# LGBT/Gay Fiction Recommendations



## docjered

What are the best LGBT books out there? With Amazon's kinda crazy way of rating what they consider to be "smut", hard to find what's hot and what's not in this genre.


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## CS

I am hardly an expert, but I like Rick R. Reed's books. 

P.A. Brown also seems cool (based on the sample I read of L.A. Heat).

Then again, they write in genres I like.

Close Range: Wyoming Stories (Annie Proulx) has the short story that eventually became the movie Brokeback Mountain, so I assume that's good too. I haven't read it though, and I have no idea how the versions differ (if they do at all).


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## ladyknight33

this is an older thread but some good books

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,6462.0.html


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## Leslie

Here are my most recent favorites...

  

As CS suggested, these two are really good:

 

This was a very sweet story:



These two are pretty close to soft-core porn, but even so, they are well written and fun. The Back Passage is the better of the two. The author is one of the most popular gay writers in the UK right now.

 

Lee Rowan's Ransom series is very good, but wait for August for those. They are being re-issued with a new publisher, completely re-edited, with new (much prettier) covers. Ditto for Frost Fair by Erastes. I'll be posting links when they are released.

L


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## Geoffrey

Heh ... Great minds think alike. I just started the same conversation over in the Book Corner ....  From it, here are two I strongly recommend:

I Am Not Myself These Days
The Memoir of a Drag Queen and her chaotic life as she falls in love with a male escort. I picked this up on a flight from Hong Kong to Dallas and read it non-stop the entire way. Lots of drugs and drag and both incredibly touching and funny.

The Brothers Bishop
This is the story or two very different gay brothers working through the death of their father. This novel touched me, offended me, made me laugh and made me cry ... its probably one of the best novels I've read in a long time.


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## Tango

Sara Waters-- Fingersmith  and other's she's written-- good for gay or straight readers--    Fingersmith is a wonderful read


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## Geoffrey

I read some of the other reviews on this one:

Band ****

and opinions are mixed. I loved it but not everyone did ... but then the main character is 3 years younger than me and he grew up near the Detroit Suburb where I was born ... so I may be liking it more for the flashbacks than anything.  But, its a great coming of age story set in the mid 80's about a boy that doesn't want to be gay - and also wants to break out of his Band *** shell and become popular ...


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## Leslie

Geoffrey, thanks for that recommendation. It looks interesting. I love coming of age books so I want to give this one a try.

L


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## Leslie

I've been reading Josh Lanyon's latest and it's fun and funny. I am 25% in and enjoying it very much. Unfortunately, the link maker doesn't show the cover, but here is a link:

Somebody Killed His Editor: Holmes & Moriarity, Book 1

If you are not familiar with Josh, he's a great writer and lots of good books. Here are a few more links.

  

He's got other books but not for sale at Amazon. If you google his name, you'll find his website, LiveJournal and various links. Enjoy!

L


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## MichelleR

Just read Str8te Boys. This is girl version of a story with two guys as opposed to what a gay man would write.

The book is actually fairly absurd as the guys do everything to get closer without admitting having hot pants for one another -- and yet I was entertained.


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## MichelleR

Geoffrey said:


> I read some of the other reviews on this one:
> 
> Band ****
> 
> and opinions are mixed. I loved it but not everyone did ... but then the main character is 3 years younger than me and he grew up near the Detroit Suburb where I was born ... so I may be liking it more for the flashbacks than anything.  But, its a great coming of age story set in the mid 80's about a boy that doesn't want to be gay - and also wants to break out of his Band *** shell and become popular ...


I really have to thank you for mentioning this. I grew up in Warren at pretty much the same time, so totally feeling the flashbacks. Even to the extent of the author mentioning St Mary Magdalen, which I attended for a year. Not for nothing, but the protag being gay makes me relate to him more, since I liked Rex Smith, too. If he'd been into GH instead of Days, I don't think I could stand it! 

Loving this!


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## Geoffrey

MichelleR said:


> I really have to thank you for mentioning this. I grew up in Warren at pretty much the same time, so totally feeling the flashbacks. Even to the extent of the author mentioning St Mary Magdalen, which I attended for a year. Not for nothing, but the protag being gay makes me relate to him more, since I liked Rex Smith, too. If he'd been into GH instead of Days, I don't think I could stand it!
> 
> Loving this!


I'm glad you're loving it ... I was all about the flashbacks.

I was born and lived in Dearborn but I did Junior high and High School outside of Kalamazoo - so not all the landmarks are part of my flashback landscape, but everything else is .... and I was All My Kids instead of Days ...


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## Leslie

I am actually, believe it or not, reading a DTB that just arrived today. Dry (what do you expect from an academic?) but still interesting. I've read enough scholarly books over the years that I've developed a good speed reading system.


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## Leslie

I sampled Band **** and while I sort of enjoyed the story, the writing style bugged me, so I decided not to buy it. But in the "people who bought this" section I discovered this book, which I am really enjoying. I've just spent the past two hours reading here at my kitchen table, when I should be working. Oh well...


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## Mikuto

LGBT books? Who said LGBT books? *Crawls out of the woodwork*


Unmasked: Erotic Tales of Gay Superheroes

If you'll notice it does say "erotic" in the title, so it's pretty porny, but mostly it pokes fun at superheroes and is really enjoyable. If you like short stories and lots of sex then you should probably check it out 

I second Leslie's recommendation of Josh Lanyon, as well as Transgressions by Erastes.

I also enjoyed I Do -- an anthology in support of marriage equality.

Not all of the stories are strong, but there are some real page turners (or button klickers?) in there!


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## Geoffrey

Leslie said:


> I sampled Band **** and while I sort of enjoyed the story, the writing style bugged me ...


heh. One of the things I liked was his writing style. It was like talking to one of my friends as a kid .... maybe I was busy hearing the regional dialect and reverting back 25 years to when I lived in Michigan still ...

How about something funny. I loves me some David Sedaris:



This isn't available on kindle, but I really love it along with some of his followup books:


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## MichelleR

Leslie said:


> I sampled Band **** and while I sort of enjoyed the story, the writing style bugged me, so I decided not to buy it. But in the "people who bought this" section I discovered this book, which I am really enjoying. I've just spent the past two hours reading here at my kitchen table, when I should be working. Oh well...


Sampled.

Here's my counter confession -- I don't think I like False Colors. I read some, shrugged, and never seem to be motivated to return.

I don't understand me.


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## Leslie

I finished Out of the Pocket (read the whole thing in 5 hours!) and loved it. It's young adult so it is a fast read, but very sweet and I think very well done. And to paraphrase Geoffrey, I love me some coming of age stories.

Michelle, too bad about False Colors. It's very historical -- more historical than gay, almost, so I can see how that might be less enticing for some people.

Geoffrey, I love David Sedaris. I think Naked is my favorite of all his books. I loved the chapter where he visited the "nudist colony" because it rang so true. When You Are Engulfed in Flames was one of my early purchases on my original K1...which I actually never finished. It might be time to redownload and read!

Mikuto, thanks for dropping by!

L


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## MichelleR

Nah, I like historical stuff.


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## Leslie

I almost forgot about this one. I read it about a year ago when it first came out. It's good...not great. There's a section at the two-thirds point that drags a bit. Still, it's interesting and written in a humorous way. Apparently all the gay strip clubs in DC were torn down when they built the new baseball field, so it a bit of a memory for a part of Washington that doesn't exist anymore.


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## Leslie

Here's another book I just remembered. Not on Kindle, however. Back in the day, when they were getting going on filming Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee gave this book to Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal to read -- so of course, I had to read it too! The stories are interesting but seriously, this book could use some major editing. Even so, I'm glad I read it.


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## harfner

So what are your favorite Kindle books that feature gay or lesbian protagonists?  (And not erotica--that's easy to find!)


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## MAGreen

The Bay City Paranormal book was interesting. It was nice to read a book about attraction without every other scene being sex. I think I got the first one as a freebie, there are 4 or 5 in the series.


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## Leslie

We actually had another thread on GLBT books (not erotica) with lots of good suggestions. I am going to merge this one with that one.

Leslie
Global Mod


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## harfner

Oh cool--I looked for such a thread but couldn't find it.


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## Rhiathame

I must have posted just as the threads were being merged.  Mercedes Lackey has a trilogy within her Valdemar series called the Last Herald Mage (beginning with Magic's Pawn) that is not bad.


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## Geoffrey

Saw a message about this book on the Amazon boards:

Zombie by Joely Skye

Its free.  it's erotica (BTW) and it's book 2 in a series. Haven't read it yet but thought I'd mention it ... being free and all ...


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## Leslie

These aren't for the Kindle....but sort of fun to read. "Flash"...very short fiction.

http://www.gayflashfiction.com/current_issue.htm

This issue is all about pizza boys. LOL.

L


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## BBMountain

Here's a website that has some free gay novels:
http://online-novels.blogspot.com/2008/08/gay-and-lesbian-novels-1.html
I really loved "Nameless" by Sam Starbuck. I had found this offered on another website as well. Not a lot of gay content but quite a bit of read-between-the-lines gay content...you'll know what I mean! Loved it!
Also good is Art Works (aka Dome of Death) by Rigby Taylor.
Fall Love by Anne Whitehouse was very good reading, as was Jackal in the Dark by David Patrick Beavers.
It has been a while since I downloaded these & I can't remember what format they're in. I was able to convert them all to be readable on my Kindle 2, even those that were pdf's. 
This has been the best website that I have found for free gay literature, and already I'm looking forward to re-reading several of them!


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## Leslie

To bring this thread back to life....

I am reading this right now. I'm about 80% through and I would recommend it. It's a mystery, but different. Lots of interesting characters. I would suspect that anyone who lives in or knows Toronto would really enjoy it, since there are lots of references to the city.









Was his ex-lover really a twisted killer?

While cleaning out his dead ex-lover Ronnie's apartment, staid history professor Michael Dunn-Barten makes a grisly discovery--a mummified corpse in a trunk. Suddenly Michael must travel back 25 years to find answers by revisiting everybody who knew Ronnie. Back to the 1960s, back to the realization of his sexuality and the boy he loved. Back to the troubling time when his wife threw him out and his family disowned him. Back to uncover disturbing answers amidst drag queens and murky memories--and to reveal whether or not his first real love was truly a twisted killer. Drag Queen in the Court of Death is a taut thriller about a man who needs to face his past in order to forge a future. He must unravel a mystery that's a quarter century old--no matter how painful the truth may be.

It's not available at Amazon but you can buy a version that will work on your Kindle here:

http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=DQCD0001

L


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## MonaSW

Rhiathame said:


> I must have posted just as the threads were being merged. Mercedes Lackey has a trilogy within her Valdemar series called the Last Herald Mage (beginning with Magic's Pawn) that is not bad.


Not bad? It's my favorite trilogy of all time, bar none. Nothing else she has written is as good. The Arrows trilogy is almost as good. Vanyel is also one of my favorite characters.


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## MonaSW

I enjoyed "His Name is John" by Dorien Grey. He is coming out with another book in the series in about two weeks "Aaron's Wait." I'm waiting for it with bated breath.


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## harfner

The on-line excerpt is pretty good!



Leslie said:


> To bring this thread back to life....
> 
> I am reading this right now. I'm about 80% through and I would recommend it. It's a mystery, but different. Lots of interesting characters. I would suspect that anyone who lives in or knows Toronto would really enjoy it, since there are lots of references to the city.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Was his ex-lover really a twisted killer?
> 
> While cleaning out his dead ex-lover Ronnie's apartment, staid history professor Michael Dunn-Barten makes a grisly discovery--a mummified corpse in a trunk. Suddenly Michael must travel back 25 years to find answers by revisiting everybody who knew Ronnie. Back to the 1960s, back to the realization of his sexuality and the boy he loved. Back to the troubling time when his wife threw him out and his family disowned him. Back to uncover disturbing answers amidst drag queens and murky memories--and to reveal whether or not his first real love was truly a twisted killer. Drag Queen in the Court of Death is a taut thriller about a man who needs to face his past in order to forge a future. He must unravel a mystery that's a quarter century old--no matter how painful the truth may be.
> 
> It's not available at Amazon but you can buy a version that will work on your Kindle here:
> 
> http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=DQCD0001
> 
> L


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## Leslie

MonaSW said:


> I enjoyed "His Name is John" by Dorien Grey. He is coming out with another book in the series in about two weeks "Aaron's Wait." I'm waiting for it with bated breath.


Here's the trailer for the Aaron's Wait.


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## Leslie

harfner said:


> The on-line excerpt is pretty good!


Yes, that's the start of the book...and it doesn't go downhill.

There are some formatting goofs in the version I am reading, which is mildly annoying, but they aren't bad enough to make me throw up my hands in disgust. Just a few careless errors that should have been fixed.

L


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## MonaSW

Leslie said:


> Here's the trailer for the Aaron's Wait.


Very cool, sounds like an interesting story.


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## Leslie

This just came through on a mailing list I am on. I have never read anything by E. Lynn Harris. Has anyone else? He seems to have lots of good reviews on Amazon.

With great sadness, I report that New York Times bestselling author E. Lynn Harris passed away on Thursday, July 23, while on tour for his eleventh novel.

I don't know many details yet, but it's believed it was a heart attack. I've spoken with Lisa Moore of Redbone Press and Don Weise of Alyson, both of whom knew him well, and we're all just stunned.

I worked with Lynn for over ten years as his editor and came to be his personal friend as well, so this loss strikes very close for me. Lynn had a very big heart, which he revealed in his storytelling and in his interaction with his audience. Attending a Lynn Harris reading was a family affair, and there were always flowers, tears, and loads of laughter. His novels often changed his reader's lives, and he truly was grateful for his ability to help people. I will miss him, his laughter and his big heart.

Sincerely,

Charles Flowers
Lambda Literary Foundation

A Random House executive has confirmed to The BV Newswire that best-selling author E. Lynn Harris has died.

Harris was 54. He was currently on a book tour of the West Coast promoting his 11th novel Basketball Jones, which involved an NBA player and his gay lover.

According to Essence.com, the celebrated author's personal assistant confirmed that his health had declined but would not provide any details as to what caused his death.

A cheerleading sponsor/coach for Arkansas and a passionate Razorbacks fan, Harris' books dealt with black, gay culture.

Most recently, the Detroit native served as a visiting professor for the English department at the University of Arkansas.

The former IBM executive just celebrated his 54th birthday on June 20.

Since bursting on the scene in the early 1990s with his seminal tome Invisible Life, Harris steadily wrote page-turner after page-turner. And his biggest fan base were women. With more than four million books in print, he originated as a self-published author -- setting the blueprint for independent authors getting picked up by major book publishers.

"I think I've been a success because I write about things I'm passionate about and have something to say," he told BlackVoices.com last year. "I think people relate to me because they know I relate to them."

A longtime author for Random House, his titles include Just As I Am, And This Too Shall Pass, Abide With Me, and his 2004 memoir 'What Becomes of The Brokenhearted.'

   

L


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## Leslie

I read this yesterday on the plane:



It had a lot of sex but I don't think it was to the point of being erotica, since it had a story, too. Overall it was good, not great, but did a good job of keeping me entertained on the plane for a few hours.

Now I have started:



by the author who just died. I bought it mostly because I was curious. We'll see how it goes.

L


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## MonaSW

Yeah! It's available for the Kindle (and cheaper)!


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## ladyknight33

@ Leslie

I have read most of E. Lynn Harris's books. I do like his writing. Most of the main characters in his books are athletes. I had not purchased tha last oneon kindle yet it was listed as $11.99.


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## Leslie

ladyknight33 said:


> @ Leslie
> 
> I have read most of E. Lynn Harris's books. I do like his writing. Most of the main characters in his books are athletes. I had not purchased tha last oneon kindle yet it was listed as $11.99.


I am at the 53% mark and the story is picking up. I wasn't so sure at the beginning if I was going to like it--I swear, he used the words "skin-care products" 38 times in one chapter!--but once I got going, the story got better. It is a fast, easy read--not too hard on the brain. LOL

L


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## Leslie

MonaSW said:


> Yeah! It's available for the Kindle (and cheaper)!


Mona,

I am on a mailing list with Dorien and I posted that you were excited Aaron's Wait was out. He is having modem problems and thus, limited Internet time so he asked me to pass this message along:

Anyway, thank you, Leslie, for telling me that I have a fan on Kindleboards. Since I don't have a kindle and can't reply to posts there, could you do me a huge favor and thank Mona for me? I really appreciate her support. Dorien

L


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## koolmnbv

I'd like to read Basketball Jones


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## Leslie

koolmnbv said:


> I'd like to read Basketball Jones


I finished it. Obviously, I thought it was an okay read since I zipped right through it. Some of the stuff that bugged me at the beginning -- all the references to skin care products, eg, -- were done to show that the character was sort of shallow and he grew and matured over the course of the book.

There was a decent plot with a few twists and turns to keep it interesting. Some loose ends were never resolved and I found his writing style, overall, to be wordy (this might not bother others as much as me).

Will I read anything else by this author? Probably no, but that's just because an author has to be really, really great to hook me. This book was good, not great, but entertaining. If you area into gay black life or black athletes it might resonate more with you than it did with me.

L


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## davebaxter

These might be something a little different:

Comic series by *Donna Barr*, about a *gay German officer in Africa during WWII*, specifically Manfred Pfirsich Rommel - *the gay younger brother to Erwin Rommel, "The Desert Fox"*! Manfred died at birth in real life, but this series supposes what might have happened had he lived. The early issues are mostly humorous, but the series gets very dramatic as it goes. Only 1 and 2 currently up. Future issues should hit the Kindle approx. monthly.


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## MonaSW

Leslie said:


> Mona, I am on a mailing list with Dorien and I posted that you were excited Aaron's Wait was out. He is having modem problems and thus, limited Internet time so he asked me to pass this message along: Anyway, thank you, Leslie, for telling me that I have a fan on Kindleboards. Since I don't have a kindle and can't reply to posts there, could you do me a huge favor and thank Mona for me? I really appreciate her support. Dorien L


Thank you Leslie for passing on Dorien's thanks! I finished Aaron's Wait, and it was a lovely story. My only complaint is it was too short!  Elliot is such a interesting and likable character who gets into some interestingly different situations. I stayed up most the night reading when I should have been sleeping.

I also posted on Dorien's Facebook page about how much I enjoyed the book.


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## harfner

My own novels are LGBT books. All four of my Silent Empire books were finalists for the Spectrum Award, which is given to science fiction or fantasy work with positive portrayal of LGBT characters. Here's a snippet from NIGHTMARE. Ben and Kendi are both sixteen.

Ben was waiting when Kendi arrived at his house. "Well?" he asked without preamble.
"I found a clue," Kendi said eagerly, and told him what had gone on. Even though Inspector Tan had told him not to talk about the investigation, he didn't think the prohibition included Ben. Ben's blue eyes went wider and wider as Kendi spoke, and he found himself embellishing on some of the details. His chest swelled and he felt like a hero, as if he had caught the murderer instead of just finding a potential clue.
They were on the living room sofa. Kendi had pulled his long legs up and he felt rather like a grasshopper. Ben sat cross-legged next to him. He wore black sweats and white socks. The weather had grown heavy and moist, and there was a faint electric charge in the air. Black-bottomed clouds were visible through the windows. Kendi was glad of an excuse to stay indoors. Although water falling from the sky had been a rarity for him in Australia, it had been all too common on Giselle Blanc's frog farm, and most of the time he and the other slaves had been forced to continue working in it. Rain was no longer fun or a novelty.
"It must've been creepy," Ben said. "I wish I could have gone."
Kendi laughed. "I got creeped out a couple times," he admitted. "I kept expecting to find a dead body or something." He scratched his nose and gave Ben a sidelong glance. His red hair gleamed softly in the lamplight and a light scattering of freckles gave his face a boyish look. He was shorter than Kendi, and stockier.  It made him come across as solid and immovable, unlike the ever-shifting, always-changing Dream.
Kendi shifted position to sit cross-legged like Ben. Their knees almost touched, and Kendi could feel Ben's body heat. A coppery taste filled his mouth. _Pup and Pitr_, he thought. _Remember what happened with Pup and Pitr._ He made himself lean casually back against the rear of the couch.
"So what have you been doing while I was gone?" Kendi asked.
"Working out." Ben pantomimed lifting weights.
"Getting some definition?"
Ben flushed slightly. "A little. See?" He rolled up his sleeve, displaying a solid arm just as a heavy sheet of rain crashed against the window. Ben dropped his arm and looked nervously at the ceiling. It sounded like someone had dropped thousands of marbles on the roof.
"Don't like storms?" Kendi said.
"No," Ben said shortly. "It's stupid, I guess, but--"
Thunder smashed through the room loud as a cannon. Ben jumped sideways and ended up half-tangled with Kendi. They struggled for a moment, and Kendi was intensely aware of Ben's warm body against his own. After a moment, they separated.
"Sorry," Ben said sheepishly. His eyes, bluer than deep pools of water, didn't leave Kendi's face. "Thunder always does that to me."
"Yeah." Kendi's voice was thick. "That was a big one."
Ben's eyes stayed on Kendi's, and Kendi didn't want to look away. His heart beat fast as the raindrops. Was he reading this right? Or was he wrong again, like he had been with Pitr and with Pup? He wanted to know, yet he didn't. Slowly, Kendi's hand crept toward Ben's.


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## Edward C. Patterson

Here's an excellent, fast-paced read in the LGBT arena and written by Kindleboards' own Leslie Nicholl (penned under the pseudonym E.N. Holland). It's called Taming Groomzilla and it is hilariously funny and an excellent read. I just gave it a five-star review up on amazon. Here's the linkage:



Edward C. Patterson


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## Leslie

Hahaha, while Broomzilla sounds good (some sort of witch?) it's actually Groomzilla. Stop typing with those fat fingers on your BlackBerry, Ed!   

And thank you for the mention of my book. I appreciate your support!

L


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## Edward C. Patterson

I should get myself one of them QWERTY keyboards, dontcha think, but the evidence is gone now.  

Edward C. Patterson


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## ladyknight33

Edward C. Patterson said:


> Here's an excellent, fast-paced read in the LGBT arena and written by Kindleboards' own Leslie Nicholl (penned under the pseudonym E.N. Holland). It's called Taming Groomzilla and it is hilariously funny and an excellent read. I just gave it a five-star review up on amazon. Here's the linkage:
> 
> 
> 
> Edward C. Patterson


I just finished this novella. I thoroughly enjoyed the story. It is a fast-paced read (I read it on my lunch hour).

Leslie, I really loved your book.


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## Leslie

ladyknight33 said:


> I just finished this novella. I thoroughly enjoyed the story. It is a fast-paced read (I read it on my lunch hour).
> 
> Leslie, I really loved your book.


Thank you so much! 

L


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## DYB

There are three I can recommend that are not available on Kindle, alas.

E.M. Forster's "Maurice" is remarkable.  He wrote it between "Howards End" and "A Passage To India," but it wasn't published until after his death.  There was a wonderful Merchant Ivory film adaptation of it in 1987 with James Wilby, Hugh Grant, and Ben Kingsley.

David Leavitt's "The Lost Language of Cranes" and "While England Sleeps" are also quite good, especially the former.  There was a very good film version of it with Brian Cox and Eileen Atkins.  And Leavitt got in some trouble for "While England Sleeps" - he was accused of plagiarism.

Hopefully they'll be available on Kindle soon.


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## harfner

I'm thrilled to announce that OFFSPRING, the fourth and final book of the Silent Empire, is now available on Kindle for $1.79.

The lush and beautiful forest planet of Bellerophon is home to a cacophony of noises, but its resident psychics are known as the Silent. Previously they could travel to the Dream, a telepathic plane of existence where they could twist the laws of reality. But that time is over...

One madman's lust for power tore the Dream asunder. Now only a handful of the Silent can enter it. Kendi Weaver is one of them. So is his long-time partner Ben.

As an election for the governorship of Bellerophon begins, Kendi is caught in the crossfire. Attempts on his life-and a rash of Silent kidnappings-point to a political enemy...or a personal one. Either way, the future of the Dream is at stake. And Kendi fears it may become a nightmare.



The first three books in the series are DREAMER, NIGHTMARE, and TRICKSTER.


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## Eilene

Even though these look great...can anyone recommend any books with females as the main characters? 
Thanks!


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## Leslie

Eilene said:


> Even though these look great...can anyone recommend any books with females as the main characters?
> Thanks!


I know one of our members, Shizu has read a lot of lesbian fiction and may chime in with some recommendations.

Bold Strokes Books has a good selection of lesbian stories. Radclyffe is one of their best selling authors. You can read about her and find links to her books here:

http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com/Bios/RadBio.html

I bought the first book in the Honor series and got about halfway through when I realized it wasn't my cup of tea, but she has a huge following. Who knows, she might just write exactly what you want to read!

Lori L. Lake is another author I've heard quite a bit about (but haven't read). She's working hard to get her books out in Kindle format. Here's a link to her web page:

http://www.lorillake.com/

Happy hunting!

L


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## Ann in Arlington

Laurie King has a series of books featuring a gay police detective called Kate Martinelli.  They're really mysteries, but have gay characters.  They don't seem to be Kindled, though, except for the most recent one.


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## MonaSW

How could I have forgotten about Kate Martinelli? I love those books.

http://www.laurierking.com/?page_id=664


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## ruggie

Rhiathame said:


> I must have posted just as the threads were being merged. Mercedes Lackey has a trilogy within her Valdemar series called the Last Herald Mage (beginning with Magic's Pawn) that is not bad.


I second this, especially if you enjoy a good fantasy novel!


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## Leslie

I just finished:











by our very own Edward C. Patterson. It is intense and emotional. I started crying at the 85% point and didn't stop until the end of the book.

I started my career as a professional nurse in 1977 and I remember very vividly the wrath that was AIDS in the 1980s. Ed captures that horror well. For those of you who remember, this is a timely reminder; for those here who are too young, you should read this book so that we can continue to learn from our mistakes and not make the same mistakes again (especially relevant in these days of gay rights and health care reform).

Even with the sad story, Ed is a funny and engaging writer and I found this book hard to put down -- which, given that I was supposed to be doing actual WORK was not a good situation!

Highly recommended, 5 stars across the board. Bravo, Ed.

L


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## Shizu

Eilene said:


> Even though these look great...can anyone recommend any books with females as the main characters?
> Thanks!


As Leslie mention, Bold Strokes Books has a lot of good authors.

http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com/

I would recommend Radclyffe, Ali Vali, and Kim Baldwin first. I enjoyed Ali Vali's The Casey Family Saga, the first book is The Devil Inside. Many people just love Rdclyffe's series and stand alone stories. Fated Love, stand alone story, was the first book I read and I really loved it.


----------



## Steph H

MonaSW said:


> Yeah! It's available for the Kindle (and cheaper)!


For whatever reason, I glossed over this post in this thread a few weeks ago, didn't even really notice it all that much. But then I ran across the Aaron's Wait cover when I was browsing on Fictionwise and just loved it, it really caught my eye then. Discovered the "series" aspect, so I bought both books, read the first (His Name is John) and am halfway through Aaron's Wait. Really intriguing books, that just happen to have gay characters in them. Look forward to more of the series, and I'll have to check out Mr. Grey's other series as well.

And for the endless "does the cover matter or not" debate, just one more vote for YES! Even if it really didn't catch my eye the first time 'cause I was scanning/scrolling fairly quickly, it definitely did the second time. Very evocative. The cover of the first book in the series is also quite interesting.


----------



## Leslie

Steph, 

Thanks for that comment. I am going to share it with Dorien on the Gay Writers and Readers list. I am sure he'll be thrilled. I've invited him to join us here at KindleBoards but he seems to think you need to own a Kindle to participate (I've told him no) and he says he is overwhelmed with lists/forums/email lists/yahoo groups etc and doesn't want to join anything else. No offense to us, he is always thrilled when I pass along a comment from a KBs reader.

This is a new series, with just the two books. Prior to this he had a long series with Dick Hardesty as the lead character and those were quite popular, although I gather he ran out of steam at the end of the series (even Dorien admits this). From the reviews I've read, everyone seems really excited that he's "back in the game" with this new character.

L


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

A Rick Reed read is always a good read. For those who also want a great read (and I say this not only because he's my friend) BUT Victor Banis's books are always on my bedstand (and on my Kindle). Start with Longhorns and on to the Deadly . . . series. Victor Banis is not only still shurning out great books, he is a pioneer in Gay writing, being one of the earliest of the torchbearer's for the rest of us.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Geoffrey

_Chemistry_ by Lewis DeSimone. This book was amazing. Its the story of a new couple dealing with chemical imbalances and depression. It made me uncomfortable from the raw emotions but I didn't want to put it down.

_--- created Kindle ebook link_


----------



## Leslie

Geoffrey said:


> This is the link to the pbook as I can't find the ebook in the link maker:
> 
> 
> 
> _Chemistry_ by Lewis DeSimone. This book was amazing. Its the story of a new couple dealing with chemical imbalances and depression. It made me uncomfortable from the raw emotions but I didn't want to put it down.


Geoffrey, thanks for this...and I saw your review on Amazon. I am having one of those, "Darn, I'm in Europe, I can't download the sample!" moments. I might have to just buy the book (it's only $6) and trust your (and the other reviewers) five star recommendations.

L


----------



## Geoffrey

Leslie said:


> Geoffrey, thanks for this...and I saw your review on Amazon. I am having one of those, "Darn, I'm in Europe, I can't download the sample!" moments. I might have to just buy the book (it's only $6) and trust your (and the other reviewers) five star recommendations.
> 
> L


Hurray for Europe!! I'm coming back in 3 weeks. I got this book and put off reading it for a long time - afraid it would touch something buried in my past. It did and I'm glad I finally read it.

Word of advice: Don't read it unless you're in the mood for it. It's not lighthearted reading.


----------



## Leslie

Geoffrey, when you are in the mood for lighthearted, don't forget Taming Groomzilla (wink, wink, hint, hint).... 

L


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Taming Groomzilla is a must read.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Leslie

Thanks, Ed. 

Geoffrey, I just bought Chemistry -- see your Whispernet syncing thread for the reason why. I noticed it is published by Lethe Press. I think the publisher there, Steve Berman, has a good eye for some really good books. Here's one, also from Lethe, that I read at the beginning of the summer and absolutely loved. It may be on this thread already but it is worth another bump. Enjoy!


