Clare London's Blog, page 132

SWEET *AND* SEXY?

Today's guest is the author Jaime Samms, known on Live Journal as dontkickmycane . As her portfolio and popularity grow steadily, she stops to ask: how well does sweet romance sit with our male/male genre?



Bio: With most of the hours in the day taken up by a part time job and the full time occupation of raising and schooling two kids, writing is somewhat of an indulgence, but it's the indulgences that keep us sane, right? When not otherwise occupied, like most writers, reading is my relaxation method of choice, and you can find links to reviews at Dark Diva Reviews to let you know what I liked (and occasionally, what I didn't). And just in case there are an extra few minutes in the day, I also help out the admin team at a writer's critique group: Dreaming in Ink. After all, idle hands and all that.

Jaime's website: http://jaime-samms.net/
Jaime's blog: http://jaimesamms.blogspot.com/



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Sweet!
 

Or not. 

I've been told by people who know much more than I about these things that m/m romance can't be sweet. Without a healthy dose of Hawt sex, you're left with a less effective story. Hmmm.

The real questions is can a romance between men be told--with or without detailing every sex act--and still be sweet? Or is that just a construct we female writers created because that's what we want? We want the romance and the hot sex. Yeah baby. Gimme my cake, and gimme my fork, cause I'm eating that sucker too!

My opinion, which might be obvious, after the orgy of cake eating, is that yes, men can be madly in lust with each other, and their love story can still be sweet.




I give you Andrew Grey's writing as an example. I'm currently in the middle of Children of Bacchus.
Who knew satyrs could be so bloody romantic. And I'm told that isn't even his sweetest romantic effort.

I don't know that I write as sweet as all that, but I do dose my guys pretty liberally with a tender side and as far as I'm concerned, they come by it honestly. I know more than a few guys in my life who don't speak up a lot about how they feel, but they do convey it in other ways. Don't ever tell any of them they're sweet, though. They'll just grunt at you and wander off to do something suitably manly.



What does everyone think? Does too much tender spoil your enjoyment of a good m/m romp? How realistic do you really want these fantasy guys? Really?



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND JUST FOR FUN, A FICTION PROMPT CALL...!!

Like to stretch your writing fingers after Christmas' excesses? Take the prompt "A NEW RESOLUTION" and write something for the visitors this month. It can be anything from a flashfic 3 sentences to a drabble of 100 or so, or even more. Any genre, any theme, any rating, any character(s). Maybe ones you already love, maybe the chance to try on a new character for size.

I'm holding a FREE FICTION DAY on the 28th, so send me new fiction - links to your existing work also welcome! - to clarelondon11 AT yahoo.co.uk and I'll post it all then :).

♥


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow this month with Clare - and the goodies so far:

JAN 15: Favourite worldwide travel with cdn_tam.
JAN 16: 10 cautionary tales from ZA Maxfield! zamaxfield.
JAN 17: The business/pleasure balance of writing from libby_drew.
JAN 18: Why M/M? And who wants to know? from jordan_c_price.
JAN 19: What makes fiction short and sweet for jenre.
JAN 20: The pursuit of beautiful things by wrenboo.
JAN 21: Bawdy and brazen humor in the new release from Rick R. Reed.


JAN 08: A great new novel and sequel from mickieashling.
JAN 09: Fiction and beautiful illustrations from essayel.
JAN 10: Forthcoming menage release from lc_chase.
JAN 11: Fabulous mix of SF and erotic romance from Sloane Taylor and Robert Appleton.
JAN 12: Follow the bizarre photographic history of Wind in Hair Guy with egret17.
JAN 13: When only your family understands the joke, with charliecochrane.
JAN 14: A top 10 of gay books you should read from erastes.

JAN 01: A FREE short from me, revisiting Nic and Aidan from Sparks Fly.
JAN 01: Delicious m/m icons from luscious_words.
JAN 02: Why I want to be a Bond villain! by chrissymunder.
JAN 03: The world of inspiration between 'historical' and 'contemporary' with stevie_carroll.
JAN 04: Some fascinating Swedish proverbs from 1more_sickpuppy.
JAN 05: A round-up of a great year just gone from angelasstone.
JAN 06: The countryside and history that inspires author sandra_lindsey.
JAN 07: The challenge of trying to balance edits, with diannefox and anahcrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check up on the original post and the Guest Schedule for January HERE.

Want to join in but missed the original call? Email me at clarelondon11 AT yahoo.co.uk and I'll happily find you a space ♥

BAWDY AND BRAZEN HUMOR!

Today's guest is the well-known and respected author Rick R. Reed, with successful and entertaining books in many genres. He's sharing with us today his new release - and a new direction for him!

Bio: Rick R. Reed has been described as the "Stephen King of gay horror" by Unzipped Magazine. And Dark Scribe magazine said, "Reed is an established brand — perhaps the most reliable contemporary author for thrillers that cross over between the gay fiction market and speculative fiction." Reed also chronicles the emotional lives of gay men in his work, with an increasing eye toward exploring the romance genre.




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A Few Words from the Author

My latest novel, a "romantic comedy" more in the style of John Waters than Neil Simon, Dignity Takes a Holiday releases just this week. The new release marks a real departure for someone who thinks of himself primarily as a horror/suspense author.

Now, if you are looking for lofty literary aspirations, good taste, or a serious commentary on the human condition, then go somewhere else. Dignity Takes a Holiday is for those of you who like bawdy and brazen humor about a true underdog looking for love in all the wrong places. Someone asked me what the the theme of the book was and I said, "There's a part in the story where yet another awful fate has befallen Pete and the book says, "What could he do but laugh?" And I think that's the guiding principle behind Dignity Takes a Holiday--that laughter in the face of adversity is often the best, and most appropriate, response. I wanted to write a book that was not only funny, but showed that not all gay men are alike. Pete Thickwhistle is definitely an original."




Synopsis
Meet Pete Thickwhistle. Pete doesn't live what one might call a charmed life. At age forty-seven, he's a flamboyant gay man who believes no one knows he's gay, still living at home with his harpy of a mother. Worse, he's still a virgin, longing to find just the right man to make his life complete. Pete's an upbeat kind of guy, yet he's never learned that the answer to his motto "What could possibly go wrong?" is always: "Everything."

Pete's road to love and happiness is full of potholes, yet he never tires of searching, despite job losses, weight battles, clothing faux pas, and disastrous vacations, parties, and dating debacles. Pete is the ultimate underdog living a television situation comedy, one named Dignity Takes a Holiday.

EXCERPT:

Pete spent the next two weeks in a fruitless job search. No one wanted to hire him ("Personally, I can't blame them," Helen told him). He was feeling particularly tense when he emerged, looking guiltily up and down the street, from L'Amour Adult Playhouse. He wore a trench coat bought at Goodwill, giant sunglasses and a beat-up fedora he had hung on to from the 1960's. Concealed beneath the trench coat was a #36, The Kamikaze, dildo. The dildo was eight inches long and six inches around. Pete both feared and desired the object. He prayed Mother would never discover its existence.


A few days later, Pete was starving as he watched Helen at the stove, stirring a big, steaming pot. He wiped away a line of drool that had formed at the corner of his mouth.

