If you have a gay historical novel, novella or a short story you would like reviewed by The Team, then email it to erastes at erastes dot com with the subject line: Review Submission
We are happy to review any format, so if you’d rather post a hard copy or point to a site online, then let us know. We’ll organise an address for a hard copy to go to.
Erastes writes smutty short stories and gay historical novels. She has no qualifications to do so, but doesn’t care. She lives on the Norfolk Broads and tells lies about everything.
Hayden Thorne writes gay young adult fiction in the gothic, historical, and superhero genres. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where granola reigns supreme.
Alex Beecroft currently lives in Great Britain with her husband and two daughters. Raised in Cheshire, Alex studied English and Philosophy before accepting employment with the Crown Court where she worked for a number of years. Alex has Age of Sail books published by Samhain, Manloveromance and Running Press.
Fiona Glass has been creating imaginary worlds for years – worlds driven by two little words, ‘what if’, and by the horde of somewhat unusual characters that reside inside her head. Most of these worlds take the form of short stories, most involve homosexual characters, and most are in the paranormal, fantasy and erotic romance genres. Fiona has also written one novel, Roses in December, a gay erotic ghost story published by Torquere Press, and is currently working on her second novel.
Leslie H. Nicoll is the owner of Maine Desk LLC, an editorial writing and consulting business located in Portland, Maine. She is also the Publisher for Bristlecone Pine Press, an ebook publishing imprint and subsidiary of her business. While she desires to write fiction, she seems to have more success in the non-fiction world. Her latest books (both 2008) are The Editor’s Handbook, co-authored with Margaret Freda and published by Lippincott, Williams, and Wilkins and The Amazon Kindle FAQ, co-authored with Joshua Tallent and DeLancey Nicoll and published by Bristlecone. For more, please visit www.mainedesk.com and www.bcpinepress.com
Aleksandr Voinov is an expat German living near London, UK. After studying medieval and ancient history and modern literature, he is now making a living as a financial journalist and writing coach. He has published in English as Aleksandr Voinov and is working on about five novels and stories at any given time. He is interested in all epochs of history and sometimes believes he knows something about a few of them, too.
In his seventy-two years Gerry Burnie has sampled a wide variety of professions: Professor of political science and law; history; actor; dancer and singer. However, in his retirement years writing has become his abiding passion, resulting in two novels thus far: i.e. Two Irish Lads, and Journey to Big Sky. Moreover, his third novel, Coming of Age on the Trail, is scheduled for release in March 2010. It’s never too late for a new start!
I have a question and a conundrum- I am fascinated by the sixties, and have written a murder mystery set in 1966, in America, and am at work on another set in 1968 in Vietnam. Is this period considered historical? It sure doesn’t seem contemporary, but there is a quiet buzz of recognition for things like the sound of Buffalo Springfield or Walter Cronkite’s voice. What do you think? Should these stories be marketed as historical or contemporary? And is there a third option? Thanks, Sarah
Fiona and I were discussing this the other day, and I think that we can bend the “normal” rules of the historical novelists society (which are (i believe) nothing post WW2) and go for “40 years ago” which seems nicely historical, just a little post-Wolfenden and of course, a moveable feast as time moves on.
After all – if I don’t do that, I won’t get my latest WIP reviewed, seeing as how its 1962! And I’m sure you’ll agree, it’s just as hard getting the facts right for 40 years ago as is it for 140.
Are they gay novels? Do you want us to review them? Be brave now…
I was born in 1962. That makes me “nicely historical”. Thanks!
I have a question, too. Is there any type or subgenre of gay historical that doesn’t fall into Speak Its Name guidelines? If someone submitted a story of a man from another planet arriving in ancient Atlantis to stop an evil genius from his homeworld from traveling through time wreaking havoc, but finds himself waylaid by a handsome stranger in 1810 and has to scramble (with handsome stranger at his side, of course) into the future to stop the evil genius from turning WWII into an atom-bomb-fest that will destroy the planet, etc, (not that I’m writing this (g), it’s just an example), would a novel like that be accepted for review? How about if I threw Godzilla, Morgan le Fay, Jesus, and a talking marmot into the mix?
I’m just curious to know if we draw a line or if we’re line-free.
I’ve reviewed Vintner’s Luck and House on the Strand, and I think that’s the place to draw the line.