----------



## Leslie

I just started this last night and it is really good. I am about 40% in and looking forward to a nice reading day today. The story is a little bit different -- two men, Evan and Matt, meet and fall in love. The twist: Evan is a widower who has only loved the woman he married from the minute he met her at age 14. Matt is also, he assumes, straight. They start off as friends, become best friends, and then lovers and have to deal with, "We're not gay...well, wait, maybe we are gay." It's interesting and well written.










Interestingly, the print book is available for sale at Amazon (with 18 glowing reviews) but not the ebook version. You can buy that all All Romance and have it sent directly to your Kindle, like I did. Works great.

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-faithandfidelity-12607-149.html

And, if you get hooked on this author, like I just have, she has a second book coming out on September 8th:










Enjoy!


----------



## Leslie

I read Love & Loyalty yesterday (first day it was available for sale) and buzzed through it in one day. It was very good. Faith & Fidelty had slightly more complex characters and a slightly more intriguing storyline, but the writing got a little ragged in the second half. L & L was slightly more predictable storywise, but the writing was stronger all the way through. Either way, I'd recommend both of these for good, fast entertaining reads with fairly sexy male lead characters.  

L


----------



## Leslie

It is more than $9.99 ($14.27 to be exact) but it is worth it to me. I am buying this instantly.











The mother of Matthew Shepard shares her story about her son's death and the choice she made to become an international gay rights activist. Today, the name Matthew Shepard is synonymous with gay rights, but before his grisly murder in 1998, Matthew was simply Judy Shepard's son. For the first time in book form, Judy Shepard speaks about her loss, sharing memories of Matthew, their life as a typical American family, and the pivotal event in the small college town that changed everything.The Meaning of Matthew follows the Shepard family in the days immediately after the crime, when Judy and her husband traveled to see their incapacitated son, kept alive by life support machines; how the Shepards learned of the incredible response from strangers all across America who held candlelit vigils and memorial services for their child; and finally, how they struggled to navigate the legal system as Matthew's murderers were on trial. Heart-wrenchingly honest, Judy Shepard confides with readers about how she handled the crippling loss of her child, why she became a gay rights activist, and the challenges and rewards of raising a gay child in America today.The Meaning of Matthew not only captures the historical significance and complicated civil rights issues surrounding one young man-s life and death, but it also chronicles one ordinary woman's struggle to cope with the unthinkable.


----------



## Leslie

My friend just sent me the list of cities that Judy Shepard will be visiting:

-Wednesday, September 9th
NEW YORK 
7pm, Barnes & Noble,
Union Square

-Thursday, September 10th
BOSTON
7:30pm, 
Newton Free Public Library

-Monday, September 14th
MIAMI 
7pm 
Books & Books

-Tuesday, September 15th
ATLANTA
Outwrite Books (Time TBA)

-Saturday, September 19th, 
Washington DC
Borders,
L Street, 2pm

-Monday, September 21st
ST. LOUIS
Left Bank Books, 7p
(Venue address to come)

-Wed. September 23rd
DENVER
Tattered Cover Books(TBA)

-Thursday, September 24th
BOULDER, CO
Boulder Bookstore(TBA)

-Saturday, September 26th
SALT LAKE CITY, UT
7pm 
Sam Weller's 
-Monday, September 28th
AUSTIN TX
7pm 
Book People

-Friday, October 2nd 
8:00pm B4 Black Preview Party 
Sponsor: Black Tie Dinner 
Sheraton Dallas Hotel, 
400 North Olive Street. 
Dallas, TX 75201

-October 3rd
7:30pm Black Tie Dinner 
Sheraton Dallas Hotel, 
400 N. Olive Street. 
Dallas, TX 75201 
Judy Shepard to receive the 
Elizabeth Birch Equality Award. 
For more information,
please visit 
http://www.blacktie.org/

-Wed. October 21st
MINNEAPOLIS, MN
AM Local media
7pm 
Barnes & Noble

-Thursday. October 22nd
Danville, CA
Rakestraw Books(TBA)

-Friday, October 23rd
Santa Cruz, CA
Bookshop
PM Event with the 
Pisces Moon Productions


----------



## Leslie

Over at Reviews by Jessewave they've started a list of great gay books. Lots of good suggestions and folks are adding to the list in the comments. You can read it here:

http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/?p=6374

L


----------



## Leslie

I just wrote a review of the third "Cambridge Fellows" series, Lessons in Discovery. I enjoyed it very much. Of the three books (so far) in the series, I think this one was the best.











The review is here: http://speakitsname.wordpress.com/2009/09/18/review-lessons-in-discovery-by-charlie-cochrane/


----------



## BBMountain

Thanks so much for the link to the best gay books list.  I did a quick look-up on Amazon and only 2 out of the 19 classics are Kindle available, while 44 out of 71 of the current books are Kindle available.  (The series titles were a bit difficult to classify...if one out of the series is available, I counted that as a "yes".)


----------



## Leslie

BBMountain said:


> Thanks so much for the link to the best gay books list. I did a quick look-up on Amazon and only 2 out of the 19 classics are Kindle available, while 44 out of 71 of the current books are Kindle available. (The series titles were a bit difficult to classify...if one out of the series is available, I counted that as a "yes".)


Yes, it is a good list. Wave is planning on compiling it and adding the suggestions that people have made. She expects to have about 200 books in all.

She and I have been chatting and I will begin posting book reviews to her site. My debut is on Tuesday, 9/29 with a review of The Rest of Our Lives by Dan Stone.


----------



## Leslie

Here's a terrific book I just reviewed over at jessewave's site:










To read the review:

http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/?p=8014#more-8014


----------



## Leslie

While not overtly a LGBT book, it certainly addresses same-sex love and friendship. Definitely worth reading.


----------



## Geoffrey

From the cover, this looks like just a generic beefcake romance - but it's so much more. This book gets into PTSD and how it can affect a relationship ....


Regularly Scheduled Life


----------



## Leslie

I just read this in 24 hours. It is absolutely wonderful! It's one of those books that I read it fast because I wanted to know what was going to happen but now I'll go back and re-read favorite parts. Highly, highly, highly recommended! Funny and touching and sweet and just what I needed this week.


----------



## Leslie

A very interesting pictorial history of musclemen in US history. Not available on the Kindle, but you wouldn't want to read it on the Kindle anyway. This is a picture book.


----------



## Leslie

Just finished:











Oh my God, so good. Five stars. This is not the type of book I usually read but this one pulled me in instantly and didn't let me go. As a bonus, the book includes an afterword by the the author and three short stories that provide a little more story about the two main characters. Definitely recommended.


----------



## Leslie

Just finished:











Lots of fun. I posted a review here:

http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/?p=12851


----------



## Leslie

Here's a great Christmas story...really great. But then I am a Josh fan.


----------



## Geoffrey

Leslie, I love you and you're evil.  I just decided the other day to not buy any more books as I'm falling farther behind on my TBR list.  But a steamy Christmas story is just what I needed.


----------



## Leslie

Geoffrey said:


> Leslie, I love you and you're evil. I just decided the other day to not buy any more books as I'm falling farther behind on my TBR list. But a steamy Christmas story is just what I needed.


Oh, oh, oh, an I love you! I am so happy...LOL.

This story is _more_ than what you needed. I suspect you'll love it as much as I do. It's really terrific. I read a post of Josh's where he said he thinks this might be the best thing he has written this year and I would agree. It is surprising how much he packed into a fairly short tale.

Enjoy and hugs,

L


----------



## Seamonkey

How could I resist..

"Warning: This book contains an ocelot, songs by America, Stardust martinis, tinsel, long-lost manuscripts, Faith, Hope and-Love."


----------



## Leslie

Seamonkey said:


> How could I resist..
> 
> "Warning: This book contains an ocelot, songs by America, Stardust martinis, tinsel, long-lost manuscripts, Faith, Hope and-Love."


It has all those things, and more.

I am actually re-reading this book right now. This is twice in one week that I've re-read a book...this one and Swordspoint. What has gotten into me? LOL

L


----------



## MichelleR

Hey Leslie,
I reviewed the Dickens With Love and gave you credit for mentioning it -- they deleted the part where I gave you credit though.


----------



## profsusan

What a fabulous thread! Three of my beloved Lev Raphael's novels are available on Kindle, and they are a treat. Raphael is best known for his Nick Hoffman mystery series; Nick and his partner Stephan teach at a public Michigan university where Nick gets sucked into academic political intrigue that always leads to a murder he must solve in order to save himself. The novels are hilarious, exciting, and tender (the depictions of Nick and Stephan's domestic life and their friendships are wonderful; both men emerge as warm, complicated men who stick with you -- the novels leave you wanting more). Two of the three Kindle books are Nick Hoffman novels; the third is Writing a Jewish Life: Memoirs -- powerful and lyrical autobiographical essays about Raphael's life as the child of Holocaust survivors in NY: memory, againg parents, the past, legacy, and coming to voice as a Jew, a gay man, and an artist.

I hope his other novels are released in Kindle editions soon, but in the meantime, check out his earlier Nick Hoffman mysteries, especially _The Edith Wharton Murders_ and _Burning Down the House!_ Perfect travel companions over the holidays.


----------



## Leslie

Profsusan, welcome and thanks for those recommendations. I will definitely check out the Nick Hoffman books...they sound terrific. I see a fairly new one listed at Amazon, Let's Get Criminal. Have you read that one? And do the books need to be read in order?

L


----------



## Leslie

MichelleR said:


> Hey Leslie,
> I reviewed the Dickens With Love and gave you credit for mentioning it -- they deleted the part where I gave you credit though.


I saw that...LOL. Good review but you are pickier than me. I just loved the book, even with its little flaws.

L


----------



## Richard in W.Orange

Hurrah for this thread ... and that it appeared at the top of my 'unread posts' list...now I just have to get some money freed up


----------



## Leslie

Elisa Rolle, who writes a lot of LGBT book reviews, had a competition for best books in a variety of categories. You can see the results here:

http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/887586.html

Lots of good books on the list and many that I have posted in this thread. I was particularly excited to see L.A. Heat by P.A. Brown because for me, that's an all-time favorite. If you haven't met Chris and David yet, what are you waiting for? LOL.


----------



## MichelleR

Leslie said:


> I saw that...LOL. Good review but you are pickier than me. I just loved the book, even with its little flaws.
> 
> L


See, I think that was a positive review. I try to be very open on any issues I have, in the review I gave it 3 and 3/4, but rounded it to four. It was close. I come from a position that 3 stars is still a recommendation, although I know I'm a minority on that, so anything over that is Very Positive.

1 Ick, I should sue. 
2. Significant flaws. Whatever merits there are, they're outweighed by the problems.
3. It's okay and was worth my time. If you're the ideal reader -- this is your favorite genre or author -- you'll like it even more. 
4. Really good.
5. Wow. Just, wow.

I know you aren't criticizing me, but wanted to clarify.

This really is a good thread, and you can tell by how many people commented that they're happy to see it.


----------



## Leslie

MichelleR said:


> See, I think that was a positive review. I try to be very open on any issues I have, in the review I gave it 3 and 3/4, but rounded it to four. It was close. I come from a position that 3 stars is still a recommendation, although I know I'm a minority on that, so anything over that is Very Positive.
> 
> 1 Ick, I should sue.
> 2. Significant flaws. Whatever merits there are, they're outweighed by the problems.
> 3. It's okay and was worth my time. If you're the ideal reader -- this is your favorite genre or author -- you'll like it even more.
> 4. Really good.
> 5. Wow. Just, wow.
> 
> I know you aren't criticizing me, but wanted to clarify.
> 
> This really is a good thread, and you can tell by how many people commented that they're happy to see it.


Oh, I definitely read it as a positive review.

Rankings are so hard...it's sort of like grades in college. Even though a C is supposed to be a good grade (like a 3 in your rating system), anything less than a B for me and I felt like I had flunked the course. Grade inflation, ratings inflation.

I have been writing reviews at jessewave's site and Speak Its Name. I've given books 3 - 5 stars and 1 star (also 1.5 at SiN). Nothing ever comes up as a 2 for me -- at least so far. I can't quite figure out what exactly would merit 2 stars. Mediocre-ly bad instead of epic fail bad? (That would be Wasted by Aiden Shaw. Ugh.)

L


----------



## earthlydelites

I have a couple of Ed Wood's books (famous for the WORST FILM EVER  - Plan 9 From Outer Space!) 

Death of a Transvestite
Killer in Drag

and a few others i can't remember

I've also heard holding the man is good, haven't read it myself yet.


----------



## harfner

My novelette "The Soul Jar" was just released today in steampunk anthology THE SHADOW CONSPIRACY. Dodd is working in a circus populated by mechanical animals and strange performers when a pair of twins arrive with a brilliant clown act. Dodd falls hard for Nathan, one of the twins, but Nathan's brother has other plans, deadly ones, plans that even Dodd's genius with cogs and machines can't undo.

Here's a snippet:

Nathan reached for the lynx-sized cat in her cage. Quick as a flash I grabbed his hand and yanked him away. The cat lunged, her sharp iron claws swiping the air his flesh had occupied a split-second before. She hissed angrily and lunged again. The metal of her flesh rattled against the scratched and battered bars of her cage. Nathan went pale.

"What happened?" he asked, backing away.

"Kalakos created her years ago, but she became more and more unstable," I said. "Now she threatens to disembowel anyone who opens the cage."

"Why not destroy it?"

"It's...complicated." In that moment I realized Nathan's hand was still in mine, warm and strong. Our eyes met, and he made no move to withdraw. I started to do so myself, then my choices opened up in front of me. If I pulled away, I saw myself frightened and alone. If I kept his hand, I saw myself frightened and not alone.

I kept Nathan Storm's hand and squeezed it. Nathan squeezed back, and the other choice vanished. We didn't say a word about our new arrangement as I went on explaining different aspects of the Black Tent-the forge where Kalakos and I created our own gears, the ink-stained tables where we drew plans and made calculations, the intricate workings of half-built difference engines of the sort first built by Charles Babbage and perfected by Ada Lovelace. He kept my hand throughout, and I thought my heart would burst from that tiny gesture.

"But what's it all for?" Nathan finally asked.

"For?" I echoed. My mind was mostly on the fact that I was still holding his hand.

"Why do you build these machines for a circus? Surely you could find a position at a large shop or even a university." He touched one of my spiders with his free hand, and it bobbed up and down for a moment. "The same applies to Kalakos. Why does he spend his time here?"

"I never thought about it. Kalakos has always been here. And he took me in and educated me, and so I stay. Without him, I'd still be dodging mingers."

"What's Kalakos dodging?"

I pursed my lips in puzzlement. Nathan had the disconcerting habit of asking simple questions that required complicated answers. "I've never-"

"I want the other half now, damn it!" The tent flap burst open and Joseph Storm strode in, closely followed by Victor Kalakos.


----------



## angelad

some good titles here, I will probably take advantage of some of these books soon.


----------



## harfner

The Outer Alliance blog featured me on their web site this week. I talked about my Silent Empire books, THE SHADOW CONSPIRACY, and the unexpected difficulties of writing in a universe free of prejudice regarding sexual orientation. Check it out! http://blog.outeralliance.org/


----------



## Leslie

Elisa Rolle has an interesting top 100 list. Some of my favorites are on here...including Out of the Pocket, False Colors, Standish, and Ransom. Enjoy!

http://networkedblogs.com/p22433200


----------



## Leslie

I just finished this...the fifth book in the series. Definitely a 5 star keeper!










You can buy it here:

http://www.loose-id.com/Adrien-English-Mysteries-5-The-Dark-Tide.aspx

The other books in the series are:

Fatal Shadows
A Dangerous Thing
The Hell You Say
Death of a Pirate King


----------



## kindlevixen

Leslie said:


> I just finished this...the fifth book in the series. Definitely a 5 star keeper!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You can buy it here:
> 
> http://www.loose-id.com/Adrien-English-Mysteries-5-The-Dark-Tide.aspx
> 
> The other books in the series are:
> 
> Fatal Shadows
> A Dangerous Thing
> The Hell You Say
> Death of a Pirate King


I just finished this series and LOVED IT! seriously, The Dark Tide was perfect! I wrote a review on my blog, highly recommend. It was my foray into m/m.


----------



## Leslie

kindlevixen said:


> I just finished this series and LOVED IT! seriously, The Dark Tide was perfect! I wrote a review on my blog, highly recommend. It was my foray into m/m.


Yes...I am having that sadness of knowing that I won't be spending time with Adrien and Jake again. On the other hand, Josh is a busy writer and I know I'll have many more of his books to look forward to in the coming months.

L


----------



## Leslie

Keeping the holiday spirit going for a few more days, I decided to read this:











This was a short novella and I read it this afternoon. Absolutely fabulous! Historical fiction and lots of great detail. And a couple of hot guys. I loved it.


----------



## Steph H

Leslie, did you happen to pick up this one from All Romance eBooks when it was free back in late November? I just read it yesterday, and it was a sweet book. Short, quick read. I was thinking as I finished it that it would probably be something you would like.










http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-fantasiesnewyearseve-5732-144.html


----------



## Leslie

Steph H said:


> Leslie, did you happen to pick up this one from All Romance eBooks when it was free back in late November? I just read it yesterday, and it was a sweet book. Short, quick read. I was thinking as I finished it that it would probably be something you would like.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-fantasiesnewyearseve-5732-144.html


Hi Steph, thanks for thinking of me! Yes, I did download that one and read it a few weeks ago. Like you said, it was a short, sweet read and I enjoyed it.

Did you grab this one when it was free during the 12 Days of Christmas promotion? I just read it this morning and _really_ enjoyed it. Well written with some really nice descriptions. I'd give it 4.5 to 5 stars.










http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-bastardsandprettyboys-365560-145.html


----------



## Steph H

I did get that one too (got most of their holiday freebies, there were only a couple that didn't interest me and one or two I already had), but I haven't read it yet.  I'm glad to hear it's a good one too!


----------



## Steph H

You were right, Leslie, Bastards & Pretty Boys was quite good. 

While I was scrolling through to get to it, I ran across another one I read a week or two ago that you'd like if you haven't read it already. I actually got it from Fictionwise when they had a sale going, don't even remember how I ran across it there, but I see it's got a lot of good reviews on Amazon. It's a nice long book too, some of that miscommunication angst, one of the guys is a sports guy and is still in the closet to the world at large. It's set in Australia. I liked it a lot.











Fictionwise has a decent sample from the beginning online, it was enough to hook me.

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b84147/?si=0


----------



## CoreyUF

Far and away the best LGBT book I've come across is "Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic," by Allison Bechdel. Unfortunately, it's a graphic novel in color, and therefore not available for Kindle. But it is a funny, sad, engaging read. You won't be sorry.

http://www.amazon.com/Fun-Home-Tragicomic-Alison-Bechdel/dp/0618871713/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262583201&sr=8-1


----------



## Leslie

Thanks for the rec, Steph. I've heard good things about Tigers and Devils. I've added it to my samples.

Sean Kennedy was the co-author on this book, which I also enjoyed very much and would recommend to everyone here:


----------



## Leslie

I've just read a string of mediocre books that I haven't felt like recommending here but at last, a 5 star keeper! This book was absolutely terrific. Well written, great characters, lots of plot -- I really enjoyed it. It's not for sale at Amazon (but it may show up there, as Dreamspinner does sell Kindle books at Amazon) but you can get it at All Romance in a Kindle version.

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-promises-402361-145.html










This is Marie Sexton's first book and I'll definitely be looking for more from her.

L


----------



## Leslie

I was supposed to be working today but instead, spent the day with my nose buried in this book:










http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-sinsofthefather-402500-145.html

Not for sale at Amazon (yet) but they have a Kindle-compatible version at All Romance.

Very, very good. Have some tissues handy.

L


----------



## Leslie

I posted a review of Sins of the Father, which can be found here:

http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/?p=15590


----------



## emmiline

A great non-fiction book is titled _Transparent_ by Cris Beam. I had to read it for class and i fell in love with it. The writing is ok, but the events of the book are what keep you reading.


----------



## Leslie

Another great book that I really enjoyed. You can read a review at Speak Its Name. There are links to buy it, too.










http://speakitsname.com/2010/01/24/review-to-hell-you-ride-by-julia-talbot/


----------



## Leslie

A wonderful 5 star book. I loved this one.


----------



## Geoffrey

I'm in the mood for something dark and maybe a little creepy .... saw this book:


Wicked Gentlemen

And now I want to read something similar. I'm thoroughly intrigued and as far as I can tell, this one isn't available in ebook form ... but, O wise ones, any suggestions on something similar I could pick up?


----------



## Leslie

Geoffrey said:


> I'm in the mood for something dark and maybe a little creepy .... saw this book:
> 
> 
> Wicked Gentlemen
> 
> And now I want to read something similar. I'm thoroughly intrigued and as far as I can tell, this one isn't available in ebook form ... but, O wise ones, any suggestions on something similar I could pick up?


I haven't read Wicked Gentlemen, but reading some of the comments at Goodreads, I wonder if Swordspoint might satisfy? It was one of my top ten books for 2009 and from the descriptions, I think there might be some similarities.











Another one that comes to mind is The Black Tower, although it's not a gay story. But the author is.











L

L


----------



## Geoffrey

ooooooooo ..... I was going to write you privately and ask, but I figured others would be interested in your answer.


----------



## Leslie

Geoffrey said:


> ooooooooo ..... I was going to write you privately and ask, but I figured others would be interested in your answer.


And I like keeping this thread lively!


----------



## harfner

DREAMER, the first novel of The Silent Empire, is now on sale for only 99¢ for a limited time. (The other three books in the series are at $2.99.)

And, for those who want the entire series, we have THE SILENT EMPIRE NOVEL COLLECTION, all four Silent Empire books for sale together for $7.99. You can read about Kendi and Ben's relationship from the moment they meet as teenaged boys and trace it through to adulthood. Go check 'em out!

--Steven

It is through first contact with an alien species that humanity learns of the Dream. It is a plane of mental existence where people are able to communicate by their thoughts alone--over distances of thousands of light-years. To ensure that future generations will have this ability, human genetic engineering produces newborns capable of finding and navigating the Dream.

They become known as the Silent.

Rust is just one planet among many in the Empire of Human Unity. It's nothing special, nothing unusual...except for the fact that it is home to an unknown boy who may be the most powerful Silent telepath ever born--a Silent with the ability to possess the bodies of others against their will. This mysterious child may be causing tremors within the Dream itself.

For now, only the Children of Irfan know about him. A monastic-like order of the Silent, the Children protect their members even as they barter their services with the governments and corporations that control known space. But power like that cannot be hidden, and soon every Silent in the universe will know about the boy--and every government will be willing to go to war to control him.

And if the Children of Irfan cannot find him first, the Dream itself may be shattered...


----------



## Thalia the Muse

I haven't read through all the answers -- has anyone recommended Sarah Waters? Her books aren't erotica, but all the ones I've read have lesbian characters, and they're terrific. I've read Fingersmith, Tipping the Velvet, and Affinity (not as good as the other two IMO) -- all three are set in Victorian England, and they're great fun. And they're all on Kindle!

Alan Hollinghurst writes highly regarded literary novels about gay men -- The Folding Star, The Line of Beauty, and The Spell are all available for Kindle.


----------



## Leslie

All Romance has a promotion to raise money for the American Heart Association and is releasing a new novella every day of the month. Five m/m books are included and I am planning on reading them all. This is the one I read yesterday. Absolutely fabulous -- five stars. I loved and I usually don't like paranormals but this was very sweet and very sensual. It's short (10K words) and a bargain at $1.99.










http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-afairtrade-402742-142.html

L


----------



## Leslie

A 5+ star book...this one was absolutely fabulous. I suspect it will be on my Top Ten list for 2010. I can't imagine reading 10 books better than this one in the next 9 months.











Here's the blurb:

_Aaron has no idea what he's walking into when he shows up to pose for a famous-and famously bad-tempered-photographer. He certainly doesn't expect to end up working as Jake's assistant for five frustrating, thrilling, and crazy years instead of in front of the camera.

It all works until Jake realizes Aaron has become the focus of his life, a life that's threatened when Aaron actually leaves him to start a relationship with someone else. Though it breaks his heart, Jake realizes he has to set his beloved muse free to have any chance of winning Aaron back._

It was perfect, I only wish it was longer...

L


----------



## Geoffrey

I just in and got it on your say-so.


----------



## Leslie

Geoffrey said:


> I just in and got it on your say-so.


Report back and let me know what you think. I am planning on my second re-read after dinner.

I've read a really crappy string of books, including one I finished yesterday where the main character was a total misogynist and heterophobe. I suppose there are gay guys like that out there but thank the good Lord, I've never met them. I don't think of my "gay friends" as gay, I think of them as friends and we treat each other like friends do (and talk about each other equally respectfully when we are not in each other's presence). I realize I am digressing a bit but my point is, after reading a boatload of crummy books, it was a nice and unexpected pleasure to come across one where I had no expectations and pleasantly had my socks knocked off.

L


----------



## Leslie

Another very good book that I just whipped right through. My indulgence: coming of age stories. This one is very good. Not sure how I heard about this. Is the author a member here?


----------



## Leslie

I've been on a roll and read a bunch of pretty good books (see my book count reading list for specifics) but I specifically wanted to recommend this one. It is out of my comfort zone--science fiction--but I am glad I gave it a try because it was very good. Helios and Griffin are a couple of hot and sexy guys, but there is also enough story to keep this entertaining. Plus, I loved the cover...


----------



## L.J. Sellers novelist

I've heard that Neil Plakcy's series about gay police detective Kimo Kanapa'akan is terrific, so I have the first one, Mahu, in my TBR pile.


----------



## Leslie

L.J. Sellers said:


> I've heard that Neil Plakcy's series about gay police detective Kimo Kanapa'akan is terrific, so I have the first one, Mahu, in my TBR pile.


Yes, I've heard good things about that series. Unfortunately, I haven't read any of them yet because they are not on the Kindle. Neil joined as a member here recently. He told me he received a Kindle for Hannukah and loves it. Maybe that will persuade him to get his books Kindleized. Neil, are you listening?

L


----------



## Neil_Plakcy

As Leslie said, I got a Kindle for Hanukkah and fell in love-- I really, really like reading on it. I wish my Mahu series would come out in e-format, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards at the moment. Thanks for the kind words about the series, though.

I have loved a number of the books mentioned so far here, including Pat Brown's series and Josh Lanyon's. 



Neil Plakcy


----------



## Leslie

I just finished this--an absolutely lovely story. In a way, it had two happy endings. Definitely recommended--I give this one 5 stars.


----------



## Leslie

I spent the weekend potato-chipping a series of books, which is not usual for me. It started with this one, which was suggested to me on GoodReads for the April "pick it for me" challenge:











That was such a great story, I immediately one-clicked the rest in the series. I whipped through the next two in the series:



















I am in the middle of this one:











And I have this one waiting for me:











I also found three short stories online, plus an interview with one of the characters. Phew! I am feeling a little overloaded, but it is a really great series. Five stars all around.


----------



## Steph H

Those PsyCop books were fun, I picked up a couple of those when they were posted earlier this year as bargains/freebies and did the same thing, ended up buying the whole series and zipping through it.

Prayer Waltz looks good (love the cover), I know I liked another of Snow's books so I just bought it without sampling (who knows when I'll read it! LOL).


----------



## Leslie

Steph H said:


> Those PsyCop books were fun, I picked up a couple of those when they were posted earlier this year as bargains/freebies and did the same thing, ended up buying the whole series and zipping through it.


Thanks for the endorsement, Steph. Sometimes I wonder if anyone reads this thread...LOL



> Prayer Waltz looks good (love the cover), I know I liked another of Snow's books so I just bought it without sampling (who knows when I'll read it! LOL).


Definitely worth reading, imho...

L


----------



## Steph H

I read it! I just don't usually have anything to say.   And you're such a voracious reader of m/m, that I figure you'll have already read anything I get around to. 

Have you read much of T.A. Chase?  I liked the 2-3 stories in his "Tabloid Star" series (including one that happened to characters in the TS books but before TS, a prequel of sorts I guess but I didn't find it until after reading TS) and also the "Home" series.


----------



## Leslie

Steph H said:


> I read it! I just don't usually have anything to say.  And you're such a voracious reader of m/m, that I figure you'll have already read anything I get around to.
> 
> Have you read much of T.A. Chase? I liked the 2-3 stories in his "Tabloid Star" series (including one that happened to characters in the TS books but before TS, a prequel of sorts I guess but I didn't find it until after reading TS) and also the "Home" series.


Actually, no, no T.A. Chase but if you recommend those stories I might take a glance...

L


----------



## Steph H

I liked 'em, I think you would. There's 4, I think, in what I consider the Tabloid Star series/universe, the first 2 under a different 'series' name; I never did go back and read one of the 'prequels' that I missed (really, it's just characters from the first two also showed up briefly/sporadically in TS, so I didn't feel I missed much, but it would have been nice to have read them in order...I usually hate reading out of order but just happened to run across TS first and unusual for me, didn't check out related-ness closely like I usually do). I think they're all on Amazon, I got all or most of them at Fictionwise (coupons and such).

In TS, the order is Out of Bounds [the one I haven't read], then High Line, then Tabloid Star, then a short novella follow-up to TS called With This Ring. I can't speak to the first, and the second one was good but not totally outstanding; I really liked TS and the follow-up though.

In the 'Home' series, the order is No Going Home, and then Home of His Own. These two are quite inter-connected, character-wise. I liked them both really well.

I guess the guy likes to write duologies rather than trilogies. LOL I haven't read any others yet, there are quite a few more listed.


----------



## Leslie

I went ahead and got Tabloid Star and With This Ring. Geoffrey posted a review of Tabloid Star and seemed to like it pretty well. $5.60 for the two of them...I can afford it.

Thanks for the rec, Steph!

L


----------



## lib2b

If you don't mind reading stuff that's considered "young adult," I really loved the "Dangerous Angels" series by Francesca Lia Block and her short story collection "Girl Goddess #9" (not all of the stories deal with GLBT issues, but there's one in there especially that made me cry in a good way that deals with transgender issues).

I can't personally vouch for any of these books having never read any, but you might also want to check out Torquere Books - an e-publisher specializing in GLBT romance novels. I'm sure some must be offered through Amazon, and even if not, they offer mobi pocket format from their website which I think works on Kindle (or can be converted to work?).


----------



## Leslie

Hi Lib, welcome. Thanks for the suggestion on Dangerous Angels. I will check it out.

