It seems there's a storm brewing behind the M/M genre these days. Everyone has a negative opinion and is all too happy to rant and rave about it. This is not one of those posts.
I'd like to take this blog post and turn it into a celebration of the books we all know and love here at Slash & Burn. I invite everyone to come and tell me what you LOVE about gay romance. Share your first book or all-time favorite author. Tell me which upcoming novel you're dying to read. Anything positive is welcome.
Those who comment will be entered to win an ebook of their choice from my available titles. I'll choose a winner at random and make an announcement at midnight tonight in the comments section of this post.
I'll start things off...
My first gay romance novel was Bareback by Chris Owen - which came out in 2003 or 2004, I think. I loved it so much I went out and bought every other gay romance I could get my hands on. My credit card certainly got a workout although there weren't nearly as many options then as there are today.
As far as upcoming books I'm looking forward to... The first one that comes to mind is book two in the Blood Nation series by Derekica Snake. I recently finished the first book, Cake, and just loved it. I don't know when book two is due out, but I'm eager to get my hands on it. Fair warning to those who're squeamish, Cake is not a light and fluffy read. It's long, meaty, and contains a LOT of violence.
Posts
33 comments:
I think Bareback might've been mine too, in 2007, though I'd appreciated m/m relationships since reading A Separate Peace in high school.
I like m/m romance for the same reasons I like everything else. I like reading about people, relationships, and sex. There's really nothing deep or psychological about that. lol
Can't really think of anything I'm looking forward to right now, though. I'm pretty burned out on just about all books. lol But it is nice to revisit some of the old favorites now and again--Jet Mykles' Heaven Sent books, JL Langley's With/Without series, etc.
My first m/m book was My Fair Captain by JL Langley - talk about jumping in at the deep end :). I'd read the Diana Gabaldon Lord John books before that and had been sad that poor Lord John always had such bad luck with his relationships, even though the focus of those books is on the historical mystery rather than the romance. It made me think that I would probably enjoy m/m, so I gave it a try and haven't looked back since.
The main book I'm looking forward to at the moment is the new Jet Mykles Indigo Knights book which I think is called Squire. Have got a bit of a wait for that one, though :).
I'm with JenB on why I read m/m. I like the complexities of the relationships and I like to read about men. Even in m/f romance, I often found myself more interested in the hero than the heroine, and m/m romance gives me two heroes to work with - so that's just ideal for me.
Thanks for this post, Amanda!
My first M/M wasn't really categorized as such, I don't think. It started with Suzanne Brockmann's Jules Cassidy character and his bad romance with Adam that slowly turned into HEA with Robin. Then I got a copy of All Through The Night and was completely hooked. After that, it was J. L. Langley, Ally Blue, K. A. Mitchell, and Jet Mykles.
I'm most looking forward to Langley's next in the With/Without series and Mykles Indigo Knights: Squire.
I read M/M for the same reasons I write it: Men make sense to me, their lives intrigue me, and they're just plain hawt! : )
I'm relatively new to the genre, only a couple of years and I had some light exposure with Tanya Huff books and a bit of erotica but my FIRST m/m book was Rush in the Dark by Lynn Lorenz. When we had our blog-hop earlier this year, my fan letter was to Lynn. I think it was actually Jen B's blog at the time that pushed me to cross to the dark side. :-) Thanks Jen.
Looking forward to? No clue. I don't really keep track of what's coming, I just go with the flow and snap them up as they appear in front of me.
Why? Same as the Jen's. Although I'd been out of the romance genre for 15 years or so (mysteries), I started again with PNR and while it was interesting (there were no shifters and vampires back in my romance days), it didn't take me long to move onto shifters and vampires but all boys. Something about the dynamic just appealed to me more. Hard to explain.
Jenre, I've read Jet's new book (jealous? :P), and it's soooooo good. Adorable and fun, a bit of a lighter, sweeter tone than some of her others. Heaven Sent fans will enjoy it. :)
And you're welcome, Tam. It's nice to know I've brought some readers over to the fun side. :D
JenB: Jealous? Oh, yes! Now I'm looking forward to reading it even more.
JenB - Thanks for dropping by Jen. As many books as you read and edit, I'm sure it's easy to burn out now and then. :D
Jenre - I had no idea Jet was working on a new series. How cool.
Missy - You're welcome. I thought we could all use a little positivity right now.
Tam - I enjoy Lynn's books as well. Here paranormal stories are the best.
Oh...WAIT...
I am looking forward to a second Chicken Ranch book. And another Tempestuous story.
No pressure. ;)
My first books were the Heaven Sent series. I actually got them in paperback, and my collection has grown to include so many great authors and stories.
My first M/M book was Snow Angel by Sharon Maria Bidwell which I really liked. But soon after I read Bareback and that cemented my love of the genre.