"There ya go!" Helen had done the plate up beautifully: with a sprig of parsley and a pat of butter positioned just so on Pete's heap of corn. Steam rose from the hot dog, hidden beneath its toppings, and Pete breathed it in, savoring the aroma of the warm roll and all the trimmings. "I made it just like at the restaurant. I hope you like it...honey." Helen was grinning.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Pete picked up the warm bun, opened wide, bit down and found he could not bite through the hot dog. Brushing aside all the trimmings, Pete discovered that there was not a hot dog encased in the bun, but the dildo he had so carefully hidden. There still remained the impression of his teeth in the flesh–colored rubber.

Pete covered his mouth, eyes wide and staring. He suppressed a gag at the back of his throat. And yet again, heat radiated upward from his neck to envelope his face and ears. The heat was not from the steam.

Helen stood at the stove, watching her son and snickering.

"Mother, how could you?"

"I was cleaning your room."

"You had no right."

"I had every right. This is my house and I intend to keep it clean."

Pete was flabbergasted. "I'm entitled to a little privacy, don't you think? I am 47 years old."

"You're sick. If that's what you need your privacy for, then you're sick."

"Mother! I'm a grown man and I have my needs."

Helen waved her son's remarks away. "There are plenty of men around if it's fucking you need."

"Mother! I never told you I liked men!"

"Well..." Helen snickered, ignoring Pete's 'coming out' remark. He supposed, dejectedly, it hadn't needed saying. "Where'd you get that thing, anyway?"

Helen was still chuckling to herself as Pete rushed from the room in tears. Helen doubled over in renewed laughter when she heard the slam of her son's bedroom door. She picked up the dildo, shaking her head and staring at it. "Christ Almighty."


Buy Dignity Takes a Holiday direct from the publisher Dreamspinner Press in paperback HERE
or e-book HERE .

Dignity Takes a Holiday is also available from Amazon in Kindle and paperback, as well as all major digital and print booksellers.

***

Visit: http://www.rickrreed.com
Follow: http://rickrreedreality.blogspot.com/
Latest releases:
A Demon Inside: http://tinyurl.com/28eylrp
Tricks: http://tinyurl.com/2cm786g



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND JUST FOR FUN, A FICTION PROMPT CALL...!!

Like to stretch your writing fingers after Christmas' excesses? Take the prompt "A NEW RESOLUTION" and write something for the visitors this month. It can be anything from a flashfic 3 sentences to a drabble of 100 or so, or even more. Any genre, any theme, any rating, any character(s). Maybe ones you already love, maybe the chance to try on a new character for size.

I'm holding a FREE FICTION DAY on the 28th, so send me new fiction - links to your existing work also welcome! - to clarelondon11 AT yahoo.co.uk and I'll post it all then :).

♥


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow this month with Clare - and the goodies so far:

JAN 15: Favourite worldwide travel with cdn_tam .
JAN 16: 10 cautionary tales from ZA Maxfield! zamaxfield .
JAN 17: The business/pleasure balance of writing from libby_drew .
JAN 18: Why M/M? And who wants to know? from jordan_c_price .
JAN 19: What makes fiction short and sweet for jenre .
JAN 20: The pursuit of beautiful things by wrenboo .


JAN 08: A great new novel and sequel from mickieashling .
JAN 09: Fiction and beautiful illustrations from essayel .
JAN 10: Forthcoming menage release from lc_chase .
JAN 11: Fabulous mix of SF and erotic romance from Sloane Taylor and Robert Appleton.
JAN 12: Follow the bizarre photographic history of Wind in Hair Guy with egret17 .
JAN 13: When only your family understands the joke, with charliecochrane .
JAN 14: A top 10 of gay books you should read from erastes .

JAN 01: A FREE short from me, revisiting Nic and Aidan from Sparks Fly.
JAN 01: Delicious m/m icons from luscious_words .
JAN 02: Why I want to be a Bond villain! by chrissymunder .
JAN 03: The world of inspiration between 'historical' and 'contemporary' with stevie_carroll .
JAN 04: Some fascinating Swedish proverbs from 1more_sickpuppy .
JAN 05: A round-up of a great year just gone from angelasstone .
JAN 06: The countryside and history that inspires author sandra_lindsey .
JAN 07: The challenge of trying to balance edits, with diannefox and anahcrow .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check up on the original post and the Guest Schedule for January HERE.

Want to join in but missed the original call? Email me at clarelondon11 AT yahoo.co.uk and I'll happily find you a space ♥

NOTE: most pictures chosen by me and credited where known, others may be used without direct permission, please contact me with any queries/concerns.

THE PLEASURE OF POSSESSION

Today's guest is Wren Boudreau, author of the popular titles Ice Cream on the Side and Back to Normal .



She's talking today about the pleasure of owning something of beauty.
As I often say - it's not always an issue of "need", but "want" :).

Visit Wren at her Blog: http://wrenboudreau.blogspot.com/

Enjoys: Reading, Writing, Surfing (the web), Massages (getting them), Chocolate and Hot Bubble Baths.


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I haz a Drum:

With Christmas season so recently ended, I've been thinking about gifts. In particular, gifts that we want but don't know why.

Case in point:

A number of years ago, maybe ten or so, I attended a class having to do with teaching methods. One of the young soon-to-be-teachers did a show-and-tell with an African drum as the basis for a poetry lesson. I was impressed, but more than that I was enchanted. I wanted a drum!

I had daydreams of having my own private drum circle (well, maybe that would be an arc), of elevating my soul with primitive beats, of loosening the constraints on my creativity by calling up the wild woman inside of me.

After a bit of wheedling and some judicious pointing and, I admit it, caressing various toms, djembes and bongos, I convinced my husband to consider this. I found a drum under the Christmas tree.

It was beautiful. Exquisitely designed. Waiting to be played.

And I was suddenly too shy to touch it.

Even when I was all alone, I just walked around it, looked at it, brushed my fingers lovingly along its smooth surface. But I didn't make one sound with it.

Still haven't. But I'll be damned if I give that drum away. I'm going to need it someday, I know it.

There are a few other things in my life like this. Things I've wanted to have not for any actual reason other than simple want. I'd like to think it's not a greed issue, but I've been known to be pretty shallow, so maybe that's it. Lucky I'm not a millionaire, because I think I'd have a few too many "things" in my life.

I'm curious if anyone else has had a similar experience - longing for something, finally getting it, then just not knowing what to do with it, or being pleased to simply own it. Or maybe it's just me?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND JUST FOR FUN, A FICTION PROMPT CALL...!!

Like to stretch your writing fingers after Christmas' excesses? Take the prompt "A NEW RESOLUTION" and write something for the visitors this month. It can be anything from a flashfic 3 sentences to a drabble of 100 or so, or even more. Any genre, any theme, any rating, any character(s). Maybe ones you already love, maybe the chance to try on a new character for size.

I'm holding a FREE FICTION DAY on the 28th, so send me new fiction - links to your existing work also welcome! - to clarelondon11 AT yahoo.co.uk and I'll post it all then :).