As for Torquere, some of their books show up at Amazon, but not all. However, I have bought lots of books from their site and they work just fine on my Kindle. Just transfer them with the USB cable or email them to your Kindle. In fact, I have two books from the right now to read...when I get over my obsession with the PsyCop series. I'm on the last one now, Camp Hell, and I can't get Vic out of my mind. LOL

L


----------



## kevin63

Leslie said:


> I went ahead and got Tabloid Star and With This Ring. Geoffrey posted a review of Tabloid Star and seemed to like it pretty well. $5.60 for the two of them...I can afford it.
> 
> Thanks for the rec, Steph!
> 
> L


I got both of these also, but to be honest I'm really behind in my reading. The spring allergy thing is really messing with my head, making it hard to concentrate.


----------



## lib2b

Leslie said:


> Hi Lib, welcome. Thanks for the suggestion on Dangerous Angels. I will check it out.
> 
> As for Torquere, some of their books show up at Amazon, but not all. However, I have bought lots of books from their site and they work just fine on my Kindle. Just transfer them with the USB cable or email them to your Kindle. In fact, I have two books from the right now to read...when I get over my obsession with the PsyCop series. I'm on the last one now, Camp Hell, and I can't get Vic out of my mind. LOL
> 
> L


You're welcome! The only book in the Dangerous Angels series that has a queer main character is _Baby Be-Bop_, but the characters from that are in the other books as side characters, and I recommend just getting the "Dangerous Angels" anthology with all the books in one and reading them all - the books are short, even for YA.

In my review reading, I came across reviews for two more books that sound good/interesting and fit in this thread: _Silver Kiss_ by Naomi Clark (a werewolf story) and _James Fairfax _by Adam Campan and Jane Austen (a spin on Jane Austen's _Emma_, but the Jane Fairfax character is now James Fairfax instead). I couldn't find an e-book version of _James Fairfax_, but it still might be an interesting read if you like Jane Austen or the regency time period.


----------



## Steph H

Leslie said:


> I just finished this--an absolutely lovely story. In a way, it had two happy endings. Definitely recommended--I give this one 5 stars.


I felt like reading a 'sweet' type of book last night so bumped this up on my reading list, as I felt that was the type it would be from its description on Amazon [and Leslie's use of "lovely story"]. While it was that, it was also different somehow from what I was expecting. Not in a bad way necessarily; just teaches me once again not to have too many preconceptions about a book from a brief description, I guess.  I did enjoy it quite a bit, though -- thanks for the reccy, Leslie!


----------



## Leslie

Steph H said:


> I felt like reading a 'sweet' type of book last night so bumped this up on my reading list, as I felt that was the type it would be from its description on Amazon [and Leslie's use of "lovely story"]. While it was that, it was also different somehow from what I was expecting. Not in a bad way necessarily; just teaches me once again not to have too many preconceptions about a book from a brief description, I guess.  I did enjoy it quite a bit, though -- thanks for the reccy, Leslie!


Glad you liked it, Steph.

Meanwhile, I have been devouring everything I possibly can in the PsyCop universe: shorts, interviews with characters (at the author's website) and re-reading big chunks of all the books. I think I have finally PsyCopped myself out, but I am having that sixes and sevens feeling of not being able to get into any other book. Sigh...what to read, what to read...

L


----------



## Leslie

It's always great to start the month with a 5 star book...


----------



## Steph H

Leslie (and others) -- do you get the AllRomance/Omnilit ebooks Wildfire email newsletter? I don't always read the whole thing, but Friday's edition had a rather good 'reader POV' article from a gay man writing about what he dislikes and likes in m/m fiction (which points I pretty much agreed with in both cases), and giving some book recommendations. I took some time today to check out the recommendations and ended up buying most of them, as well as a few others by some of the authors (and some other non-m/m books). I happened to do my purchasing on Fictionwise rather than AllRomance/Omnilit or Amazon, due to having a coupon and Micropay bucks, but they had all except one of the books available, and almost all of them had quite high reader ratings (Fictionwise basically just does ratings, not actual written reviews). Just what I needed, another 24 books!  I'll get to them all eventually....

Here's a web link to the newsletter, for anyone interested:

Newsletter


----------



## Leslie

Thanks, Steph. I do get the newsletter but like you, I don't always read it and missed this particular edition. Very interesting article and I appreciated his comments! His list is interesting, too. I've read lots of the books he mentioned and liked most of them and I can see why they are on his list.

I am struggling with a review right now about a book written by a man--I assume gay--who makes all of the mistakes in the newsletter article. LOL. Even guys don't get it right when they put pen to paper!

Steph, make sure to check out *Probation* (see other post). It is really excellent.

L


----------



## Steph H

I figured you'd probably read most of the books on that list already, Leslie! 

I did get a sample of Probation after you posted it, but haven't read it yet; even with your recommendation, I'm a bit unwilling to pay the current price for it ($9.60 now, I thought I remember it was $9.99 at the time you posted) so was going to wait until it came down.  Yeah yeah, I know it's not THAT much, but still....


----------



## Leslie

I really love Alex Beecroft's writing -- *False Colors* and *Blessed Isle* were two of my favorite books last year. Her new novel is available for pre-order (yes, I pre-ordered it) and in a change for Alex, it's a contemporary story.


----------



## Steph H

Leslie, have you read "Shining in the Sun" yet? I missed the link when you posted about it, but happened to see it in the All Romance Ebook newsletter yesterday and checked it out then, and it does sound good. Didn't buy it yet, though. I am about to buy a different book by Beecroft -- Fictionwise has another sale/coupon this weekend but doesn't have that book -- called "Captain's Surrender", have you read that one? I haven't read any of her books yet, though I remembered the name from your prior recommendations; they don't have many at Fictionwise.

Now I have a recommendation for you, and others -- have you read "Admit One" by Jenna Hilary Sinclair? I got it also at Fictionwise during their recent 40% off anniversary sale (man, I stocked up big time on a lot of books during that 3-week sale!) and the chapter preview and premise intrigued me enough to make it a 'priority' read, and I finished it last night. Here's the blurb from Amazon:

--
When high school teacher Tom Smith meets Kevin Bannerman at a gay club, he violates his own rule: one-night stands only. But when the weekend is over, he walks away, reminding himself that he lives a deeply closeted life for painful, compelling reasons. He keeps his secrets, his heart, and the cause of his crippled arm to himself, but almost immediately he bitterly regrets leaving Kevin.

Months later, while Tom serves as reluctant assistant director for his school-s production of Rent, he fears that the show-s same-sex love angle will somehow out him. Protests against the play begin, one of the student actors is harassed, and during a parents- meeting, Tom encounters Kevin again. This time Tom can-t fight the attraction between them, and he and Kevin begin a tentative relationship. Within Rent-s message of acceptance and support, and as local churches oppose the play, Tom struggles to find the strength to admit one man into his heart. 
--

It was very good. Tom's a high school teacher -- in small town God-fearing West Texas of all places, so you can see on the one hand why he needs to stay closeted. But it's only in small dribs and drabs that you discover the other big reason. It's not necessarily a comfortable book, for lack of a better word, but it's well worth a read.


----------



## Leslie

Hi Steph,

Thanks for this post. I just started *Shining in the Sun* yesterday and am only about 3% into it, so I can't really give it a review. But one of the things I love about Alex's writing is her beautiful prose and this seems to be starting off on a very good foot. I'm sure I'll love it.

*Captain's Surrender* is her first book and the first thing I read from Alex. It's very good but not perfect. If you read her later stuff you can see how she has matured as an author so CS might be a good book to start with if you've never read any of her books.

Right now, *Blessed Isle* is at the top of my list as my favorite book of hers (it's a novella in the *Hidden Conflict* anthology) followed by* False Colors*. I haven't had a chance to read her spooky story *The Wages of Sin* although it has gotten very good reviews.

Re: Jenna Hilary Sinclair. She first came to my attention when she wrote a Brokeback Mountain fanfic story. It was hugely popular so I gave it a try. The whole story was written in dialect--not just the dialog but the whole damn story--and I could only read about three pages before I quit. So I have this mental block against her. Silly, I know. *Admit One* has gotten good reviews and I keep telling myself to give it a try but I haven't done so yet. But thanks for the recommendation and maybe this will spur me on.

I've read a bunch of lousy books lately (which I don't post here) but one I did enjoy was *Mobry's Dick* by K.Z. Snow. It flipped between the past and present and the author handled it well. I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Here's the link at Goodreads. You need to buy it from LooseId.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8098142-mobry-s-dick

L


----------



## Steph H

Leslie said:


> So I have this mental block against her. Silly, I know. *Admit One* has gotten good reviews and I keep telling myself to give it a try but I haven't done so yet. But thanks for the recommendation and maybe this will spur me on.


I understand how it can be, with seemingly 'irrational' biases against an author -- I know I have some of those, too, with authors that other people seem to love; can't think of any names off the top of my head, but I know I have them.  I can at least promise that the book isn't written in a totally West Texas dialect! LOL



> I've read a bunch of lousy books lately (which I don't post here) but one I did enjoy was *Mobry's Dick* by K.Z. Snow. It flipped between the past and present and the author handled it well. I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Here's the link at Goodreads. You need to buy it from LooseId.


Thanks for the reccy, I don't often like books that do that past/present thing but it does sound intriguing. And I've liked the couple of books of hers I've read so far (the two you mention in your Goodreads review as having similar characters), so I'll likely give it a shot.


----------



## theda

Steph H said:


> Leslie (and others) -- do you get the AllRomance/Omnilit ebooks Wildfire email newsletter? I don't always read the whole thing, but Friday's edition had a rather good 'reader POV' article from a gay man writing about what he dislikes and likes in m/m fiction (which points I pretty much agreed with in both cases), and giving some book recommendations. I took some time today to check out the recommendations and ended up buying most of them, as well as a few others by some of the authors (and some other non-m/m books). I happened to do my purchasing on Fictionwise rather than AllRomance/Omnilit or Amazon, due to having a coupon and Micropay bucks, but they had all except one of the books available, and almost all of them had quite high reader ratings (Fictionwise basically just does ratings, not actual written reviews). Just what I needed, another 24 books!  I'll get to them all eventually....
> 
> Here's a web link to the newsletter, for anyone interested:
> 
> Newsletter


Hi, I'm Theda and I just joined the Kindleboard. I was curious (because the newsletter link has expired), do you remember anything about it and what he said? Probably asking too much at this late date but your post made me curious!


----------



## Leslie

theda said:


> Hi, I'm Theda and I just joined the Kindleboard. I was curious (because the newsletter link has expired), do you remember anything about it and what he said? Probably asking too much at this late date but your post made me curious!


Hi Theda,

Thanks for your message. Unfortunately, I don't remember what books he recommended. Some I had read, some I hadn't and I was surprised by some of his selections. But can I name any of them? Sorry...no.

Anyway, this thread has lots of good recommendations.

L


----------



## Leslie

I don't know if anyone here is a Marie Sexton fan but if you aren't, you should be. She has written a terrific series of four books. I think I recommended some of the earlier but the latest, *Strawberries for Dessert*, may be her best. A definite 5 star keeper....











The others in the series are *Promises*, *A to Z*, and *The Letter Z*. However, you could read *Strawberries for Dessert* as a standalone and it would make complete sense.

L


----------



## Steph H

Hi Theda,

Whoops, like Leslie, I missed your message before. Unfortunately, I also don't remember much of the specifics from that newsletter, either.  You might try going to the All Romance Ebooks website and seeing if they have a newsletter archive and if so, look for the May 7 issue -- I can't right now, the site is restricted here at work due to 'adult content'. 

One thing I do remember as a comment was the author preferring when the two male protagonists are essentially equally 'strong' rather than having one strong male and one weak sissified 'female' type male, always deferring to or relying on the strong one.  That sticks in my mind because I prefer it the same way myself...


----------



## Steph H

Leslie said:


> The others in the series are *Promises*, *A to Z*, and *The Letter Z*. However, you could read *Strawberries for Dessert* as a standalone and it would make complete sense.


Thanks for the reccy, Leslie. I'm not sure if I'd gotten the reccy from you before or ran across them on my own, but I have the first two in the TBR stack; wasn't aware of the latter two, I think the 3rd came out after I'd already gotten the first two.

Here's one in return for you. I know you like historicals so you might find these interesting if you haven't read them already; they're Regency England-era books. I got them slightly cheaper on Fictionwise than Amazon, with club membership (a perk that's been discontinued for new folks, and I think is going away as memberships expire for current folks), and it looks like they're currently doing 10% off of romances right now so even w/o membership, it's slightly cheaper at FW than Amazon for the moment. Same authors, but the books are stand alone.

The Gentleman and the Rogue:











Seducing Stephen:


----------



## Leslie

Thanks, Steph. I've actually read both of those. In fact, I reviewed *The Gentleman and the Rogue* over at Speak Its Name--I gave it five stars. I enjoyed it a lot.

In one of those small world coincidences, the first thing I ever read from Bonnie Dee was a free Kindle book that was offered by Samhain and Amazon: *Perfecting Amanda*. It was m/f, not m/m but I still enjoyed the story quite a bit.

I am curious about her latest, *Jungle Heat*:











This was published by the new Carina Press line (a spinoff from Harlequin). It is getting mixed reviews. Sarah F. at Dear Author gave it a DNF but other readers/reviewers have liked it quite a bit--said it is a fun spinoff from the Tarzan story. I have the sample on my Kindle but haven't read it yet.

L


----------



## Steph H

Yeah, I figured you'd read them already, it's rare that I can recommend something you haven't.  Perfecting Amanda was my first book of hers also, and I remember liking it (just checked, and I got that one as a freebie wayyyy back in late Sept 2008, though I don't recall when I actually read it, but it's been awhile).  Jungle Heat, though...I'm just not feelin' the love for that one. I'm sure it's a fine book, the description just doesn't grab me.

Have you read the Cattle Valley series by Carol Lynne? Those are fun. Not what I'd call necessarily great, but good. The premise, for anyone else out there or not familiar, is a whole community in Wyoming basically founded on gay tolerance after a rich guy's gay son was persecuted and, I believe, killed for being gay.  So most of the people in the town are gay or friends and family members of gay folks or at least tolerant of gay folks.  There's 15 so far in the series by Carol Lynne, all with gay men as the featured characters (and they each kind of build on the previous books, with characters interwoven between the stories to an extent), and then right after I finished reading those, I stumbled across two more books by another author in the same town based on lesbian characters, but still including some of the same male characters.  They're all fairly short-ish, in the 30-35000 word range for the most part.


----------



## Leslie

I have heard of the Cattle Valley books but haven't read any of them. They sound like they could be fun. Sigh...so many books, so little time.

Have you read the Royal Navy series from Lee Rowan? (*Ransom*, *Winds of Change*, and *Eye of the Storm*). The fourth book in the series, *Home is the Sailor*, will be out at the end of the week. I can tell you in advance that it's good. 

I am also curious about Josh Lanyon's new book from Carina--another one getting mixed reviews. Some say the mystery is formulaic; others say it is Josh's usual wonderful writing.

L


----------



## Linjeakel

I've been skimming through this thread for the first time, adding books to my wish list, which is now overflowing! I just wanted to say thanks to all the posters for their recs.


----------



## Barry Eysman

pick a genre. Make it not you in any degree. Forget you are inside there. You won't be for long. Play your genre to the hilt. Do everything they tell you. Because the book in question is never ever allowed to be you.


----------



## Steph H

Leslie said:


> Sigh...so many books, so little time.


Ain't THAT the truth! And I keep adding and adding more to the pile, faster than I read (and I read fast/much!).



> Have you read the Royal Navy series from Lee Rowan?


No, not yet, though I've had the Ransom sample for awhile based on your earlier rec; just haven't gotten to it. I keep meaning to bump it up every time you mention it, but you know how that goes....  Okay, I just now went and took it a step further and one-clicked on Ransom, so now I'll at least have the book. Maybe I'll get motivated and start it tonight! (Actually, if it's 300 pages, I could possibly even finish it tonight....) Hmmm, did she(?) change the series name along the way, do you know? I had it coded on my Excel spreadsheet for the sample as "Articles of War" rather than "Royal Navy". Curious where I might have gotten that from otherwise.



> I am also curious about Josh Lanyon's new book from Carina--another one getting mixed reviews. Some say the mystery is formulaic; others say it is Josh's usual wonderful writing.


Surprisingly, I haven't gotten into Josh yet, despite seeing your recs and his name in other places. I have two books in my TBR (two in the "Dangerous Grounds" series), but have hesitated to buy any others until I read those to see if/how I like his writing. I don't really doubt I will, but I generally try not to go *too* whole-hog with buying an author's catalog until I try it a bit. 

I know we talked about this earlier in the thread, that I'd read quite a few of the T.A. Chase books and you hadn't really yet, at that time -- have you had a chance? Curious to know what you thought, if you have. He had a third one come out a couple-three weeks ago in what I call his "Home" series. I haven't read all his books, just mostly the 'contemporary' gay ones (he has some paranormal gay types too), but enjoyed what I've read -- nothing heavy, just enjoyable reads.

Hey Lin -- welcome to the thread, Leslie mostly and me with some commentary occasionally have pretty much taken it over, I think.  But more participation is always welcome!


----------



## Leslie

Hi Steph,

1. Re: The Royal Navy -- I think the series was called The Articles of War when the first books were published with Linden Bay. They have since been republished with Cheyenne/Bristlecone and redubbed The Royal Navy series. *Home is the Sailor* -- the fourth book -- is brand new, not a repub, so this will be exciting for fans of the series.

2. I like Josh's writing and everything I have read from him, I have enjoyed--although not everything is a 5 star read. But he is consistently 4 stars and occasionally has a super-duper winner. I really enjoyed the Adrien English books (quiet bookstore owner with a heart problem becomes a sleuth--sort of like an Agatha Christie mystery). There are five in all and I think I listed all of them earlier in this thread.

If you don't want to commit to a whole series right off the bat, a few shorter works that I enjoyed: *I Spy Something Bloody* (spy story); the two Petits Morts books he did in collaboration with Jordan Castillo Price (*Other People's Weddings *and *Slings and Arrows*) and his WWI story, *Out of the Blue*.

That should be a good start and all of those are inexpensive.

3. T.A. Chase -- I read *Tabloid Star* which I thought was very so-so to mediocre but I plowed on and read the sequel where they get married. I liked that one a little bit better. Then I ran across *Angel's Evolution* which is an interesting historical--I thought it was interesting. Other people, not so much. They seem to like TA's contemporaries better. Oh well...

4. Have you read anything by K.Z. Snow? She has a new one out, *Fugly*, which got a good review at jessewave's site. I haven't checked that one out yet.

L


----------



## ZsuZsu

I just stumbled across this thread yesterday, and based upon recommendations in it I downloaded about 10 samples!  So far, I have only read one- "Taming Groomzilla" by E.N. Holland (kb author!)- I zipped through the sample, immediately bought the book and spent a VERY enjoyable hour or two completely caught up in a sweet and funny love story!  Loved it so much that I immediately read it again (even better the second time through!), and then called my sister to tell her that she would really love this novella!!!  (Before reading, I was in a bit of a "funk" and missing my sweetie who is travelling this week- this story really "lifted me" emotionally and helped me to lose the funk!!)

Tonight I am going to work my way through a few more samples and hope to find a couple more "gems"- keep the suggestions coming, folks!!  SO GLAD that I found this thread and some new authors/novels to explore!!!


----------



## Steph H

Leslie --

I did indeed read Ransom last night and enjoyed it very much. Now to move on to the next in the series!

Sorry to hear you didn't like TA's books quite as much as I did, but we can't all have the same tastes all the time.  I don't think I've seen Angel's Evolution though, I'll look for that one.

Yes, I've read a couple of Snow's books. I got Bastards and Pretty Boys as a freebie and then got/read Prayer Waltz after you posted it (and because I liked BPB so well). I have another one you posted about, can't think of the name offhand, in the TBR stack.

ZsuZsu --

Welcome to the thread!  Leslie (who wrote it) did a great job with Taming Groomzilla, I really liked it. I keep telling her she needs to write a 'where is their life at now' sequel.  (so, Leslie, consider this another poke







to do so...heehee)


----------



## ZsuZsu

Oooh!!  Steph H- you are SO right!!!!  I really want to know how Joel and Luke have changed and what is going on for them now!

Did you see that Leslie?


----------



## Leslie

ZsuZsu said:


> Oooh!! Steph H- you are SO right!!!! I really want to know how Joel and Luke have changed and what is going on for them now!
> 
> Did you see that Leslie?


Yes, I did...LOL.

I am actually working on a story with Pat Brown right now (P.A. Brown, author of the L.A. series of books). It's a historical set in the 1930s/1940s and coming along very nicely. Unfortunately, what was supposed to be one book has morphed into two...funny how that goes. LOL. Anyway, the upside is that by working on this, it has gotten me back into writing mode, so maybe I'll get re-energized to go back and re-visit Luke and Joel.

L


----------



## Steph H

Hope your side doesn't hurt too much. 

Ah yes, the L.A. books -- they're in my TBR stack, too.... *sigh*  If only I was rich and didn't have to work and could read all day long every day....


----------



## Leslie

Oh, Steph, the L.A. books...you've got to read them. So good...

Glad to hear you enjoyed *Ransom*, too!

L


----------



## Leslie

I love the cover on this one, so for that I'll give it an extra half star.











This story (to me) was good--not great--but certainly a fast, easy read. It had a fair amount of implausible moments where I just needed to say "uh-huh" and move on. Still, I thought Yamane was hot and Rory was sweet. I also liked that it took awhile for them to "get together" even though they were together for quite a bit of time before that (if you know what I mean). Even with a few reservations, I can recommend this.

L


----------



## Steph H

Yeah, I read that one two or three months ago.  I had about the same reactions you did; liked it, didn't love it.  I bought a few other of Maxfield's books at the same time, but haven't read them yet.

I've really enjoyed the Royal Navy series -- oh, and I see Home is the Sailor is finally live on Amazon, I was about to ask you when it would show up as it wasn't there even yesterday but thought I'd check before asking and there it is now! Well, partially it is, there's no description yet. LOL  That's okay, I'll get it anyway since the others have been good.

I think you had recommended Take My Picture by Giselle Ellis earlier in the thread? Finally got around to reading that this weekend, that was a really nice one, even if I wanted to slap Jake and Aaron silly for taking so long to realize what they had together.   Jake's former assistant, Aly, was great.


----------



## Leslie

Here's the description for *Home is the Sailor*:

The fourth book in the Royal Navy series, Home Is the Sailor is set immediately following Eye of the Storm. After an unprovoked attack during peacetime-was it revenge for their abduction of one of Bonaparte's top military scientists?-Commander William Marshall and his lover, David Archer, are sent into hiding at David's ancestral home in Devon.

But this is no peaceful shore leave. With the best intentions in the world, Will has discovered that his fear of losing Davy is still stronger than his desire to keep Davy beside him on the quarterdeck. And Lieutenant Archer is having problems of his own-the family that seemed so rock-solid, if distant, is staggering under the loss of its eldest son and heir. Was it an accident&#8230; or murder? And if the latter, how will he ever prove it to an autocratic father who still sees him as the inept youngest son? Out of their element, Davy and Will are thrust into the role of sleuths while trying to determine what sort of future, if any, they may have together.

Fans of The Royal Navy series will be delighted with this latest entry, a truly intriguing mystery/adventure.

Yes, I recommended *Take My Picture*. Oh, God I loved that story! Two slightly wacky guys who were perfect together. I sobbed through the middle and loved the end. It was great--it will be on my Top Ten List for 2010.

Now I am reading:











which I obviously bought sometime in the past and had on my Kindle. I am trying to clear up the backlog of books I actually paid for and haven't read yet...LOL. That's why I read *Drawn Together*. This one, *Sweet Surrender*, is living up to its name. It's really sweet--almost too sweet--it's making my teeth ache a bit.  But the guys seem likable enough and it is a very fast, easy read so I am sure I'll finish it.

L


----------



## Steph H

Ah, thanks for the description of Home. Sounds like they're going wayyyyyy off on a tangent from Navy/ship stuff this time around! Although I'm about ready to slap Will silly too, with all his dithering over Davy.  

Sweet Surrender sounds like it could be good....let us know how it works out, if you have to go to the dentist or not when you're done.


----------



## Whidbeyislandgirl

Just found this thread, downloaded about ten new books! I love LGBT Erotica.... one of my favorites is Jane Seville, *Zero at the Bone*.

Also Jamie Craig's *Masters of Chaos series*, they are excellent, dark, pretty intense. Vampires, BDSM..... If Angel and Wesley (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel) were gay, this is how their story may have gone..... wonderful but an aquired taste I'm sure. I love them though.

I don't know how to put a link to a book, can someone tell me how?

Thanks for the recommendations!


----------



## Leslie

Go here:

http://www.kboards.com/link/link-maker-1-0.php

Insert the ASIN from Amazon and the URL for the cover, press "Create Kindleboards Link" and voila! Copy and paste into your message here and you should be all set.

Glad to have you join us!

I know a lot of people love Jane's *Zero*. I sampled it, but I couldn't stand the dialect for D's character and had to give up before I even finished the sample. But that's me...

L


----------



## Steph H

I have Zero at the Bone in my TBR stack but haven't gotten to it yet. Just had to go look it up to remember what it was about.    Always good to hear a recommendation for something I already have waiting!

I've never really been interested in BDSM books, though, whether gay or straight.  Just not my cup o' tea, I suppose. I don't mind if there's a teeny bit involved, but not when it's a lot of the story.


----------



## Leslie

I have been reading a lot of BDSM and D/s stuff--I think because I get sent books for review. I have decided that if I am going to read BDSM, I want it really, really kinky, otherwise, plain vanilla is fine with me. I don't like "bland" BDSM (and there is a lot of it out there!). It's sort of like, if you are going to go there--really go there. LOL. Sean Michael has become my kinky author of choice. I think the reason I like his stories is because his characters are always very passionately in love (and say so, quite a bit) even when they are getting really nasty in the bedroom.  

L


----------



## Whidbeyislandgirl

Leslie said:


> I have been reading a lot of BDSM and D/s stuff--I think because I get sent books for review. I have decided that if I am going to read BDSM, I want it really, really kinky, otherwise, plain vanilla is fine with me. I don't like "bland" BDSM (and there is a lot of it out there!). It's sort of like, if you are going to go there--really go there. LOL. Sean Michael has become my kinky author of choice. I think the reason I like his stories is because his characters are always very passionately in love (and say so, quite a bit) even when they are getting really nasty in the bedroom.
> 
> L


The Jamie Craig ones are pretty darn kinky, you should try them! Assuming you like paranormal erotica. Also Chris Owen and Jody Payne have a really nice series, Deviations, they are about a couple in a committed D/s relationship. Kinky, but not bloody. The Jamie Craig are down right bloody. Deviations has no vamps or any paranormal side to it, just good old fashion BDSM. I like Sean Michaels stories, wish his writing was a bit better.... I've read all the Hammer books, I like them but some get a bit repeatative. I loved the one about the couple that one of the partners loses his legs, can't think of their names at the moment. Marcus maybe?

Vicki


----------



## Whidbeyislandgirl

Steph H said:


> I have Zero at the Bone in my TBR stack but haven't gotten to it yet. Just had to go look it up to remember what it was about.  Always good to hear a recommendation for something I already have waiting!
> 
> I've never really been interested in BDSM books, though, whether gay or straight. Just not my cup o' tea, I suppose. I don't mind if there's a teeny bit involved, but not when it's a lot of the story.


I LOVED Zero. Great story, I loved the characters. She's working on a sequel.

BDSM is different, took me a while to get in to it, now I like it. As long as there is a story. I don't like smut just for the sake of smut..... straight, gay, BDSM, whatever, it's got to have a good story. But I do understand, it's not for everyone! But try Zero, no BDSM....

Vicki


----------



## Leslie

Paranormal is sort of iffy for me. I've heard about the Deviations series but haven't read any of the books. Sean Michael can get repetitive. My favorite of his is *Secrets, Skin, and Leather*. Whoo-hoo I love Dillon and Dal!

This is free right now at Amazon. Has anyone read this? I read a Christmas story by K.A. Mitchell (*An Improper Holiday*) that I enjoyed a lot. I think I read one other contemporary by the same author that was so-so--*Diving in Deep*, maybe? Can't really remember.


----------



## Whidbeyislandgirl

Leslie said:


> Go here:
> 
> http://www.kboards.com/link/link-maker-1-0.php
> 
> Insert the ASIN from Amazon and the URL for the cover, press "Create Kindleboards Link" and voila! Copy and paste into your message here and you should be all set.
> 
> Glad to have you join us!
> 
> I know a lot of people love Jane's *Zero*. I sampled it, but I couldn't stand the dialect for D's character and had to give up before I even finished the sample. But that's me...
> 
> L


Thanks for the info, I'll try it!

D was a bit hard to get used to, but it's so worth it. The depth of the characters, and story are excellent. Where D goes for love is worth getting past his annoying character in the beginning. He has issues and works through them, it's worth the read.


----------



## Whidbeyislandgirl

Leslie said:


> Paranormal is sort of iffy for me. I've heard about the Deviations series but haven't read any of the books. Sean Michael can get repetitive. My favorite of his is *Secrets, Skin, and Leather*. Whoo-hoo I love Dylan and Dal!
> 
> This is free right now at Amazon. Has anyone read this? I read a Christmas story by K.A. Mitchell (*An Improper Holiday*) that I enjoyed a lot. I think I read one other contemporary by the same author that was so-so--*Diving in Deep*, maybe? Can't really remember.


I don't think I've read that one! Better go find it.....

I have read Collision Course, I think there are several that are related. Pretty good, but slightly predictable. Fun and light reading though. I enjoyed them. KA is on my list to watch for new books.

Vicki


----------



## dimples

Great thread  Am always looking for more GLBT books to read. Mostly F/F, but I'm definitely open to reading M/M too if the story is good


----------



## Whidbeyislandgirl

Leslie said:


> My favorite of his is *Secrets, Skin, and Leather*. Whoo-hoo I love Dillon and Dal!
> 
> [


Bummer, can't get it for Kindle from Amazon. I'll have to check his website.


----------



## Leslie

Whidbeyislandgirl said:


> Bummer, can't get it for Kindle from Amazon. I'll have to check his website.


You can buy it from Torquere in prc format (will work on your Kindle).

