mm_fiction_news

I personally think of M/M as synonymous with gay literature. But this isn’t really necessarily true.

The majority of m/m books DO seem to be erotic romance. So much so that it’s hard to separate these terms. There is nearly no romance without graphic sex. Closing the door is a lost art and one many readers are happy for.

Perry Moore, the executive producer of The Chronicles of Narnia, and the author of gay superhero book Hero, was pronounced dead after his body was found unconscious in his New York City apartment. He was 39. Moore, who wrote Hero after seeing Marvel kill off the gay character Northstar in 2005, reportedly died of a OxyContin overdose.

“You do what?” Chuck was aghast.

“I write gay porn for women,” I said.

“Lesbian stuff?”

“No, gay men going at it in pairs, threesomes, gangbangs.”

“And women read this shit?”

“Yeah. Most of it is written by women for women but there are quite a few gay men writing it as well now, and a number of them Aussies. It’s called ‘M/M romance fiction’ and it all ends happily ever after. Or happy for now. You know me, though. I don’t always stick to the rules. My publisher calls what I do ‘Scene-Lit’ which I think is a fancy name for writing gay porn with a different sort of ‘happy’ ending.”

When discussing romance, there's mentions of sub-genres such as historical, contemporary, urban fantasy and so forth. But when it comes to GLBT romance, it's treated an entirely different genre all together. And that's where I'm confused. Why when it comes to GLBT romance, it's a whole different type of entity and must be treated separately from the romance genre as a whole?

I love reading and writing GLBT stories as well as straight ones. [...] And honestly, whenever reading a straight romance, you never see the hero or heroine having these long conversations together or deep internal musing about being heterosexual. But in GLBT romance, at least from my point of view, there's such an emphasis on the characters' sexuality and sexual preferences. Is this supposed to be the true focus of GLBT literature, especially in romance?

The thing is, it's a PART of who they are that does need to be acknowledged and handled with care. Sure, gay romance doesn't all have to be angst and coming out stories, but there are gender and sexuality dynamics that do set them apart from straight romances. For instance, the idea that "someone is the man and someone is the woman" is one that often pervades gay romance written by straight authors. That's a trap that needs to be avoided. Otherwise, what's the point? You might as well just read a story with a man and a woman.

If all you have to do is a "find" and "replace" and swap your he/she with she/she or he/he, you are missing something fundamental, something unique to same-sex romance and the LGBT perspective.

The reason for this post is that, as a reader, I am becoming increasingly concerned about the direction in which M/M seems to be going – there is so much sex in the books whose sole purpose seems to be to fatten the word count. Most of these sex scenes do not “further the plot”, and I’m so jaded with all the superfluous, boring sex that I skip much of it. Other readers have been very vocal, for similar reasons. [...]

So, why are we being fed a surfeit of poorly written, repetitive, unimaginative sex in M/M books?

smirnoffmule

And yes, these are all absolutely genuine things I've seen said or had said to me when it's been suggested that hey, maybe warning for same-sex pairings might be a bit offensive because gay people aren't really that dangerous as a rule, not when compared say to lions or bears.

Founded in 2010, Kite Hill publishes Ebooks and paperbacks, primarily with GLBT characters, by both British and international authors.

We're concerned with exploring the human condition. Our interest is in the similarities and differences evident in the full range of relationships and interactions people have with one another, whatever they may be. GLBT works don't hold our exclusive attention (we're not exclusive about anything), but aside from quality writing, this is the main focus.

kitehill

After I got over the feeling of pride and happiness for my new friend, I thought: "wait a minute. What was that part about they 'don't want her to write m/m'?" I confirmed with ZA, who loves writing m/m (or gay) romance and says that she now needs to come up with a "het" book.

And that made me pause. It's not an earth-shattering revelation to me that the NY publishing world is much more equipped to deal with and welcoming to manuscripts that feature straight characters and like their love stories between one man and one woman. It's not even a surprise to me that if you want to really carve out a more lucrative living for yourself as a writer of popular fiction, you are probably better served by keeping your gay characters secondary (if they exist at all) and your "het" characters at the forefront.

[...]

And before you cry "homophobia" I will say something that might surprise you: I understand their "het" leanings...it's a business decision, not a socio-political one.