♥


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow this month with Clare - and the goodies so far:

JAN 15: Favourite worldwide travel with cdn_tam .
JAN 16: 10 cautionary tales from ZA Maxfield! zamaxfield .
JAN 17: The business/pleasure balance of writing from libby_drew .
JAN 18: Why M/M? And who wants to know? from jordan_c_price .
JAN 19: What makes fiction short and sweet for jenre .

JAN 08: A great new novel and sequel from mickieashling .
JAN 09: Fiction and beautiful illustrations from essayel .
JAN 10: Forthcoming menage release from lc_chase .
JAN 11: Fabulous mix of SF and erotic romance from Sloane Taylor and Robert Appleton.
JAN 12: Follow the bizarre photographic history of Wind in Hair Guy with egret17 .
JAN 13: When only your family understands the joke, with charliecochrane .
JAN 14: A top 10 of gay books you should read from erastes .

JAN 01: A FREE short from me, revisiting Nic and Aidan from Sparks Fly.
JAN 01: Delicious m/m icons from luscious_words .
JAN 02: Why I want to be a Bond villain! by chrissymunder .
JAN 03: The world of inspiration between 'historical' and 'contemporary' with stevie_carroll .
JAN 04: Some fascinating Swedish proverbs from 1more_sickpuppy .
JAN 05: A round-up of a great year just gone from angelasstone .
JAN 06: The countryside and history that inspires author sandra_lindsey .
JAN 07: The challenge of trying to balance edits, with diannefox and anahcrow .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check up on the original post and the Guest Schedule for January HERE.

Want to join in but missed the original call? Email me at clarelondon11 AT yahoo.co.uk and I'll happily find you a space ♥

NOTE: most pictures chosen by me and credited where known, others may be used without direct permission, please contact me with any queries/concerns.

SMALL BUT BEAUTIFULLY FORMED...

Today's guest is jenre , a respected reviewer and a damned fine blogger :). She used to run the blog Well Read (taking a scheduled hiatus) and nowadays is a supportive and perceptive contributor to the m/m fiction community through reviews at Reviews at Jessewave's and Three Dollar Bill Reviews , for a start. She's also to be found at her new joint blog Brief Encounters Reviews , devoted to short fiction.

Today she's talking about what works in short fiction - and doesn't! - for her as a reader.


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As some of you may know, I've recently teamed up with cdn_tam (that's Tam ) to start a site which reviews m/m romance short stories.



Brief Encounters Reviews is HERE if you're interested, and if you're not, then I apologise for the obvious promo :).


Now, I wouldn't have started the site if I didn't already have a great love of short stories. To me they are the fillers between the longer books that I read, the convenient quickies when I'm doing all the pesky stuff a Mum has to do like sit around in cold sports halls whilst my daughter does gymnastics, the late night picks when I'm not tired enough to sleep and daren't brave starting a novel in case I get sucked in and am still reading at 3am. To me a good short story has as much value as a longer novel. No wonder then that I felt that it was high time someone spread the love of shorts and dedicated a site to reviewing them.

Having said all that, I think it's wrong to say that anyone can write a short story. It's a skill and a specialised one at that. Lots of authors, who should perhaps stick to their wonderful longer novel writing skills, put out shorts, and not always successfully. Now I'm not here to offend anyone, or to claim I have all the answers. After all I'm just a lowly reader, what can I possibly know about writing? But, I do read a lot and over time have realised that there are some mistakes that authors make with stories time and time again.

So here are my personal bugbears about short stories:


1. Trying to fit too much into the short format

This is the single biggest mistake I find in short stories. The author has huge ideas, whether is plot or setting or characters and then squashes it all into less than 15,000 words. In this case something has to suffer. You can't spend thousands of words setting out an elaborate setting and then stick an unbelievable HEA onto the end. Nor can you fit in an all action plot and create complex characters at the same time. Or at least it seems not from the some of the stories I have read. The motto of a story should be to keep it simple: Enough setting for the story to be grounded in place and time; enough of the characters to give them definition and make them real. Choose a focus and a purpose for your story and stick to that, whether it's the development of character or a focus on the relationship, and don't get bogged down with incidental details.


2. Mistaking sex for emotion

Many of the short stories I read end with a fairly lengthy sex scene. Now, I'm not complaining about that, especially if the sex is well written, but what does bother me is if the author hasn't taken the time to get the emotional stuff in before the sex or, even worse, has the emotional connection tacked onto the end. Many stories are meet + instant lust + hot sex = lifelong commitment. Huh? I'm sorry but that doesn't work for me. Sex does not equate to love in my book (although I know some of you may disagree with me on that point). In these cases a HFN is perfectly acceptable. In fact most shorts, unless they deal with an already established couple or take place over a few weeks, should end with a HFN. There's nothing wrong with that and also provides scope for a follow on story at a later date :).



3. Telling us absolutely nothing

This one applies to stories which are either extras to a novel or a series of shorts involving the same characters. I understand the pressure that some authors feel when their fans are clamouring for more of a well loved couple. Why not then put out a nice short, showing us something of their HEA? I've no problem with that and I'm guilty myself of pestering authors for more of a favourite couple (*cough* Nic and Aidan *cough*). What really annoys me then is if the follow on story tells us nothing about the relationship other than they are happy and still having sex 2 years later. Why would I want to spend my hard earned cash on such a non-story? In order for a follow on story to work it must tell us something new about either the characters or the situation. The best stories are those which take an unresolved tension from the source book and resolves it, or which picks up on an insecurity, a jealousy or tensions within the family, or shows us a new commitment in terms of starting a family or buying a house together. In other words anything other than just a sex scene (although I'm quite happy for the sex to be included as well as the other stuff LOL). A common complaint I hear about short stories is that the reader felt that they wasted their money on something they could have had by re-reading part of the original book.


Reading back on this I realise that I do sound rather that the bossy schoolteacher I used to be before the kids came along and turned my life upside down! The purpose of this is not to judge or offend, but to show one reader's opinion on some of the things that make a short story a dud for me. I'd be interested in whether you agree with me or not. Do you find these three 'bugbears' of mine the same for you? Do you think I'm being too harsh on the poor writers who labour on their short stories with love? Or do you not care because you hate short stories and never read them?






BTW, if you want some fantastic examples of short story writing at its best then pop along to Clare's website HERE where there are lots of wonderful freebie stories.



Sez a blushing Clare (and no, I didn't bribe Jenre with chocolate to say any of that...) in a mood of blatant self promotion: see the link below on Jan 01 for the follow-up story for Nic and Aidan from "Sparks Fly").



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND JUST FOR FUN, A FICTION PROMPT CALL...!!

Like to stretch your writing fingers after Christmas' excesses? Take the prompt "A NEW RESOLUTION" and write something for the visitors this month. It can be anything from a flashfic 3 sentences to a drabble of 100 or so, or even more. Any genre, any theme, any rating, any character(s). Maybe ones you already love, maybe the chance to try on a new character for size.

I'm holding a FREE FICTION DAY on the 28th, so send me new fiction - links to your existing work also welcome! - to clarelondon11 AT yahoo.co.uk and I'll post it all then :).

