Shelley (The L Word) having her baby? This seems to be quite the secret. She was featured in a magazine when she was pregnant, but I guess it was never followed up by that same magazine.

ÔÇò Anonymous

Answer: I’ve been trying to track down the answer to your question for weeks, and finally came across the newly relased information via The Official Rachel Shelley Fansite. The site is reporting that Shelley gave birth to a girl September 8 (two weeks late) at 12:57 a.m.

In the August 2009 issue of the British lesbian magazine Diva, Shelley wrote an article, “Stand By for the First Batch of L Word Babies,” documenting the baby boom that has taken place among cast and crew since the show wrapped in March 2009. The new moms (and moms-to-be) include Sarah Shahi (Carmen), whose first child, William Wolf Howey, was born on July 9, Angela Robinson (writer-director-producer) welcomed a new baby with her partner Alex Kondracke over the summer, Erin Daniels (Dana), gave birth to a son, Ely Dashiel Uettwiller, on August 1, and Meredith McGeachie (Tonya) is due to deliver a baby in November.

Speaking of Angela Robinson, the very first issue of her new DC Comic The Web, debuted on September 23.

Robinson co-wrote the story with John Rozum, and it follows the adventures of “the selfish rich-boy hero the Web, and the mysterious-undying Hangman.”

Now that’s she’s firmly established in the comic world, could someone please arrange for an Angela Robinson/Batwoman sit-down?

Question: What’s up with L.P.’s new album that was due out this year? I’m completely in love with her.

ÔÇò Anna, Springfield, Missouri, USA

Answer: I checked in with the always amusing rocker and she sent me a note with the following update:

I am currently writing songs for various artists, known ones and up-and-comers. I signed a new publishing deal in April, and wrote songs and did vocal production for one of them big reality TV stars.

I’m doing the bi-coastal thing right now, kinda been taking it easy on my artist stuff since I got out from under the major label heel last November. It felt kinda like getting out of a long-term relationship, so I took a few months off and schtupped a lot a people and now I might be able to leave a toothbrush at some chick’s house. 🙂

Sooo … putting a band together on the DL right now and it won’t be called “L.P.,” I can tell you that. It’s gonna be all rock s**t, no f***ing pop bulls**t for a minute. I still love pop, but I’m saving those songs for those other peeps I mentioned above.

This stuff is not to make some douchebag A & R guy happy, it’s just for me, the band and whoever wants to listen. Yeah!!!. F**k the man, yo!

Well, in the words of Michael McDonald, “Shine sweet freedom!”

Let’s hope L.P.’s adventures in the world of writing for other artists ends up being just as fruitful (and profitable) as it has for another lesbian rocker who shares her same initials.

To tide you over until the new album is released, U.S. readers can check out this video from her most recent single, “Good With You/Cling to Me.”

For album updates (and the occasional hilarious blog post) check out L.P.’s MySpace page.

A new edition of Ask AfterEllen.com is published every other Tuesday. Have a question for us? Email it to [email protected]. For more entertainment news, read previous editions of Ask AfterEllen.com, and check out AfterElton.com’s weekly entertainment Q&A column, Ask The Flying Monkey.

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