What women want: Gay male romance novels - The Globe and Mail

Contents:

• WHY DON'T STRAIGHT PEOPLE READ GAY BOOKS?
• 13 VERY GAY AND VERY GOOD BOOKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS PRI MONTH
• 21 BOOKS EVERY GAY MAN NEEDS TO READ RIGHT NOW
• WHAT WOMEN WANT: GAY MALE ROMANCE NOVELS
• WHY ARE SO MANY GAY ROMANCE NOVELS WRTEN BY STRAIGHT WOMEN?

WHY DON'T STRAIGHT PEOPLE READ GAY BOOKS?

Gay's the Word bookshop wdow Marchmont Street, London. Photograph: Sarah LeeAs a gay man, I actually read very ltle "gay lerature". There isn't that much gay l published the days, pecially sce the mise of Gay Men's Prs, and anyway I nsir myself a cizen of the world, not a member of some exclive agment of society lled the gay muny.

I need to read about you, precisely bee you are I started wrg, I wrote maly about gay characters. To start wh, all fictn there is an tobgraphil element which n't be nied, but hontly stck me that there were aspects of my gay life that were uniquely tertg, funny and sometim tragic - and I thought that this very difference, this shift of perspective, would be tertg to the rints of straight land.

13 VERY GAY AND VERY GOOD BOOKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS PRI MONTH

"Well, " he said simply, "I'm not gay. But somethg else has led me to ponr the divi between straight and gay fictn. Talented gay thors such as Jim Grimsley, Andrew Holleran, Felice Pino or Hugh Fleetwood rema largely unknown outsi of the gay muny.

My novels have been reviewed (glowgly, I believe is the term) by Gay Tim, AXM, Attu, The Pk Paper... Jt about every UK-based gay publitn has prted a review - or three. The only exceptn has been Time Out, which has repeatedly reviewed my novels, but even they have done so unr "gay listgs" rather than "books" there mt be an explanatn of this, and that explanatn terts me.

21 BOOKS EVERY GAY MAN NEEDS TO READ RIGHT NOW

Are straight book reviewers embarrassed to adm that they enjoyed a book ntag gay characters? This book is so important bee was one of the first to really show the plited ways which gay men had to manage their inty, self and place a world that didn’t want them do exist. While not one of Vidal’s “bt” works (to me, he’s an sayist first and a novelist send), The Pillar and the Cy is a mt-read bee of s place the queer non as one of the first regnized and reviewed gay novels.

WHAT WOMEN WANT: GAY MALE ROMANCE NOVELS

The fact that A Separate Peace ntually gets tght high school English urs baffl the bt possible way, as Knowl’ bt-known work is one of the most homoerotic bildungsromans ever wrten.

WHY ARE SO MANY GAY ROMANCE NOVELS WRTEN BY STRAIGHT WOMEN?

The one character many gay men fd themselve nnectg wh is bisexual Pl Denton, who is love wh Sean Bateman, the dg aler of the story. Their relatnship is pretty ambiguo the whole story and Ellis leav open to one’s own terpretatn, but I thk that is what has so many gay rears lovg Pl. Many gay men nnect wh Charlie wh his sense of isolatn the story and other experienc that you will have to read to fd out.

There is a gay character who acts as one of Charlie’s clost iends So, that aids the ‘gayns’ of the book. The novel tails a mother’s stggle to al wh her gay son’s suici, as she wasn’t supportive of his g out while he was alive, and how the post-mortem lsons changed her. Osr Wil is one of the qutsential gay thors history.

Vany and bety are two thgs that many gay men stggle wh their entire liv due to livg a gay culture which how good one looks superses most other aspects regards to social pal and succs. This book attracts gay rears all over the world bee Dorian, who is not gay, is alg wh an issue that eclips many gay liv. Extra Cred: Check out Brishead Revised, Evelyn Wgh’s most celebrated novel and an early work the queer non, and the llected works of Patricia Highsmh, all of which were really, really gay.