Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
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What Are you Reading?
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Calathea
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Oct 26, 2016 11:09AM
I'm currently reading Reading the Signs. It's a sports romance about baseball players with an age gap theme, coming out and being able to forgive oneself and find new love. I think it's well written. I'm at 50% with some of the conflicts solved. Let's see if the others hold up to the end. ;-)
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What do you think is the best LGBTQ book published since April 2016? This can be romance, erotica, fiction, non-fiction, anything.
I'm on a committee for the library to create a printed list of LGBTQ books published between April 2016 and April 2017. It'll hopefully be out for Pride Month in June.
Thanks guys, you're the best, as always!
ETA: I should clarify that ethnic diversity with characters is a plus! :-)
I didn't read that much this year, but... what would have won the race with any number of books is The Mermaid Murders by (can you guess it?^^) Josh Lanyon. Both written and narated form are awesomest. Followed by (with some distance but I still loved it) Looking for Group. I realise this is very much dependant on context, for me it was near perfect.ETA: And then there is The Society of Gentlemen series by KJ Charles, of course, wich I rated 5 stars also.
Mod
Unfortunately, the Mermaid Murders came out before April. Otherwise, I would have put it on the list! I'm going to include Murder Between the Pages, if I can, since it comes out next month. Depending on what else Josh releases between now and next April. :-D
Looking For Group, however, had an August release so we can definitely include it! :-)
Calathea wrote: "I'm currently reading Reading the Signs. It's a sports romance about baseball players with an age gap theme, coming out and being able to forgive oneself and find new love. I think ..."I just finished this one. I loved it so much. Enjoy the rest! I think i liked the second half even more.
Jordan wrote: "Here I come again with another book question for you all. What do you think is the best LGBTQ book published since April 2016? This can be romance, erotica, fiction, non-fiction, anything.
I'm ..."
Is this supposed to be April 2015 and April 2016?
Jordan wrote: "Looking For Group, however, had an August release so we can definitely include it! :-)"You'd better label it correctly tough:
''only for gamers'' ;-))
And anybody going to meet me - for ex. in Berlin in June 2017 for EuroCon - can get the paperback for free.
KC wrote: "I just finished this one. I loved it so much. Enjoy the rest! I think i liked the second half even more."We noticed that you loved it, so much that you put there your 5-stars review twice ;-).
Antonella wrote: "KC wrote: "I just finished this one. I loved it so much. Enjoy the rest! I think i liked the second half even more."We noticed that you loved it, so much that you put there your 5-stars review tw..."
That seems to be an GR issue (again)? I've been getting several reviews and such twice in my update feed lately.
Antonella wrote: "Jordan wrote: "Looking For Group, however, had an August release so we can definitely include it! :-)"You'd better label it correctly tough:
''only for gamers'' ;-))
And anybody going to meet m..."
Reading the reviews here on GR, I see a lot of statements that people enjoyed it without knowing about the background, though.
Marge wrote: "Alison wrote: "There is a big story to tell and I gather it is to be a longer series, so nothing is rushed and there's such depth, which I absolutely love. ..."She has planned it as a five book s..."
I'm well into the third book (Makepeace) now, Marge. It continues to be riveting. :)
Jordan wrote: "Here I come again with another book question for you all. What do you think is the best LGBTQ book published since April 2016? This can be romance, erotica, fiction, non-fiction, anything.
"
Of the queer things I have read that have been published since April (which, admittedly, isn't an especially large pool, and excludes things already mentioned), my contenders are:
-Elin Gregory's Eleventh Hour
-Matthew J. Metzger's Spy Stuff
-KJ Charles' A Gentleman's Position
-Claire Davis and Al Stewart's Shut Your Face, Anthony Pace!
-Alexis Hall's Pansies
Unfortunately, there is an enormous lack of ethnic diversity on this list.
Calathea wrote: "Antonella wrote: "Jordan wrote: "Looking For Group, however, had an August release so we can definitely include it! :-)"You'd better label it correctly tough:
''only for gamers'' ;-))
Reading the reviews here on GR, I see a lot of statements that people enjoyed it without knowing about the background, though.
Like me, for instance. :) I'm not a gamer and I loved it, but I can definitely understand how you could not like it if you weren't into gaming. I know a lot of the gaming stuff went over my head, but I didn't mind.
Alison wrote: "I'm well into the third book (Makepeace) now, Marge. It continues to be riveting. :) ..."I'm so glad to hear that. I loved The Gilded Scarab, and I feel bad that I haven't gotten around to reading the Taking Shield series yet. I think I might be subconsciously waiting until the series is mostly finished.
Alison wrote: "Reading the reviews here on GR, I see a lot of statements that people enjoyed it without knowing about the background, though."I love Alexis Hall and I was disappointed: parts of it were basically not readable for me.
I suspect that part of the older generation might have a similar reaction.