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=501


----------



## Leslie

dimples said:


> Great thread  Am always looking for more GLBT books to read. Mostly F/F, but I'm definitely open to reading M/M too if the story is good


Hi dimples, welcome. Glad to have you here. Please feel free to post any recs you have!

L


----------



## Whidbeyislandgirl

Leslie said:


> You can buy it from Torquere in prc format (will work on your Kindle).
> 
> http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=501


That's where I was planning on going.... about half his books are on Amazon, the rest I get from Torquere. Have you read his Jarhead books? I'm curious about them.


----------



## Steph H

I picked up Collision Course the other day when it was posted in the Free Books thread, but haven't read it yet.  I also went back through the whole thread this morning 'cause I was looking for an older reference -- and knew I probably missed some recommendations -- and picked up 3 or 4 that I did miss, including An Improper Holiday.  So that gives me two Mitchell books in the ol' TBR stack.

I was looking at the Jarhead books on Fictionwise the other day, but ended up not getting any. They just didn't quite pull me in by description, I can't even say why. I will say Fictionwise has a lot of Sean Michaels' books, so just as an FYI, there's another source to consider when you're looking for his or other books (no idea how they compare with Torquere for prices; I used to get good deals there but my 'Buywise Club' membership which provided discounted prices has expired and they've discontinued the program so now it will be more of a get-it-there-if-it's-not-on-Amazon kind of thing).  They have that Secrets book mentioned above, about the same price as Torquere, for example.


----------



## Leslie

I finished *Sweet Surrender*. It's pretty sweet--more than I usually like. A very predictable, not particularly interesting plot. Plus, the writing is very ordinary, with lots of telling, not showing, and fairly important things happening off page. I managed to get through the whole book so I didn't hate it, but it's one of those stories that I'll be quickly forgetting. I usually like stories with a bit more pizazz.

L


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## Steph H

Hmmmm.  Sounds iffy enough that I'll skip it, at least for now.  I actually don't mind the ones that have less sex rather than more (which I presume is what you mean by telling vs. showing?); it's a refreshing change from the ones that are more sex than story.  Of course, a happy middle between the two extremes is best, IMO. 

Thanks for circling back around on that, Leslie!

I've been alternating between m/m romance and Regency-era romance (usually m/f but occasionally m/m) for months now, with just occasional other genres thrown in, but I think I may head off into a fantasy/sci-fi binge for awhile.  I feel a need for a change of pace for a bit.  But I'll still check in here and that doesn't mean I won't alternate still if I get a sudden fancy.


----------



## Leslie

It wasn't just the sex that was told, not shown...for example...

"He thought back to the time last winter, when he moved out for six weeks. They'd been fighting constantly but got back together and even went to couples counseling."

Okay, lots of conflict and interesting things going on in that one sentence, but we never see any of it.

And where there could have been conflict, the author never took the opportunity. Again, an example: one character, Gerry, ends up in the ER with a hot appendix. The other guy, Derek, takes care of all the admitting paperwork and then goes into the ER room to be with Gerry. Does anyone ever question this? Question if he's a relative and has the authority to be filling out these papers and then being at Gerry's side? No. And at that point of the story, they hadn't even progressed past the boyfriends stage so the admitting clerk, or a nurse, could have really gotten in Derek's face about who he was, etc. That would have made it more interesting.

The whole story was like this...super sweet, with a cherry on top.   Recommended for people who want totally a predictable romance with an HEA.

L


----------



## dimples

Leslie said:


> Hi dimples, welcome. Glad to have you here. Please feel free to post any recs you have!
> 
> L


Thanks  For some reason I always find it hard to rec books, lol. Everyone has such different taste! But personally, I have pretty much enjoyed every Gerri Hill book. They are not available on Amazon (at least, not in Kindle format) but I was able to get them through Bella Books.

Btw, would it be allowed to post a link to a community I just created on Shelfari? I created it specifically for readers who are interested in lesbian fiction and non-fiction.


----------



## Leslie

healeyb said:


> I have a question that may not belong here, but it also might, so I'm trying it:
> 
> What constitutes LGBT fiction?
> 
> I am working on a book right now where the main protagonists are a homosexual couple. However, the plot doesn't revolve around their relationship and their sexuality is not central to the story. It does play a role in some of the conflict and exposition, however; would this be recognized as in the LGBT genre?


I think it would, yes.

People might argue this, of course. I think there are folks who would like to have LGBT characters just "be there"--ie, just be characters and not be identified or singled out or treated in some special way and thus the book would be identified as what it is...a mystery, eg, rather than "a gay mystery." On the other hand, there are readers (like me) who seek out books with gay characters, even if the relationship between the characters is not the heart of the story (believe me, those books are hard to find!). So, for that reason, I think it is useful to categorize the book as LGBT so that interested readers can find the book.

I often think of Harry Potter--if it had just been mentioned in an off-hand way in one of the books that Dumbledore was gay, and then never really brought up again or discussed--that would have been a good example of a character just "being there." But that's not the way the JK did it and I felt that her announcement after-the-fact was much more of a publicity stunt rather than a true statement about Dumbledore's sexuality.

PS--you might want to rethink calling your characters "a homosexual couple." It's not the preferred usage these days. See: http://www.glaad.org/page.aspx?pid=380

PPS--keep us posted on the progress of the book. I am interested in learning more.


----------



## Leslie

Here's a good, short novella (24K words). Interesting characters, interesting location (the Gulf of St. Lawrence). A fast, easy read that I enjoyed quite a bit:










It's not for sale from Amazon. I bought it at All Romance.

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-themanituw-448673-144.html


----------



## Leslie

I haven't read this yet, but I am going to start it today. It has gotten good reviews and on top of that, one of the characters is reading on a Kindle!










And it has my weakness, a P.L. Nunn cover. It's for sale only at LooseId.

http://www.loose-id.com/My-Summer-of-Wes.aspx


----------



## Geoffrey

I haven't recommended anything for a while, but here's one to try:











I thought it was going to be a predictable little cowboy story but it really sucked me in and I started really caring about these guys and the family they created. I think part of the reason I liked it so much is that is wasn't a romance that went from 'Hello' to 'Happily Ever After' in the course of a weekend ...


----------



## Leslie

Hi Geoffrey, welcome back! I've heard a lot of good things about *Keeping Promise Rock*. Haven't had a chance to read it yet, though...thanks for the rec.

L


----------



## Steph H

I have Keeping Promise Rock in my TBR (thanks for the endorsement, Geoff!), and just found out a week or so ago about a sequel of sorts, called Making Promises. I don't recall now if it's just set in the same town or if the characters from KPR appear in it or what... *starts looking around* -- ah, here's where I saw the reference, a review at All Romance Ebooks calls it a "companion piece", whatever that means .











Leslie, I saw your thread about the Kindle-reading in My Summer of Wes in the Let's Talk Kindle thread, and had a feeling you'd be posting that book here too! LOL Let us know how you like it when you're done.

And is it just me, or does the guy on the cover of The Manituw that you posted look kinda like Tom Cruise?


----------



## Leslie

Steph H said:


> And is it just me, or does the guy on the cover of The Manituw that you posted look kinda like Tom Cruise?


Looking at that cover, yes he does but in the story, neither of the characters looks like Tom C (thank God!). July has First Nations' blood in him (they're up in Canada so no Native Americans) with interesting eyes and hair--sort of hazel red color for both. Robert is blond haired and blue eyed.



> Leslie, I saw your thread about the Kindle-reading in My Summer of Wes in the Let's Talk Kindle thread, and had a feeling you'd be posting that book here too! LOL Let us know how you like it when you're done.


I just whipped right through it--the book was only 100 pages so a fast read. It was good. I am a sucker for coming-of-age stories so of course I am predisposed towards liking this. Mal and Wes meet, Mal discovers he is gay, and they fall madly in love. Once they fall madly in love they have lots and lots of sex (because they are both young with oodles of testosterone coursing through their veins)--in fact, the second half of the book turns into a sex-fest which drops it down from a great rating to good. 4 stars for me. But it is well written and I liked both characters. I especially enjoyed Mal's personal self-discovery process. Mal does have a Kindle (it was a HS graduation present) but once he discovers sex, all other hobbies and activities are promptly forgotten, including Kindle reading.

L

L


----------



## Leslie

dimples said:


> Btw, would it be allowed to post a link to a community I just created on Shelfari? I created it specifically for readers who are interested in lesbian fiction and non-fiction.


I think that would be fine.

L


----------



## dimples

For those interested in books with lesbian content, I have recently started a community on Shelfari. It's a community for both fiction and non-fiction. I only started it a few days ago so it's still pretty 'quiet' but I would love it if people joined and shared their recommendations, added to the bookshelf and discussed books, authors etc. It can be found here: http://www.shelfari.com/groups/63997/about

ETA: Wasting no time, lol. Thanks Leslie


----------



## Whidbeyislandgirl

My weekend reading:

Someone above recommended Chemistry by Lewis DeSimone, wow, that was a hard one! It was quite good but not what I was expecting.....

Also read Secrets, Skin and Leather by Sean Michael, Leslie I think that was your suggestion, that was one HOT book! Loved it! Better than some of the Hammer books. 

I'm reading The Gentleman and the Rogue by Bonnie Dee and Summer Devon now, about done, it's good too. I think that was in a previous post as well. I'll need to see if they have more. 

I read Marguerite Labb's Triquetra series a couple of days ago, they were excellent. Vampires, smut, not too bloody, a tiny bit of bondage and spanking. Just right. 

So much to read, so little time!

Vicki


----------



## Geoffrey

Whidbeyislandgirl said:


> Someone above recommended Chemistry by Lewis DeSimone, wow, that was a hard one! It was quite good but not what I was expecting.....


I loved that book. It was more of a Coming of Age story than a typical m/m romance and it made me want to smack some sense into and hug and protect both Neil and Zach - each for different reasons.


----------



## Whidbeyislandgirl

Geoffrey said:


> I loved that book. It was more of a Coming of Age story than a typical m/m romance and it made me want to smack some sense into and hug and protect both Neil and Zach - each for different reasons.


I agree... not so much romance/erotica as I was expecting. I really did enjoy the story, I did want to protect them both, and poor Martin in the background. I felt sorry for him. I want to know what happens next.


----------



## Geoffrey

Steph H said:


> I have Keeping Promise Rock in my TBR (thanks for the endorsement, Geoff!), and just found out a week or so ago about a sequel of sorts, called Making Promises. I don't recall now if it's just set in the same town or if the characters from KPR appear in it or what... *starts looking around* -- ah, here's where I saw the reference, a review at All Romance Ebooks calls it a "companion piece", whatever that means .


I'm at 78% of _Making Promises_. Like its predecessor, it's a story that spans a period of time instead of a quickie romance. _Keeping Promise Rock_ might be slightly better, but there are a couple scenes in this one that just broke my heart. It's worth a read.


----------



## originalgrissel

Well, if you are looking for a good story with a good dose of the hotness you might want to give Chris Owen's books a read. Bareback (a m/m gay cowboy lovestory) is available for Kindle and it's a great book! Full of hot sex, sweetness and angst. The sequel, "Natural Disaster" is currenly only available in paperback but it was great as well. Basically any of the books in Lee Rowan's "Royal Navy series" are great if you are are a fan of historical m/m romance. Bethany Brown & Ashlyn Kane's "True North" was very enjoyable as well.

If you're looking for something that falls more into the psychological thriller/police procedural category that the "romance" category  & you don't mind some disturbing imagery, I recommend any of the books by Val McDermid that feature Tony Hill. Neither of the two main characters (forensic psychologist Tony Hill or Detective Inspector Carol Jordan) are gay or lesbian but the books generally always feature secondary characters that are and Ms. McDermid is a lesbian, so if you're looking to support LGBT author's add her to the list.


----------



## Whidbeyislandgirl

originalgrissel said:


> Well, if you are looking for a good story with a good dose of the hotness you might want to give Chris Owen's books a read. Bareback (a m/m gay cowboy lovestory) is available for Kindle and it's a great book! Full of hot sex, sweetness and angst. The sequel, "Natural Disaster" is currenly only available in paperback but it was great as well. Basically any of the books in Lee Rowan's "Royal Navy series" are great if you are are a fan of historical m/m romance. Bethany Brown & Ashlyn Kane's "True North" was very enjoyable as well.
> 
> If you're looking for something that falls more into the psychological thriller/police procedural category that the "romance" category & you don't mind some disturbing imagery, I recommend any of the books by Val McDermid that feature Tony Hill. Neither of the two main characters (forensic psychologist Tony Hill or Detective Inspector Carol Jordan) are gay or lesbian but the books generally always feature secondary characters that are and Ms. McDermid is a lesbian, so if you're looking to support LGBT author's add her to the list.


I've read all of Chris Owens books, they are wonderful. Loved Bareback and Natural Disaster. There are a couple of short stories about Jake and Tor as well. Natural Disaster is available in ebook format, that's how I got it. The short stories as well. I can't remember where, went from her website and followed the link. It may have been torquere. Her Deviations series is wonderful as well. BDSM but not bloody. A committed couple who becomes a trio. Very very hot....


----------



## Leslie

Hi everyone,

Time to resurrect this thread!

For the month of December, the review site, Speak Its Name is running an Advent calendar. Every day a different post--some about the holidays, some not. So far they've all been interesting. There are also lots of giveaways and free books so it is definitely worth checking out.

http://speakitsname.com/

My contribution will be posted on December 15th but I hope everyone stops by daily. It's worth a look.

L


----------



## Steph H

Oh, it has been awhile for this thread, hasn't it?   I've been reading a lot of m/m books again lately after taking a break for a bit to read some other things, but although I've enjoyed most of them, I can't say I've read anything that was really just knock-my-socks-off *great*.  

I have been reading several by Lynn Lorenz, though, that have been quite good.  Have you read much/any of her (I think 'her', can't recall offhand, and that could be a 'he' name also....) work?


----------



## [email protected]

Ash - Malinda Lo


----------



## Leslie

I am behind on all my reading, m/m and otherwise!

The Dickens with Love is a fun Christmas story...it came out last year. Right now it's free so take advantage!



Enjoy...

L


----------



## RodGovers

Unfortunately it's not available as a Kindle book, but this is one of the most unusual and interesting gay-themed books I've read this year:

 The Lonely War by Alan Chin

I finished the book last night and liked it so much that I'm buying the author's other three books today two of which have Kindle versions.

I'm so used to my Kindle now that it took me a while to get used to reading on paper again!


----------



## Andrew Ashling

RodGovers said:


> Unfortunately it's not available as a Kindle book, but this is one of the most unusual and interesting gay-themed books I've read this year:
> 
> The Lonely War by Alan Chin
> 
> I finished the book last night and liked it so much that I'm buying the author's other three books today two of which have Kindle versions.
> 
> I'm so used to my Kindle now that it took me a while to get used to reading on paper again!


Could you let us know what you thought of his latest _Butterfly's Child_? It's brand new and it hasn't even been reviewed on Amazon yet.


----------



## RodGovers

Andrew Ashling said:


> Could you let us know what you thought of his latest _Butterfly's Child_? It's brand new and it hasn't even been reviewed on Amazon yet.


Only bought it an hour ago, Andrew, and haven't even downloaded it yet. I've got a few books to read before I get to it including his other two.

For those looking for it, it's under Chin Alan for some reason and doesn't show up on his author profile. I've contacted the author via his website to let him know.


----------



## Leslie

You can get *The Lonely War* in a Kindle version at Fictionwise:

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b99172/?si=0

I wrote a review of it at Jessewave's site. Here's the link:

http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/?p=12180

I am interested to see that *Butterfly's Child* is out. I read it in a very, very early draft version. It needed a lot of work at that point. Hopefully Alan took some of my comments to heart.

L


----------



## Leslie

> Basically any of the books in Lee Rowan's "Royal Navy series" are great if you are are a fan of historical m/m romance.


The last book in the series came out back in October...in case you haven't discovered it yet.



L


----------



## RodGovers

Leslie said:


> You can get *The Lonely War* in a Kindle version at Fictionwise:
> 
> http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b99172/?si=0


Thanks, Leslie. I wish I had known that before I bought the paper version. I'll have to remember to check out other sites in the future.

Off to read your review now ...


----------



## Leslie

I picked this up based on a 5 star review at jessewave's site. I've only read 1.5 stories but am enjoying it enough to recommend it here...


----------



## Leslie

I finished *His for the Holidays*. All the stories were good but I definitely had preferences:

*Icecapade* by Josh Lanyon was my favorite...I think because I am a huge JL fan. *****
*Nine Lights Over Edinburgh* by Harper Fox was number two. Not terribly Christmas-sy but very well written and a good story. *****
*Mistletoe at Midnight *by L.B. Gregg was number three. Cute and sweet. ****
*I Heard Him Exclaim* by Z.A. Maxfield. This one was trying for cute and sweet but it dragged and was sort of plotlessly pointless. ***

L


----------



## Steph H

Thanks for the mini-review, Leslie. I got that one a couple of days ago, but haven't started it yet.

Have you read much of Z.A. Maxfield's work? I adored her St. Nacho's trilogy and ePistols at Dawn was fun, and I know you liked Drawn Together as did I.

By the way, since I haven't poked you in awhile -- where's the Taming Groomzilla follow-up?


----------



## Leslie

*Groomzilla's Story*...sigh...Luke keeps yelling at me but I've been super-busy! LOL.

Quick updates:

today's freebie at All Romance for the 12 Days of Christmas is *Dark Horse* by Kate Sherwood. Haven't read it but it's 153K words which should keep some of the voracious readers around here happy. LOL.

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-darkhorse-440933-144.html

I think that's the first m/m free book they've had in this promotion.

Here's an interesting article from Library Journal:

http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/888366-264/bodice_rippers_without_the_bodice.html.csp

The only book I haven't read was *The Tin Star*. I was *a little* disappointed in *Tigers and Devils* although I know lots of people really liked it. I thought it was a little wordy but an overall good story. All the rest I really enjoyed so if you are looking to dip your toes into m/m, this is a good starter list.

L


----------



## Geoffrey

Leslie said:


> Here's an interesting article from Library Journal:
> 
> http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/888366-264/bodice_rippers_without_the_bodice.html.csp
> 
> The only book I haven't read was *The Tin Star*. I was *a little* disappointed in *Tigers and Devils* although I know lots of people really liked it. I thought it was a little wordy but an overall good story. All the rest I really enjoyed so if you are looking to dip your toes into m/m, this is a good starter list.
> 
> L


heh. I've read one .... so between us we make a full list. (of course the one I've read isn't *The Tin Star*, but c'est la vie)


----------



## Steph H

And I'm in the middle, having read several but not all.  And I did read The Tin Star, just last month in fact, and its 'sequel', The Broken H (I use the term loosely, they're in the same universe but don't specifically follow the same main characters). They weren't super great, but were pretty good.

Yesterday, I was delighted to discover that there was a 3rd book out in Dorien Grey's Elliott Smith series. I was checking my "waiting on next book in the series" Amazon wish list and found "Caesar's Fall" came out on Kindle last month. Anyone read it yet?


----------



## J Bee

I recently read this:



This story was just the right combination of strength of plot, with sexuality mostly in the background and the sex scenes romantic and tasteful. I really enjoyed Day's writing style too, although the book felt more like a fantasy novel and not science fiction as it's billed. Haven't read the sequel yet because some of the things I've read in reviews have me a little uncomfortable. Anyone given the second book a shot yet?


----------



## Geoffrey

Jay Bell said:


> I recently read this:
> 
> 
> 
> This story was just the right combination of strength of plot, with sexuality mostly in the background and the sex scenes romantic and tasteful. I really enjoyed Day's writing style too, although the book felt more like a fantasy novel and not science fiction as it's billed. Haven't read the sequel yet because some of the things I've read in reviews have me a little uncomfortable. Anyone given the second book a shot yet?


I read the first one last year some time and really got into it but I never got around to the sequel. I just read the reviews after your comments and I can see where you're coming from .... it's on my wishlist still, but now I'm not so sure either ...


----------



## Geoffrey

I just looked and I never got around to mentioning this book:

IM by Rick R. Reed


It's the story of a gay cop chasing a serial killer who preys on gay guys online. I really enjoyed it and it had just enough new plot revelations throughout the book that I never quite figured out who was doing what and why .... there is some pretty graphic violence in it and a pretty graphic post-rape image, but it's well-done overall the book really doesn't come with much gratuitous sex.


----------



## J Bee

Geoffrey said:


> It's the story of a gay cop chasing a serial killer who preys on gay guys online. I really enjoyed it and it had just enough new plot revelations throughout the book that I never quite figured out who was doing what and why .... there is some pretty graphic violence in it and a pretty graphic post-rape image, but it's well-done overall the book really doesn't come with much gratuitous sex.


IM is definitely a good read. Rick R. Reed excels at writing creepy, depraved characters. My favorite of his is Orientation:



This book never seems to get much press, even though I think it's one of his best. It's about a guy that loses his husband to AIDS, only to meet said husband reincarnated years later as a woman. It really challenges the concept of love and does so tastefully without any tacky turns. There's also a very disturbed new boyfriend in the picture which adds a terrible amount of tension. I was a judge for the EPPIES a few years back and gave this one a perfect score.


----------



## Leslie

Hi everyone,

I just finished and reviewed a 5 star book at Jessewave's site: *Nineteen* by A.J. Mars.



You can read my review here: http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/2011/03/14/nineteen/

Definitely worth checking out...I loved this short novella.

L


----------



## Leslie

I read this book a year ago when it was self-published. Now it's been picked up by Dreamspinner, re-released with some new scenes added and a new cover (which I don't particularly care for).



The book, however, is still great. I'll be updating my review at Wave's site later this week and will be writing a review of the second book in the series, *Abandoned*, when it comes out in May.

L


----------



## brianrowe

My favorite gay novel has to be Michael Cunningham's A Home at the End of the World. The Front Runner is really moving, too.


----------



## Leslie

I just re-read this in anticipation of *Paris A to Z* coming out on April 6th. This is a really, really good book...highly recommended...


----------



## Steph H

That whole series is good.  I actually just got around to buying Strawberries 2-3 weeks ago (went on a bit of a spree from my 'waiting to buy' list... LOL) but haven't read it yet.  Thanks, Leslie, for the heads-up that another one in the series is on the way!


----------



## Leslie

Yes, I love that series. I am looking forward to the new book!

In other news, two books I have previously recommended are up for Lambda Literary awards:





Both are definitely worth reading and I hope they win in their respective categories!

L


----------



## Leslie

I discovered this self-published gem last weekend. A wonderful story, beautifully written and a bargain at $2.99!



I posted a review at Wave's site yesterday:

http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/2011/04/28/the-cranberry-hush/

Highly recommended!


----------



## JRTomlin

I don't feel like going through the whole thread to see what's been recommended. I definitely recommend this one although it is rather a read that hurts:



I recommend it very highly.

This one is a good coming of age story:



This one is a nice romance:



Some I've read recently that I'd suggest.


----------



## Leslie

I've read Ed's two books and yes, they are very good. He's a very popular author here at Kindleboards. I haven't read Ann's book or heard anything about it. Thanks for the link.

L


----------



## JRTomlin

I agree that Ed has written some good novels. I've read several of them and enjoyed them all.

Another of Ann Somerville's novels that I enjoyed (she mainly writes fantasy/lgbt) is this one:



They are good novels which, of course, you certainly don't have to be LGBT to enjoy.


----------



## Leslie

Josh Lanyon is starting a new series and the first book is *This Rough Magic*. I reviewed it at Jessewave's site:

http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/2011/05/19/this-rough-magic/

My "duelling" reviewer didn't like it quite as much as me, but he still thought it was pretty good. I thought it was terrific.

It's published by LooseId and they don't sell their books at Amazon, but you can buy it from the LooseId website:

http://www.loose-id.com/This-Rough-Magic.aspx

L


----------



## Leslie

This was an absolutely terrific book:



Here's the synopsis:

Meet 'Bob the Book,' a gay book for sale in a Greenwich Village bookstore, where he falls in love with another book, Moishe. But an unlikely customer separates the young lovers. As Bob wends his way through used book bins, paper bags, knapsacks, and lecture halls, hoping to be reunited with Moishe, he meets a variety of characters, both book and human, including Angela, a widowed copy of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, and two other separated lovers, Neil and Jerry, near victims of a book burning. Among their owners are Alfred and Duane, whose on-again, off-again relationship unites and separates our book friends.
Will Bob find Moishe?
Will Jerry and Neil be reunited?
Will Alfred and Duane make it work?
Read 'Bob the Book' to find all the answers...

~~

Even though it's gay, because Bob is gay (and all the human characters are, too), this book should appeal to anyone who loves books--particularly folks who love to have books on their bookshelves! Imagine them all talking to each other, but being somewhat restricted in their conversation by what's in their pages. Here's _Selected Greek Tragedies_ talking about his owner, Owen:

"Thus, thus is Owen fallen!" cried _Selected Greek Tragedies_. "Weep, Manhattan, for Owen, thy fallen son! Seek him not in thy piano bars, but alone at Armani Exchange! Seek him alone before his closet, in lonely quest for a more fabulous outfit!"

Later, we learn that books that had been made into movies lord it over the other non-movie books, but even these guys compete with each other. I loved this paragraph:

And then some book, almost always straight, would start in about having been made into a movie and who was in it and who directed and how much money it made. The gay books seethed and tried not to listen, and they looked for a copy of _Maurice_ or _Boys in the Band_ to rally themselves around. Tensions ran especially high among E.M. Forster's books. Copies of _Maurice_ were taunted terribly by the others: "If you're so great, how come he wouldn't publish you till he was _dead_?" _A Room With a View_ was especially cruel as his movie had come out just before _Maurice_'s movie and had made much more money. But then _A Passage to India_ would chime in: "Well, we know who bought all those tickets to see _your_ movie," he sneered at _A Room With a View_. "Gay guys who wanted to see the nude bathing scene. Plus you've got that fruity Cecil and all those tea parties and lawn tennis. Even George, climbing trees and writing poetry! It looks like I'm the only one whose characters are real men!" Meanwhile, _Where Angels Fear to Tread_ felt she could not speak because her movie had not been very successful. She was perhaps Forster's least-known novel, and you never knew if another book might know or might pretend to know your ranking or your number of stars on Amazon.

Highly, highly recommended. This book will definitely have a place on my top ten list for the year.

L


----------



## Geoffrey

Leslie said:


> I discovered this self-published gem last weekend. A wonderful story, beautifully written and a bargain at $2.99!
> 
> 
> 
> I posted a review at Wave's site yesterday:
> 
> http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/2011/04/28/the-cranberry-hush/
> 
> Highly recommended!


I read this on Leslie's word and I really enjoyed it. ... get it, read it, love it.


----------



## JRTomlin

I just read Knight Errant by K. D. Sarge. It's a really sweet scifi/space opera/coming-of-age story with gay main characters. I reviewed it on my blog (hope mentioning my blog isn't self-promotion *frownie face* but I did review it)

Since it doesn't really have explicit sex, I would be quite comfortable recommending it to gay teens or other teens for that matter.


----------



## Leslie

JRTomlin said:


> I just read Knight Errant by K. D. Sarge. It's a really sweet scifi/space opera/coming-of-age story with gay main characters. I reviewed it on my blog (hope mentioning my blog isn't self-promotion *frownie face* but I did review it)
> 
> Since it doesn't really have explicit sex, I would be quite comfortable recommending it to gay teens or other teens for that matter.


I've sampled this. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll report back with my review.

L


----------



## JRTomlin

Leslie said:


> I've sampled this. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll report back with my review.
> 
> L


One thing I criticised in it was what seemed to me to be a rather slow start to the novel. It took a while to get into it, but once I was glad I kept reading.

Another novel I'd recommend is Power Play by J. M. Snyder. It is also a rather sweet coming-of-age kind of story with very young gay protagonists. It's pretty graphic in the sexual scenes (which is good or bad depending on ones' point-of-view) and has excellent characterisation of the young gay lovers. My main criticism of it is that I thought Snyder ended the novel a bit too soon with a number of loose ends still hanging.


----------



## Leslie

JRTomlin said:


> I just read Knight Errant by K. D. Sarge. It's a really sweet scifi/space opera/coming-of-age story with gay main characters. I reviewed it on my blog (hope mentioning my blog isn't self-promotion *frownie face* but I did review it)
> 
> Since it doesn't really have explicit sex, I would be quite comfortable recommending it to gay teens or other teens for that matter.


I just finished Knight Errant and thought it was terrific. I am usually not a fan of sci-fi type things but since this was all about the characters and not about inter-galaxy wars and defending the universe, the setting didn't bother me. I loved Taro and Rafe and their whole interaction plus the long slow build to their relationship.



I should probably offer the warning that Taro is young (he turns 16 in the course of the story) for readers who are bothered by the underage thing. For me, he was wise beyond his years and his chronological age didn't bother me.

L


----------



## Steph H

I've had the good fortune to read a few really good books lately, not the usual "boy meets boy, they dance around each other, they have lots of sex, they have lots of issues getting together, they finally end up together" kind. These are all somewhat different in tone, and all quite good.

One was mentioned on just the previous page but I managed to miss it both times -- Leslie's original recommendation and Geoffrey's additional thumbs-up; I happened across it on my own, but fully endorse it as much as they did.

The Cranberry Hush, by Ben Monopoli



These others, I don't recall seeing on this thread, though I didn't go back and check.

Seven Days, by Andrew Grey



Breathe, by Sloan Parker [this is closest to the 'usual' formula but with an interesting twist]



And last, but certainly not least, our own Leslie's latest -- I'm Saying Yes, by E.N. Holland


----------



## grahampowell

They're not on the Kindle, unfortunately, so this post is a bit off-topic, but Joseph Hansen wrote a series of private eye novels featuring a gay detective, Dave Brandstetter. This was one of the leading detective series of the late 60s and early 70s, and gay or not, was pretty widely read.


Graham


----------



## Leslie

grahampowell said:


> They're not on the Kindle, unfortunately, so this post is a bit off-topic, but Joseph Hansen wrote a series of private eye novels featuring a gay detective, Dave Brandstetter. This was one of the leading detective series of the late 60s and early 70s, and gay or not, was pretty widely read.
> 
> Graham


I'd love to read the Brandstetter books. Josh Lanyon talks a lot about them as an influence on his writing.

L


----------



## Leslie

A year or so ago, everyone was talking about *More* by Sloan Parker which I haven't read. Maybe I should give *Breathe* a try.

And Steph, thanks for the heads-up for *I'm Saying Yes*. I hope you enjoy it!

