Meet This Sistah is your chance to discover more about the authors of newly published books.
Meet Aunt Georgia Lee, the sistah whose book Hot for Teacher (review) explores a parent-teacher relationship that starts out professional and heats up to personal. Read on to learn more about this sistah who shares her own teaching experiences and confesses as to whether she has had a teacher crush (or two). 👩🏽🏫
Name: Aunt Georgia Lee (pen name)
Books Written: Hot for Teacher
Where Are You From: Atlanta, Georgia
Age: A lady never tells. LOL! 51 years old.
Your Hobbies: photography, videography, podcasting, reading, cooking, and volunteerism
Describe yourself in 5 words or less: introvert, caregiver, entrepreneur, generous, and dreamer
Your personal philosophy: Leave this earth better than the way you found it.
Website address: https://onyxlee.pub
Instagram page: @onyxleepublications
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ageorgia.lee.3
What are your likes/dislikes:
I like the seemingly unconditional love of my furbabies (I say “seemingly” because I know a good treat will get lots of love from them on any given day! LOL!) But I also know that they are super intuitive and sensitive to my emotional needs, and often give the best hugs and kisses when I need my spirits lifted, or do the funniest, craziest things when I need a good laugh.
I also like a good tear jerker movie or A-C-T-I-O-N movie, soulful music of any genre as long as it makes me feel various emotions, the perfect nap, and fellowship with good people just in the name of enjoying each other’s company and conversation, which is often hard to find.
I dislike selfishness, inconsiderate, and rude people. The poor personality traits could go on and on. LOL! I don’t like beer, but a good ice cream float is right up my alley. And I definitely don’t like nature, because it doesn’t like me. I have discovered in my seasoned life, that I am allergic to air! LOL! Seriously, I do have a lot of allergies related to nature.
Tell us about your book, Hot for Teacher.
But the story is more than about dealing with family trauma of the past, but also about building a future of love and support through a new, uniquely created family.
It’s also a sexy love story thanks to the main characters, which also has comical moments thanks to the supporting characters in the story.
The main characters, Evelyn Hargrove, our hot teacher, and Danielle Rivers, the teacher’s pet, begin their relationship with a mutual desire to protect an innocent child, but soon it is their hearts they must guard.
Evelyn, a former classroom teacher turned child psychologist, finds herself thrown into the mysterious drama of a young boy’s disturbing behavior. This leads to an emotional battle between her desire for her young student’s adopted parent, and her own struggles with family trauma from the past.
Danielle, a former exotic dancer turned manager of a gentleman’s club, finds herself playing mother to her nephew and longing to play doctor with his guidance counselor.
Through their rocky start, these two women tread lightly towards uncovering the truth behind the young boy’s issues and their own secret fears.
What has been the reaction to Hot for Teacher?
The teacher hasn’t had any complaints. LOL! Seriously, so far, it’s been well received. People have their favorite characters, some even like the supporting characters just as much as they like the main characters. I love hearing from readers who speak about the characters as if they’re real people. It’s through those conversations that I confirm my work has been done. I always want the stories that I write to address real life with characters who are relatable to my audience, no matter what race, gender, or sexual orientation of the audience. I’ve had straight women who have felt comfortable and enjoyed my story just as much as black lesbians have. It’s important to me that our stories are not considered as stereotypes, and that anyone can experience the feelings and events that occur in this novel.
One of the things I loved about your book is the way you effectively portrayed Evelyn’s career a guidance counselor, and how much she truly cares about her students. What kind of research did do you for this character? Have you ever been a teacher in any kind of capacity, whether formal or informal?
Thank you for that observation. I was asked something similar from a reader who is also a teacher. First, I have a true admiration and respect for my teachers of the past, and previously wanted to follow in their footsteps as a high school English teacher. But after student teaching, I realized I didn’t truly have the temperament or the angelic nature of my former teachers. God bless their souls! However, I did find that I had an interest in teaching adults, and have expanded that desire as a technical writer, trainer, and instructional designer in my professional life. So, my experience as a student and a teacher were things that I wanted to share and discuss in this story. Just like our parents, teachers have the opportunity to make a major impact on our lives, sometimes good and oftentimes bad. I wanted this book to celebrate the positive and power of a teacher’s dedication to helping a young child overcome personal challenges.
Have you ever had a teacher crush?