Calathea wrote: "That seems to be an GR issue (again)? I've been getting several reviews and such twice in my update feed lately."In this case there seem to be two titles for the same book, so after i rated it, etc. it kept telling me that i'm still reading it, and then i could only find one version, so eventually i got annoyed and rated both.
Antonella wrote: "I love Alexis Hall and I was disappointed: parts of it were basically not readable for me."The gamers book? I tried the sample two or three times, but couldn't get into it, though i seem to get a bit further every time. I haven't given up yet, lol. In the meantime, there's Pansies. :-)
Ame wrote: "I spent the night reading Interborough instead of sleeping. All I can say is that Santino Hassell is the biggest closet romantic I've read since Barbara Cartland! ;)Okay, maybe no..."
I'm hoping I have time to read it this weekend. I love this series so much.
Calathea wrote: "I'm currently reading Reading the Signs. It's a sports romance about baseball players with an age gap theme, coming out and being able to forgive oneself and find new love. I think ..."I love baseball and sports romances and enjoyed this one. I think I would have liked it more if I hadn't already read hundreds of m/m books - it wasn't really anything new or memorable to me.
BTW have you read any good hockey fics lately? :) I need to go dig some up.
For Five Boroughs fans - Which 5B character are you?https://www.buzzfeed.com/santinohasse...
I got Michael. I can definitely see it, but I'm not sure it's a good thing. ;-)
Mod
What do you think is the best LGBTQ book published since April 2016? This can be romance, erotica, fiction, non-fiction, a..."
April 2016 to April 2017. The List will get published and be out for patrons by June 2017.
Sorry, I just realized I posted the wrong date there!
Mod
See, and I read it and regretted that I couldn't get readers to go along with author-sanctioned AE stories! :-D People are enjoying that book very much!
It's sort of like the idea of Kindle Worlds, which seems to be a very popular idea -- and certainly a money-maker for Amazon.
But I shall listen to the will of the people.
Within reason. ;-)
Mod
What do you think is the best LGBTQ book published since April 2016? This can be romance, erotica, fiction, non-fiction, a..."
Thanks! I appreciate you taking the time to list some of your favorites. I seem to be still catching up on ancient stuff and haven't read much of the new stuff unless it's got Josh's name on it!
Mod
There is going to be a terrifying LOT coming out before now and next April.
(What kind of cut-off is April?!)
Mod
..."
This is admirable. I choose books based on plot/blurb and/or familiarity with the author.
Mod
https://www.buzzfeed.com/santinohasse...
I got Michael. I can definitely see it, but I'm not sure it..."
Oh my.
Mod
..."
This is admirable. I choose books based on plot/blurb and/or familiarity with the author."
That's what I usually do. But since this book list is going to be seen by the public as representative of them, we live in a melting pot city, and this is going to be professionally published on fancy paper and whatnot, we really do have to make sure there's some diversity there and all our ts are crossed and Is dotted and all that.
Mod
Well, we're going for things that are recently published and we need to have the list sent off for publishing about mid-April 2017, so we can have it ready for patrons at the start of June 2017 for Pride month. So, we decided to go with April-April because if we went with January to January we would miss a lot that will come out between January and April.
Does that make sense?
Mod
..."
This is admirable. I choose books based on plot/blurb and/or familiarity with the auth..."
That's interesting, and I confess I too would probably try and tailor my actual reading to what I believe I should be reading in the hope of encouraging others to move in that direction.
I suspect we all do that to some extent.
But to play devil's advocate for a moment, I think that is problematical in that when people (writers and librarians and booksellers) peruse these lists in an attempt to figure out what readers will actually READ, the lists are always skewed to our reading ideals versus what we all actually pay money to read.
Granted, publishers, librarians and booksellers have the data in front of them. It's mostly writers who are confused -- and writers should always write what is in their heart.
Mod
Ouch. Ain't that the painful truth.
Well! One of the wonderful benefits of not writing much is a greatly reduced tax bill. :-P
Valerie wrote: "For Five Boroughs fans - Which 5B character are you?https://www.buzzfeed.com/santinohasse...
I got Michael. I can definitely see it, but I'm not sure it..."
I am Nunzio! :)
KC wrote: "Antonella wrote: "I love Alexis Hall and I was disappointed: parts of it were basically not readable for me."The gamers book? I tried the sample two or three times, but couldn't get into it, thou..."
I'll try and see if I can combine the editions or whatever that is. I had that with another book too.
I'm Michael. Yay! That means I have Nunzio as a husband, sweet! ;)
Valerie wrote: "Calathea wrote: "I'm currently reading Reading the Signs. It's a sports romance about baseball players with an age gap theme, coming out and being able to forgive oneself and find n..."I actually wanted to compare this one to the gamer book since I haven't the tiniest idea what baseball is about. :-D I know it is a sport where people hit little balls with sticks. Why are they doing this? :-D I still like it a lot. I just accept the background as a given. Other than in the football/soccer or hockey books I wouldn't know if anything's wrong or out of the ordinary, though.