I realize I didn't put up a link for this:



It's good--4.5 stars. Quite angsty. I am looking forward to the third book (due out in July) which the author tells me is cheerier than this one!

L


----------



## Steph H

Leslie said:


> A year or so ago, everyone was talking about *More* by Sloan Parker which I haven't read. Maybe I should give *Breathe* a try.
> 
> And Steph, thanks for the heads-up for *I'm Saying Yes*. I hope you enjoy it!


I have "More" but haven't read it yet, I think I picked it up awhile back during a buying binge on Fictionwise when it still had good deals.

And yes, I did very much enjoy "I'm Saying Yes"!


----------



## lib2b

Some books I haven't seen recommended on this thread but that probably fit are Jo Graham's Numinous World series.









The first book is sort of an alternate retelling of the Aeneid, and the same "soul" is followed throughout the different books reincarnated as different people. The "soul" is a woman in two of the books and a man in one of them. I haven't read the short story collection at the bottom yet, so I don't know about that one, but I believe it's more stories about this same "soul" in different time periods. There are straight, gay and bisexual characters as well as polyamorous ones, but no character's sexuality is ever the main focus of the story.


----------



## Leslie

Another undiscovered indie gem:



*The Painting* appears to be a self-published book, available only on the Kindle, by an author who doesn't have an author page or a bio at the end of the story, so I have no idea who F.K. Wallace is. Which is a shame, because I would like to write him/her and give my thanks for writing such a wonderful story.

This is Stefan's story. It starts in Berlin in 1934 when he meets Gunter, the man who would become his lover and soulmate. They are able to share a few happy months but war is inevitable. This is one of those stories where things go from bad to worse and when you don't think it can get any worse, it does. But believe it or not, it has a happy ending and by the end I was sobbing buckets.

I think this story gives a very accurate, as well as harrowing, portrayal of what life was like for many homosexuals (Stefan never uses the word gay) throughout most of the 20th century. It's tough to read and many times I wanted to scream at the injustices he suffered. But he put up with everything with an amazing amount of resilience and even grace. I felt for him and my heart ached with his. When he found his happinesses (yes, plural) I was happy with him too.

I definitely recommend this. Much of the book is not an easy read, especially the nine months when he was at Birkenau. (Nine months? It seemed like nine years.) But if you enjoy realistic, well-detailed, well-researched historical fiction, this should definitely go on your TBR list.

By the way, the story is much, much better than the blurb on Amazon would lead you to believe.

L


----------



## Dolorous Edd Tollett

Leslie said:


> Another undiscovered indie gem:
> 
> 
> 
> *The Painting* appears to be a self-published book, available only on the Kindle, by an author who doesn't have an author page or a bio at the end of the story, so I have no idea who F.K. Wallace is. Which is a shame, because I would like to write him/her and give my thanks for writing such a wonderful story.
> 
> This is Stefan's story. It starts in Berlin in 1934 when he meets Gunter, the man who would become his lover and soulmate. They are able to share a few happy months but war is inevitable. This is one of those stories where things go from bad to worse and when you don't think it can get any worse, it does. But believe it or not, it has a happy ending and by the end I was sobbing buckets.
> 
> I think this story gives a very accurate, as well as harrowing, portrayal of what life was like for many homosexuals (Stefan never uses the word gay) throughout most of the 20th century. It's tough to read and many times I wanted to scream at the injustices he suffered. But he put up with everything with an amazing amount of resilience and even grace. I felt for him and my heart ached with his. When he found his happinesses (yes, plural) I was happy with him too.
> 
> I definitely recommend this. Much of the book is not an easy read, especially the nine months when he was at Birkenau. (Nine months? It seemed like nine years.) But if you enjoy realistic, well-detailed, well-researched historical fiction, this should definitely go on your TBR list.
> 
> By the way, the story is much, much better than the blurb on Amazon would lead you to believe.
> 
> L


Your description reminded me of this movie. Not the same, but still a very good movie based on gay people in WW2 Europe.

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Hide-J%C3%A9r%C3%A9mie-Renier/dp/B000IJ7A6A


----------



## Leslie

Dolorous Edd Tollett said:


> Your description reminded me of this movie. Not the same, but still a very good movie based on gay people in WW2 Europe.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Love-Hide-J%C3%A9r%C3%A9mie-Renier/dp/B000IJ7A6A


That does look good. I also just bought this documentary which has good reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/Paragraph-175-Rupert-Everett/dp/B00005YUP1/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1307565063&sr=1-1

In the book, Stefan was imprisoned for 9 years after WWII ended according to his conviction under Paragraph 175. I was not familiar with Paragraph 175 before reading this book.

L


----------



## Geoffrey

Leslie said:


> That does look good. I also just bought this documentary which has good reviews:
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Paragraph-175-Rupert-Everett/dp/B00005YUP1/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1307565063&sr=1-1
> 
> In the book, Stefan was imprisoned for 9 years after WWII ended according to his conviction under Paragraph 175. I was not familiar with Paragraph 175 before reading this book.
> 
> L


Such a dark period in our history ....


----------



## Dolorous Edd Tollett

Kate Elliott's Jaran and His Conquering Sword. Good sci fi series with Gay and Bi characters in a homophobic, primitive society complete. It is a minor/incidental part of the story but well integrated.


----------



## Leslie

Geoffrey said:


> Such a dark period in our history ....


It's a very dark period.

I have since learned that the author of *The Painting* is Fiona K. Wallace, an ER physician who presently lives in Tasmania. The book is for sale at Smashwords as well as Amazon.

L


----------



## Leslie

Josh Lanyon's newest, which was terrific. Definitely 5 stars. Set here in Maine, which made it fun for me.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter

A gentle reminder that self promotion outside the Book Bazaar is not allowed.  Authors, please resist the urge to promote your own books as those posts will be removed.

Thanks!

Betsy


----------



## Leslie

I just finished this:



Young adult, anthology of four stories about growing up gay. Very well written...my favorite story was _Line in the Sand_ by Robin Reardon, but all four were excellent. Five stars.

All proceeds from the sale of this book are being donated to The Trevor Project so enjoy the story and contribute to a good cause in the process!


----------



## Leslie

I've been on a tear of young adult books this week. I finished this one on Wednesday:



It was first published in 1969 and has been re-published by the author's niece. Absolutely fabulous--one of those timeless books. Doesn't feel dated at all. It has 3 essays at the end which provided a great deal of context for understanding how and why this book was written.

One of the essays was by Martin Wilson, which led me to his book:



Another absolutely fabulous story that I could not stop reading! Both of these are very highly recommended.

Enjoy!


----------



## Lee

Steph H said:


> The Cranberry Hush, by Ben Monopoli


Just wanted to say thanks for this recommendation, I really enjoyed it!


----------



## CRParks

The milestone of LGBT lit!










I'm pretty certain 2011 is the year of Genet, but maybe that's just me.


----------



## JRTomlin

Leslie said:


> I'd love to read the Brandstetter books. Josh Lanyon talks a lot about them as an influence on his writing.
> 
> L


I have a complete set of first edition Hansen Brandstetters. It is a GREAT series.


----------



## Steph H

Since I keep hearing about the Brandstetter books -- plus I finally read Josh Lanyon's Adrien English series which mentions them (and what a great series THAT one is) -- I broke down and bought *gasp* the paperback version of the omnibus containing all(?) 12 books.  1200 pages...that's gonna hurt after being used to Kindle. 

I tend to prefer m/m stories with adults rather than youngster coming of age stories, so having a protagonist who ages from 40ish to 60ish in the series should be right up my alley.


----------



## Leslie

Lee said:


> Just wanted to say thanks for this recommendation, I really enjoyed it!


I love this book!

L


----------



## Leslie

I continue with my quest of reading WWII stories and memoirs and thus I just finished this:



Not a cheery story by any means and it tells the tale of a man's almost ruined life (I think he found some salvation at the end). Still, it was very interesting and I would recommend this if you are interested in this period of history.


----------



## Leslie

Steph H said:


> I tend to prefer m/m stories with adults rather than youngster coming of age stories, so having a protagonist who ages from 40ish to 60ish in the series should be right up my alley.


So have you read *Come Unto These Yellow Sands* yet? So good....

L


----------



## JRTomlin

Steph H said:


> Since I keep hearing about the Brandstetter books -- plus I finally read Josh Lanyon's Adrien English series which mentions them (and what a great series THAT one is) -- I broke down and bought *gasp* the paperback version of the omnibus containing all(?) 12 books. 1200 pages...that's gonna hurt after being used to Kindle.
> 
> I tend to prefer m/m stories with adults rather than youngster coming of age stories, so having a protagonist who ages from 40ish to 60ish in the series should be right up my alley.


Then you would LOVE Michael Thomas Ford. Most of his novels (I recommend _What We Remember_, _Changing Tides_, _Full Circle_, _Looking for It_ and _Last Summer_) are about adults, often in their forties or fifties. He has been nominated for 11 Lambda Literary Awards and won 3.


----------



## Leslie

JRTomlin said:


> Then you would LOVE Michael Thomas Ford. Most of his novels (I recommend _What We Remember_, _Changing Tides_, _Full Circle_, _Looking for It_ and _Last Summer_) are about adults, often in their forties or fifties. He has been nominated for 11 Lambda Literary Awards and won 3.


The only thing I have read of his (listened to, actually, as an audio book) was *Suicide Notes* which I liked very much. I downloaded a bunch of samples of his other books to a prior Kindle and then forgot about them. Maybe I should get going and get them again.

I should point out that the main character in *Suicide Notes* is a teenager.

L


----------



## Steph H

Leslie said:


> So have you read *Come Unto These Yellow Sands* yet? So good....
> 
> L


Not yet, but it's on my Kindle.  I took a sidestep into his Adrien English and Holmes & Moriarity series first. Enjoyed both a lot, I wish the English series wasn't done but look forward to more of Holmes.

And thanks, JR, for the recommendation on Michael Thomas Ford, I'll check him out; haven't heard the name before.

It's not that I don't like teenager/coming-of-age stories at all, especially if they're done well. Sometimes I just get tired of all that angst.


----------



## JRTomlin

Leslie said:


> The only thing I have read of his (listened to, actually, as an audio book) was *Suicide Notes* which I liked very much. I downloaded a bunch of samples of his other books to a prior Kindle and then forgot about them. Maybe I should get going and get them again.
> 
> I should point out that the main character in *Suicide Notes* is a teenager.
> 
> L


It's not that Ford never writes about teens, but tends more to write about adults. His teens are quite good, I think. _Changing Tides_ has a teen PoV character for part of it although she is not the main protagonist. She is a very interesting character though, I thought. Her FATHER is the main character and he does a bit coming of age. One of the points Ford makes is that we haven't learned everything about ourselves by age twenty-one.

I agree with Steph that one simply become tired of teen angst. There is more to life.


----------



## Leslie

Steph H said:


> Not yet, but it's on my Kindle.  I took a sidestep into his Adrien English and Holmes & Moriarity series first. Enjoyed both a lot, I wish the English series wasn't done but look forward to more of Holmes.


I've only read the first H&M book. I need to get back to that series.



> And thanks, JR, for the recommendation on Michael Thomas Ford, I'll check him out; haven't heard the name before.


I'm friends with him on Facebook. He's a bit of a character...LOL



> It's not that I don't like teenager/coming-of-age stories at all, especially if they're done well. Sometimes I just get tired of all that angst.


But sometimes angst is just what you need...


----------



## JRTomlin

Leslie said:


> I've only read the first H&M book. I need to get back to that series.
> 
> I'm friends with him on Facebook. He's a bit of a character...LOL
> 
> But sometimes angst is just what you need...


I'm not totally surprised from his novels, although I do not love his Jan Austin ones.

Yes, but sometimes it should be ADULT angst.


----------



## Leslie

In the quasi-official game, Geoffrey recommended this book, which I buzzed through in a matter of hours.



I had to read the author's second memoir to find out what happened to him in more recent years. Another good book that I zipped right through.



Then, because I've become obsessed with Josh Kilmer-Purcell, I had to order the DVD of his TV show...LOL. Sometimes I'm hopeless!



I definitely recommend the two books. I'll let you know what I think of the TV show after I watch it.

L


----------



## Julie K. Rose

I would highly, HIGHLY recommend The Soldier of Raetia by Heather Domin and Alcestis by Katharine Beutner.


----------



## Steph H

Leslie said:


> So have you read *Come Unto These Yellow Sands* yet? So good....
> 
> L


Leslie, I have now finally read *Come Unto These Yellow Sands* and as I fully expected, it was indeed a wonderful book. Watching Swift try so hard to keep it together and not fall apart was amazing, I couldn't help but root for him. And for once having an out and proud police officer instead of one stuck in the closet and being so afraid to come out or be his true self! Of course, being in a small town instead of a big city probably made that easier.  I really like everything I've read of Josh's (though I haven't read them all), his and Andrew Gray's books are just so much *more* and better than the standard m/m romances.



> Since I keep hearing about the Brandstetter books -- plus I finally read Josh Lanyon's Adrien English series which mentions them (and what a great series THAT one is) -- I broke down and bought *gasp* the paperback version of the omnibus containing all(?) 12 books. 1200 pages...that's gonna hurt after being used to Kindle.


I received my Brandstetter book this week and it's definitely a thick book -- and teeny tiny print! LOL It may take me awhile to get through depending on how much I can stand holding/reading it. 



> I would highly, HIGHLY recommend The Soldier of Raetia by Heather Domin and Alcestis by Katharine Beutner.


Hi Julie, welcome to Kindleboards, and the LGBT thread! The Soldier of Raetia looks good, I've always liked stories in the Roman period, so I went ahead and got that one. Thanks for the suggestion.


----------



## Leslie

Hey Steph,

So glad you enjoyed Josh's latest. It is a terrific book!

For anyone who hasn't read it yet, here's a deal...The Cranberry Hush is on sale for 99 cents! I thought it was a bargain at $2.99. Now it's even a greater bargain!


----------



## Julie K. Rose

Steph H said:


> Hi Julie, welcome to Kindleboards, and the LGBT thread! The Soldier of Raetia looks good, I've always liked stories in the Roman period, so I went ahead and got that one. Thanks for the suggestion.


Hi Steph, thanks for the welcome! Hope you enjoy it, it's one of my faves.


----------



## Steph H

Julie, I finished reading The Soldier of Raetia and really enjoyed it. I'm glad to hear the author is working on a sequel, though it sounds like she's barely started on it. I'm hoping it focuses on the same two main characters, though romance books rarely do. Then again, Soldier isn't strictly a romance book either, so maybe it will! 

I highly recommend it to others who haven't read it! It's a bargain at $4.00, a nice long book with good plotting and characterization.


----------



## Julie K. Rose

Steph, I'm so pleased you liked it! What I especially like about the book is how real and present it feels -- she really brought the time period alive.


----------



## Sara Pierce

I'm wondering if anybody has any recommendations or favorite stories with gay leads? I'm not looking for erotica - that has it's time and place too - but regular book-length novels (indie or traditional) with a gripping plot that happens to have gay main characters. I always see gay side characters but so rarely any mains! Romance is good; scifi would be better. Heck, I'd even love some westerns!


----------



## BRONZEAGE

EROMENOS , re: emperor Hadrian and his famed relationship with Antinous; from a new small press for historical fiction. This novel has great reviews earlier this year from sites like TwoDollarBill.  Lush prose, and the "gay" aspect is incidental to portrayal of Roman society as the backdrop for the emperor's dalliance in the "Greek mode". See also the rave review from Historical Novel Society (May?).

Hadrian had an affinity for things Greek, it seems, and even took to wearing a beard in that mode rather than being clean-shaven as Roman emperors before him.


----------



## MariaESchneider

Check out Ed Patterson

Also there's a series by Mercedes Lackey.  Which one was it...hang on, I'll go check.


----------



## MariaESchneider

Mercedes Lackey Valdamar series.  Mind you this isn't a story about being gay, it's fabulous Fantasy (epic) and it just so happens the lead is gay (I haven't read the whole series...I think I read two of the books? Some of her series kind of mix where one book is about a different main character, but she uses the same worlds.)  

I think there is also one (Firesong?) also by her that has a lead who is gay.


----------



## Sara Pierce

MariaESchneider said:


> Check out Ed Patterson
> 
> Also there's a series by Mercedes Lackey. Which one was it...hang on, I'll go check.


I know which series you're talking about, I think it started with "Magic's Pawn". I love her books!

Loved Firesong but haven't read anything else by her since, maybe I should look into her new stuff? I miss the Valdemar world...


----------



## JRTomlin

I'll repeat the recommendation of Patterson, for an indie. He has quite a number of novels with characters, both main and secondary, who are gay. If you can read _Look Away Silence_ without crying, you're a stronger person than I am while his _Jade Owl_ series is just very enjoyable fantasy with a number of characters who happen to be gay. He's an excellent writer.

A really excellent Lambda-award-winning author is Michael Nava. His mysteries are not available for Kindle unfortunately, but I can't tell you how much I recommend his Henry Rios series. The series starts with _The Little Death_ and proceeds through _Goldenboy_, _How Town_, _The Hidden Law_, _The Death of Friends_, _Burning Plain_ and _Rag and Bon_e. I am a mystery fan (wish I could write them) and rate his near the top of my list.

For a traditional non-genre published author, I strongly recommend Michael Thomas Ford. His award-winning humorous essay collections are fantastic of course (my favorite is _Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me_) but he is becoming almost as well known for his fiction now. _Full Circle_ is a great novel around the theme of friendship between gays. I also love his novel _Changing Tides_ which explores themes of family.


----------



## Geoffrey

For some good gay romance that doesn't have a lot of sex in it, try Amy Lane's Promise Rock series - they're great reads and they're not the type of romance where 2 guys meet, kiss, move in together and live happily ever after - there's conflict and drama and male egos and all that getting in the way.

For something harsh and gripping yet wonderfully written, try Tom Mendecino's _Probation_ or Scott Heim's _Mysterious Skin_ - not really easy reads but so worth it....

I'm a huge scifi fan but I've never really grokked gay scifi, so I'm pretty useless there ....


----------



## Sara Pierce

Thanks, I'll definitely look into those!!



Geoffrey said:


> For some good gay romance that doesn't have a lot of sex in it, try Amy Lane's Promise Rock series - they're great reads and they're not the type of romance where 2 guys meet, kiss, move in together and live happily ever after - there's conflict and drama and male egos and all that getting in the way.
> 
> For something harsh and gripping yet wonderfully written, try Tom Mendecino's _Probation_ or Scott Heim's _Mysterious Skin_ - not really easy reads but so worth it....
> 
> I'm a huge scifi fan but I've never really grokked gay scifi, so I'm pretty useless there ....


----------



## drenfrow

I don't know if you like mysteries but I just discovered a great series by Josh Lanyon.


----------



## JRTomlin

Oh, you were asking for science fiction and I forgot about Ann Somerville's 'Interstitial' and 'Impedimenta' both of which I could class as science fiction which just happens to have gay main characters. They're very good stories and I *think* they're both available on Amazon. In fact, I recommend quite a lot of her stories. Her very long and well-written fantasy series that begins with 'Kei's Gift' is a real delight.


----------



## telracs

JRTomlin said:


> Oh, you were asking for science fiction and I forgot about Ann Somerville's 'Interstitial' and 'Impedimenta' both of which I could class as science fiction which just happens to have gay main characters. They're very good stories and I *think* they're both available on Amazon. In fact, I recommend quite a lot of her stories. Her very long and well-written fantasy series that begins with 'Kei's Gift' is a real delight.


----------



## JRTomlin

scarlet said:


>


The tag line for that novel makes me chuckle:

"Love triangles. Alien monsters. Planetary war. Just another day in space."

Don't let the bare-chested cover fool you, although it does have some explicit sex, this is not erotica, by any means, but well-thought out science fiction that includes human relationships, including a fair amount of bickering.


----------



## Leslie

We've had a very long running thread on LGBT stories...I'll go dig it up and merge with this one. LOTS of good recommendations in that thread.

Also, we'll be reading Bob the Book by David Pratt in the September book klub. That was the Lambda Literary Award winner for Debut Gay Fiction back in May.


----------



## Leslie

Threads have been merged...please post recommendations. These are my favorite kind of stories!

L


----------



## JRTomlin

Leslie said:


> We've had a very long running thread on LGBT stories...I'll go dig it up and merge with this one. LOTS of good recommendations in that thread.
> 
> Also, we'll be reading Bob the Book by David Pratt in the September book klub. That was the Lambda Literary Award winner for Debut Gay Fiction back in May.


I've meant to read Bob the Book and haven't gotten around to it. It's on my TBR list. Looks -- weird, which, of course, may be a very good thing.


----------



## soyfrank

Nick Nolan has some good gay fiction books. They're modern updates of classic fairytales. I'm reviewing his newest book, which comes out on August 31, for NY Journal of Books.


----------



## RodGovers

Leslie said:


> I read this book a year ago when it was self-published. Now it's been picked up by Dreamspinner, re-released with some new scenes added and a new cover (which I don't particularly care for).
> 
> 
> 
> The book, however, is still great. I'll be updating my review at Wave's site later this week and will be writing a review of the second book in the series, *Abandoned*, when it comes out in May.
> 
> L


That cover is awful. The original was much better.










The same goes for Chemistry:

http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-ebook/dp/B0017HIH5A/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=A24IB90LPZJ0BS&qid=1313988735&sr=1-1

Original:









So many e-versions of novels have cheap & nasty covers in comparison to the original paper versions.


----------



## Leslie

Rod, I agree. I thought the original cover on *Enlightened* was much better too. The author explained that they wanted to use the same models on all six covers of the series but I thought that was pointless, especially since that's not what I pictured the kids in the story looking like. Also, the story takes place in Alabama in the summer, so what's the boy doing wearing a turtleneck?

Even so, I'd recommend the book.

L


----------



## Leslie

JRTomlin said:


> I've meant to read Bob the Book and haven't gotten around to it. It's on my TBR list. Looks -- weird, which, of course, may be a very good thing.


Weird isn't the word I would use but I guess that's a reason to come participate in the book club, isn't it? LOL.

L


----------



## J Bee

Leslie said:


> Hey Steph,
> 
> So glad you enjoyed Josh's latest. It is a terrific book!
> 
> For anyone who hasn't read it yet, here's a deal...The Cranberry Hush is on sale for 99 cents! I thought it was a bargain at $2.99. Now it's even a greater bargain!


I'd like to join the symphony of voices that praise Cranberry Hush. It's back up to the normal price now, but it's still really cheap. It's worth every penny too. Easily my favorite book I've read in this genre all year.


----------



## JRTomlin

Leslie said:


> Weird isn't the word I would use but I guess that's a reason to come participate in the book club, isn't it? LOL.
> 
> L


LOL Weird may not be the best word. I was searching a bit.


----------



## Steph H

Jay Bell said:


> I'd like to join the symphony of voices that praise Cranberry Hush. It's back up to the normal price now, but it's still really cheap. It's worth every penny too. Easily my favorite book I've read in this genre all year.


Speaking of changing covers, this is another one where I like the original cover (shown above) better than the new one I just noticed yesterday while browsing other things. I saw in his blog that he changed it to better match with his upcoming second book, but...meh. I like the original.

I'd still like to read Bob the Book, Leslie, but I just can't bring myself to pay $9.99 for it. Or at least, that's what it still was when I last checked 3-4 weeks ago.


----------



## J Bee

Steph H said:


> Speaking of changing covers, this is another one where I like the original cover (shown above) better than the new one I just noticed yesterday while browsing other things. I saw in his blog that he changed it to better match with his upcoming second book, but...meh. I like the original.


Oh, I don't know. The bright color appeals to me, and it's refreshing to see a cover in this genre without two dudes on the front. Not that I mind hot sexy guys, but it's nice to be reminded that it's not a prerequisite.


----------



## Sara Pierce

Jay Bell said:


> I'd like to join the symphony of voices that praise Cranberry Hush. It's back up to the normal price now, but it's still really cheap. It's worth every penny too. Easily my favorite book I've read in this genre all year.


I third the recommendation! Great book, I got it when the price was low but would gladly pay it's current price. Good stuff!


----------



## Sara Pierce

JRTomlin said:


> Oh, you were asking for science fiction and I forgot about Ann Somerville's 'Interstitial' and 'Impedimenta' both of which I could class as science fiction which just happens to have gay main characters. They're very good stories and I *think* they're both available on Amazon. In fact, I recommend quite a lot of her stories. Her very long and well-written fantasy series that begins with 'Kei's Gift' is a real delight.


I downloaded the sample for this book this morning and zoomed through it. Already purchased the full version, can't wait to keep reading!!!


----------



## Steph H

By the way, welcome to the new folks on the thread and thanks for new recommendations!  I probably won't get to it until this weekend, but I've already seen a few that I want to check out on Amazon.

I don't know why, but I've been on a m/m romance kick especially this month.  I don't think I've read anything but those the entire month, other than a few chapters of a health information book, and I've read something like 75 books this month already (due in large part to several days off work due to a health problem related to said health information book...and due also in part to quite a few short/shortish books).  Most months I read at least some, but not quite this many.


----------



## Leslie

Yes, hello to the new folks. We have a nice community here of folks who like LGBT titles.

Usually I have one or two m/m books going at any given time but not this month, which is unusual. It's because of the Quasi-Official Game -- Tripp recommended a book called "Assassin's Apprentice" by Robin Hobb and that got me hooked on this series. I am reading the third book (Assassin's Quest) which is good but I have to say, it's a little bit wordy. I think it could have been edited by about one-third. It's a medieval history/fantasy with magic. Not my usual genre but that's the whole point of the quasi game. There is one character who I think is/could be gay although that's not played up in the story and I am not sure it will be. Still, it points out to me how easy would be for authors to include gay characters without making a big deal of it--just have them be part of the character line-up along with everyone else.

Meanwhile, for the Bob the Book book club -- I am going to write the author and let him know we are reading his book, if he wants to drop by and say hello. I wrote him when I posted a review of his book on jessewave's site and he sent me a very nice message afterwards so I think he'd be thrilled to know he's a book club book. He did write a reading guide with questions which I'll be posting. Leading a book club is a new experience for me. I hope everyone else does the talking since I am not sure I am much of a "leader." LOL.

L


----------



## Lee

Leslie said:


> Tripp recommended a book called "Assassin's Apprentice" by Robin Hobb and that got me hooked on this series. I am reading the third book (Assassin's Quest) which is good but I have to say, it's a little bit wordy. I think it could have been edited by about one-third. It's a medieval history/fantasy with magic. Not my usual genre but that's the whole point of the quasi game. There is one character who I think is/could be gay although that's not played up in the story and I am not sure it will be


Hi Leslie, I'm not sure if you're aware, but there are six books in the series -- the second trilogy (Fool's Errand, Golden Fool, Fool's Fate) is a direct sequel to the first trilogy. The gender/sexuality of that character is explored further in the second trilogy. I have all six books on Kindle and I've read them twice. Great stuff!


----------



## Leslie

Lee said:


> Hi Leslie, I'm not sure if you're aware, but there are six books in the series -- the second trilogy (Fool's Errand, Golden Fool, Fool's Fate) is a direct sequel to the first trilogy. The gender/sexuality of that character is explored further in the second trilogy. I have all six books on Kindle and I've read them twice. Great stuff!


Oh, thanks Lee for this info! Given the titles, I imagine the lead character is the Fool, who is precisely the character I was wondering about (and he is also turning into one of my favorite characters). I'll definitely check out these stories.

L


----------



## J Bee

Anyone discover some good gay books in the last month? I devoured Ben Monopoli's *Porcupine City* and loved it. That guy is so talented it makes me dizzy. If you're looking for something in the gay romance department that is fresh and new, give this one a try.



I also read *Fish*: A Memoir of a Boy in a Man's Prison. That one's nonfiction, and even though the price is way too high, it was a fascinating insight to how a gay teenager copes in prison. Not the easiest read at times, but interesting nonetheless.


----------



## Geoffrey

Jay Bell said:


> Anyone discover some good gay books in the last month?


The sad thing is, I'm reading my 5th gay romance book since Sept 1 and all of them have been fairly meh .... I picked up Ben Monopoli's newest book today and I'll read it I'm sure. I think I might be getting bored with the run of the mill gay romance novel. (In the M/M Romance group on goodreads' reading game, I keep getting gay paranormal romances assigned to me because I like fantasy - and I hate hate HATE paranormal romance.) I've bought 15 m/m romances this year and that's way too many. I'm ODing on the genre.

It's time for some fun, trashy gay chick lit like Christian McLaughlin's _Sex Toys of the Gods_ (which I foolishly donated to the library last time I culled my paper library) or maybe something shocking like Heim's _Mysterious Skin_ or Bart Yate's _The Brothers Bishop_.

Unfortunately, I don't have anything like that lined up at the moment. I need to go find some.

(BTW, is there a term for gay chick lit?)


----------



## J Bee

Geoffrey said:


> I picked up Ben Monopoli's newest book today and I'll read it I'm sure.


I hope you enjoy it!



Geoffrey said:


> In the M/M Romance group on goodreads' reading game, I keep getting gay paranormal romances assigned to me because I like fantasy - and I hate hate HATE paranormal romance.


I grew up reading nothing but fantasy, although lately I'll read just about any genre. Do you have any recommendations for good gay fantasy? Aside from the obvious Lackey and Flewelling series.


----------



## Steph H

Jay, I'm glad you posted about Porcupine City being available now; last I checked, which must have been just before its release, it wasn't out.  I got your post through email notification just as I was about to settle down to read something else but instead I immediately went and bought Porcupine City and read it straight through yesterday afternoon / early evening.

Ben Monopoli definitely proved not to be a one-hit wonder with Cranberry Hush!  He's not afraid to do something new and different, outside of the regular 'formula'....and better yet, he does it in a way that works beautifully if sometimes a little sadly.  Josh Lanyon and Andrew Grey are also excellent at doing things differently most of the time, though not always (e.g., Mr. Grey's "Work Out" series is pretty much standard m/m formula), but even they haven't gone quite so much outside the box as Mr. Monopoli does.  All three authors are pretty much must-buys for me now.

As for recommendations, I've been reading a ton of m/m books the last couple-three months (I get on kicks and never know why, or when I'll move on to the next genre kick ), and have quite enjoyed many of them; I'm fairly easy to please with my entertainment.  But there's not really any that I would classify as "really good", "great" or "outstanding", just a few hours of somewhat formulaic enjoyable entertainment.