I don't have a particular book I'm looking forward to right now. There are always so many good stories coming out.
I don't remember who was my first, but I recently became a Jet fangirl when I heard a recommendation for the Heaven Sent series. I'm torn between the instant gratification of downloading more and waiting for those delicious covers to arrive in the mail.
The story I'm looking forward to the most (besides seeing my first) is Sloan Parker's next release, Breathe.
I can't recall what my first m/m book was - it may have been Court Appointed by Annmarie McKenna but I'm not too sure...I'm hooked on this genre - I have waaay too many fave authors and I'm always compulsively looking out for more. A few authors whose work I collect...J.L. Langley, Shawn Lane, Tere Michaels, Mychael Black, Cameron Dane, Z.A. Maxfield, K.A. Mitchell, Shayla Kersten, Devon Rhodes, J.M. Snyder, Ethan Day, Josh Lanyon and so many more.
*hugs*
Well My first M/M book was thirty days by Shayla Kersten. I have favorites that I have to buy as soon as they are release Carol Lynne, TA Chase, DJ manly, Claire Thompson, Ethan Day, Patric Micheal,Amanda Young, Jet Mykles and Mia Watts, Jambrea Jones, Blake Deveraux and JL Langley. Waiting all books from all of them LOL!! And as I am a student my $ go toward the authors above before I try another author. I love reading the M/M genre because of the almost non crying element...men just don't cry not unless it is really bad. So I am crying also.
Hm... My first was several years ago, one I edited actually. The emotion was phenomenal and I was hooked. (It's out of print, unfortunately)
I've since discovered oodles of awesome authors, and honestly don't give a roaring rip that MY reading offends someone ELSE. hehehe. Pbbbbt.
I've since found Willa Okait, G.A. Hauser, Carol Lynn, Lynn Lorenz and many others that I read voraciously.
Tam: I LOVED those books. The PNR aspect was also a clincher for me. Love PNR.
(Thanks to Se for pointing out the blog. Adding it to my feed.)
My first books were the Heaven Sent books. I LOVED these books. I saw the cover and thought wow thats hot. I love the M/M books because they have to go through so much just to be happy. I think there are so many more important things to worry about other that who is with who. I really enjoy Jet Mykles,Katrina Strauss, K A Mitchell and lots more. I feel these books have so much meaning.
Sorry about the delete but this needed a bit of editing. Attempt #2 ;-)
Thanks Amanda for this opportunity. I have just come from both Elise Rolle LJ and the Lambda site and after reading the comments at both I can see the point being made by the LGBT Literary people BUT I don't agree with the way it was presented by the blogger.
I was just thinking about why I read M/M as a straight white female long term romance reader. Or why I don't read het romance anymore and it has everything to do with the heroines. I don't and can't relate to them.
My first M/M themed book was The Taming Of Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by Anne Rice when it first was published under her asexual non de plume, though I knew it was Anne Rice who had written it. Laurent and Tristian's portion of the story was always far more interesting to me than Beauty's. I read Mercedes Lackey's Last Herald Mage Trilogy when it was released and adored it. I started reading M/M, as we currently know it, in 2008 and started with Jet Mykles' Snagged and then Morgan Hawke's Tempestuous and have never looked back.
Books I am looking forward to reading? JL Langley's next installment of her With & Without series. Jet Mykles' Indigo Knights book Squire and Josh Lanyon's next in his Holmes and Moriarty series. Anything written by ZA Maxfield, KA Mitchell, Chris Owen and Katrina Strauss are always on my must buy list.
Why do I read M/M? Well I alluded to it earlier, I do not relate to the heroines in romantic fiction. No matter how well written and kick ass or personable they are. They just grate on my nerves.
I read M/M because I do relate to all the characters esp the two hero's. I like the fact that they are equals in every sense. No matter how their relationship works, I have the perception that they are equals. Even if the roles are portrayed with one partner being more dominant than the other, I know that with discussion and maturity within the relationship the roles can be fluid. It is free choice that they can and have made, not one foisted on them by biology.
In a way maybe the literary critics at Lambda are correct, it is my discomfort with the roles and actions woman have been assigned in society and portrayed contemporary fiction that has driven me away. I have found a wonderful genre in M/M that meets all my needs as a reader. I don't think that a bad thing at all. I am not one of a few, I think, who feels this way, but one of many. For that I am extremely happy and grateful of all the authors who write the books I love to read. I don't give a rats ass as to their gender or sexuality, just that they write wonderful stories that make me smile, pant & squirm a bit in my seat then leave me content and happy when I close their book.
I came into the world of m/m during Fictionpress. I read some m/m fics over there, then started searching for books off-site.