Re: hockey fic. I switched to Drarry recently. Don't know how this happened. *blushes* I swore to myself never to go there. Still... So, no new hockey fics. But: do you know ninjaomelet's hockey birbs? I think they are too cute. There are some stories to go with the comics. And she's got not only penguins... ;-)
Since the Pens won the cup, you know..., I kind of relaxed. I haven't watched a game this season, yet. :-D
Jordan wrote: "Alison wrote: "Jordan wrote: "Here I come again with another book question for you all. What do you think is the best LGBTQ book published since April 2016? This can be romance, erotica, fiction,...
Thanks! I appreciate you taking the time to list some of your favorites. I seem to be still catching up on ancient stuff and haven't read much of the new stuff unless it's got Josh's name on it! "
Me too. I'm not great at reading new things either. Ask us again when the cutoff gets closer and maybe we'll all have caught up a bit! :)
Marge wrote: "Alison wrote: "I'm well into the third book (Makepeace) now, Marge. It continues to be riveting. :) ..."I'm so glad to hear that. I loved The Gilded Scarab, and I feel bad that I haven't gotten around to reading the Taking Shield series yet. I think I might be subconsciously waiting until the series is mostly finished. "
That's definitely fair enough, Marge. When there are three more books to come and it's this completely engrossing, there is great sense in waiting. I'm dying a little bit here, knowing I have a long wait in front of me. Sigh. :)
I know I've been wittering on about this series for days, but it's amazing. I know I said this before, but if you like epic space opera that's full of drama and action and creepy aliens and heroic derring-do and a completely heart-melting love story, this series is worth a look. It's definitely one of my favourite things I've read this year. I just finished the third book, Makepeace, today, and while it ends in a good place, my god, I want the next one! I care so much about these fictional people and their space problems. It is a very small comfort, at least, to know that the fourth book is written.
Jordan, I would totally recommend Makepeace for your "best of" list, since it was actually published in July, but it's the third book in a series, so that wouldn't exactly be appropriate, but it's definitely on my personal "best of 2016" list.
Calathea wrote: "Valerie wrote: "Calathea wrote: "I'm currently reading Reading the Signs. It's a sports romance about baseball players with an age gap theme, coming out and being able to forgive on..."I grew up watching a lot of baseball in person and on TV. . . I'm now a Nationals fan rooting for the Cubbies in the World Series.
As a long suffering Caps fan I'm not happy about the Pens winning the cup but I'm glad you enjoyed it. I was rooting for the Sharks tbh. :)
I watch hockey just about every night since I subscribe to Center Ice so I can watch all the Blackhawks games that aren't on national TV. Gotta get my money's worth I guess. I tend to get obsessed with something until I'm suddenly sick of it, lol. Then I'll take a break.
I suppose I'm not the only one who has
on the Kindle, but cannot touch it till the evening. It arrived at 6 o' clock this morning ;-).
Yes, mine arrived this morning also. Haven't tried to open it yet.
Mod
I'm so glad to hear that. I loved The Gilded Scarab, and I feel bad that I ..."
I do that too.
Or rather...I can start a series anywhere. I don't care about that. BUT if I start at the beginning and then really love it, I don't want to read anything else until it's complete.
Mod
on the Kindle, but cannot touch it till the evening. It arrived at 6 o' clock this morning ;-)."Showed up with the cockcrow! :-D
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I sneakily read it. Even with constant interruptions which broke the flow, though not the plot, it was top notch..."
:-D
Mod
and I was reminded of how relatively recent the emphasis on Showing versus Telling is in fiction. Telling can be very effective -- that use of omniscient POV lends itself perfectly to wry and witty observation -- but I couldn't help thinking that a lot of readers now days would feel let down by the lack of emotional immediacy.
Valerie wrote: "I was rooting for the Sharks tbh. :)"They already got Paulie. They can't win everything. ;-) They have the best beards going though. I saw Burnsie playing in Prague last year, such a fun guy. :-D
I tend to get obsessed with something until I'm suddenly sick of it, lol. Then I'll take a break.
Same. It might just be that my 3-year-obsessive-phase comes to an end...
Mod
Here's our November BOM poll!"
Thank you for organizing this, dear Jordan!
Two very nice reading experiences this weekend in between shelf assembling; Murder Between the Pages obviously, such a clever and interesting mystery and I loved the style of the 40's. The other one is Con Riley's Must Like Spinach. A sweet feel good story, very well written.
ARe is doing 50% rebates Oct. 30 & 31st.Edited later: Oops, I was in the wrong topic. Fortunately, Allison added this to the freebie topic. LOL
Anne wrote: "Two very nice reading experiences this weekend in between shelf assembling; Murder Between the Pages obviously, such a clever and interesting mystery and I loved the style of the 40..."Ooh, very nice! Shelf assembly included. :-) Lately i've been pairing mysteries with romances; that way i can read some of the more angsty romances piling up in my Kindle, knowing that i have a mystery to relax with afterward. I'll try the spinach one, I think i already have the sample waiting.
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