----------



## DYB

A friend of mine recently read and highly recommended "A Perfect Waiter."


----------



## Leslie

Jay Bell said:


> Anyone discover some good gay books in the last month? I devoured Ben Monopoli's *Porcupine City* and loved it. That guy is so talented it makes me dizzy. If you're looking for something in the gay romance department that is fresh and new, give this one a try.


I read this and enjoyed it a lot. I'm way overdue to write a review for Wave's site...too much going on in RL for book review writing.



> I also read *Fish*: A Memoir of a Boy in a Man's Prison. That one's nonfiction, and even though the price is way too high, it was a fascinating insight to how a gay teenager copes in prison. Not the easiest read at times, but interesting nonetheless.


It was very interesting and very difficult to read at times. I am glad I read it.

Another challenging but interesting book was:



I've been on a WWII kick for the past several months and that's how I managed to find this to read.

L


----------



## Leslie

A couple of new books I've read in the past few days...



This is the sequel to *An Uncommon Whore* which I read about a year ago. The first story was told from Helios' POV; this one is from Griffin's. Griffin has issues which drive a lot of the story but I like character-driven plots. Helios has to be one of the sexiest men in the entire universe and he gets the full treatment in this story. Griffin's pretty hot, too. I enjoyed this one and would give it 5 stars.



KZ Snow has become an insta-buy author for me, ever since I read *Bastards and Pretty Boys* as a freebie a year or two ago. *The Zero Knot* didn't disappoint--I read it in one fell swoop while I was flying on the plane today. Another 5 star recommendation from me.


----------



## anguabell

I haven't seen Andrew Holleran mentioned in this thread - but my eyes might be failing me 
His* Dancer from the Dance* is one of the most beautiful books I've ever read, LGBT or otherwise. I wonder why his books aren't available on Kindle.


----------



## JRTomlin

Leslie said:


> I read this and enjoyed it a lot. I'm way overdue to write a review for Wave's site...too much going on in RL for book review writing.
> 
> It was very interesting and very difficult to read at times. I am glad I read it.
> 
> Another challenging but interesting book was:
> 
> 
> 
> I've been on a WWII kick for the past several months and that's how I managed to find this to read.
> 
> L


My all time favorite, especially if I'm on a WWII kick, is still Mary Renaults classic _The Chariotee_r, but I very much prefer the original rather than the US Penguin version for which she cut about 40 pages. It is unfortunately difficult to find.


----------



## Leslie

I just discovered that an author I really enjoy, Alex Beecroft, has a new novella coming out November 7th. I pre-ordered it for instant delivery. This is being published by Carina--I haven't been too crazy about Carina books so I am curious what I will think of this one.


----------



## Debbie Bennett

Try Anne Brooke. Smaller publishers, but she writes great LGBT thrillers and romance.


----------



## Leslie

DebBennett said:


> Try Anne Brooke. Smaller publishers, but she writes great LGBT thrillers and romance.


Thank you for mentioning Anne. The cover of this book is a finalist in Elisa Rolle's book cover contest, plus it's a pretty good thriller, too.

_sorry  no self-promo outside the book bazaar_


----------



## Steph H

DYB said:


> A friend of mine recently read and highly recommended "A Perfect Waiter."


I've been meaning to get back to this thread on the computer (keep reading the posts via email) to check out some of the recent recommendations, and this was one I wanted to read about further. Sounds very intriguing so I just bought it and likely will bump it to/near the top of the TBR pile and get to it later today or tomorrow. Thanks for passing on the rec from your friend, DYB!

Anyone else read it yet?

Leslie, I did get and read and really like The Zero Knot by K.Z. Snow. While she's not *quite* insta-buy for me, it's close as I've pretty much liked everything I've read of hers. (I think she's a she. ) But for instance, I don't have any interest in her gay fantasy books, they just don't sound interesting. Has anyone read her Electric Melty Tingles novella from last fall? I just found it last month when looking at The Zero Knot; I enjoyed it.

And thanks for the heads-up on the new Alex Beecroft novella; although I'd bought them awhile back, I just *finally* got around to reading Captain's Surrender and Shining in the Sun last month and very much liked them both.


----------



## Geoffrey

I finished Admit One by Jenna Hilary Sinclair which is not your run of the mill gay romance - which surprised me a bit. It's a closetcase-finds-love story set in South West Texas but it's all wrapped up around a traumatic event in college, the play _Rent_ and a group of high school kids. I Thoroughly enjoyed it.


----------



## Steph H

I (sort of) remember that one, Geoffrey; I bought/read it at least 15 months ago, before I started putting down the month/year of reading in my book-tracking spreadsheet in 7/2010, and didn't get it from Amazon so don't have the date there. Anyway, as I recall, they met at a club in Houston, right? And the one guy who's a teacher is in small town West Texas (not a spoiler, the blurb mentions them meeting in gay club) so naturally he's wayyyyyyyy in the closet.

I do remember liking it. P'raps I'll re-read it. I'm still in a major m/m reading phase as I essentially have been since August, I don't know why, so I've been doing some re-reading from 2009/2010 so that I don't spend *every* penny I have on new books.


----------



## Geoffrey

Steph H said:


> I (sort of) remember that one, Geoffrey; I bought/read it at least 15 months ago, before I started putting down the month/year of reading in my book-tracking spreadsheet in 7/2010, and didn't get it from Amazon so don't have the date there. Anyway, as I recall, they met at a club in Houston, right? And the one guy who's a teacher is in small town West Texas (not a spoiler, the blurb mentions them meeting in gay club) so naturally he's wayyyyyyyy in the closet.
> 
> I do remember liking it. P'raps I'll re-read it. I'm still in a major m/m reading phase as I essentially have been since August, I don't know why, so I've been doing some re-reading from 2009/2010 so that I don't spend *every* penny I have on new books.


That's the one. It was selected for me in the Goodreads M/M Romance group. I probably never would have noticed it otherwise.


----------



## Linjeakel

Great rec Geoffrey. I just finished reading Admit One and I really enjoyed it. I alternated between wanting to cuddle the main character and smack him. I wonder how many real Toms there are still in the world, even today. Makes you think.


----------



## victoriaallman

I'm a big fan of Neil Plakcy's Hawaiian gay-detective novels, Mahu, Mahu Surfer, Mahu Fire, Mahu Blood, and Mahu Vice.

http://www.amazon.com/Mahu-ebook/dp/B004FV58UC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1322066153&sr=8-2

They are a great exploration of a man coming to terms with his sexuality as well as a fantastic travelogue for Hawaii and intriguing mystery.

The series will not disappoint you.


----------



## DYB

Steph H said:


> I've been meaning to get back to this thread on the computer (keep reading the posts via email) to check out some of the recent recommendations, and this was one I wanted to read about further. Sounds very intriguing so I just bought it and likely will bump it to/near the top of the TBR pile and get to it later today or tomorrow. Thanks for passing on the rec from your friend, DYB!
> 
> Anyone else read it yet?


I have it on my TBR list; let us know what you think of it if you get to it first!


----------



## Steph H

DYB said:


> I have it [A Perfect Waiter] on my TBR list; let us know what you think of it if you get to it first!


I actually did read A Perfect Waiter shortly after getting it earlier this month, and liked it very much. It's definitely not really a 'gay romance' per se, it's kind of like a fictional (I presume) memoir of sorts that's really rather sad. But quite moving as well. It's hard to describe, but it's well worth reading.


----------



## Rosejr

Hi there. I recommend my favorite book, Nightwood. It's steamy but not raunchy. There was a book by an Asian American author who wrote about a Chinese man cooking for an old lesbian couple but it's mainly about the cook not them.

Hope that helped!

<3


----------



## Leslie

Steph H said:


> Leslie, I did get and read and really like The Zero Knot by K.Z. Snow. While she's not *quite* insta-buy for me, it's close as I've pretty much liked everything I've read of hers. (I think she's a she. ) But for instance, I don't have any interest in her gay fantasy books, they just don't sound interesting. Has anyone read her Electric Melty Tingles novella from last fall? I just found it last month when looking at The Zero Knot; I enjoyed it.


I liked Electric Melty Tingles quite a bit. True love, then separated, then found again. When you want a heartwarming type story...



> And thanks for the heads-up on the new Alex Beecroft novella; although I'd bought them awhile back, I just *finally* got around to reading Captain's Surrender and Shining in the Sun last month and very much liked them both.


*By Honor Betrayed* was good but it was too damn short! I mean, I knew it was a novella going in but when it ended, I wanted more. This is the third or fourth book I've read from Carina Press and to me, they all seem to have very simplistic plots which makes me feel sort of unsatisfied as a reader. It doesn't take much guesswork to figure out where the story is going and from then on, it's just reading words on a page. Granted, Alex writes lovely words so in that respect I enjoyed the book, but I wanted more--especially since I know she can give more. I think my two favorites of hers are *False Colors* and *Blessed Isle*. And--*Blessed Isle* is a novella so I know she can write a complex plot in a limited number of words.

L


----------



## Neil_Plakcy

Thanks for the shout-out, Victoria! I also want to second the mentions Joseph Hansen has gotten here for the Dave Brandstetter series. Just as they influenced Josh Lanyon (quoted somewhere above) they influenced me a great deal, too. They were the first mysteries I ever read that had a gay protagonist and I was fascinated at the low key way Hansen incorporated GLBT characters.

Another good source for GLBT books is the Lambda Literary Foundation's award winners and finalists. Any author or publisher can nominate a book for an award, but if it's a finalist (I've been lucky to be a finalist 3 times so far) that means that the panel of judges has read the book and think it's worthwhile.

Neil Plakcy



victoriaallman said:


> I'm a big fan of Neil Plakcy's Hawaiian gay-detective novels, Mahu, Mahu Surfer, Mahu Fire, Mahu Blood, and Mahu Vice.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Mahu-ebook/dp/B004FV58UC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1322066153&sr=8-2
> 
> They are a great exploration of a man coming to terms with his sexuality as well as a fantastic travelogue for Hawaii and intriguing mystery.
> 
> The series will not disappoint you.


----------



## Thalia the Muse

the "book by an Asian American author who wrote about a Chinese man cooking for an old lesbian couple but it's mainly about the cook not them" mentioned above is "The Book of Salt" by Monique Truong. The cook is Vietnamese (not Chinese) and the couple are Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas. The cook himself is gay. It's an excellent book!


----------



## Lee

Jay Bell said:


> Anyone discover some good gay books in the last month? I devoured Ben Monopoli's *Porcupine City* and loved it. That guy is so talented it makes me dizzy. If you're looking for something in the gay romance department that is fresh and new, give this one a try.


I just finished this book and it's now one of my very favorites. At first the characters seem not terribly likable but after a while the book becomes un-put-down-able.


----------



## Geoffrey

Lee said:


> I just finished this book and it's now one of my very favorites. At first the characters seem not terribly likable but after a while the book becomes un-put-down-able.


I started reading _Porcupine City_ yesterday and hated the main character and his bff. After 2000 locations I had to stop and start a different book for awhile .... I'm glad it gets better since I REALLY liked_ Cranberry Hush_.


----------



## JRTomlin

Neil_Plakcy said:


> Thanks for the shout-out, Victoria! I also want to second the mentions Joseph Hansen has gotten here for the Dave Brandstetter series. Just as they influenced Josh Lanyon (quoted somewhere above) they influenced me a great deal, too. They were the first mysteries I ever read that had a gay protagonist and I was fascinated at the low key way Hansen incorporated GLBT characters.
> 
> Another good source for GLBT books is the Lambda Literary Foundation's award winners and finalists. Any author or publisher can nominate a book for an award, but if it's a finalist (I've been lucky to be a finalist 3 times so far) that means that the panel of judges has read the book and think it's worthwhile.
> 
> Neil Plakcy


Another author who was influenced by Hansen, whose Brandstetter series I love, is Michael Nava. I wish Nava would get his novels out for Kindle. His Henry Rios mystery series is really excellent.

I've lost track of everyone who's been mentioned in this thread but I don't recall anyone mentioning Jordan Castillo Price. She is very DEFINITELY on the sizzling side, so not for everyone, but I very much enjoy her characters and plots, particularly her PsyCop series.



Edit: She has also gotten together with Lanyon and a couple of other authors to do a couple of short story anthologies. I haven't read those because I'm just not a huge short story fan.


----------



## jabeard

I want to put in a good word for Cereus Blooms At Night. An interesting exploration of gender and identity in both a Caribbean and South Asian cultural context.


----------



## Leslie

Geoffrey said:


> I started reading _Porcupine City_ yesterday and hated the main character and his bff. After 2000 locations I had to stop and start a different book for awhile .... I'm glad it gets better since I REALLY liked_ Cranberry Hush_.


Everyone knows I _loved_ *The Cranberry Hush* and couldn't stop pimping it for months. _Porcupine City_ I have struggled with. I read it back in September (the day it came out) and have been overdue to write a review for Jessewave for months. Part of my issue is that I think he made a few bad authorial decisions and actually needed an editor to help him fix a few problems which, had they been fixed, the book would have been great. But it's still very good and maybe even better than good. I can't decide, hence the unwritten review.

L


----------



## Leslie

JRTomlin said:


> Another author who was influenced by Hansen, whose Brandstetter series I love, is Michael Nava. I wish Nava would get his novels out for Kindle. His Henry Rios mystery series is really excellent.
> 
> I've lost track of everyone who's been mentioned in this thread but I don't recall anyone mentioning Jordan Castillo Price. She is very DEFINITELY on the sizzling side, so not for everyone, but I very much enjoy her characters and plots, particularly her PsyCop series.
> 
> 
> 
> Edit: She has also gotten together with Lanyon and a couple of other authors to do a couple of short story anthologies. I haven't read those because I'm just not a huge short story fan.


I think I've mentioned *Among the Living* in this thread and recommended it at least twice in the Quasi-Official Game. I love Vic and Jacob!

The *Petit Morts* series are definitely worth reading. They are longer than short stories--short novellas--and have a clever conceit: one consistent character (Chance) shows up in all of them. It's interesting to see how different authors (Jordan, Josh, Sean Kennedy) characterize him. For me, I recommend the series.

L


----------



## JRTomlin

Leslie said:


> I think I've mentioned *Among the Living* in this thread and recommended it at least twice in the Quasi-Official Game. I love Vic and Jacob!
> 
> The *Petit Morts* series are definitely worth reading. They are longer than short stories--short novellas--and have a clever conceit: one consistent character (Chance) shows up in all of them. It's interesting to see how different authors (Jordan, Josh, Sean Kennedy) characterize him. For me, I recommend the series.
> 
> L


Sorry to repeat you, Leslie. It really has gotten hard to keep track and I just re-read the PsyCop series. It's up to six novels and like you, I love Vic and Jacob. And Crash! (Don't forget Crash  )

I may decide to try out _Petit Mort_. They're writers I like so they may tempt me into the shorter works.


----------



## Steph H

On the other hand, I read several of Josh's earlier Petit Morts in September and while they were okay, I just wasn't all that into them.  I didn't try Jordan's or the others.  But Josh's really didn't grab me too much.  As they say, different strokes....  

I do love the PsyCop series, though.  In fact, it's about time to re-read it, methinks.


----------



## Leslie

Crash? Yes, Crash and this story which I think I've read about 105 times...LOL



It has my all time favorite quote which is probably too raunchy for this family friendly board...I bet you guys know which one it is, though.

Speaking of Josh, I heard something along the lines that he is taking a sabbatical next year. Anyone have more info on that?

L


----------



## Leslie

Steph H said:


> On the other hand, I read several of Josh's earlier Petit Morts in September and while they were okay, I just wasn't all that into them. I didn't try Jordan's or the others. But Josh's really didn't grab me too much. As they say, different strokes....


Josh's were good, Jordan's were better.

L


----------



## Steph H

Leslie said:


> Speaking of Josh, I heard something along the lines that he is taking a sabbatical next year. Anyone have more info on that?
> 
> L


I saw that mentioned on his blog just the other day. http://joshlanyon.blogspot.com/ -- scroll down to the Oct. 15 entry (it's just 3 entries down, he doesn't blog much apparently). I guess he'd been thinking about it for awhile and now it's kind of a done deal, the way he says it, unless he self-publishes.


----------



## Leslie

Here's an interesting list of top LGBT books for 2011, selected by 92 different authors. Many of these are not familiar to me so it might be a source for some good reading in the coming months. Two books that get mentioned, A Queer History of the United States (Revisioning American History) and Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade I sampled but did not buy. They were good, I just wasn't in the mood for non-fiction at the time. I did read I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth The Trip.: 40th Anniversary Edition and thought it was excellent. Definitely recommended. I've also heard that Life After Joe is good. All the rest on the list? New to me!

http://bandofthebes.typepad.com/bandofthebes/2011/11/the-best-lgbt-books-of-2011-1.html

L


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## Steph H

I read Life After Joe last August (2010). To be honest, I don't remember much of it, and the blurb on Amazon doesn't poke my memory a whole lot. On the one hand, I could say I've read ~800 books since then and it's impossible to remember them all.  On the other hand, I did remember the title as being a 'read that' when I saw it in your post, and that's no mean feat either after having read ~800 books since then, so it must not have been too shabby.... 

A quick scroll through the list otherwise shows no others I've heard of but some that sound interesting.


----------



## Linjeakel

Steph H said:


> I read Life After Joe last August (2010). To be honest, I don't remember much of it, and the blurb on Amazon doesn't poke my memory a whole lot. On the one hand, I could say I've read ~800 books since then and it's impossible to remember them all. On the other hand, I did remember the title as being a 'read that' when I saw it in your post, and that's no mean feat either after having read ~800 books since then, so it must not have been too shabby....
> 
> A quick scroll through the list otherwise shows no others I've heard of but some that sound interesting.


Slightly off topic here, but I confess to being astonished that anyone can read 800 books in fifteen months!   I'd consider myself doing OK if I read that much in fifteen _years_! I make it around 1.7 books a day, _every_ day. I'm pretty certain that even with absolutely nothing else to do all day I could never achieve that. Have you ever had your reading speed measured? it must be phenomenal! How wonderful to be able to read like that - but I hope you have a good lending libray or very deep pockets!


----------



## Steph H

Linjeakel said:


> Slightly off topic here, but I confess to being astonished that anyone can read 800 books in fifteen months!   I'd consider myself doing OK if I read that much in fifteen _years_! I make it around 1.7 books a day, _every_ day. I'm pretty certain that even with absolutely nothing else to do all day I could never achieve that. Have you ever had your reading speed measured? it must be phenomenal! How wonderful to be able to read like that - but I hope you have a good lending libray or very deep pockets!


LOL -- yeah, I read fast. I've never had it measured officially, though I've played with some of the online ones. In paper books, I used to read about 100-125 pages an hour, but I'm one of those who's convinced I read even faster on Kindle. I read shorter books than I used to, also; instead of door-stopper epics (even though they're so much easier on Kindle!) that I used to often read, I'm more inclined to read books that would be the equivalent of ~300-400 pages, along with many in the 150-250 page range -- I hate to not finish a book in one sitting nowadays, I'm not patient enough to wait to find out the ending another day.  So taking that into account, maybe 800 books doesn't sound that impressive. 

Back to topic so Leslie [and Ann, Betsy and Geoffrey] doesn't yell at us (lol), I'm guessing some of you have already read *The Heart of Texas* by RJ Scott, which came out earlier this year. In case you haven't, as some of the Amazon reviews say it's somewhat of a "Dallas" soap opera (convenient, since it's set in Texas in and near Dallas). I just read it last month and enjoyed it well enough, even if there were a few too many angsty/secret-keeping/emo scenes. In case you didn't know, though, a sequel came out in the last couple of weeks, *Texas Winter*. I read it yesterday and it's still got some of that too much "stuff" going on as the original, but it's a nice enough continuation of Jack and Riley's story.


----------



## Steph H

Oh, another new-to-me release which I picked up yesterday but haven't yet read, is Andrew Grey's 6th release in the "Love Means..." series, *Love Means... Healing* (he calls it the "Farm" series, I think, on his website, so whatever floats your boat). I've loaded the earlier books on my Kindle so I can re-read them first (Lin, that's where some of the high number of book reads comes from without breaking the bank -- series re-reads!  But I count them, because I'm reading them again...).


----------



## DRMarvello

I recently connected with a writer named Prudence MacLeod, and she seems to have a loyal following of readers. She has several titles on Smashwords, and some are free. It would be easy to give her a try, at that price. I can't give you a personal recommendation because I don't read books in that genre (I'm a heterosexual male, but please don't hold that against me). Prudence's blog is at http://www.PrudenceMacLeod.com if you want more info about her and her books.


----------



## MichelleR




----------



## Steph H

DRMarvello said:


> I can't give you a personal recommendation because I don't read books in that genre (I'm a heterosexual male, but please don't hold that against me).


You don't have to be LGBT to read the genre, I'm a hetero female and I very much enjoy it, though I admit to sticking mostly to m/m romances. I'm new to it all in just the last couple of years, don't know that I'd have ever really found/read any of it without my Kindle and now I read a lot of it. But I can see where hetero males are probably less likely to enjoy it than females.


----------



## Geoffrey

Steph H said:


> You don't have to be LGBT to read the genre, I'm a hetero female and I very much enjoy it, though I admit to sticking mostly to m/m romances. I'm new to it all in just the last couple of years, don't know that I'd have ever really found/read any of it without my Kindle and now I read a lot of it. But I can see where hetero males are probably less likely to enjoy it than females.


Heh ...... like how I'm just not into Lesbian erotica? .... but then, there's always the love/transformation scene between Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon in The Hunger.


----------



## DRMarvello

Steph H said:


> I admit to sticking mostly to m/m romances...But I can see where hetero males are probably less likely to enjoy it than females.


Yep, when I mentioned not reading books in that genre, I was referring mostly to romance. Having gay or lesbian characters is fine as long as I like the story, and romance novels generally just don't do it for me. My wife is big into romance though, and she passes along anything she thinks I might enjoy. For instance, I read "Montana" by Nora Roberts and enjoyed it with minimal eye-rolling. I also enjoyed Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, but there were a few sections I had to skim through (mumbles "yeah, yeah, yeah...romantic angst...smooch, smooch...whatever").


----------



## Leslie

Geoffrey said:


> Heh ...... like how I'm just not into Lesbian erotica? .... but then, there's always the love/transformation scene between Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon in The Hunger.


I tried one lesbian erotica story--by the wildly popular Radclyffe--and had to give up halfway through. Her female characters had bodies that did things


Spoiler



(when they got sexually arounsed)


 that my body has never done. Instead of being titillating, it was just silly, IMHO.

L


----------



## brianrowe

I love Michael Cunningham's work. A Home at the End of the World is probably my favorite gay novel of all time. I just picked up Flesh & Bone at the library, and one of the main characters is gay in that as well.


----------



## JennieCoughlin

Glad I stumbled on this thread - some great recommendations here. I've got a list of coming-of-age books to read now - I've been looking for some since I backed myself into a corner of writing one. (That might be overstating it, but since I took my protagonist back in time to being a teen, I figure I can't really ignore that aspect of his character throughout the entire novel.) 

One I haven't seen mentioned yet that I mostly liked was Jim Grimsley's Dream Boy. I wasn't sold on the ending - it got a little too obscure for me - but the rest of the book is amazing and it's worth a read. Also, YMMV on the ending. It won a Lambda Award the year it came out, so I might just be the odd one out on the ending.


----------



## Kiran

I recently read Junction X by Erastes. Not a romance - but a love story... and it's _very _dark (IMO). I thoroughly enjoyed it!


----------



## JRTomlin

Linjeakel said:


> Slightly off topic here, but I confess to being astonished that anyone can read 800 books in fifteen months!   I'd consider myself doing OK if I read that much in fifteen _years_! I make it around 1.7 books a day, _every_ day. I'm pretty certain that even with absolutely nothing else to do all day I could never achieve that. Have you ever had your reading speed measured? it must be phenomenal! How wonderful to be able to read like that - but I hope you have a good lending libray or very deep pockets!


I actually average slightly more than 1.7 books a day although that is an average. Some days I'll maybe read 4 and other days none.

Just finished Josh Lanyon's *Adrien English* (5 novel) mystery series in 2 days. Why hadn't I read that before? I like Lanyon and it is, I think, nearly his best although not as good as _Come Unto These Yellow Sands_.

Someone mentioned their favorite gay novel of all time. Mine is STILL the Mary Renault classic _The Charioteer_. It has never been equaled in my opinion.

Edit: It's hard (very hard) to find good lesbian novels still. I actively seek them out but most are really disappointing.

I'm definitely up for suggestions--just none of the "I'm 40 and suddenly realise I am a Lesbian" stuff. I HATE that and none of the actually-written-for-straight-men erotica. That eliminates at least 90% of the so-called Lesbian novels.


----------



## J Bee

Leslie said:


> I just discovered that an author I really enjoy, Alex Beecroft, has a new novella coming out November 7th. I pre-ordered it for instant delivery. This is being published by Carina--I haven't been too crazy about Carina books so I am curious what I will think of this one.


What did you think of it? We've been watching a lot of seafaring movies lately, and this one caught my eye.


----------



## Leslie

Jay Bell said:


> What did you think of it? We've been watching a lot of seafaring movies lately, and this one caught my eye.


It was good--and very well written as all Alex's books are--but too short! I mean, I knew it was a novella when I started it so I knew it would be short, but I felt like things were getting exciting and boom! It was done.

I'd recommend it because of Alex's lovely writing but overall, I liked *False Colors* better because it was more complex, plot-wise, and a more interesting story. For an age of sail novella, I loved, loved, loved *Blessed Isle* (which is included in the Hidden Conflict anthology) which I think might be my favorite thing that she has written.

I see *By Honor Betrayed* is on sale for $2.51. At that price, it's definitely worth giving it a go.

L


----------



## JRTomlin

Where did the LGBT fans go all the sudden?  

I'm looking for a good LGBT mystery--in need of procrastination material here. Preferably not a police procedural which I'm not crazy about. Any suggestions? I don't care if it's m/m or f/f as long as it's good.


----------



## Rebecca Burke

I can't read through all these comments, but in the bizarre case that it hasn't been mentioned, Bette Greene's (spelling?) The Drowning of Stephan Jones is an excellent YA novel. I taught it in several sections of a university writing class and the students really liked it. Strong setting and theme helped to overcome some trivial flaws. Years later, I have a very vivid memory of the story, which is quite a tribute to the author.


----------



## 41352

I would like to recommend a book I just finished, called "Outtakes of A Walking Mistake" by Anthony Paull. It was so great. Just great. 

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12809599-outtakes-of-a-walking-mistake


----------



## Steph H

It did get quiet here for awhile! Things ebb and flow....

Has anyone else read the lovely quartet by Carol Lynne, *Spring*, *Summer*, *Fall* and *Winter* (the last one just came out this week)? It follows a m/m couple through 25 years or so of being together...past the HEA and through life. Through the ups and downs and realities. A lot of time is skipped of course, one chapter or section may skip over months or even a year or two, but overall it's really a nice series.


----------



## Steph H

Chrystalla said:


> I would like to recommend a book I just finished, called "Outtakes of A Walking Mistake" by Anthony Paull. It was so great. Just great.
> 
> http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12809599-outtakes-of-a-walking-mistake


Went and read a bit about it and the reviews, sounds fun. Thanks for the recommendation!


----------



## olefish

JRTomlin said:


> Where did the LGBT fans go all the sudden?
> 
> I'm looking for a good LGBT mystery--in need of procrastination material here. Preferably not a police procedural which I'm not crazy about. Any suggestions? I don't care if it's m/m or f/f as long as it's good.


Mystery: definitely Silver Lake by Peter Gadol.


----------



## Todd Young

I like Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim. One of the best novels I've ever read.


----------



## Geoffrey

Todd Young said:


> I like Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim. One of the best novels I've ever read.


I read this a few years ago and I agree that it's wonderful.


----------



## Linjeakel

Todd Young said:


> I like Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim. One of the best novels I've ever read.


Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be available on Kindle, either here in the UK or in the US - though I notice it was made into a movie - available to stream on Amazon instant videos for those of you in the US.


----------



## Leslie

I read this last week--borrowed it for free with my Amazon Prime--and I can't figure out what I think of it. It is definitely thought provoking.



One thing that annoyed me--I think the story is supposed to be set in the US, but I believe the author must be British. He sure writes like he is British, using British expressions and so on (crackers for cookies, eg). Even though it's supposed to be the US, it didn't feel or sound like the US and that kept pulling me out of the story.

If anyone else gives this one a go, I'd be curious to hear your opinions.

L


----------



## Geoffrey

On Saturday, I read Gulliver Travels by Justin Luke Zirilli.



This is a coming of age tale set in contemporary New York. One of the things I really liked about it is the author/narrator's perspective. It's a more Millennial worldview without all that angst one gets in similar novels written by Gen Xers or Boomers. This isn't a coming out tale and there is no drama around reactions by the general population which makes more room to tell a story about a guy with serious advantages many don't have when moving to a new city to start a new life and the poor choices he makes once he's there.

Many of the events in the story are a bit over the top when taken together, but not so unrealistic individually. From my days as a party promoter, I knew guys exactly like each of the characters in the book and I've seen or been a part of events similar to everything that transpires. It's a bit of a madcap roll coaster ride but it's also based on reality.

My only complaint was the timeline of the story. I kept going back and forth between feeling like it took place over a year or so and that it all happened at once. Maybe that's part of the fun but it was a little disconcerting.


----------



## Leslie

I picked up Gulliver's story when it was free (same weekend *I'm Saying Yes* was free) and started it but wasn't sure I wanted to continue. Maybe I'll get back to it. I've been in a really weird reading frame of mind for the past few months and having a hard time finishing anything.

L


----------



## Leslie

This is an indie book I read about on Goodreads, with lots of 5 star reviews. Price is just $2.99 and it's 400 pages long (good value for your money).



I'd give it 4.5 stars. It started off a little shaky with some typos and an early scene that I thought was sort of stupid and unnecessary. There is also scene at the end that I thought could have been cut without damaging the story. But in between was a good crime mystery, a man coming to terms with himself, some hot romance and a whole lot of other action. I woke up early this morning and said to myself, "Oh, yeah, I have that good book I'm reading on my Kindle," and ended up staying in bed 2 hours longer than planned, just to read. It's been a while since I've done that and it felt good.

Given the reasonable price, I recommend this, even with the few flaws. If anyone else gives it a go, report back and let me know what you think!

