Robin Schone's Blog - Posts Tagged "homosexuality"
Gabriel's Woman: Career maker or career breaker? . . .
My editor loved The Lover. When she asked what my next book was going to be--and I responded Gabriel's story--she sighed, and said, "I was afraid of that."
In 2001, there were very few romances that could list their hero's occupation as "homosexual prostitute." But that was what Gabriel had been in The Lover. When writing Gabriel's Woman, I could not sweep his past under the rug and pretend it had never happened. Victoria wouldn't allow it. She had the same questions I and my readers shared. I had to deal with Gabriel's sexuality, and I . . . Gabriel . . . had to be brutally honest. But just how honest could he be, and remain a romantic fantasy?
When Victoria asked Gabriel if he got an erection when he was with men, my mind froze in horrified fascination--rather like watching a freight train bear down on one--even as my fingers typed on.
At which point, Victoria asks the question that could not be avoided, much as I had wanted to do just that.
This was the moment I had dreaded. Gabriel's answer would either be a career maker, or a career breaker. Yet there was no future for Victoria and Gabriel if he didn't answer. So answer he did.
I expected plenty of naysayers; what I didn't expect was how many readers would take Gabriel to heart. And how many women--and men--would write thanking me for Gabriel's unflinching honesty in dealing with the darker aspects of human sexuality.
I remember talking to Kathe Robin, reviewer extraordinaire for RT Book Reviews. She said Gabriel would never have found redemption without Hans Christian Andersen's tale of "The Angel." What do you think?
In 2001, there were very few romances that could list their hero's occupation as "homosexual prostitute." But that was what Gabriel had been in The Lover. When writing Gabriel's Woman, I could not sweep his past under the rug and pretend it had never happened. Victoria wouldn't allow it. She had the same questions I and my readers shared. I had to deal with Gabriel's sexuality, and I . . . Gabriel . . . had to be brutally honest. But just how honest could he be, and remain a romantic fantasy?
When Victoria asked Gabriel if he got an erection when he was with men, my mind froze in horrified fascination--rather like watching a freight train bear down on one--even as my fingers typed on.
"Sexual organs, mademoiselle, are apparatuses." Cynicism tarnished the silver of his eyes. "Like my bath or my shower. If you turn a valve cock"--he paused, allowing the double entendre to sink in, valve cock, cock--"it releases water. It does not care whether it is a man or a woman who turns it."
If that were the case, then why were his eyes so bleak?
"You are saying that there need not be emotion, or feeling, in order for a man to . . ." Victoria struggled to find the words, she, a governess who had never even heard the word cock until six months earlier, "to sexually perform--"
"That is correct."
"--And that the . . . that copulation is merely a reflexive response, a matter of cause and effect."
"Yes."
At which point, Victoria asks the question that could not be avoided, much as I had wanted to do just that.
"Are you saying, then, that you did not orgasm when you were with . . . a patron?"
This was the moment I had dreaded. Gabriel's answer would either be a career maker, or a career breaker. Yet there was no future for Victoria and Gabriel if he didn't answer. So answer he did.
I expected plenty of naysayers; what I didn't expect was how many readers would take Gabriel to heart. And how many women--and men--would write thanking me for Gabriel's unflinching honesty in dealing with the darker aspects of human sexuality.
I remember talking to Kathe Robin, reviewer extraordinaire for RT Book Reviews. She said Gabriel would never have found redemption without Hans Christian Andersen's tale of "The Angel." What do you think?