♥


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow this month with Clare - and the goodies so far:

JAN 15: Favourite worldwide travel with cdn_tam .
JAN 16: 10 cautionary tales from ZA Maxfield! abstractrx .
JAN 17: The business/pleasure balance of writing from libby_drew .
JAN 18: Why M/M? And who wants to know? from jordan_c_price .



JAN 08: A great new novel and sequel from mickieashling .
JAN 09: Fiction and beautiful illustrations from essayel .
JAN 10: Forthcoming menage release from lc_chase .
JAN 11: Fabulous mix of SF and erotic romance from Sloane Taylor and Robert Appleton.
JAN 12: Follow the bizarre photographic history of Wind in Hair Guy with egret17 .
JAN 13: When only your family understands the joke, with charliecochrane .
JAN 14: A top 10 of gay books you should read from erastes .

JAN 01: A FREE short from me, revisiting Nic and Aidan from Sparks Fly.
JAN 01: Delicious m/m icons from luscious_words .
JAN 02: Why I want to be a Bond villain! by chrissymunder .
JAN 03: The world of inspiration between 'historical' and 'contemporary' with stevie_carroll .
JAN 04: Some fascinating Swedish proverbs from 1more_sickpuppy .
JAN 05: A round-up of a great year just gone from angelasstone .
JAN 06: The countryside and history that inspires author sandra_lindsey .
JAN 07: The challenge of trying to balance edits, with diannefox and anahcrow .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check up on the original post and the Guest Schedule for January HERE.

Want to join in but missed the original call? Email me at clarelondon11 AT yahoo.co.uk and I'll happily find you a space ♥

NOTE: most pictures chosen by me and credited where known, others may be used without direct permission, please contact me with any queries/concerns.

"WHY" M/M? AND WHO NEEDS TO KNOW?

Today's guest is the fabulous and deservedly feted author Jordan Castillo Price. She's considering just WHY we like reading and writing what we do - or whether that should be a topic for discussion at all!



And Jordan's intriguing and delightful Petit Morts series is being featured on the review site Brief Encounters Reviews all this week! Pop on over and say HI.



Bio: Jordan Castillo Price grew up in Western New York, spent her formative drinking years in inner city Chicago, and is now writing paranormal thrillers from her home in small-town rural Wisconsin.

Have questions about writing erotica? Comments about any of her stories? Just want to say hi? Drop her an email at jordan (at) psycop (dot) com.

Jordan is best known as the author of the PsyCop series, an unfolding tale of paranormal mystery and suspense starring Victor Bayne, a gay medium who's plagued by ghostly visitations. Visit JCPbooks.com to glimpse Chicago beyond the veil.


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When man-on-man is like brussels sprouts




One of my non-m/m friends spotted this thread where a guy finds his girlfriend's stash of yaoi, and he's so shattered (oh noes!) he must go directly to the interwebs for help!


Is this something I should be concerned about?
What do I do?
Should I confront her?

This idea of confrontation intrigues me, because what on earth would he hope to accomplish by doing so? Humiliate his girlfriend? Force her to confess to these dirty, dirty things she finds titillating? Possibly. But if I give this guy the benefit of the doubt, I suspect what he really wants to know is WHY.

Why read Yaoi, m/m, slash, or any other type of gay material if you're a woman?

I'm heartened because many of the respondents sense the "why" in his desperate "OMG I just found The Gay" pleas, and they just tell him to get over himself, since plenty of men enjoy lesbian porn and no one bats an eyelash. This is true, and I'm glad most of the comments skew this way. Though they still don't address the "why."


I'd like to suggest that maybe the "why" is irrelevant. We like and dislike plenty of things without having to explain our preferences. I could choose an obvious example, like chocolate cake, and say that I like it—and I'd be pretty surprised if anyone wondered why.

And so, to illustrate my point, I'll just throw it out there instead that I like brussels sprouts.




What's your reaction?

If you like brussels sprouts, you probably would say, "Yes, I do too. How do you cook yours?" And if you don't, you'd probably just say, "Ew, yuck," and leave it at that. I doubt you feel personally insulted, or even threatened, by the idea that I enjoy something that you don't. Maybe at some point you'll even tease me about it, and remark that you went to McDonald's and didn't notice any brussels sprouts on the menu, and perhaps I should go have a little talk with the manager.

So what's the difference?

The obvious thing, to me, is that sexuality is so charged (or overcharged) that it's kind of like childrearing or politics or religion. The stakes are higher, and people identify more of their core selves with it, so when we find our friends differ strongly in their preferences, if we don't have strong and secure sense of self, it can create a sort of rift.


I also think the "whys" are subtle. I write m/m for a living and I don't think I could give you a pat answer of why man-on-man appeals to me. I could probably spin an elaborate theory of balancing gender equality in the story, avoiding traditional male/female role expectations, and removing myself entirely from the story so the characters are definitively "not me" (although, in a sense, I suppose they are simultaneously all me since they come from my imagination.)

And yet I wonder if the "why" is ultimately important. What I do know is that I'm profoundly thankful to find other people, worldwide, who share my preferences, and that I live in an era where broader acceptance is becoming possible, and the technology exists to connect.

Also let it be known that I make a really mean brussels sprout with browned butter and orange zest.


Jordan Castillo Price is the author of the PsyCop and Channeling Morpheus series. She began her own publishing company, JCP Books LLC, in 2008. Find out more at http://jordancastilloprice.com or sign up for her newsletter at http://psycop.com/newsletter.html



(Clare sez: I'm adding this banner because the Channeling Morpheus series introduced me to Jordan's work, and will ever have a fond place in my heart LOL).


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND JUST FOR FUN, A FICTION PROMPT CALL...!!

Like to stretch your writing fingers after Christmas' excesses? Take the prompt "A NEW RESOLUTION" and write something for the visitors this month. It can be anything from a flashfic 3 sentences to a drabble of 100 or so, or even more. Any genre, any theme, any rating, any character(s). Maybe ones you already love, maybe the chance to try on a new character for size.

I'm holding a FREE FICTION DAY on the 28th, so send me new fiction - links to your existing work also welcome! - to clarelondon11 AT yahoo.co.uk and I'll post it all then :).

♥


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow this month with Clare - and the goodies so far:

JAN 15: Favourite worldwide travel with cdn_tam .
JAN 16: 10 cautionary tales from ZA Maxfield! abstractrx .
JAN 17: The business/pleasure balance of writing from libby_drew .


JAN 08: A great new novel and sequel from mickieashling .
JAN 09: Fiction and beautiful illustrations from essayel .
JAN 10: Forthcoming menage release from lc_chase .
JAN 11: Fabulous mix of SF and erotic romance from Sloane Taylor and Robert Appleton.
JAN 12: Follow the bizarre photographic history of Wind in Hair Guy with egret17 .
JAN 13: When only your family understands the joke, with charliecochrane .
JAN 14: A top 10 of gay books you should read from erastes .

JAN 01: A FREE short from me, revisiting Nic and Aidan from Sparks Fly.
JAN 01: Delicious m/m icons from luscious_words .
JAN 02: Why I want to be a Bond villain! by chrissymunder .
JAN 03: The world of inspiration between 'historical' and 'contemporary' with stevie_carroll .
JAN 04: Some fascinating Swedish proverbs from 1more_sickpuppy .
JAN 05: A round-up of a great year just gone from angelasstone .
JAN 06: The countryside and history that inspires author sandra_lindsey .
JAN 07: The challenge of trying to balance edits, with diannefox and anahcrow .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check up on the original post and the Guest Schedule for January HERE.

