Headless Naked Torsos: A Note on Cover Art

by Tracey J. Pennington
I must say something about covers which feature the ubiquitous headless naked male torso. Please note–this is not a criticism of authors, who typically have no control over what gets put on the covers of their books.
I will state here that publishers of gay romances are generally coping with numerous costs [...]

The List – Revisted

The List has been fiddled with and I’ve put it into historical order.
We have:
Anthologies
Ancient World
Dark Ages
Middle Ages
Renaissance
17th Century & Regency
18th Century
19th Century
20th Century
Then, ebooks (which I still need to put in the same order), graphic novels, free fiction, text books.
I hope it is a little easier to navigate – when I started the List, I [...]

Turns on and Squicks: a rebuttal

By T J Pennington
Were it possible, I would have posted this response on Erotica Readers & Writers Association. Regrettably, while Jean Roberta’s’ editorial on women who write male/male romance was there, there was no reply button, and thus no way to discuss or debate her statements…or beliefs that she stated as fact. So I am [...]

Best GBLT book of 2007?

I’ve been contacted by Dear Author and Smart Bitches and they’ve asked if Speak Its Name would like to help nominate some of the books for ther upcoming awards, namely the GBLT category. Rather proud to be asked, have to say.
Now, I know my favourite books of this year, but I’ve only read a fraction, [...]

Dear Author’s Query Saturday

Dear Author have started to showcase Query Letters on a Saturday and this week they have a query regarding a m/m story based in 1919 New York. The Query Letter itself needs a little work, but I think the story could be as good as any of the m/m historicals I’ve read, given the [...]

Opinions Please? Improvements?

Hi,
Thanks to everyone who has helped this community to grow in popularity it’s very much appreciated and it makes us feel great that you agree with us that this genre is one that deserves its own place in the world, with publishers, with awards and reviews.
I’m always wanting to provide the best service I can, [...]

Women writing M/M

There’s a subject I keep seeing all over the net recently, and that’s about people who are not gay and lesbian writing gay and lesbian fiction. Some people find it annoying, some people even find it offensive, a lot of people seem puzzled by it.
Myself, I’m puzzled why people are puzzled.
For me, writing fiction isn’t [...]

Why here and not there?

 
by Fiona Glass
Reading through several of Erastes’ recent reviews, I’ve noticed anachronisms being mentioned: railways in a Regency setting, confusion over the rules of aristocratic titles, that sort of thing. In pretty much every case the book has been set in England but the author is American, and it just set me wondering why that [...]

Malibu Historical Barbie

by Tracey Pennington
It’s an odd fact, but many fans of historical romance—and many writers of it as well—dislike history.
If you ask them, they will tell you, at first, that they love historical romance and all that implies. However, if you probe a bit deeper, they will tell you that they don’t like too much history [...]

Discussion: Cover… MY EYES!

It’s a fairly well known that that Romance – and by this I mean heterosexual Romance – (Harlequin, Avon, Mills & Boon and the like) – generally have a certain sort of cover.
You know the type…
There’s always a strong wind; the heroine is being clutched, their clothes are (yet) being blown away The hero is [...]

A Rake Ain’t Nothin’ But A Garden Implement

by Tracey Pennington
You see them everywhere in the romance genre. Some are young; more are in their mid-thirties to early forties. The vast majority of them are handsome and desirable. Most are in professions strongly associated with masculinity—soldiers, sailors and ships’ captains, cowboys, pioneers, police and private detectives, knights, rebels. Frequently, they are of [...]

Discussion: Happy Ever After/For Now…

Posted by Erastes

One thing that I have a great deal of trouble with, as a writer in this genre, is the Happy Ever After.
It’s wonderful now of course, that any writer of contemporary gay fiction can literally include the “Will you marry me?” into their plot and even go on to describe the wedding. [...]