L


----------



## Steph H

It sounds good, Leslie, and between your recommendation and a couple of the reviews on Amazon from people I've learned to mostly trust as having the same taste as me, I'm sold.  When I'll read it is another question, though I think it'll get moved quite near the top of the TBR list.


----------



## Leslie

This book came out in 1979, went through one printing, then quickly died a slow death. Apparently, people weren't ready for gay romance in the WWII skies at the time. It became a cult classic, though, and people were paying ridiculous prices for the $2.50 paperback (including me: I paid $41 last summer!). Now it's been republished in a new, shiny ebook (and also print) edition:



Although it's 99.9% the same from the 1st edition, there was one, huge glaring mistake at the end which I pointed out to the publisher (he's a friend) and thank God, it's been fixed!!

Definitely a 5 star book and highly recommended. Enjoy!

L


----------



## Julie K. Rose

I'd strongly suggest Heather Domin's _Allegiance_. She's the author of the awesome _Soldier of Raetia_, and she came out with this free book at New Year's (which I believe is only available at Smashwords, for all e-reader formats).

Here's the blurb:

1922. William Young is an MI5 informant, using his working-class background to gain the trust of those deemed a threat to the Crown. Tiring of his double life, William travels to Dublin for one last assignment: infiltrating a circle of IRA supporters. But these "rebels" are not what he expected - and one of them, a firebrand named Adam with a past as painful as his own, shakes William's uncertain footing to its foundation. As the crisis in Dublin escalates, William treads a dangerous path between the violence in the streets, the vengeance of the Crown, and the costliest risk of all - falling in love with the man he was sent to betray.


----------



## J Bee

Leslie said:


> This is an indie book I read about on Goodreads, with lots of 5 star reviews. Price is just $2.99 and it's 400 pages long (good value for your money).


I'm eager to check this one out. There must be something good there for a self pub to reign at the top of the charts. The other day it was number one in romance and general gay fiction!


----------



## Coral Moore

I just wanted to say to the participants of this thread: *Thanks!* I started reading Josh Lanyon a few weeks ago based on the recommendations here and I've been having such a great time reading his books. I can't wait to have time to go through some of the other recs in here.

Mucho hearts!


----------



## Geoffrey

Have you read any of Diana Gabaldon's _Lord Joh_n books? I'm reading _Lord John and the Private Matter_ and it's just great fun.



Its set in Georgian London and centers around a gay military officer/sleuth .. it's not a romance but a detective thriller with a hidden gay sub-culture thrown in. I like that it's not Victorian as that's been done to death and I like that it's just well-written and fun. My only concern is whether the gay culture is too much like the gay underground in the 1960's and 70's ....


----------



## Leslie

Julie K. Rose said:


> I'd strongly suggest Heather Domin's _Allegiance_. She's the author of the awesome _Soldier of Raetia_, and she came out with this free book at New Year's (which I believe is only available at Smashwords, for all e-reader formats).
> 
> Here's the blurb:
> 
> 1922. William Young is an MI5 informant, using his working-class background to gain the trust of those deemed a threat to the Crown. Tiring of his double life, William travels to Dublin for one last assignment: infiltrating a circle of IRA supporters. But these "rebels" are not what he expected - and one of them, a firebrand named Adam with a past as painful as his own, shakes William's uncertain footing to its foundation. As the crisis in Dublin escalates, William treads a dangerous path between the violence in the streets, the vengeance of the Crown, and the costliest risk of all - falling in love with the man he was sent to betray.


Sounds good and the price is right! I've already downloaded it. Thanks for the recommendation!

L


----------



## Leslie

Coral Moore said:


> I just wanted to say to the participants of this thread: *Thanks!* I started reading Josh Lanyon a few weeks ago based on the recommendations here and I've been having such a great time reading his books. I can't wait to have time to go through some of the other recs in here.
> 
> Mucho hearts!


Josh is great and his book *Come Unto These Yellow Sands* is in the DABWAHA competition. I don't vote because I think the whole thing is way too confusing and I haven't read most of the books. But if you want to check it out, here's the link.

http://dabwaha.wordpress.com/

Josh has some stiff competition with *GhosTV* by Jordan Castillo Price. I was actually thinking of going back and re-reading some of the Vic and Jacob books. I've been missing those two guys.

L


----------



## Leslie

This was a good book that I read last week. It's a murder mystery that was originally published in the 90s and has now been reissued as an ebook. The main character, Doug Orlando, is a detective with the Brooklyn PD. He's gay and gets a lot of harassment from his fellow officers because of this (the circumstances of his outing are part of the story). It's definitely a mystery and not a romance at all but I really enjoyed it and would rate it 5 stars.


----------



## Linjeakel

Geoffrey said:


> Have you read any of Diana Gabaldon's _Lord John_n books? I'm reading _Lord John and the Private Matter_ and it's just great fun.
> 
> 
> 
> Its set in Georgian London and centers around a gay military officer/sleuth .. it's not a romance but a detective thriller with a hidden gay sub-culture thrown in. I like that it's not Victorian as that's been done to death and I like that it's just well-written and fun. My only concern is whether the gay culture is too much like the gay underground in the 1960's and 70's ....


I love the Lord John books, though I have to say I _listened_ to them rather than read them. The narrator, Jeff Woodman (an American who perfectly captures an aristocratic Georgian Englishman - and others) is part of the reason I liked them so much. I could listen to him read the phone book in that accent!

I first came across the character in the Outlander series and when DG decided to write a separate series of books about him, I was intrigued enough to try them out - I've 'read' all of them - the most recent as a Kindle version as the audiobook isn't available here yet.

While in some of the books the fact that John is gay is almost irrelevant, there are some which dramatically spell out the very real difficulties of being an eighteenth century gay army officer, where being found out would have meant at the very least ruin for your entire family and in many cases death.

All but the last book, The Scottish Prisoner - deal with Lord John's life and adventures during the times he wasn't in the Outlander stories - a sort of filling in of the gaps, so you don't need to have read O/L to read the LJ ones.

The Scottish Prisoner though, does deal with a part of his history with the love of his life, Jamie Fraser, the central character in Outlander, which wasn't covered in O/L. (Despite John's feelings, this most definitely is NOT a romance). I felt my knowledge of that series did add flavour to this book and also the foreknowledge of their interactions over the course of many years to come since the current books in the Outlander series are quite a long way ahead in the timeline compared to the LJ ones.

If you like historical detective / adventure stories with an original kind of 'hero', mixed with, as Geoffrey says, an intriguing chance to delve into a less well known sub-culture, the I would highly recommend these.


----------



## Steph H

Geoffrey and Linda, thanks for the info on the Lord John books, sounds like something I'd like. I've never read or really been interested in reading the Outlander books, so wouldn't have run across the character. Even though the time setting is different, the description y'all gave kind of sounds like Joseph Hansen's Brandstetter series - a detective who happens to be gay, where the books don't focus on him being gay (even though it comes up as he didn't hide it that much either; those are set in the....1970's-90's, I think it was, maybe a little earlier).

I don't remember offhand what time period Georgian was, but I adore the Regency period romances and even more the few books I've found that are Regency gay romances, so I'm sure I'll like these.

Leslie, thanks for your recommendation as well, it sounds good. As much as I hate the true stereotype of cops being harassed for being gay, I like stories with cops (FBI, whatever). 

Carol, glad to hear you've been enjoying Josh Lanyon's books, isn't he great? Just yesterday I re-downloaded the Adrien English and the Holmes/Moriarty books to my Kindle so I can re-read them in the next few weeks. If you haven't tried Andrew Grey yet, he's another one I'd highly recommend. As is Jordan Castillo Price that Leslie mentions (yeah, Leslie, I need to re-read those too! )

I've been mostly on a sci-fi kick lately so don't have much in the way of current recommendations for this thread, but if you haven't read Carol Lynne's *Seasons of Love* series yet, I would suggest that. It starts with _Spring_, then, predictably, _Summer_, _Fall_, and _Winter_. It's different from her other series in that it follows essentially one couple (and various supporting characters) over roughly 40 years. I don't think _Winter_ is on Amazon yet, but you can get it at Total E-bound if you get done with the others before it's on Amazon.


----------



## JRTomlin

Leslie said:


> Josh is great and his book *Come Unto These Yellow Sands* is in the DABWAHA competition. I don't vote because I think the whole thing is way too confusing and I haven't read most of the books. But if you want to check it out, here's the link.
> 
> http://dabwaha.wordpress.com/
> 
> Josh has some stiff competition with *GhosTV* by Jordan Castillo Price. I was actually thinking of going back and re-reading some of the Vic and Jacob books. I've been missing those two guys.
> 
> L


I think _Come Unto These Yellow Sands_ is one of Josh's best novels, possibly his very best. While I didn't feel that he quite managed to portray the protagonist's hunger for cocaine, he did really well in portraying his despair at having that come back and his desperate desire not to fall back into addiction.

The relationship was good, of course, and the mystery was actually one of his better ones.

I have been rather on a book buying kick recently but everything I've bought has disappointed me somewhat. I would love to find a really STRONG LGBT novel. Everything I've tried lately was too much pure fluff which is fine if that's what you are looking for and I don't mind a little fluff but pure fluff is like cotton candy. Not something you can live on. 

I loath the Outlander books, so I haven't read any of Gabaldon's other novels. They sound a bit too fluffy for my taste probably though I'll take a look. I'm desperate for something to read!

Yes, Brandstetter (very close to my all-time favorite mysteries) started in the late 1970s and ran through the early days of the plague years, ending in the early 1990s. You can actually read them almost as one book as each one pretty much takes up where the last one left off. Hanson was so underrated in his own time.

Edit: I agree that the competition from _GhosTV_ is pretty stiff but on a literary standard, I think that Yellow Sands is the better of the two. There's not a lot of theme or depth (imo) to the Price books, but they're darn fun. And the characterizations are very strong.

I'll have to take a look at what else is nominated. I couldn't figure out how to vote and kind of threw up my hands.


----------



## Steph H

I really hated the way Brandstetter ended though.  Not saying it wasn't probably the best way, I just hated it.   But no spoilers for those who haven't read them...    It's only been about 7 months since I read those, so I'll give it another few months before I re-read.  lol  I agree they're very good.


----------



## JRTomlin

Leslie said:


> This was a good book that I read last week. It's a murder mystery that was originally published in the 90s and has now been reissued as an ebook. The main character, Doug Orlando, is a detective with the Brooklyn PD. He's gay and gets a lot of harassment from his fellow officers because of this (the circumstances of his outing are part of the story). It's definitely a mystery and not a romance at all but I really enjoyed it and would rate it 5 stars.


I'm buying this one. I hadn't heard of it before and it sounds really good.

I agree on the _end_ of the Brandstetter series. It was logical. I couldn't argue with it, but I hated that part. It was painful. Agree, anyone who hasn't read them has to do so to find out what we're talking about.


----------



## JRTomlin

Jay Bell said:


> I'm eager to check this one out. There must be something good there for a self pub to reign at the top of the charts. The other day it was number one in romance and general gay fiction!


It's okay but frankly not good enough to rate that many 5-star reviews. I think being at the top of the charts has more to do with how weak all the other new LGBT novels are at the moment than how good this one is. I am seriously tired of everything on the chart being pretty much pure erotica and I suspect that has a lot to do with why so many people are picking this up.

It's a fun read but not great characterization and the plot is only so-so. I didn't find the romance believable particularly. His teenage trauma that was the reason for his being closeted was somewhat shallow and unconvincing on an emotional level, especially that he would have repressed it. If you want a rather light read, this isn't bad though. Just don't expect anything spectacular.

This is the kind of read that I probably won't quite remember next week and would get a 3-star rating from me.


----------



## telracs

boy, i'm feeling stupid now....  i apparently bought a Josh Lanyon book 18 months ago!  and never read it.....


----------



## JRTomlin

scarlet said:


> boy, i'm feeling stupid now.... i apparently bought a Josh Lanyon book 18 months ago! and never read it.....


Haha! That's funny, scarlet.


----------



## Coral Moore

Geoffrey said:


> Have you read any of Diana Gabaldon's _Lord Joh_n books? I'm reading _Lord John and the Private Matter_ and it's just great fun.
> 
> 
> 
> Its set in Georgian London and centers around a gay military officer/sleuth .. it's not a romance but a detective thriller with a hidden gay sub-culture thrown in. I like that it's not Victorian as that's been done to death and I like that it's just well-written and fun. My only concern is whether the gay culture is too much like the gay underground in the 1960's and 70's ....


I've only read the first one so far, but I've been meaning to pick up the rest. I like the Lord John character very much, but she's a heavy read for me and I'm not in the mood for them all the time.


----------



## Coral Moore

scarlet said:


> boy, i'm feeling stupid now.... i apparently bought a Josh Lanyon book 18 months ago! and never read it.....


I hope it's Come Unto These Yellow Sands. That's the first one I read and so far it's my favorite. I'm reading the Adrien English books now and am enjoying them too, but they are very different, a little more noir I guess.


----------



## Steph H

Oops, Coral, sorry, I just realized I called you Carol. You probably get that a lot but my apologies nonetheless for not reading better! Y'know, especially on a board for reading.... 

Scarlet -- read the book, whatever it was!!!!!!!







(Which one was it?)


----------



## telracs

Steph H said:


> Scarlet -- read the book, whatever it was!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (Which one was it?)


OUCH! It's the Dickens one and I started it on the train ride home...
I WILL be looking into the other ones later.


----------



## Leslie

scarlet said:


> OUCH! It's the Dickens one and I started it on the train ride home...
> I WILL be looking into the other ones later.


I loved the Dickens one so I hope it works for you... I can give you many recommendations beyond that...

L


----------



## JRTomlin

Leslie said:


> I loved the Dickens one so I hope it works for you... I can give you many recommendations beyond that...
> 
> L


I must admit I didn't think the Dickens one was one of his best. His best imo are Yellow Sands and the Adrien English ones, I think. But really almost all of his are enjoyable. I'm not crazy about his couple of historical ones because he frankly goofed on some historical details that probably only someone who is as picky as I am would notice. But really he's a solid writer so you won't go far wrong with him. 


olefish said:


> Mystery: definitely Silver Lake by Peter Gadol.


I missed this post earlier. Thanks for the recommendation.

When I am between writing projects, I tend to read a LOT (and for me a lot can mean as many as 4 or 5 books a day  )


----------



## JRTomlin

Jay Bell said:


> What did you think of it? We've been watching a lot of seafaring movies lately, and this one caught my eye.


By the way, I've read several of Jay Bell's novel and they're quite good. I just noticed that I'd read some of them.


----------



## Leslie

JRTomlin said:


> I must admit I didn't think the Dickens one was one of his best. His best imo are Yellow Sands and the Adrien English ones, I think. But really almost all of his are enjoyable.


Maybe it was the mood I was in that year (2009), but I just loved the Dickens one as a Christmas story. I re-read it a bunch of times during the month of December. On the other hand, I thought the Christmas story for 2011 (I can't even think of the name of it...it had a cowboy and ballet dancer) was a total DUD. I finished it and thought to myself, "Josh phoned that one in..."

L


----------



## JRTomlin

Leslie said:


> Maybe it was the mood I was in that year (2009), but I just loved the Dickens one as a Christmas story. I re-read it a bunch of times during the month of December. On the other hand, I thought the Christmas story for 2011 (I can't even think of the name of it...it had a cowboy and ballet dancer) was a total DUD. I finished it and thought to myself, "Josh phoned that one in..."
> 
> L


In a way, you're right about Dickens. It is enjoyable and for a Christmas story it's about right. After all a Christmas story is supposed to be light. It is a bit fluffy for my taste but right for what it was, and I agree with you about the Christmas one this year being rather a dud.

It isn't that I didn't enjoy Dickens at all but that I generally prefer the somewhat less fluffy ones. I do think that Dickens is a good novella worth picking up as long as you're in the mood for something light.

I found a writer I wasn't acquainted with before and have to say I'm about to buy a bunch of his books. (I'm reading everything I can get my hands on before my editor gets work back to me  ) I just read Mahu by Neil Plakcy and it was one of those "how have I missed this author" moments. I must admit that his prose is solid rather than breathtaking but his mystery is good, the characters well-realized and although I'm pretty done with closeted characters, the fact that Kimo, the main character, is at the point of dealing with his sexuality (finally) and then rather suddenly and very publicly outed makes for a sympathetic personal situation.

It's the first of a series and I didn't need that money anyway.


----------



## telracs

sigh....

okay, i like the dickens one, but once again, fell into the Samhain trap.....


Spoiler



by that i mean the fact that the story is only 85% of the file! i hate that. and that's why i've stopped buying there stuff.


----------



## J Bee

scarlet said:


> sigh....
> 
> okay, i like the dickens one, but once again, fell into the Samhain trap.....
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> by that i mean the fact that the story is only 85% of the file! i hate that. and that's why i've stopped buying there stuff.





Spoiler






Spoiler



What is the other 15%?


----------



## telracs

Jay Bell said:


> What is the other 15%?


teasers from other publications. i don't mind teasers, but when they take up that much of the file space, it always feels like i'm being cheated.


----------



## JRTomlin

I absolutely have to agree. I don't mind a little end matter, like a few titles with blurb but when it's that much it feels like a rip off even though I would have bought it anyway.


----------



## Rebecca Burke

I'm glad this thread is so popular, but I don't have time to read through it to see if my suggestion has already been made.  When I taught Writing for Young Adults years ago, I included The Drowning of Stephan Jones because at the time there weren't many YA novels with gay themes. It made a big impression on my college students because it is essentially about bullying, which is something everyone understands and detests. It's set in the rural South, which also makes it distinctive.


----------



## Coral Moore

scarlet said:


> teasers from other publications. i don't mind teasers, but when they take up that much of the file space, it always feels like i'm being cheated.


I had to go back and check if the ones I'd read did the same thing. They do, but I never noticed before you said something. I just stop reading when it ends and close it. I guess I don't look at the percentages much at all if I'm enjoying the book.


----------



## Derek Clendening

_Teenage Rewrite_ by Brandon Williams is a brand-spanking new LGBT novel on Kindle.


----------



## Chad Wilde Author

Some great suggestions here.  

@JayBell Great covers.  Just one clicked.


----------



## J Bee

Chad Wilde Author said:


> Some great suggestions here.
> 
> @JayBell Great covers. Just one clicked.


Thanks! My husband creates all my cover art, so that means a lot to me.


----------



## Chad Wilde Author

Jay Bell said:


> Thanks! My husband creates all my cover art, so that means a lot to me.


Does your husband do comics as well, or just book covers?


----------



## Ann in Arlington

Jay and Chad. . .suggest you take your discussion into PM's. . .as it's off topic for this thread.  Thanks.


----------



## Leslie

Rebecca Burke said:


> I'm glad this thread is so popular, but I don't have time to read through it to see if my suggestion has already been made.  When I taught Writing for Young Adults years ago, I included The Drowning of Stephan Jones because at the time there weren't many YA novels with gay themes. It made a big impression on my college students because it is essentially about bullying, which is something everyone understands and detests. It's set in the rural South, which also makes it distinctive.


Unfortunately, it does not appear to be available as a Kindle edition.

L


----------



## Romana Grimm

Wonderful thread, and just my cup of tea 

I recently read "The Ghost Wore Yellow Sock" by Josh Lanyon. I found the pacing, the classical whodunnit setting and the characters very enjoyable. Sorry if this came up before but I didn't have time to speed-read 17 or so pages


----------



## Geoffrey

Where the Allegheny Meets the Monongahela

I was assigned this book to read in the goodreads' M/M Romance group and had asked for something that wasn't a complete formulaic romance. At first I was suspicious as I couldn't see how one could successfully mix m/m romance with domestic abuse. Well, Ms. Watson succeeded and I look forward to her future books if this is any indication.

The main characters in the book felt real; their issues were complex and tragic. I was immediately sucked into both Logan and Nick's stories and I felt bad for and was angry at both men at various times. The issues around domestic abuse were handled with knowledge and sympathy and the back stories of the secondary characters were a good way to illustrate some of the aspects of abuse and recovery without being overly depressing. There were some tough parts of the book and some serious issues confronted but the overall tone of the book was more healing than tragic. Ms. Watson created a very good balance when setting the tone.

I wasn't always happy with the dialogue; accents wandered a bit. But, other than that, it was a fantastic novel that I couldn't put down. I started reading it yesterday morning and had to force myself to chat with my mother-in-law when she was visiting because all I wanted was to go back to the book and read more.


----------



## Leslie

Thanks for that review, Geoffrey. I've heard good things about that book. I'll add it to my TBR list.

Meanwhile, I just buzzed through this 300+ page book in less that 24 hours so I guess that counts as a five star read.



It's a memoir of the author's life, beginning in June 1996 when he was 16 and his father walked out on he and his mom. It covers about 3 years until he and his beloved (who he meets during the story) move to NYC. In many parts I was laughing out loud, other parts are jaw-dropping unbelievable. It's funny and a fast read which I recommend.

I found out about the book when I read this article in the New York Times, by the same author.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/06/arts/judy-garland-gay-idol-then-and-over-the-rainbow-now.html?scp=1&sq=leleux&st=cse

L


----------



## Leslie

After reading Robert's first book, I buzzed right on and read this which came out earlier this year. It's very good, well worth reading but is much more a family memoir vs. a LGBT book (although he does talk about his husband). Still, 5 stars.


----------



## Xarlelia

Thanks for sharing all of these books. I can never seem to find any interesting LGBT books.


----------



## Leslie

Xarlelia said:


> Thanks for sharing all of these books. I can never seem to find any interesting LGBT books.


This thread should give you lots of great recommendations!

L


----------



## Steph H

I see our own Leslie, writing as E.N. Holland, has her book *Taming Groomzilla* as the KB Book of the Day today (look in the upper right corner of the forum pages). If you haven't read it yet, I can recommend it. A fun book.

For which I'm still waiting on a sequel, missy....









Her other main book (she has a story in an anthology also), *I'm Saying Yes* is also fabulous.


----------



## Leslie

Steph H said:


> I see our own Leslie, writing as E.N. Holland, has her book *Taming Groomzilla* as the KB Book of the Day today (look in the upper right corner of the forum pages). If you haven't read it yet, I can recommend it. A fun book.
> 
> For which I'm still waiting on a sequel, missy....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Her other main book (she has a story in an anthology also), *I'm Saying Yes* is also fabulous.


Thank you, Steph! I appreciate your support...

Meanwhile, that sequel...LOL. Luke is talking to me!

L


----------



## drenee

I recently listened to The Magician's Assistant.  One of the most beautiful love and life stories I have read. 
deb


----------



## JRTomlin

I've read several of Harper Fox's novels recently and found them quite enjoyable. I'd recommend giving her a look. I thought this was quite good: The Salisbury Key

_ya know. . . . it's actually worse when you KNOW you're not supposed to self-promote and do it anyway. _


----------



## Lee

Steph H said:


> Her other main book (she has a story in an anthology also), *I'm Saying Yes* is also fabulous.


Hey Leslie, I read *I'm Saying Yes* a few months ago and totally didn't realize that you were E.N. Holland! I liked the book a lot. I hope you write more!


----------



## Leslie

Lee said:


> Hey Leslie, I read *I'm Saying Yes* a few months ago and totally didn't realize that you were E.N. Holland! I liked the book a lot. I hope you write more!


Thank you, Lee!


----------



## Geoffrey

Our Todd Young just put out a new book, Jumbo, which I picked up yesterday as my Prime borrow and ended up doing a single day read of it.

It's not a perfect book but I liked it. It's part Coming of Age and part m/m Romance and worth the read. (and it helps that its free at the moment so that's good.) I already posted a review on Amazon but I thought I'd let you all know so you can pick up a copy:


----------



## Linjeakel

I just got that this morning, Geoffrey, so I'm glad to hear it's worth the read. I'll have to bump it up to the top of my TBR.


----------



## That Weird Guy....

I read all 3 Todd Young books this week. Enjoyed them all. Liked Dressing Up better than Jumbo, but still a fun read.


----------



## Linjeakel

I gave Jumbo a try and I have to say I couldn't get into it at all - I found it boring, so much so that I didn't finish it, which is unusual for me. 

It felt like the author was going for the all time world record for how many times he could use the phrase "cock and balls" on one page - and frankly I just found it tiresomely repetitive after a while. 

I really didn't care what happened to any of the characters, and that's pretty much the kiss of death.


----------



## dimples

Yay, found the LGBT thread again! Posted here once or twice, years ago, so I was looking forward to finding some recs. Unfortunately for me (but all the better for you guys and m/m loving females ) there's not a whole lot of f/f mentioned here. At least, from what I could tell by going through all the pages rather quickly. So if anyone has any, I'd love to hear about them.

Now I can't really complain unless I make some f/f recommendations here so these are some I've enjoyed or been fascinated by. 

Tropical Storm by Melissa Good. Admittedly, it's been a while since I've read it but I really enjoyed it when I did. And compared to some of the other books/stories out there it's HUGE (almost 500 pages in paperback)


And Playing the Role of Herself by K.E. Lane. The plot (two actresses who fall in love) doesn't sound too interesting, but the characters have chemistry and lots of tension between them and that's really what makes this book one of my favorite lesbian romances.


Like Me by Chely Wright. Okay, I know this is not fiction but since there's no LGBT non fiction thread I'm posting it here just this once. This autobiography describes Chely Wright's struggle with the life she created for herself while hiding her sexuality, which eventually led to an almost suicide attempt. The chapters and stories she tells at times seem a little bit disjointed (I think the editor could have done a better job at that, honestly) but the content, the struggles and pain but also the way she climbed out of her depression and finally turned her life around by chosing to be open about her sexuality is poignant, honest, important and inspirational.


----------



## JRTomlin

dimples said:


> Yay, found the LGBT thread again! Posted here once or twice, years ago, so I was looking forward to finding some recs. Unfortunately for me (but all the better for you guys and m/m loving females ) there's not a whole lot of f/f mentioned here. At least, from what I could tell by going through all the pages rather quickly. So if anyone has any, I'd love to hear about them.
> 
> Now I can't really complain unless I make some f/f recommendations here so these are some I've enjoyed or been fascinated by.
> 
> Tropical Storm by Melissa Good. Admittedly, it's been a while since I've read it but I really enjoyed it when I did. And compared to some of the other books/stories out there it's HUGE (almost 500 pages in paperback)
> 
> 
> And Playing the Role of Herself by K.E. Lane. The plot (two actresses who fall in love) doesn't sound too interesting, but the characters have chemistry and lots of tension between them and that's really what makes this book one of my favorite lesbian romances.
> 
> 
> Like Me by Chely Wright. Okay, I know this is not fiction but since there's no LGBT non fiction thread I'm posting it here just this once. This autobiography describes Chely Wright's struggle with the life she created for herself while hiding her sexuality, which eventually led to an almost suicide attempt. The chapters and stories she tells at times seem a little bit disjointed (I think the editor could have done a better job at that, honestly) but the content, the struggles and pain but also the way she climbed out of her depression and finally turned her life around by chosing to be open about her sexuality is poignant, honest, important and inspirational.


It is extremely difficult to find good fiction with lesbian main characters. Believe me, because I actively look for them.

Some from a few decades ago are obvious. Katherine V. Forrest, Rose Beecham, Therese Szymanski, Kate Calloway, Claire McNab, Dorothy Tell, Pat Welch, and Jaye Maiman for example. But the "traditional publishers" simply do not publish novels with lesbian characters, or it is so rare that I feel I can safely use very slight hyperbole. Even relative heavy-hitter lesbian authors such as Rita Mae Brown and Val McDermid have come to the point of writing mainly heterosexual characters. And f/f doesn't seem to sell the way m/m does for indies, so you find much less of it even from the indie community. A HUGE shame because I know darn well that there is an active niche market for it.

Ok, having complained sufficiently, there are some authors I have read in the last couple of years and enjoyed.

Ellen Hart, Paulette Callen, Cheryl Crane and Kate Sweeney all come to mind. It's a short list and I'm always looking for suggestions.


----------



## briezee

JRTomlin said:


> It is extremely difficult to find good fiction with lesbian main characters. Believe me, because I actively look for them.
> 
> Some from a few decades ago are obvious. Katherine V. Forrest, Rose Beecham, Therese Szymanski, Kate Calloway, Claire McNab, Dorothy Tell, Pat Welch, and Jaye Maiman for example. But the "traditional publishers" simply do not publish novels with lesbian characters, or it is so rare that I feel I can safely use very slight hyperbole. Even relative heavy-hitter lesbian authors such as Rita Mae Brown and Val McDermid have come to the point of writing mainly heterosexual characters. And f/f doesn't seem to sell the way m/m does for indies, so you find much less of it even from the indie community. A HUGE shame because I know darn well that there is an active niche market for it.
> 
> Ok, having complained sufficiently, there are some authors I have read in the last couple of years and enjoyed.
> 
> Ellen Hart, Paulette Callen, Cheryl Crane and Kate Sweeney all come to mind. It's a short list and I'm always looking for suggestions.


Oh, thank you for those suggestions. I've had a hard time finding anything.


----------



## dimples

JRTomlin said:


> It is extremely difficult to find good fiction with lesbian main characters. Believe me, because I actively look for them.
> 
> Some from a few decades ago are obvious. Katherine V. Forrest, Rose Beecham, Therese Szymanski, Kate Calloway, Claire McNab, Dorothy Tell, Pat Welch, and Jaye Maiman for example. But the "traditional publishers" simply do not publish novels with lesbian characters, or it is so rare that I feel I can safely use very slight hyperbole. Even relative heavy-hitter lesbian authors such as Rita Mae Brown and Val McDermid have come to the point of writing mainly heterosexual characters. And f/f doesn't seem to sell the way m/m does for indies, so you find much less of it even from the indie community. A HUGE shame because I know darn well that there is an active niche market for it.
> 
> Ok, having complained sufficiently, there are some authors I have read in the last couple of years and enjoyed.
> 
> Ellen Hart, Paulette Callen, Cheryl Crane and Kate Sweeney all come to mind. It's a short list and I'm always looking for suggestions.


Yes, thank you!