Want to join in but missed the original call? Email me at clarelondon11 AT yahoo.co.uk and I'll happily find you a space ♥

NOTE: most pictures chosen by me and credited where known, others may be used without direct permission, please contact me with any queries/concerns.

LRC NOMINATIONS CLOSE TODAY

FORWARDED POST from Love Romances Cafe Yahoo Group:

It's that time of year when we at the LR Cafe loop get ready for "Best of.." Awards. This is the awards where the readers get to nominate their favorite authors, publishers, books and more.

Readers, please read the following information carefully because if directions are not followed, your vote WILL NOT be counted.

Please be aware that you can only nominate ONCE per category. You don't need to nominate for all the categories if you choose not to.

All books must have been released between January 1st, 2010 and December 31st, 2010. I will double check on release dates with publishers if I feel there is a question on the nomination.

To nominate your choice in the categories, email me at dawn_roberto @ yahoo dot com with "BEST OF AWARDS" in subject line.
Anything else WILL NOT be counted. Make sure you follow these instructions or your choice will NOT be counted. I will then tally all nominations and the top 10 (no more than 15 nominees total) nominees will be the finalists. In event there is a tie in semi-finalist nominations, they will both be counted in the finalist round.

You have from Monday January 10th, 2011 to January 16th, 2011 to nominate your picks.
At MIDNIGHT on 1/16/2011, the voting closes (this is in USA Eastern Time). Any email time stamped after midnight EST on this date will NOT be counted. I will announce the finalists on January 18th, 2010 on the LRC loop at 2 PM EST.

Voting for finalists will begin on January 20th-29th, 2011 and close at MIDNIGHT (USA EST) on the 29th. Winners to be announced on the LRC loop from Noon-3 PM EST on January 31st, 2010.


Best Contemporary Book-2010

Best Fantasy Book-2010

Best Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Book-2010

Best Historical Book-2010

Best Thriller/Romantic Suspense/Mystery Book-2010

Best Paranormal author

Best GBLTQ Author

Best GBLTQ Book-2010

Best BDSM Book

Best Anthology/Multi-Authors Book 2010

Best Science Fiction/Futuristic Book-2010

Best Book Cover

Best Erotic Book

Best E-publisher-2010

Best Shape-shifter Book-2010

Best book all around

Best Vampire Book

Best Series


♥

10 THINGS TO LEARN THE HARD WAY?

Today's guest is successful and much-loved author Z. A. Maxfield, here on LJ as abstractrx . And in a thoughtful and wry-humoured way, she's got some New Year thoughts and advice for us!

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Z.A. Maxfield is a fifth-generation native of Los Angeles, although she now lives in the O.C. She started writing in 2007 on a dare from her children and never looked back. Pathologically disorganized and perennially optimistic, she writes as much as she can, reads as much as she dares, and enjoys her time with family and friends. If anyone asks her how a wife and mother of four manages to find time for a writing career, she'll answer, "It's amazing what you can do if you completely give up housework."

Find her at her website .
Join her Yahoo Group .
Follow her blog on Live Journal .

***

Ten Things I learned (the hard way)

I'm feeling a little reflective this month as my twins turned thirteen (On New Year's Day) and my daughter Zoe, turned eighteen on the fifth. Here are ten things I've learned the hard way. That's ten I doubt I'll have to do again, but don't quote me, sometimes it takes me longer than one try…




Just because you're offered the opportunity to eat a particularly hot pepper, that doesn't mean you should.

Always, always, always double check the privacy lock on an airplane bathroom door. There is nothing that defines "awkward" better than the look on some shocked businessman's face when he's faced with a middle-aged woman taking a leak.

Speaking of which, there are places in the world where there are no western toilets. Some of those places aren't where you would expect. If you've been taking in the sights of Paris by night, perhaps drinking your way from café to café on the Champs Elysees, it pays to remember exactly how long it will take to get out of your clothes enough to use a facility that offers you two footprints and a hole in the ground. Maybe get on that elliptical or do some lunges before you go so you don't fall over in the madness of the moment… just sayin'

When you have four children, it's virtually impossible to spend enough one-on-one time with any of them to truly scar them psychologically for life. That was my reasoning anyway. What I didn't realize was that the relentless onslaught of energy from four small human beings would scar me for life.

Any room can be filled to capacity with safe, educational or plush toys, but if there is one piece of broken glass, one rusty nail, or one unexploded grenade, that will be the only thing identical twin boys will want to play with. And they'll fight over it.

As a Southern Californian who lives in the suburbs, it hasn't been my privilege to get used to public transportation in the big city. So, okay… now I know. Most city buses don't go in big circles like the trams at Disneyland.


My dog appears really stupid -- yet all the while she's been secretly training her master into perfect obedience.

Romance novels are to be taken with a grain of salt with regard to sex. So far I haven't met the man I'd let f*ck me on horseback but I'm keeping an open mind. Larger than life, perfect heroes, fantastic first sexual encounters, and unqualified happily-ever-afters are why they call it fiction.

No matter how attractive a pair of shoes is, if while I'm wearing them my face looks like Edvard Munch's The Scream, there's no point to me putting them on.

My daughter and I have recently started shopping for her prom dress. There have traditionally been friendly relations between our separate nations during clothes shopping season, a fact which I attribute to her high I.Q. and my ownership of credit cards.



But in heavens name, wasn't it just yesterday we established the no-scratchy crinoline rule? The I don't wear pink, the I like sparkles but not on my clothes, the no camo, the anything turquoise but lets call it teal, the celestial T-shirts because the sun/moon star thing is cool. Wasn't it just yesterday I was buying footie foot pajamas and little headbands with reindeer antlers attached? (Actually that was just last Christmas but who's counting.)

Stop, stop, stop!

This isn't even something I've learned the hard way! I knew all along my daughter would grow up, take the SATs, apply to colleges, and run off to define her own future. I savored every single moment of the time we had together, and still…

Wow. Maybe one of the things I have to learn is that some things are really difficult, even if you don't learn them the hard way.

***


Z. A. Maxfield's new release The Pharoah's Concubine is now out at Samhain Publishing .

BLURB: Beauty is only skin deep…until love reveals what lies beneath.
As mob boss Yvgeny Mosko's open secret, Dylan Anderson is happy enough with a passionate, if loveless, arrangement that affords him a life of luxury. But at thirty-six, he wonders how committed Mosko will be to an aging lover.

He finds out when a rival gang kidnaps him in a turf war everyone's sure to lose. Mosko unleashes deadly force, leaving no one alive except for a young man whose dark eyes tug at Dylan's heart—and the conscience he thought he'd excised long ago.

Though he tried to stop the kidnapping, William "Memo" Escobar knows Mosko will use what's left of him to send a powerful message to his rivals. When Mosko's pampered pretty boy risks everything to help him escape, he can't believe his luck.

