The Backlot Gay Book Forum discussion
Everything Else
>
What are your best book-finding sources?
date
newest »
newest »
Some others I visit regularly:Reviews by Jessewave
http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/
Speak It's Name (for historicals)
http://speakitsname.com/
Well Read
http://jenre-wellread.blogspot.com/?z...
Book Utopia (Any one know what's happened to her? No posts in a year.)
http://bookutopia.blogspot.com/
Mod
"Speak Its Name" has inspired me to make a good many purchases in the past (I do enjoy gay historicals), though there hasn't been a lot of activity on there lately. (This is probably due to the fact that author Erastes [who runs the site] has had a lot on her plate as of late, with her father having recently been admitted into a care facility.)
"Jessewave" has a lot of good recommendations, but for some reason I don't remember to check in on that site very often.
Hmmmm, when it comes right down to it, I suppose I get a fair number of ideas for future purchases not from review sites, but from Amazon's recommendations. Every time you view a title on Amazon you get a "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought..." listing, and it's not uncommon for some of those titles to catch my eye. I'll go to check out the book in question, look at a few reviews, and then add it to my wish list.
Thanks for sharing Jenre's site. I follow her reviews here but it looks her site is more complete. I just subscribed to it.I am also subscribed to JesseWave's site. Besides those two and this forum I also follow reviews from a few people here on GR.
Thank you Jax. Some really good links there - especially Marshall's.
Every so often I would read Elisa Rolle's LiveJournal (http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/) for suggestions. She moved to Dreamwidth (http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwid...), though she's still cross-posting to the LJ. The original LJ had a combination of book reviews, short biographies and travelogues. The recent Dreamwidth entries seem to mostly be biographical information. I believe Elisa originated the Rainbow Awards -- correct me if I'm wrong.
Yes, Elisa did start the Rainbow Awards. It's become so big that she has extra helpers now. (I follow her on LJ.)I follow JesseWaves Reviews via a feed on LJ. Several reviewers there like the same kind of books that I enjoy, so I often buy the stories they rec.
I also follow "Speak Its Name" on LJ, and have discovered some great books, in particular Elliott Mackle's. I rate him as one of my favourite authors now.
Aussie54 wrote: "Yes, Elisa did start the Rainbow Awards. It's become so big that she has extra helpers now. (I follow her on LJ.)I follow JesseWaves Reviews via a feed on LJ. Several reviewers there like the ..."
Elliot Mackle! Too wonderful for words. Do share some thoughts on his two great book series please.
PaperMoon wrote: Elliot Mackle! Too wonderful for words. Do share some thoughts on his two great book series please. I'm not as eloquent as many other reviewers here, but I'll try and put something together shortly. I've really enjoyed his Captain Harding books, as well as the "It Takes Two" series.
I found this Lambda Literary column, GunnShots, through the Jan 2013 piece Celebrating Great Gay Mysteries and then read all the rest.http://www.lambdaliterary.org/author/...
This site does an annual column of recs by authors:
http://bandofthebes.typepad.com/bando...
And this one:
http://blog.outinprint.net/
Jax wrote: "I found this Lambda Literary column, GunnShots, through the Jan 2013 piece Celebrating Great Gay Mysteries and then read all the rest.http://www.lambdaliterary.org/author/...
This ..."
Thank you Jax. I've always looked out for your reccies - we seem to have quite similar reading tastes.
I've bookmarked Gunn's excellent site - and have placed Fires of London, Fierce and How To Greet Strangers on my TBR list. And from the outinprint blog, I've discovered Alex Jeffers, who writes some interesting stories.
This post about the first & last lines from popular gay lit is a great (or terrible?) time waster. Be aware that some covers are NSFW.http://www.boyculture.com/boy_culture...
Wow! I've got so many of these on my bookshelf (yes actual tangible hands-on books!) and I'm currently reading 'Consenting Adult' to boot. Thanks Jax - I'm inspired to go back to revisit some of these (favs) plus there are a couple of new (to me anyways) titles to check out.
Mod
Unfortunately, the Jessewave and Speak Its Name review sites, mentioned earlier in the thread, are now defunct. (Though there are still archived reviews on each site---for those who haven't checked them out before, the old reviews can be quite helpful.)
I've lately been checking in at The Novel Approach--- http://thenovelapproachreviews.com/ . The site is updated with fresh reviews very frequently, and I've made note of quite a few books reviewed there, to add to my own collection.