Your mention of f/f by indie authors just reminded me of one that I actually really enjoyed. Angel Food and Devil Dogs by Liz Bradbury


eta; huh, I see this book is now actually sold by a publisher, I could have sworn it was self published when I got it. Oh well, indie or not, it's still an enjoyable read


----------



## Marc Davies

Depends on what you like.  Personally I'd suggest straying outside what might be considered LGBT into other genres.  For example, I love sci-fi and fantasy with LGBT twists.  Richard Morgan's Steel Remains is a great Fantasy novel with 2 gay and lesbian protagonists.  Poppy Z Brite did great horror with LGBT twists.  I love reading and writing other genres with LGBT elements.


----------



## ladyknight33

Leslie said:


> Thank you, Steph! I appreciate your support...
> 
> Meanwhile, that sequel...LOL. Luke is talking to me!
> 
> L


Leslie,

I still read parts Taming Groomzilla when I need a pick me up....I'm a sucker for a good love story


----------



## bookmonster

JRTomlin said:


> It is extremely difficult to find good fiction with lesbian main characters. Believe me, because I actively look for them.


Just finished  and absolutely LOVED it!

I rated all of these 5 stars also:


----------



## projectbk

I really liked the characters and their struggles in _I Can't Think Straight_ by Shamim Sarif.


----------



## JRTomlin

Marc Davies said:


> Depends on what you like. Personally I'd suggest straying outside what might be considered LGBT into other genres. For example, I love sci-fi and fantasy with LGBT twists. Richard Morgan's Steel Remains is a great Fantasy novel with 2 gay and lesbian protagonists. Poppy Z Brite did great horror with LGBT twists. I love reading and writing other genres with LGBT elements.


You don't understand. Any novel with LGBT main characters gets a LGBT label. Many of the most popular and successful ones are mysteries for example. I don't want a "twist" or "element" though. (Whatever that means) I want a good, strong LBGT main character.

ETA: This used to irritate me since it often means that "mainstream" readers miss great writers such as Michael Nava. On the other hand, I am also aware that it lets me find them, so I don't complain so much any more.

I'll check out some of the suggested Lesbian novels. I must admit that I am incredibly picky but I am sure that some of them are excellent. It's always great to find a new author.


----------



## Eddie-Lee

Love this discussion.  As a new gay writer, I plan on checking some of these hot titles.  Thanks.


----------



## LT Ville

I really enjoyed Something like Summer by Jay Bell.


----------



## Brian Dockins

Definitely like books by Jay Bell, Todd Young, and Mark Kendrick. I've ready several by each of them, and they never disappoint.

I don't seem to have a problem finding good GLBT fiction, but I have a very difficult time finding good GLBT _Fantasy_ fiction. If anyone has some good suggestions, I would be glad to hear them.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

*Want a great read and beautifully written book, this one tops my lists (In fact, Alan Chin is one of the more unique Gay authors in my acquaintance. His books are likesnuggling up to something arm in the middle of the night. Brilliant work).*

*The Lonely War by Alan Chin*​
​
*I gave it 5-stars in one of my rare appearances as a reviewer.

Edward C. Patterson*


----------



## Leslie

Brian Dockins said:


> Definitely like books by Jay Bell, Todd Young, and Mark Kendrick. I've ready several by each of them, and they never disappoint.
> 
> I don't seem to have a problem finding good GLBT fiction, but I have a very difficult time finding good GLBT _Fantasy_ fiction. If anyone has some good suggestions, I would be glad to hear them.


I don't read fantasy but Alex is an awesome author and these two books have been getting great reviews. I started the first one and gave up halfway through but that's my problem--I don't care for the genre. Maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised.





L


----------



## Leslie

Edward C. Patterson said:


> *Want a great read and beautifully written book, this one tops my lists (In fact, Alan Chin is one of the more unique Gay authors in my acquaintance. His books are likesnuggling up to something arm in the middle of the night. Brilliant work).*
> 
> *The Lonely War by Alan Chin*​
> ​
> *I gave it 5-stars in one of my rare appearances as a reviewer.
> 
> Edward C. Patterson*


I read this in the first edition with a different cover and publisher. It was great in that version. I wonder if anything has changed?

L


----------



## M. P. Rey

One of my favorites is Andrew Holleran's _Dancer from the Dance _(197
check it out if you've never read it!


----------



## tahliaN

'Angel' by Laura Lee. It's brilliant, sensitive and thought provoking. I wrote a review of it.  Anyone slightly homophobic should read it, so they get to understand. It also a good read for idiots who reject gay marriage too. .


----------



## Leslie

tahliaN said:


> 'Angel' by Laura Lee. It's brilliant, sensitive and thought provoking. I wrote a review of it. Anyone slightly homophobic should read it, so they get to understand. It also a good read for idiots who reject gay marriage too. .


Thanks for this suggestion. I downloaded the sample...looks very interesting.

L


----------



## dmoonfire

I would have to mention Allison Moon's Tales of the Pack. It has lesbian werewolves (and she is coming out with a sequel next year).

www.amazon.com/dp/B005RMTSI6


----------



## JRTomlin

Edward C. Patterson said:


> *Want a great read and beautifully written book, this one tops my lists (In fact, Alan Chin is one of the more unique Gay authors in my acquaintance. His books are likesnuggling up to something arm in the middle of the night. Brilliant work).*
> 
> *The Lonely War by Alan Chin*​
> ​
> *I gave it 5-stars in one of my rare appearances as a reviewer.
> 
> Edward C. Patterson*


Edward, has anyone in this thread recommended your novels? If not, then I will.

My favorite of yours is still  but you do write across a number of genres.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thank you, JR. Leslie has at times, and in fact, she reviewed the novel you mention.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Brandon Shire

Just got The Lonely War a few days ago. Haven't had a chance to read it yet.


----------



## Adele Ward

It's really annoying that Amazon tends to categorise all LGBT books together so some authors don't want their novels put in this category so they don't go in the rankings with erotica or porn.

Some of the best lesbian fiction was shortlisted recently in the UK for the Stonewall Awards for Writer of the Year (for a major contribution to the LGBT community). The winner was Jeanette Winterson for Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? - a sequel to her iconic book Oranges Aren't the Only Fruit based on her true life story. Alongside her was VG Lee with Always you edina and Jackie Kay with her latest collection of short stories.

These are three lesbian authors well worth reading.


----------



## JRTomlin

One now reads it as historical fiction, although it wasn't written as such,but there may never be another LGBT novel that breaks my heart quite the way Mary Renault's _The Charioteer_ did.


----------



## Adele Ward

I look at favourite lesbian authors (like Sarah Waters) and see which categories she has a high ranking in, then click on them and look at the top 100. I wonder if others use this way of searching for books in genres they like best?


----------



## oflittleatomi

I'm a longtime lurker but I just wanted to drop this one off in here... The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth was really enjoyable for me to read. It's a YA lesbian coming of age story. I zipped through it pretty quickly (and that's saying something because I've barely had time to read for fun thanks to grad school). 

I didn't even mind that it was YA... But then again, I'm not too far past my teen years  anyway, i think it's worth a read!


----------



## Adele Ward

Coming of age is a theme I notice in many gay and lesbian books, and I suppose it's such an important time and experience. So it's interesting you say a YA book can be a favourite. I go to LGBT events and readings and it often feels as if it's the main excerpt authors choose to read from their books. I'm finding it a bit annoying that Amazon don't break down the LGBT categories more in their ranking system. Everything seems to be lumped in together. Or maybe that works better - I'm not sure.


----------



## LT Ville

This is an older story, but I think many people can appreciate The Beautiful Room is Empty by Edmund White. I read it as a teenager and I still remember certain scenes from it.


----------



## brianrowe

Has anyone read BOY MEETS BOY by David Levithan? My favorite gay book I've read in a long, long time, and this one's for teens!


----------



## JRTomlin

Adele Ward said:


> Coming of age is a theme I notice in many gay and lesbian books, and I suppose it's such an important time and experience. So it's interesting you say a YA book can be a favourite. I go to LGBT events and readings and it often feels as if it's the main excerpt authors choose to read from their books. I'm finding it a bit annoying that Amazon don't break down the LGBT categories more in their ranking system. Everything seems to be lumped in together. Or maybe that works better - I'm not sure.


My problem is that I am really, really tired of coming of age books. Some of us are already of age, yanno? Just like I'm tired of those "I'm 40 and I suddenly realize I'm a lesbian" novels.

I do wish Amazon broke down more of their categories. They do it for romances and fantasies but pretty much everyone else gets lumped together.


----------



## Geoffrey

I recently read _Black as Snow_ by Nick Nolan. It's not a gay novel per se in that the main character isn't gay - just kinda omnisexual - but it has a great older lesbian couple in it I could really get into. The story itself has elements of a romance in it, but it's really not. It's about a telepathic young man raised by his mother to believe he's the new messiah and the center of a major new religion and his self-awakening to what goodness is really all about.

I'd call it a Coming of Age novel but I really think it's more an awakening than coming of age ....


----------



## Avis Black

My all-time favorite is the Heritage of Hastur by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It's been released as the first part of a double-novel set, Heritage and Exile. The Exile part is actually Sharra's Exile, which is also good, though it's not really focused on gayness the way the first book is.


----------



## Leslie

Josh Lanyon took a year sabbatical from writing but decided to give us all a Christmas story. The one he wrote in 2009 (The Dickens with Christmas) I really loved. The one from 2010 was good. Last year's story--I could tell he was ready to take a break.

This year's story--I've downloaded and started reading so I don't have a review, but I wanted to let folks know it was available.


----------



## Adele Ward

Sarah Waters, Jeanette Winterson, VG Lee, Stella Duffy and Emma Donoghue are some of the main names in lesbian fiction in the UK who get shortlisted for the big awards.


----------



## JRTomlin

I'd love to find a new, really good LGBT mystery, gay, lesbian. I don't care which. I've read everything that looks good that I can find. *sigh*


----------



## Adele Ward

It's quite hard to know if books are on LGBT themes sometimes. I think this can be due to the way Amazon lumps everybody together. Lesbian writers like Sarah Waters don't seem to mind being put into the lesbian fiction category alongside every type of genre. But gay male authors often don't put themselves in this category as it seems to include so much erotica. A friend pointed out to me that people like Christopher Isherwood and Alan Hollinghurst aren't in the gay category. It's interesting that the top lesbian authors are ok with it, and yet their category is full of erotica too.


----------



## Avis Black

Adele Ward said:


> But gay male authors often don't put themselves in this category as it seems to include so much erotica. A friend pointed out to me that people like Christopher Isherwood and Alan Hollinghurst aren't in the gay category.


Some of the gay male authors want their work to be Taken Seriously by the furrowed-brow-lit-crit types, which means getting out of the gay male category ghetto. These authors are pained and annoyed about being classified with all these hoi polloi authors who write about gayness solely because it's fun.


----------



## Adele Ward

Yes, but the funny thing is that literary lesbian authors don't seem to worry as much as this. You will find top literary authors like Sarah Waters, Stella Duffy, Emma Donoghue etc mixed in with all genres if you look in lesbian fiction. I think they're right. I don't think it does do any damage to be mixed in together. It probably makes it harder to find the genre of fiction you want though if you're looking for LGBT protagonists in a particular type of writing style.


----------



## Avis Black

Adele Ward said:


> Yes, but the funny thing is that literary lesbian authors don't seem to worry as much as this.


That's because alpha females are mellower.


----------



## Leslie

Ben Monopoli has a new book out and I loved it:



If you enjoyed:



give this new one a try!

L


----------



## Steph H

Leslie, I saw that new one a couple of days ago when I was browsing "customers who bought this, also bought..." under a Josh Lanyon book. Despite good reviews, and even though I loved his other two, it just sounded kinda weird. But if you recommend it, I'll give it a try, 'cause I don't think I've ever been steered wrong when I've followed one of your reccys (not that I blindly follow them all, but a lot of them, yes ).

I also saw another book from a first time author, the sound of which and the reviews for which made me think he might be another Ben Monopoli-type hit. Something a bit more cerebral than the usual. I haven't read it yet, but I'll throw it out here for others who might be interested (apologies if I missed it mentioned before):


----------



## Geoffrey

Steph H said:


> I also saw another book from a first time author, the sound of which and the reviews for which made me think he might be another Ben Monopoli-type hit. Something a bit more cerebral than the usual. I haven't read it yet, but I'll throw it out here for others who might be interested (apologies if I missed it mentioned before):


Oopsies, I meant to quote your post and modified it with my own comments instead 

I read this last month. It's a charming little romance and I liked it. I gave it 3-stars.


----------



## Steph H

You darn mods and your super powers....    And to do that to a fellow DFW'er to boot!  Hmph.



Thanks for the review on "Nothingness"!


----------



## Geoffrey

I could say more, I guess ... It didn't wow me, and I liked it.  The main character, Ben, is a self-centered lawyer in NYC who has to go home to Austin upon the death of his parents to raise his 3 minor brothers.  Living across the street is a cute, straight mechanic (who is, of course, the love interest).  There is some Gay For You, some classist You're-just-a-mechanic attitude ... there are brothers with teen love problems and rich best friends... lots of fun stuff to keep one entertained.  it's not pure formulaic romance and it's not amazing - it's nice brain candy.

I'll loan it to you if you want.


----------



## Leslie

Steph H said:


> Leslie, I saw that new one a couple of days ago when I was browsing "customers who bought this, also bought..." under a Josh Lanyon book. Despite good reviews, and even though I loved his other two, it just sounded kinda weird. But if you recommend it, I'll give it a try, 'cause I don't think I've ever been steered wrong when I've followed one of your reccys (not that I blindly follow them all, but a lot of them, yes ).


It's not weird at all, actually. It's set a little bit in the future--maybe 50 years from now--and the world is basically the same place, just more modern (couldn't you say the same thing about the difference in the world from 1913 to 1963? Think how many changes there were in those 5 decades). NFL is out and paintball is in as the national obsession. Given what we are learning about traumatic head injury from football, it's not too far fetched to think it may actually disappear. People use their phones for *everything*--this will probably be true in a whole lot less than 50 years! But in terms of being in the future, it's not a "way out there" future at all.

I think Ben's strength is that he writes very believable characters--real humans who have their plusses and minuses, just like we all do. While this book is presented as an action story with pirates and so on (and they're there), at it's core, it's really about the people and what they are feeling and experiencing.

I *loved* Cranberry Hush and did not like Porcupine City quite as much so I was very pleased to see Ben was back on form with this one. I will add, though, that this new book has a whole lot more explicit sex than the other two.


Spoiler



And, if I might add, I thought it was smokin' hot. LOL.


 I was reading my Kindle at lunch yesterday and at first I was 
alone--and then people started coming in--and I hit a really hot scene and I thought to myself, "I hope no one looks over my shoulder at what I am reading..."  

Give it a try and report back!

L


----------



## Adele Ward

Jeanette Winterson's Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal is probably the main book in the UK at the moment. Are Jeanette Winterson and Sarah Waters as big in the US as they are in the UK?


----------



## bmcox

First time posting here, been mainly in the Book Bazaar section. All these recommendations are great, thanks everyone! 



Adele Ward said:


> Jeanette Winterson's Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal is probably the main book in the UK at the moment. Are Jeanette Winterson and Sarah Waters as big in the US as they are in the UK?


Yes, they are very well known here, but they are primarily seen as literary writers which helps them reach a non-lgbtq audience. A coworker of mine taught Written on the Body]http://www.amazon.com/Written-Body-Jeanette-Winterson/dp/0679744479/]Written on the Body for one of the college's World Fiction classes, at the same time I was teaching Joanna Russ's Female Man. There were students in both classes and they were equally split as to who they liked and most of them had never read fiction with a Queer protagonist or a story with any sort of gender ambiguity before.

As a recommendation (and it's probably been written about here before), I am really enjoying Catherine M. Wilson's When Women Were Warriors Book I: The Warrior's Path, which I picked up right before New Year's.

​


----------



## JRTomlin

Geoffrey said:


> I could say more, I guess ... It didn't wow me, and I liked it. The main character, Ben, is a self-centered lawyer in NYC who has to go home to Austin upon the death of his parents to raise his 3 minor brothers. Living across the street is a cute, straight mechanic (who is, of course, the love interest). There is some Gay For You, some classist You're-just-a-mechanic attitude ... there are brothers with teen love problems and rich best friends... lots of fun stuff to keep one entertained. it's not pure formulaic romance and it's not amazing - it's nice brain candy.
> 
> I'll loan it to you if you want.


God, I hate the "I turned the straight guy gay" themed books though. That is a sure turnoff for me just as the Lesbian equivalent of "I didn't know I was a Lesbian until I was forty". Of course, that doesn't mean it's a turnoff for everyone, but I took one look at that and said, NOPE. No way.

Since I can't read romance formula books of any sexuality the other would be all right, but ...

Still looking for some good mysteries, something new and no luck.

I tried to read_ When Women Were Warriors_ since I love war fiction, but just plain couldn't get through it. I was bored to tears. Maybe if you're more romance oriented...

ETA: Sorry to be all negative today. I just haven't found anything new I liked lately.


----------



## Steph H

Geoffrey said:


> I'll loan it to you if you want.


Thanks for the additional review/info, Geoffrey, and for the loan offer! I did buy it when I was 'window shopping' the other day, just haven't read it yet. 



Leslie said:



> It's set a little bit in the future--maybe 50 years from now--


I had read in a few reviews about the 'lots of hot sex' and paint ball being a focus, but didn't see anything about it being set in the near-future. I liked both Cranberry and Porcupine, though they were definitely different animals...so to speak.  But I did like Cranberry better. It reminded me of a *really good* Josh Lanyon or Andrew Grey (some of theirs can be really good, some can be short filled-with-sex and not much else, which can be good or bad depending on my mood).



bmcox said:


> As a recommendation (and it's probably been written about here before), I am really enjoying Catherine M. Wilson's When Women Were Warriors Book I: The Warrior's Path, which I picked up right before New Year's.


I really enjoyed that series when I read it a few years ago. I'm glad you mentioned it, I think I'd like to re-read it.


----------



## Adele Ward

Jeanette Winterson and Sarah Waters may be seen as literary, but they are real page-turners. It's a pity the label 'literary' makes people think 'difficult'. Sarah Waters' novel Affinity is one book I just couldn't stop reading. I stayed up a day and two nights with no sleep because I couldn't find a good place to stop until I finished!


----------



## Leslie

When people talk about classic LGBT books, *The Front Runner* by Patricia Nell Warren always gets mentioned (along with *The Lord Won't Mind* by Gordon Merrick). Up until now, I've never read it but this week I discovered it was available in a Kindle edition for $3.99 so I bought it. Perfect for traveling!



So...everyone always gives this 5 stars and says it is (was) a life changing book. I can see how reading this in 1974 it would have been. Reading it almost 40 years later, knowing what has happened in the gay world (especially AIDS) it feels a little...not sure of the right word. Quaint? Naive? That said, I enjoyed the story and would recommend it. I think it has aged better than *The Lord Won't Mind* which was a little over-the-top and very stereotypical in many ways. *The Front Runner* had its share of stereotypes, too, but the main characters were very sympathetic which makes it easier to ignore some of the other stuff.

I think it is best to read this in a 1974 frame of mind and particularly try to remember the Mexico City (196 and Munich (1972) Olympics. That gives some context and does a lot to improve the overall reading experience.

Many people have said this would be a great movie and it really would. The story has a lot of spectacle (lots of running and track meets, plus the Olympics) and fabulous looking characters. It would be fun to cast!

L


----------



## Avis Black

If you like gay romantic fantasy, Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner is one of my favorites.


----------



## Leslie

Avis Black said:


> If you like gay romantic fantasy, Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner is one of my favorites.


That's a great book. It may be on this thread (buried down deep) as I read it a few years ago on my Kindle.

L


----------



## MadCityWriter

This threads gotten kind of long so don't know if anyone mentioned Barbara Winkes. She writes Lesbian Romance and Mystery.


----------



## Leslie

When I am casting about for a good book, K.Z. Snow is a pretty reliable author. This is her latest, I buzzed right through it and enjoyed it.


----------



## Steph H

I read that a couple of weeks ago, Leslie, and agree it was a good one. Also agree she's a good one to turn to; it's all your fault that I started reading her.


----------



## christopherruz

I loved Street Dreams, by Tama Wise. I loved the book, despite it being aimed at a YA audience. My full review is up on Amazon.



I've also written a short fantasy story with a central gay romance that you might enjoy:


----------



## Steph H

I just finished reading _*The Other Guy*_* by Cary Attwell and *really* enjoyed it. It's a smart, funny, sweet love story. This isn't exactly a "gay for you" theme, but more "I've been repressing possible gay thoughts all my life but I'm ready to jump in whole hog with you" -- so yeah kinda, but without angst over the doing of it. There aren't really any sex scenes, just kissing and fade to black -- it's more about the story and the romance rather than just hot steamy sex with no plot. And there's a lot of funny snark, which I love.

Currently there are 27 reviews with an average 4.6 rating on Amazon. I highly recommend it!

*


----------



## Geoffrey

I think I mentioned this book before but it's currently $2 and needs to be mentioned again. I Am Not Myself These Days (P.S.) by Josh Kilmer-Price is his story of his life as a drag queen in 90's New York years before he became a gentleman farmer with his husband, a reality TV guy or The Amazing Race winner.... It's dark, it's funny, it's sad - it's just fantastic. I stumbled across it in Hong Kong's airport and it kept me up reading all the way back to Dallas ....

If you want something different, pick it up and read it.


----------



## Steph H

grahampowell said:


> They're not on the Kindle, unfortunately, so this post is a bit off-topic, but Joseph Hansen wrote a series of private eye novels featuring a gay detective, Dave Brandstetter. This was one of the leading detective series of the late 60s and early 70s, and gay or not, was pretty widely read.


To resurrect both an old thread and an old recommendation....

Back in 2011 when the Brandstetter series was recommended, I bought the HUGE omnibus trade paperback (1200+ pages in teeny tiny print!), and read all 12 stories. Wonderful wonderful, sad to see it end. Highly recommended.

Doing some ebook spreadsheet maintenance today and on a lark, did a search on Amazon to see if the books had been put on Kindle yet perchance and surprise! The first two are already out, and the rest are all coming out on Kindle at the end of the month (May 28, to be exact). All but one are listed at $7.99, and the other is $8.19, I don't know why.

The first one is Fadeout.



The reading order, in case it can't easily be found elsewhere, is:

Fadeout (1970) 
Death Claims (1973) 
Troublemaker (1975) 
The Man Everybody was Afraid Of (197 
Skinflick (1979)
Gravedigger (1982) 
Nightwork (1984) 
The Little Dog Who Laughed (1986) 
Early Graves (1987) 
Obedience (198 
The Boy Who was Buried this Morning (1990) 
A Country of Old Men (1991)


----------



## Tyler Cook

To Catch A Fox by Ethan Day is a really good book.  And soooo hot!  I had to fan myself several times.

Also, Geography Club by Brent Hartinger is really good as well.  A teen gay novel, so it's not as heated.


----------



## Geoffrey

skinny_bones4 said:


> To Catch A Fox by Ethan Day is a really good book. And soooo hot! I had to fan myself several times.
> 
> Also, Geography Club by Brent Hartinger is really good as well. A teen gay novel, so it's not as heated.


The name Ethan Day rings a bell but none of his specific books are .... I wonder why I think I know his work .... anyway, in addition to this one, are there any others of his you would recommend?


----------



## Leslie

Geoffrey said:


> I think I mentioned this book before but it's currently $2 and needs to be mentioned again. I Am Not Myself These Days (P.S.) by Josh Kilmer-Price is his story of his life as a drag queen in 90's New York years before he became a gentleman farmer with his husband, a reality TV guy or The Amazing Race winner.... It's dark, it's funny, it's sad - it's just fantastic. I stumbled across it in Hong Kong's airport and it kept me up reading all the way back to Dallas ....
> 
> If you want something different, pick it up and read it.


I loved this book. I also enjoyed:



BTW, Josh and Brent got married on their farm at the end of June. The wedding announcement was in the New York Times.


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## Leslie

Steph H said:


> To resurrect both an old thread and an old recommendation....
> 
> Back in 2011 when the Brandstetter series was recommended, I bought the HUGE omnibus trade paperback (1200+ pages in teeny tiny print!), and read all 12 stories. Wonderful wonderful, sad to see it end. Highly recommended.
> 
> Doing some ebook spreadsheet maintenance today and on a lark, did a search on Amazon to see if the books had been put on Kindle yet perchance and surprise! The first two are already out, and the rest are all coming out on Kindle at the end of the month (May 28, to be exact). All but one are listed at $7.99, and the other is $8.19, I don't know why.
> 
> The first one is Fadeout.
> 
> 
> 
> The reading order, in case it can't easily be found elsewhere, is:
> 
> Fadeout (1970)
> Death Claims (1973)
> Troublemaker (1975)
> The Man Everybody was Afraid Of (197
> Skinflick (1979)
> Gravedigger (1982)
> Nightwork (1984)
> The Little Dog Who Laughed (1986)
> Early Graves (1987)
> Obedience (198
> The Boy Who was Buried this Morning (1990)
> A Country of Old Men (1991)


Thanks for this, Steph! Josh Lanyon has written many times about how these books were an inspiration for his own mysteries. I knew about the print omnibus but didn't want to go that route. Last weekend, I was casting about for a good book (after getting very depressed reading Roger Ebert's memoir) and somehow stumbled on to the fact that these books were finally in Kindle versions. I bought the first one and buzzed right through it. Great story and good old fashioned mystery. I have the second one on my Kindle and will read it shortly. I don't like to read all the books in a series one right after another--I need to space them out and savor them. I am looking forward to this series!

L


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## Leslie

Slightly different from many of the books posted on this thread, but very good and highly recommended:



If you are familiar with San Francisco or remember the early days of AIDS, this will strike a chord.

L


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## Leslie

Geoffrey said:


> The name Ethan Day rings a bell but none of his specific books are .... I wonder why I think I know his work .... anyway, in addition to this one, are there any others of his you would recommend?


Ethan is a popular author with Jessewave's reviewers. I read one or two of his books...they were good, not great. Also not terribly memorable since I don't even remember the names...actually, I think I read this one. It was okay.



L


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## Leslie

Back in the day, I super highly recommended *Out of the Pocket* by Bill Konigsberg (I still recommend it). This is his latest book:



I bought it the day it was released, buzzed right through it and at the end, have ambivalent feelings. I don't have the same level of enthusiasm as I did for his first book. If anyone else had read it, I'd be interested in your thoughts. It wasn't a bad book, I just have mixed feelings about the story line.

Comments are welcome.

L


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## Leslie

Steph H said:


> I just finished reading _*The Other Guy*_* by Cary Attwell and *really* enjoyed it. It's a smart, funny, sweet love story. This isn't exactly a "gay for you" theme, but more "I've been repressing possible gay thoughts all my life but I'm ready to jump in whole hog with you" -- so yeah kinda, but without angst over the doing of it. There aren't really any sex scenes, just kissing and fade to black -- it's more about the story and the romance rather than just hot steamy sex with no plot. And there's a lot of funny snark, which I love.
> 
> Currently there are 27 reviews with an average 4.6 rating on Amazon. I highly recommend it!
> 
> 
> 
> *


*

I just downloaded this, didn't even bother with a sample. At $3.99, I think I can splurge! Thanks for the recommendation, Steph, looking forward to reading this.

L*


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## Geoffrey

I read _The Other Guy_ last month - it's cute. I liked it. I don't think it will win any awards but it was enjoyable.


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## Leslie

Geoffrey said:


> I read _The Other Guy_ last month - it's cute. I liked it. I don't think it will win any awards but it was enjoyable.


Sometimes, that's just what I want in a book.

L


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## AngryGames

I'm happy to see a thread like this. 

I'm a straight guy but I tend to have LGBT characters in my stories. I definitely don't do romance or erotica (and a problem I see is that most people assume that any book labeled 'LGBT-friendly' or such, or has an LGBT character in it is automatically considered 'gay romance' or 'gay erotica' which annoys me to no end). I like to write LGBTQ characters that are portrayed as normal human beings...not the 'Hollywood flaming hairdresser' stereotypes (or any other stereotypes...humans are almost always too complex to boil down to a stereotype). 

I would definitely like to find other books that have LGBT characters set in non-romance/non-erotica stories. Mostly because I'm a huge supporter of the LGBT community (I'm directly related to three, which makes me wonder how I got skipped if it is genetic/hereditary). I like to see minority characters (race/sexuality/even religion), especially strong minority characters. The sooner we accept it in all of our entertainment/media, the sooner we can move on to more important issues that actually affect us. 

So...if anyone has recommendations, please let me know. In the meantime, I'll try to get the other 19 pages of this thread digested and see if what I am looking for has been listed/recommended.


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## Leslie

I just bought this but I haven't read it but it is getting great reviews. I am wondering if anyone here has read it?


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## Natasha Holme

Written On The Body by Jeanette Winterson is beautiful.


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## M. P. Rey

My favorite LGBT novels are Dancer from the Dance by Andrew Holleran and Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin.
Check them out if you like literary gay fiction


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## rbettenc

I'm a big fan of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City series. He's influenced my writing a lot. I recently read The World of Normal Boys and found it very good.


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## Leslie

Listen up, people! You must read this book!



I received Jordan Castillo Price's newsletter the other day and she said, "This book rocked my world." I was traveling and wanted something good to read for the trip home, so I bought it--and am I glad I did. It just shot to the top of my Top Ten Books of the Year list. Yes, it's that good. I finished it about 2 am this morning (I stayed up to finish it--haven't done that in years) and immediately started re-reading it this morning. It's good, good, good. Don't read too many reviews because really, this is a book best read cold. Just know, like Jordan, it rocked my world.

Enjoy!


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## Clarketacular

If you want lesbian fiction, I recommend anything by Cassandra Duffy (aka @SapphicPixie on Twitter), I'm currently on The Gunfighter's Gambit, the 3rd book of her steampunk series The Raven Ladies, and I think she is just brilliant, she combines great characters and a real creative talent for world-building.


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## Geoffrey

This thread has been asleep for some time now. But I just read 4 books by a single author that's kinda turned me on to a new (for me at least) genre mashup - the gay romance horror / thriller. I thought I would hate these but they're dark, they're a little twisted but they're also nice romances:

Adrienne Wilders' SEVEN and then the My Brother's Keeper trilogy: The First Three Rules, Rule Four and Five and The Final Rule.

SEVEN is about a man who finds himself caught up in a twisted world of scientifically engineered psychics and the corporation that controls them. Messy, messy fun stuff. And My Brother's Keeper is a more Southern Gothic horror set in a small Georgia town. I don't even read a lot of horror and Thoroughly enjoyed these ....


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