William figures he's better suited to life off the grid, but as the days go by he begins to realize Dylan's beauty is more than skin deep. And as Dylan coaxes more and more beguiling smiles from William, he yearns for things—like family ties—he'd thought were best forgotten.

Yet behind their newfound happiness lurks the certain knowledge that no matter how careful they are, Mosko will come for what's his.

Warning: This book contains a mob boss, a kept man, and a reluctant kidnapper who will never have to hear the words, "Size doesn't matter."



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND JUST FOR FUN, A FICTION PROMPT CALL...!!

Like to stretch your writing fingers after Christmas' excesses? Take the prompt "A NEW RESOLUTION" and write something for the visitors this month. It can be anything from a flashfic 3 sentences to a drabble of 100 or so, or even more. Any genre, any theme, any rating, any character(s). Maybe ones you already love, maybe the chance to try on a new character for size.

I'm holding a FREE FICTION DAY on the 28th, so send me new fiction - links to your existing work also welcome! - to clarelondon11 AT yahoo.co.uk and I'll post it all then :).

♥


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow this month with Clare - and the goodies so far:

JAN 15: Favourite worldwide travel with cdn_tam .

JAN 08: A great new novel and sequel from mickieashling .
JAN 09: Fiction and beautiful illustrations from essayel .
JAN 10: New menage release from lc_chase .
JAN 11: Fabulous mix of SF and erotic romance from Sloane Taylor and Robert Appleton.
JAN 12: Follow the bizarre photographic history of Wind in Hair Guy with egret17 .
JAN 13: When only your family understands the joke, with charliecochrane .
JAN 14: A top 10 of gay books you should read from erastes .

JAN 01: A FREE short from me, revisiting Nic and Aidan from Sparks Fly.
JAN 01: Delicious m/m icons from luscious_words .
JAN 02: Why I want to be a Bond villain! by chrissymunder .
JAN 03: The world of inspiration between 'historical' and 'contemporary' with stevie_carroll .
JAN 04: Some fascinating Swedish proverbs from 1more_sickpuppy .
JAN 05: A round-up of a great year just gone from angelasstone .
JAN 06: The countryside and history that inspires author sandra_lindsey .
JAN 07: The challenge of trying to balance edits, with diannefox and anahcrow .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check up on the original post and the Guest Schedule for January HERE.

Want to join in but missed the original call? Email me at clarelondon11 AT yahoo.co.uk and I'll happily find you a space ♥

NOTE: most pictures chosen by me and credited where known, others may be used without direct permission, please contact me with any queries/concerns.

TAM'S TRAVEL AGENCY ...

Today's guest is the awesome blogger and reviewer cdn_tam .
You can follow Tam on her blog Tam's Reads , or at the short-story review site she's recently launched with jenre at Brief Encounters Reviews .

And now, to brighten up a weekend that's grey, wet or freezing cold for so many of us ... she takes us off on a worldwide tour! :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



A Few of My Favourite Places

Most people who know me on-line, know me as a book addict. Some also know me as a travel addict. Only my income keeps me home as much as it does. If I was rich, I think I'd only be home once in a while. I started wanting to travel as a child, raised in a family that stuck pretty close to home, although my Mom and step-Dad probably fueled that a bit with camping trips to the Rocky Mountains and US a few times when I was a kid.

Then when I was 16, my marching band did a three week tour of Europe, and holy hell, I was totally hooked. I also read like a demon, again, in family of non-readers, so I'm not sure my desire to travel/escape was fuelled by all the books I read, or whether the books I read fed my need to travel. To me they are linked though. So today, I thought I'd tell about five of my favourite places I've had a chance to visit. I rarely go back to the same place twice, far too many places in the world to see to waste time revisiting places you've been, but it can happen.

On with the show in no particular order:


Alsace, France – When I was married, my ex attended a large mineral trade show in St. Marie-aux-Mines in Alsace. We were living in the Czech Republic so drove there and it was just so gorgeous. It's right in mountains, there are vineyards, tiny picturesque villages and towns and the people were amazingly friendly. We had car trouble one year, and although my French sucked (having just learned Czech I couldn't speak any language fluently it appeared), the woman at the gite we were staying at arranged for a friend to fix our car, drove me to pick it up, they were just amazing. Despite everything you heard about the French being snobby and rude, not in Alsace. We went there twice and it was always a pleasure.



Aruba – This was my honeymoon destination and that was before Aruba was as popular as it is now. We went in February, and perhaps that colours my perception. Pretty much anywhere that wasn't -30C would be paradise. But it truly was. We were staying on the whitest widest beach (not all beaches are wide there) and it was +30 everyday with a strong breeze keeping it comfortable. It's a small island of Dutch background, the people were friendly and we were able to rent mopeds and pretty much travel around the whole island. Wonderful food, blue water, fruity drinks, perfect.



New York City – While I said I rarely return, well, New York is the exception. I've been back three years in a row with my daughter and will likely try it again next year. We are both rather hooked. New York is everything you imagine, busy, crowded, noisy, loud, and wonderful. There is something for everyone there, a quite day wandering Central Park, trying on $5,000 sunglasses on 5th Avenue, museums, shows, wonderful food and sore feet. :)





Banff, Alberta – The Rocky Mountains are gorgeous and Banff is just the cutest little tourist town. I haven't been for many years and perhaps it's even more touristy now (maybe too much so), but being right in the mountains, with the gorgeous Banff Springs Hotel, hot springs, skiing in winter, golf and hiking in summer along with wild animals right there in front of you. I've also camped in the area and had a herd of elk right outside our tent, have seen grizzly bears, mountain goats, deer and moose. It's almost that stereotypical Canadian landscape that foreigners imagine when they think "Canada".



Athens, Greece – I might be a bit partial to this as I was studying Greek art and archeology when I left my job at the university to take my current job. But to actually SEE the Parthenon, the artifacts in the museum that I had only read about, I swear I was walking on air the whole time I was there. Also I took a trip a temple nearby and the Aegean Sea is truly as blue as it looks in pictures. You always have to wonder if pictures are "adjusted" but they're not, it really looks that amazing. I would love to go back to Greece, to some of the island and Crete.




I have a list far too long to list all of the wonderful places I'd like to see. Next on my plan is to take my daughter to Chicago as I only had a couple of days there in December and I think the two of us would have a good time, so hopefully in March we'll make that trek by car.

So there are some of my favourite places I've visited over the years.
Tell me about yours. Where would you like to visit?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND JUST FOR FUN, A FICTION PROMPT CALL...!!

Like to stretch your writing fingers after Christmas' excesses? Take the prompt "A NEW RESOLUTION" and write something for the visitors this month. It can be anything from a flashfic 3 sentences to a drabble of 100 or so, or even more. Any genre, any theme, any rating, any character(s). Maybe ones you already love, maybe the chance to try on a new character for size.

I'm holding a FREE FICTION DAY on the 28th, so send me new fiction - links to your existing work also welcome! - to clarelondon11 AT yahoo.co.uk and I'll post it all then :).