The first m/m book I read which I had bought from a publisher (and not read on FP) was Carol Lynne's All Play and No Work, the first in her Cattle Valley series. From then on I was hooked on ebooks and started buying them. Carol's books were the first (her two big m/m series a huge hit with me), and I started reading from other authors. :D
As for an upcoming... As of right now, it's Ally Blue's Shenandoah. I haven't read the first book, but I will buy them both when the second gets out and read them. They look so good! :D
I started reading m/m with fanfic, Remus and Sirius to be exact. I think I made the jump into original m/m romance with Bob Vickery, probably Cock Tales, a collection of erotic m/m short stories.
I read m/m because I love to imagine two hot gay men loving one another, it's a real turn-on, and I love to write it too.
Jules,
HP fanfic is awesome! I'm not a fan of Remus/Sirius though. I'm all for the pairing of Snape/Sirius. ;) I have even written fanfics of them, and I don't write fanfics. *lol*
I enjoy reading this genre because I just love a good romance story. And there are so many authors out there writing stories with characters that are so well developed that as a reader one can't help but be drawn to the stories.
I'm looking forward to reading The Cowboy Poet by Claire Thompson.
Along with Jules, I came to m/m through fanfic, specifically K/S and that was quite a while ago...
I was trying to remember my first m/m book that wasn't fanfic and maybe it was Mercedes Lackey and her series and Marion Zimmer Bradley's m/m book about circus aerial artists called The Catch Trap.
I love the male body and two male bodies together is incredibly erotic. And I enjoy and appreciate the complexities of m/m relationships. It is an irresistible draw for me.
There are so many authors I admire and love. I am waiting on JL Langley's new With Abandon book, Ethan Lane, Willa Okati, KA Mitchell, BA Tortuga, Josh Lanyon, Sean Michael, TA Chase, James Buchanan, to name just a few of my addictions
I don't really remember what my first m/m book was. I have been reading books from Ellora's Cave, Samhain, Changeling, and Loose Id for several years now. I discovered I liked the menages that were m/m/f quite a lot. From there I started buying m/m.
Just bought Willa Okati's newest and am waiting for JL Langey's next With book. And I think TA Chase has a wolf book coming out sometime soon. Yes, I like paranormal more than contemporary.
I believe my first m/m read was FaeWolf by D.M. Atkins and Chris Taylor.
I'm really into m/m novels just for the simple fact that they're different from what I normally read, I'm intrigued by possibility of two men falling in love.
I think I ended up on the "loveyoudivine" site when visiting author Sasha White's website - and was like - wow! I can buy ebooks - look how cheap! (this was back in 2006). Don't remember the exact first one - though I know there have been numerous that have made me laugh and cry. (there have also been ones where I wanted my money back!) Earliest favorites were Jules Jones, Jet, Ally, alot that have been named already in the post above....first one that made me cry like a baby was one from Kiernan Kelly.
Why do I read m/m? at first it was like - I honestly wanted to know how m/m love worked - emotionally and physically - how do men as lovers really cope with the stress of life as a couple, lovers, parents, etc.
And the answer is - just like everyone else - except it just seems so much hotter with two men.
The one thing that seems to be true no mater the genre - romance fantasywise - some of these men just can keep it up and keep it coming. wow! LOL.
My heartfelt thanks to everyone for stopping by Slash & Burn today and sharing something positive about gay romance. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.
As promised, I used random.org to choose someone to win a free ebook. #9 was selected - which means Samhain Queene is my winner. Congrats!
Please email me at authoramandayoungATgmail.com with your title selection and format preference. A complete list of my available books can be found here:
www.amandayoung.org/book
I came to m/m in a roundabout way. First, I am a fan of old school martial arts films from Hong Kong. At some point in time, I ran across some slash fiction featuring the fantabulous acting team of Ti Lung and David Chiang. The author took a scene in one of the movies just a little further than the director intended it to go! LOL! What makes it weird is that I know some of the actors who are the subjects of some of this really hot HK slash fiction...they have no idea what these crazy women are writing about them!
When I began writing, some of my bi-guy friends urged me to write something they'd like, so that's where I started with bisexual books like the Imperative series, etc. My first m/m was literally an accident, it was a story that just didn't gel until I flipped the heroine into a hero. That was An Uncommon Whore.
Why do I like it? Well, there are just some damn good writers out there writing m/m. That's the bottom line for me.
My first taste of m/m was with Mercedes Lackey's Herald Mage Trilogy. I then read the trilogy The Taming Of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice and was fascinated by the more erotic aspects of m/m romance.
I think I like most of the ones I have read since as they are so open about the fact that same sex love is not something to hide away or be ashamed of. It can be just as intense and painful as heterosexual love is and makes for an enjoyable and interesting read.
Why do I like it? hmmmm.....Hard to say. I don't really remember my very first m/m read. There were many, good and bad on line stories I read. Dichotamy comes to mind, though I can't recall the authors, and I don't know if it ever was finished....