I had to refuse a shape shifting one in English Civil War America recently and the author was fine about it. There are many places they can have these reviewed, after all.
The thing is, the way I think about it is that the HISTORY of the book has got to be important – and not just a wallpaper on which to hang the gay story.
I’m still going to continue to read historicals with a paranormal aspect though, and this may change, depending on how they treat the history.
I’m still going to continue to read historicals with a paranormal aspect though, and this may change, depending on how they treat the history.
I know it won’t be for a few more months, but will Banshee fit the bill? I wasn’t sure if SiN also reviews historical gay YA fiction.
I know this is gay historical fiction, but would you ever consider reviewing a lesbian romance set during the American Civil War?
Hi K.I.
Not at the moment, I’m afraid – I just don’t have anyone who is willing to read and review them – which is a shame as I notice on Amazon that there more and more of them springing up and YAY for that. If I can find a group of people who will volunteer for the duty, I’d be more than happy to expand the community up to lesbian. The community is growing and more and more people are reading it, so it can only be a good thing. I’ll do some digging around, ask some questions and come back to you.
Thanks,
Erastes
Your submission address: erastes at erastes dot net or erastes@erastes.net doesn’t seem to work as an email address, at least for my internet service. what should I do?
Please let me know when you are ready to review lesbian fiction. My paperback is coming out soon!
Libby Cone
http://www.waronthemargins.com
Dear speak it’s name reviews, I have written a novel entitled Rainbow Plantation Blues. It is an historical story of a young South Carolina slave holder in 1850 who grapples with is love and desire for one of his male slaves, Kumi. Please visit my web site to read chapter one, my bio, an interview, etc. If you are interested, I would like to send a hard copy. Thanks! Hope to hear from you soon! Robert L. Sheeley.
Hello Erastes & colleagues,
I have a 497-page novel titled ‘THE HADRIAN ENIGMA: A Forbidden History’ currently in its final stages of publishing via Lulu.
It is a fictional account of the relationship of Caesar Hadrian with Antinous in 2ndCent Rome. It develops into a crime/mystery saga while accenting the romance side of things. The novel is very gay-positive and erotically charged, but not pure porn.
I have a blog under construction visible at http://www.MmRomanceNovels.com. This will help promote the work when it’s ready for online retail.
I would like to send a hard copy of the novel to you for review. Please provide an address for this purpose.
Best regards,
George Pugh
(for author George Gardiner)
GMP Editions
Sydney
Australia
Hi George, We’d love to review it – bear with me for a day or two while I line up a reviewer for you and get you an address – thakn you – and I’ll add the book to The List as soon as it goes live.
Erastes
Hey Erastes,
Any chance of getting an anthology reviewed that has seven gay stories, five lesbian ones, and two that are arguably transgender? Or could I just send along the gay bits? I’d rather have the whole book mentioned, even if only the gay ones are reviewed, but I’d take what I could get.
I’m talking about Time Well Bent: Queer Alternative Histories, from Lethe Press.
Sacchi
I’d be happy to, Sacchi – I assumed by the title that they weren’t actual historicals though – or are they? Alternative History?
The stories are alternate history, very much based in history as we perceive it. They generally deal with the point of divergence rather than its extrapolations in the future, which are clearly implied. A few can be interpreted to have paranormal elements, in times and cultures where that would seem appropriate.
A few examples: Dale Chase writes of Thomas Jefferson with a male lover, debating with Madison over inserting a “freedom of choice in marriage” clause into the Bill of Rights; Lisabet Sarai amplifies homoerotic hints in “Ruddigore” and changes Gilbert’s life; and Emily Salter imagines the effect on young gay men in and after WWI if Forster had published “Maurice” in time for them to read it.
The historical aspects are well-researched, as far as I can determine; I checked on parts I wasn’t already familiar with. Still, this is speculative fiction of sorts, and I can quite understand if you think it wouldn’t be appropriate. There’s one story, Simon Sheppard’s “Barbaric Splendor”, that jumps the fence and combines Coleridge’s “Xanadu” with explorations by the Dutch Navy, but most are more firmly grounded in history.
I don’t imagine this is very helpful, but there it is. I won’t mind at all if you decide that it just doesn’t fit.
Sacchi