♥


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow this month with Clare - and the goodies so far:

JAN 08: A great new novel and sequel from mickieashling .
JAN 09: Fiction and beautiful illustrations from essayel .
JAN 10: New menage release from lc_chase .
JAN 11: Fabulous mix of SF and erotic romance from Sloane Taylor and Robert Appleton.
JAN 12: Follow the bizarre photographic history of Wind in Hair Guy with egret17 .
JAN 13: When only your family understands the joke, with charliecochrane .
JAN 14: A top 10 of gay books you should read from erastes .

JAN 01: A FREE short from me, revisiting Nic and Aidan from Sparks Fly.
JAN 01: Delicious m/m icons from luscious_words .
JAN 02: Why I want to be a Bond villain! by chrissymunder .
JAN 03: The world of inspiration between 'historical' and 'contemporary' with stevie_carroll .
JAN 04: Some fascinating Swedish proverbs from 1more_sickpuppy .
JAN 05: A round-up of a great year just gone from angelasstone .
JAN 06: The countryside and history that inspires author sandra_lindsey .
JAN 07: The challenge of trying to balance edits, with diannefox and anahcrow .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check up on the original post and the Guest Schedule for January HERE.

Want to join in but missed the original call? Email me at clarelondon11 AT yahoo.co.uk and I'll happily find you a space ♥

NOTE: most pictures chosen by me and credited where known, others may be used without direct permission, please contact me with any queries/concerns.

JOIN IN A FREE FICTION DAY THIS MONTH!

FREE FICTION DAY here on the 28th!

Remember I've been encouraging/tempting you all to write some fiction for this blog month?

Like to stretch your writing fingers after Christmas' excesses? Take the prompt "A NEW RESOLUTION" and write something for the visitors this month. It can be anything from a flashfic 3 sentences to a drabble of 100 or so, or even more. Any genre, any theme, any rating, any character(s). Maybe ones you already love, maybe the chance to try on a new character for size.

So now's the time to scribble down a few words and send them to me at clarelondon11 AT yahoo.co.uk. I've had a couple of contributions already but I need MORE.

Not writing just at the moment? Send me the link(s) to any free fiction you already offer and I'll include them as well. It's good promo and fun for the readers too!

"Back off, Clare, my weekends are already full of wild parties and debauched delights?" *g* So at the very least, come and join us as a reader on the 28th and let the authors know you enjoy their work :).

♥

TOP TEN, THE GREAT AND GOOD!

Welcome today to erastes , a well-known and respected British author, and a regular blogger and contributor in the gay fiction community. She's spoiling us today with reviews of 10 gay books that you really should consider for your bookshelves - and asking if there are others you'd include in your own list?

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Bio: Erastes is the penname of a female author who lives on the Norfolk Broads in the UK. She specialises in gay historical fiction and will bore all and sundry about it whenever given the opportunity. Her second novel Transgressions, set during the English Civil War was chosen as one of the flagship titles for Running Press's gay romance line, and was subsequently shortlisted for a Lambda award. Her homelife consists of cats and cheese, not necessarily in that order.

Details of her books can be found on her website . She can be found on Live Journal and on Twitter as Erastes and on Facebook as Erastes Author.



***

Ten Great Gay Books You Might Not Have Read (but really should)

Thank you to Clare for letting me blog again, I was stunned to realise that this was my third year of the Birthday Blog - it hardly seems possible!



There's always a list of "books everyone should read" - I've had a list of 100 "important" books for years which I still haven't managed to work my way through.

Here's a list of ten books that I consider "must reads" by anyone who is considering gay fiction, and particularly anyone thinking of writing gay historicals. These books all hold a really special place in my heart and my bookshelf; they speak to me in so many ways—I read at least one of them a year, and they all affect me again and again upon re-reading.


1. At Swim Two Boys
Set in Dublin before and during the 1916 Easter Rising, At Swim, Two Boys tells the love story of two young Irish men: Jim Mack and Doyler Doyle. Jim teaches Doyle to swim, and Doyle gets entangled with the local "rebels".

I can't see a day when this book will ever come off the top of my list. If you've bought it and have read the first three chapters and can't get any further then please DO soldier on. I don't know what o'Neill was thinking with the Joycian feel of them, but once you get past those chapters, the prose settles down, O'Neill finds his voice and he sticks to it.

I was so blown away by the book that I actually wrote to O'Neill after I finished it, and to my amazement (because I believe he's very reclusive) he actually wrote back. We had a sweet, brief email correspondence which I couldn't continue because it was mainly me hyperventilating and telling him what a god he was. :D I did ask him about those chapters and he said he'd been asked that question everywhere he went around the world: In fact let me quote the great man himself:

As regards the opening chapters of At Swim, well -- what shall I say? It was the devious plan of a certain J O'Neill to cull his potential readership by bentbackwarding what should have been a straightforward narrative. I've travelled the world apologising for those chapters, but never really believed my confessions. In the end it's just the way it begins, in broad darkness, obfuscation, not-knowing and ignorancerism, and light only comes when two make friends. Isn't that the truth of it?

I have to admit to holding a very big torch for Mr J O'Neill.


2. The Charioteer by Mary Renault
Laurie Odell has just been invalided out of World War II, and has been sent to a military hospital in the UK to recover. There he deals with his increasing attraction both for a CO serving his time at the hospital and a former school friend of his.

One that is on many of the lists of writers I know, I am sure. But if you haven't read it, I strongly urge you do. All of Renault's writing is wonderful and causes me to want to smash my laptop into smithereens and never write again, but this book is sublime. I'm not clever enough to spot themes and blah blah, but she has such a way of making the old adage "less is more" so very very true. She can do more in a scene that isn't described than I will ever be able to do in six pages. If you don't know what I mean, then get the book and read the scene in Ralph's study before he gets sent down. Absolute heaven. And I'll never be as good as that, which rather depresses me.


3. The Catch Trap by Marion Zimmer Bradley
A colourful novel of the circus world of the 1940s and 1950s, rich in detail, bursting with power and emotion. Mario Santelli, a member of the famous flying Santelli family, is a great trapeze artist. Tommy Zane is his protégé.

Another out-of-print gay classic, but one well worth tracking down. It's the relationship here, rather than the "romance" that is so compelling—the way they cling to each other, despite all the faults of the other, and in the end, the analogy of the relationship on the trapeze is what really saves them. Sometimes it's a little hard going, some repetition and violence, but it's a ride you won't forget easily, I assure you.




4. Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman
Seventeen-year-old Elio faces yet another lazy summer at his parents' home on the Italian coast. As in years past, his family will host a young scholar for six weeks, someone to help Elio's father with his research. Oliver, the handsome American visitor, charms everyone he meets with his cavalier manner. Elio's narrative dwells on the minutiae of his meandering thoughts and growing desire for Oliver.

Not a historical, but it almost reads like one because it's set in a countrified setting and his parents are academics so you could easily transposed this story to a Victorian – or indeed any time and it would have worked, and perhaps that's its universality. The protagonist is a young man whose sexual feelings are ignited and fanned by a visiting professor and their love, whilst short, is nicely torrid, and the obsession and self-obsession of a teenager comes over beautifully.


5. A Perfect Waiter by Alain Claude Sulzer
In 1966 Switzerland, self-possessed, middle-aged Erneste is the rock of the Restaurant am Berg, working the lavish Blue Room without missing a shift in 16 years. A letter posted from New York threatens to shatter the orderly cocoon he's built around himself.