I read a lot of Anne Sommerville, but I think when it really hit home for me that this was something real in my reading lexicon was when I found Mercedes Lackey, Tanya Huff and Helen Kutchner; books right off my library shelf where men loved other men.
As for writing it, to be perfectly honest, I've never *really* written anything else. My heros have always been gay. (That goes for writing, and oddly enough, in life. So many of the people I look up to *are* gay.) I feel fortunate to have found a place and a career where I can do what I love: Write the stories I love to read, the stories that speak to me.
I feel a little sad that so many will look only at the surface of my life and judge what I write as drivel because I might not look like they do, based soley on what they can see, without ever delving any deeper into who I am or what my stories and my writing means to me. I won't stop writing, though, because that's what my soul dictates.
Thanks for a wonderful, positive post, Amanda.
I came to m/m romances by sheer accident. All my life (59+ years) I had been reading m/f romances. Looking back now I can't believe how ignorant I was but I did not even know what an e-book was. I had to ask my daughter. But my first m/m romance (coincidentally my first e-book also) was D J Manly's "Eye of the Beholder" and I bought it out of sheer curiousity. I did not know what to expect. However, when I read it I loved it. I couldn't believe the feelings (and I'm not talking about sex) between both men. I never thought men could have those feelings. I told you I was ignorant.
"Eye of the Beholder" was my first m/m but it certainly was not my last. I like books by Carol Lynne, Jet Mykles, Claire Thompson, Cameron Dane, Shayla Kersten and many many more. I store my e-books on my hard drive and back them up on a flash drive. My daughter laughs at me because I have my books categorized and I even have a back up to the back-up. Right now I'm impatiently waiting for Jet Mykles "Indigo Knights" series to come out.
Howdy. :)
Well, I'm late, as usual, but here goes.
First M/M book I ever read, I can't remember the title and I'm not sure it was actually a romance, as such. I do know I was 13 and it was one of Gordon Merrick's stories. I want to say it was 'The Great Urge Downward' but I could be wrong.
I basically devoured everything of his that was still in print at the time, then moved along to various fantasy authors -- Elizabeth Lynn, Mercedes Lackey, Tanya Huff and so on. Then, about five years ago, I think, someone sent me a link to the Torquere Press website (thanks, Dani, wherever you are), and the rest is, as they say, history. :P
It's difficult to say at this remove exactly what appealed to me about M/M when I was younger, unless it was that I understood the guys better than the heroines who were around at the time. That still holds true.
Also, two hot, sweaty men getting nekkid together and falling in love? What's not to like? *hee*
~Tis
I am late too, but I wanted to share too *giggle*
My first m/m was All Through the Night by Suzanne Brockmann too! (great story wasnt it missywelsh? I love Jules and Robin *sigh*)
After reading the first part of their story in Hot Target, I wished and hoped and prayed for Jules and Robin to get their own book....and then I got internet and went on a search for m/m authors....you know, to kill time while I waited for Jules and Robin to get their own book :)
OMG, what a whole new wonderful world I found. I can't remember what my first m/m e-book was, but I think it was either Court Appointed by AnnMarie McKenna (just like s7anna *waves*) or possibly Stepping Stones by Carol Lynne. Then I went on a hunt for all of Carol's books, which somehow led me to a short story by Sean Michael (cause I was looking for m/m/m) about Dick, Rig and Rock the Jarheads *insert squee*. So, this began my obsession....I have EVERY Sean Michael, Carol Lynne, Chris Owens (OMG Bareback!)AJ Llewellyn, TA Chase,TC Blue, Amanda Young (*waves*) JL Langley and Stormy Glenn e-book I can get, along with many, many more authors. ALL my extra money goes to e-books, and I have a hard-drive practically bulging with m/m....and some m/f cause you know, e-books are fab-u-lous :)
I still read some m/f authors like Suzanne Brockmann, Sherrilynn Kenyon, Lora Leigh, and Karen Marie Moning....but my current love/obsession is m/m.
I love m/m, and in some cases m/m/m. The reason? I can't nail it down to one specifically, but I think part of the appeal to me is that characters in m/m are BOTH given three dimensions, where in a lot of the m/f romance I read, only the woman is written clearly. I read so much and I very seldom come across a m/m book that has a familiar plot or story. Everything seems fresh to me :)
I also seem to be incredibly turned-on by the thought of two guys together. My husband has totally benefited from the sex-ed classes (aka, m/m books I read lol!), and he will be the first to ask if I have read anything new lately *snort*...you know for research lol! TC is right, hot nekkid man-love rocks!
Thanks for listening and congrats to Samhain Queene!
Hi! This is Derekica Snake. Thanks for reading and liking Cake. I'm hitting either end of the scale here with it but I guess it's better than not being read a at. Haha.
Any whoooo, Cinder: A Blood Nation Novel (Cake part 2) should be coming out early 2011.
Thanks!
Post a Comment