Oh God, yes! So many I can’t count. As a young adult, I was always infatuated with older women, especially my teachers. The biology teacher who was such a hard task master that I dreamed of her taking me to task! The French teacher who uttered the most beautiful words in French that made my heart melt every time I sat in her class. One of my homeroom teachers, who was also the dance instructor, whose graceful posture and hellified walk just made my heart skip a beat every time I saw her. But my admiration for them wasn’t always sexual. I truly admired the fact that they were strong, gifted, and dedicated to their profession and their students.
I also enjoyed the “found family” dynamic in Hot for Teacher, from Danielle and best friend Rod’s rapport in raising their nephew Colin, to Evelyn’s friend group that welcomed Danielle with open arms. Why is that so important, especially in LGBT storytelling? What does “family” mean to you?
This story is a part of what I like to call “The Family Series.” You will find in future novels that creating your own unique family is so important. I think it can be just as important in the heterosexual community just as it is in the LGBT community. However, because most of us are ostracized from or by our families, it is probably more common that we build new families of people who are not blood relatives. So, I wanted to celebrate the power and importance of these unique family dynamics. I also wanted to give hope to others within our community that might be holding on to unhealthy relationships within their birth families and not willing to venture out to find alternative, healthier relationships with a chosen family. We all deserve to be loved, but sometimes that love won’t always come from the place you want it to or expect it to come from.
Family to me, means being with the people and animals (furbabies) that make me feel at home.
I feel like there’s more to Evelyn and Danielle’s story, so I am dying to know: will there be a sequel to Hot for Teacher?
Hmmm, there may be a sequel to Hot for Teacher. I’m not sure. I definitely had more to share about Danielle’s new career move, and the relationship that Evelyn is building with Colin. I even thought of writing a young adult novel that focuses on Evelyn and Colin as being the school’s sleuths who solve various mysteries around the campus that address concerns the children of our world today actually experience.
What are you working on next?
Well, right now I’m working on another novel, entitled They Call Me Dr. Feelgoode. The “Feelgoode” is actually spelled correctly. It’s a play on the words “feel” and “good,” but it is one of the main characters’ surname, and also one of my favorite Aretha Franklin songs. This story is about Neyah, a female entrepreneur who owns a startup security software company with a good friend. She is smart, sexy, and talented but celibate for the past 5 years. After a failed marriage with a previous wifey that left her heart broken and HIV positive, she refuses to believe that she would ever find love again. Then comes Charlotte, a former Airman in the US Air Force, and now professional job seeker, whose handsome appearance and infectious smile reignites desire in Neyah’s cold and bitter heart. But as you know, there are always hurdles along the journey to love, and these women have a ton of them to jump over. I wanted to use this book to address a misconception that lesbians can’t get an STD or specifically AIDS, or that it’s okay for us to have unprotected sex because we fear these health issues less than our heterosexual counterparts. I think it’s even more plausible now than ever because we live in a time where sexuality is so very fluid.
And recently, a writer colleague of mine challenged me to create short stories to share with readers while I work on this second novel. So, I’ll soon be releasing six short stories, starting in October 2020 as a part of the new Real Lesbians of Atlanta (RLOA) erotic series. This erotic series is the Atlanta version of The L-Word with soulful sisters from the A. LOL! The women in each story represent a diverse group of the LGBTIQ community both in age, size, hue, social status, and sexual identity. You know, the whole kitchen sink! LOL! I can’t wait to share that with everyone. I’ve been working with a talented graphic designer to create the perfect book covers, and now I have to keep going with creating the stories to live up to the designer’s work. Thank you, James from GoOnWrite.com for your creativity and graciousness.
Who or what is your literary inspiration?
Writers who make me feel when I’m reading their work. And feel any and all emotions. I love a good laugh, cry, orgasm (if you will). And if the author’s writing can make me feel any of that, I am hooked. I want to be like them for sure, when I grow up! LOL! Two of my most recent reads (I haven’t finished because of all the multitasking that I do) are true testaments to the type of literature that I enjoy. Michelle Obama’s Becoming and Tiffany Haddish’s The Last Black Unicorn are right at the top of my list. At one point I was trying to read them at the same time, but I had to also put them down for the same reason – I didn’t have enough time to devote to them. But even while reading them, Michelle’s book read like a beautiful love story. Even though there are moments of sadness, the way in which it was written was lyrical, vivid, and just feels like a beautiful, bluesy song that you don’t want to stop playing over and over. On the other hand, there’s Tiffany’s book that is raw, in your face, at times brutal and difficult to get through what she’s experienced in life. Although she encases the hurt and pain around humor, you can still feel the power of what she’s survived. These stories really felt like they were written out of those deep emotions, and truly resonate with the emotions that motivate me to tell my own stories.
Interviewed August 2020