I don't know if anyone in the world has read this except for me, because I never hear anyone talking about it in the same way that I hear others talk of the Charioteer or Catch Trap, but I absolutely love this book. It encapsulates everything about gay historicals that I love, in one fussy perfectionist character. Again, bittersweet, but vastly memorable. Ain't that always the way?




6. As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann
A coldly gruesome murder committed by the narrator opens his account, and the bloody siege of his lover's Diggers colony ends it. Narrator Jacob Cullen, educated but now a servant, flees his royalist household, taking his bride of just an hour and his brother. In a second act of terrible brutality, he beats and rapes his wife. Becoming a pikeman in Cromwell's New Model Army, he befriends Christopher Ferris, an idealist disaffected by the Army and in search of a less tainted freedom. And so the two desert and head for London and the pleasures of Cheapside--and each other.

Oh God. This. This book. Luckily I read it after I had finished Transgressions or I would never have dared do homosexual love in the English Civil War. The protagonist Jacob grabs you by the throat from the very first, and despite being a truly awful character in many ways (although tragically human and recognisable to us, (or is that just me?)for all his mistakes and petty jealousy) you can't help but want a happy ending for him, and I for one was praying for it throughout the last section of the downward spiral he'd set himself on.


7. Maurice by EM Forster
Maurice Hall is a young man who grows up confident in his privileged status and well aware of his role in society. Modest and generally conformist, he nevertheless finds himself increasingly attracted to his own sex. Through Clive, whom he encounters at Cambridge, and through Alec, the gamekeeper on Clive's country estate, Maurice gradually experiences a profound emotional and sexual awakening. A tale of passion, bravery and defiance.

Written in 1914 but not published until after Forster's death in 1971, the style of this book is a matter of taste, because if you don't like the more classic manner of books, you aren't going to like this, but if you give it a go it's lush and layered and beautiful and poignant and delicious, like the first peach on the tongue. The prose is beautiful, but like Dickens, it's the characters that will stay will you, particularly the eponymous hero and the delightful Alec, and it stands head and shoulders at the tip of gay historical fiction because of the happy ending.




8. Gaywyck by Vincent Virga
Gaywyck is the first gay Gothic novel. Long out of print, this classic proved that genre knows no gender. Young, innocent Robert Whyte enters a Jane-Eyre world of secrets and deceptions when he is hired to catalog the vast library at Gaywyck, a mysterious ancestral mansion on Long Island, where he falls in love with its handsome and melancholy owner, Donough Gaylord. Robert's unconditional love is challenged by hidden evil lurking in the shadowy past crammed with dark sexual secrets sowing murder, blackmail, and mayhem in the great romantic tradition.

This book didn't get the highest mark when I reviewed it, and I certainly found things in it to roll my eyes about, namely just about everyone being gay, and an incredibly girlie hero who needed saving every five minutes due to his idiocy, but this book deserves reading because for 25 years or so it stood proudly pretty much alone out there, bravely predicting that one day, the shelves would be full of gay romance—when I look back I hardly believed that in 2003, so in 1980 it would have been inconceivable. It's not a great book, but it's a fun read and it deserves respect just for being a trailblazer. Virga followed this up with Vadrial Vail which is actually a lot worse, but read both, just for fun.


9. The Boy I Love by Marion Husband
A tangled web of love and betrayal develops when war hero Paul returns from the trenches. He finds himself torn between desire and duty, his lover Adam awaits but so too does Margot, the pregnant fiancée of his dead brother. Set in a time when homosexuality was the love that dare not speak its name, Paul has to decide where his loyalty and his heart lie.

Some wouldn't call this a "classic" – I don't know what the definition of classic is anyway – but I truly believe that this will stand the test of time and will continue to be read, which sure seems like a Classic to me. The utter honesty of the descriptions and the characters feel and read like anything that Lawrence or Cronin could have come up with, and one day I'm sure, Husband will have the same status as many "classic" authors.





10. Mr Clive and Mr Page by Neil Bartlett
It is Christmas Eve, 1956, and the reclusive Mr Page is remembering a dream from thirty years ago. The dream is about the rich and wild Mr Clive, a man who could have been Page's twin, and what really happened to the beautiful white-haired boy who served in his house. And the dream is about Clive's house itself–ostensibly modern and spacious but in truth deeply secretive, with its invisible network of staircases, corridors and hidden rooms. Neil Bartlett bears angry witness to the oppression of gays in the past and evokes their concealed world with dark, erotic tenderness.

An absolutely wonderful book--it emphasises the very real fear that gay men were feeling in late 50's England. Compare and contrast this with Isherwood's bohemian gay life of

----------------

I can hear you all…"but…but…but… what about…?????" and I have to say that it's taken me a long time to choose JUST TEN. There are some titles (but amazingly—not that many) which are bubbling under, and some I couldn't really include because they aren't classics YET. Titles like While England Sleeps by David Leavitt, False Colors by Alex Beecroft, Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale, these, and many more I consider will be considered gay classics in the future but we are still only in the early days. Anything can happen and with what has been produced in the last fifty years, I can't wait to see what will be produced in the next…

What's your top ten? Do share!

Note: reviews to these books and many many more can be found on the gay historical site



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND JUST FOR FUN, A FICTION PROMPT CALL...!!

Like to stretch your writing fingers after Christmas' excesses? Take the prompt "A NEW RESOLUTION" and write something for the visitors this month. It can be anything from a flashfic 3 sentences to a drabble of 100 or so, or even more. Any genre, any theme, any rating, any character(s). Maybe ones you already love, maybe the chance to try on a new character for size.

Depending on how many (if any!) contributions we get, I'll post them during the month or all in the last week. Just send them in to me at clarelondon11 AT yahoo.co.uk and we'll go from there :).

♥


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Follow this month with Clare - and the goodies so far:

JAN 08: A great new novel and sequel from mickieashling.
JAN 09: Fiction and beautiful illustrations from essayel.
JAN 10: New menage release from lc_chase.
JAN 11: Fabulous mix of SF and erotic romance from Sloane Taylor and Robert Appleton.
JAN 12: Follow the bizarre photographic history of Wind in Hair Guy with egret17.
JAN 13: When only your family understands the joke, with charliecochrane.



JAN 01: A FREE short from me, revisiting Nic and Aidan from Sparks Fly.
JAN 01: Delicious m/m icons from luscious_words.
JAN 02: Why I want to be a Bond villain! by chrissymunder.
JAN 03: The world of inspiration between 'historical' and 'contemporary' with stevie_carroll.
JAN 04: Some fascinating Swedish proverbs from 1more_sickpuppy.
JAN 05: A round-up of a great year just gone from angelasstone.
JAN 06: The countryside and history that inspires author sandra_lindsey.
JAN 07: The challenge of trying to balance edits, with diannefox and anahcrow.

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Check up on the original post and the Guest Schedule for January HERE.

Want to join in but missed the original call? Email me at clarelondon11 AT yahoo.co.uk and I'll happily find you a space ♥

NOTE: most pictures chosen by me and credited where known, others may be used without direct permission, please contact me with any queries/concerns.