Yes, I miss those two sites. I haven't really found any replacements quite like them. I add most books to my 'want to read' list as a result of what comes through my GR stream and from a few reviewers that I follow at Amazon. And I recently started checking out reviews by the author Gerry Burnie at http://gerrycan.wordpress.com/. I've tended to agree with him on the books we've both read. And you can browse by category from the long list of links on the right side. Thanks for the link to The Novel Approach. That site is new to me.
I really miss JesseWave's reviews. I found nearly all of my new reads there. I've tried a couple of other sites, but it takes a while to find someone who likes the same kind of books I like. I might give The Novel Approach and Gerry Burnie's site a go. These days, I'm mostly looking for new stories by authors I've enjoyed in the past. Unfortunately, it takes a while to write books - can't expect new stories popping up every month or so. ;)
Mod
I really do mourn the loss of the Speak Its Name review site, because I enjoy historicals so much. But I understand that Erastes (who ran the site) currently has a lot of things going on in her personal life, and reviewing isn't a high priority. Still, who knows, perhaps at some point the site will be revived...
Along with The Novel Approach, I really like Joyfully Jay:http://joyfullyjay.com/
It's updated frequently, and they review a wide range of gay romance. There's also the newer Boys in Our Books:
http://boysinourbooks.com/
Thanks Keira.And whilst technically not book review sites...
I pop into Jon Michaelsen's site for recs on gay mystery/whodunnits as well his author interviews. Found a couple of 'new' authors there.
Brandon Shire's blog (author interviews) has also provided me with some TBR/TBBs.
Brandon's great! I'll get out Jon's site as well. Thanks. :)
thanks for letting me know about The Novel Approach. I have been missing Sammy's reviews on Jessewave and I see they are at The Novel Approach now.
Did you all know that http://reviewsbyjessewave.com/ has relaunched? They are looking for reviewers if anyone's interested.
Jax wrote: "Did you all know that http://reviewsbyjessewave.com/ has relaunched? They are looking for reviewers if anyone's interested."Yes, but it's not quite the same. :( Maybe only a couple (if any) of the original reviewers are back. I don't know any of the new people, so I don't know whether or not they share my tastes. Plus they're reviewing so many books by authors I don't know. It's a bit daunting.
Aussie,I agree with your comments. It seems "new ownership." But at the same time they have added more book reviews to my sources and I always double check reviews with GRs. It's a good starting point to hear about new authors. I noticed there are a TON of new authors in the last year so I am glad others are trying them out before I spend my money on their books.
I used to regularly check the sites of several e-publishers, but some are hard to search. Like Samhain Publishing added on a few layers to get through before you can find their books. And Torquere Press was never easy to search. Now I mostly go by authors I like, and try the free books Jax and Mercedes list here. I've also been using BookBub to find free books lately.
I've been using Lambda award nominees to find books, I check with groups on here but it's difficult to amass information well and find certain things. It would be nice one day to find organized and detailed lists that helped get around certain things. Such as a labelling system to help people avoid certain annoying gay stereotypical tropes. Such as finding gay characters by male authors, or just well written without a lot of straight gone gay, homophobic slurs, internalized homophobia, rape, gay villains, drugs& STDs, serial murders of gay men, etc. I can't think of complaints about some of the lesbian works these days. Trans lit is too rare I think still.
Well, it seems I got bored with old gay tropes and find myself relying on lesbian Mysteries mostly to fill my lgbt reading life.
I check the Lambda noms too, although it's not always reliable for me since I've found some books that they loved to be just bad. It's amazing how much things have changed since I started this thread 4 years ago (!). I used to have to go looking for recs to find titles, but I haven't visited review sites in a long time. I've built up such a stable of reliable authors that they keep me pretty busy. And I hear the buzz on good books right here. I also get alerted to sales that make me take a chance on some books I might not otherwise try.
I have such a backlog on my kindle that I actually skim thru my GR feed without catching everything. (That's also because of the update that keeps my feed so overloaded.)
There's been nothing added to this thread lately. So, what's the status of online resources for finding quality Gay (romance or not) fiction these days? I'm not sure this is the right thread to bring this up in but... there's been a lot of flux in the ebook publishing sector. Samhain and Torquere closed down. Total-E-bound was rolled into totallybound.com. Etc. And now TJ Klune is leaving Dreamspinner because their quality is falling off. A few of the more engaging authors have gone to https://www.queeromanceink.com
I know a sticky post of a list is a pain. I've done it before and then drifted away. But still, at least it could be a single place for us to search through links, even if there not regularly maintained. It just seems that there are few resources these days. Don't get me started on the political climate that may be driving that. (We need to push back!)
In addition to some of the links posted above, I also check the GR groups YA LGBT Books and LGBTQ/GSM Fantasy and Science Fiction (sorry for the long name) to find new stuff, as well as here of course. I still go to the M/M Romance Group forum. They obviously aren't there for quality writing but they do post a lot of the new stuff coming out.
I really miss Samhain. I had great luck there & one of my favorite series came to an abrupt end due to its closing (Broken Mirrors by Vaughn R. Demont).Anyway.....I get all my recs from GR these days, either in my feed from friends or in groups that post sales/freebies. I don't visit any of the review sites I used to frequent. I don't seek out books much at all anymore because I'll never catch up on all the ones I already own + new ones by my auto-buy authors & others that catch my eye on here.
Sorry! That's absolutely no help, I know. I guess it's a good sign that I don't have to actively search for LGBTQ books any more.
Tough to find books to read these days. I also use book recs and follow a couple of Facebook groups that post new releases. Also look at what hoopla has added recently as a guide what I may be missing. I also have not looked at review blogs in a while.
I'm the same with you Jax and Mercedes. I get my recs from friends and authors here on GR, and also from a couple of Facebook pages. The Gay Mystery-Thriller-Suspense Fiction Facebook group is good, plus This Gay Book I Loved, which concentrates on those genre books that feature gay/bi/trans characters but aren't necessarily solely about the relationships, the romance part of the story, or having to have a happy ever after ending.
I really miss the old JesseWave review site, as that was my go to place to get good recs.
I've ended up subscribed to a number of authors' newsletters, mostly from getting a book of theirs through Prolific Works (formerly Instafreebie). I still follow a group of British historical fiction authors, and some American authors, like Jordan L. Hawk, who write weird fiction and/or worlds in which magic works and have gay protagonists.I got way behind on Jeff and Will's Big Gay Fiction podcast when I was taking care of the real-life American versions of characters from "Vicious." But they have interesting recommendations, and have review bloggers on to say what their latest favorites are.
I've gotten onto the mailing lists of authors who have science fiction type stories in the sense that cis-gendered men in those worlds can get pregnant. Some of the worlds are close to ours except for that, and some have quite different social structures. That theme doesn't especially bother or trigger me as it might some other readers. Some of the stories are cute.
I've been reading some steampunk romance, as well.
Emilie wrote: "I've ended up subscribed to a number of authors' newsletters, mostly from getting a book of theirs through Prolific Works (formerly Instafreebie). I still follow a group of British historical ficti..."I also miss several of those independent e-publishers that have closed their doors for one reason or another. Some of the authors I liked have gone to other indy e-publishers that are still in business, and some have gone to self-publishing. The majority of those who are now self-publishing seem to be using Kindle for that. Alex Beecroft and Charlie Cochrane are putting out Kindle books now, and L.A. Witt has been putting a lot of her backlist out again as Kindle books over the last few years, and some new books.
It makes me sad that some authors were badly stung by the way certain e-book publishing companies and e-bookstores shut down. Sometimes connected is that some authors aren't in good situations (health or otherwise) that allow for them to republish their books.
I remember when there were several independent print publishers who published books of LGBT interest, like Alyson and Cleis (is Cleis still in business?) and imprints like Harrington Park Press. But a number of those independent print publishers shut down some years ago.
There are some small print publishers who have published books we like, like Blind Eye Books. The e-book versions of the books are on Weightless Press, which has more science fiction and fantasy and horror publications, some of LGBT interest.
I mentioned before on this forum that Interlude Press developed mostly from a plan to turn some Glee fan fiction writers into pro authors. (Trying to summarize, not doing well.) A number of those authors have been recognized by Publishers' Weekly and such for their original works, and they've got some great cover artists, too.
Some other authors have gone to Smashwords. I know a couple who use Gumroad or Payhip in addition to selling their books through Amazon and B&N, etc. But as much as I want books without that kind of Kindle or Nook DRM, respectively, it's generally easier to get Kindle books. I've been kind of worn down that way.
There are still ways to find e-books by authors I like. It's more difficult than it was, but I get links to new things they've published, and recommendations from online "friends."
I have several old reliables, but let me start with a new one I just saw mentioned over in the Josh Lanyon group. Author Marshall Thorton has started Queer Sleuths, a blog to promote GLBT mysteries. Writers can post blurbs for their books and there's also a place where readers can offer their suggestions. It's early days yet so there are only about a dozen posts so far, but hopefully this will become a great resource for mystery lovers.
Find it here:
http://queersleuths.wordpress.com/