And at last, AT LAST the series finally delivers on its greatest, and hitherto unexpressed potential:
A really great slash scene between Helo and Gaeta.
And already, the word is out. It's about damn time, that's all I can say. I've been dying for some good Helo/Gaeta since Season 2.
Please welcome Anah Crow, who has a thoughtful and thought-provoking essay on one of my favorite topics: Why do we love m/m? Take it away, Anah!
My Big Mouth: Speculations on why women read or write m/m fiction
Over at the Torquere Press Social LiveJournal, Jessica brought up the question of how the writers got started writing, and how the readers got started reading, m/m fiction. And, of course, I opened my big mouth. This got me invited to bring my speculations over here to Jessica’s blog for a guest spot.
I’ve been writing m/m fiction for 27 years, that I can remember. In fact, queer fiction is about the only thing I’ve ever written. I wasn’t raised in an environment that even recognized queerness in any way, and I didn’t dare write anything down until I left home. After that, it took some years until I found out that other people not only wrote like I did, they read the kinds of things I wrote as well. As Jessica noted, it was a bit of a coming out for me, some ten years after I came out as queer in my personal life.
For me, writing m/m fiction started because as a child I identified most strongly with the male characters in the stories I read and the television/movies I watched; all the male characters. The female characters were either ones I didn’t want to emulate or ones I couldn’t enjoy, so I was stuck with a model in which I had only men to play with. It only made sense, at that point, that they should also be involved with each other romantically. Long before I knew what ‘gay’ was, it made plenty of natural sense to me.
When it comes to reading gay/queer characters, there’s definitely something to do with ‘otherness’ there. Women are often ‘othered’ in our society; white, heterosexual masculinity is the preferred default position for all characters, real or fictional. I’ve often mused that co-opting the dominant figures (reading or writing m/m) gives one a paradigm that’s free of the over-arching patriarchal subjugation of one’s own life while still exploring otherness.
Other reasons women may have for reading or writing m/m fiction include not being female, escaping into a non-female body and life, or being in control of men in some manner. Our media is largely created with the ‘masculine eye’ in mind, as men have traditionally held most of the financial power. Creating and consuming with the ‘feminine eye’ is subversive and refreshing.
One reason for the rising popularity of m/m fiction that I’ve considered is one I haven’t seen in my limited exposure to other ‘meta’ discussions of m/m fiction. I wonder sometimes if women aren’t living in such an ambient state of vulnerability that the same breathlessness of walking alone down a dark alley is a constant undercurrent of reading about a woman character. One never knows what she’s going to suffer, what the reader may also have suffered. The tension is eased when one writes men in both romantic roles.
This is not to deny that men, gay or not, are exposed to physical and sexual violence, and discrimination based on their sexuality or other characteristics. It is simply that these things are rarely played upon in our media, and they don’t happen directly to women. These events are outside the common experience of the female reader and writer, and therefore they cause less internal tension when engaging with a piece of fiction, even if those events do occur within that fictional framework.
There is no gender/sex-based power barrier to break when one writes and associates with male characters; by taking on male characters, the writer or reader is transported beyond the difficulties of being female in an overwhelmingly patriarchal society. Gay or not, these characters have the inherent privilege of being male and yet their sexuality is not a threat to women. I do believe that for many readers and writers, there is a deep sigh of relief associated with an all-male core of characters, men who can be ascribed ‘feminine’ qualities while still giving a nod to realism, men who are relatable and contain the positive qualities that are appreciated in any person.
For years, I harboured a subconscious anxiety, having grown up bombarded with fascinating male characters and two-dimensional female characters, about whether or not women characters could be interesting and whether or not I could write them well. I wonder if it’s not just that we worry about writing interesting women, but whether or not women are worthy or interesting subjects. Who would want to know about people like me, when I was worth so little to so many?
If I were an alien coming down to learn, I would learn that women are not worthy subjects of artistic effort except as aesthetic objects for viewing. And are men not the primary audience – the holders of money, and the core of the publishing – and would they really wish to read about a woman? That was a common anxiety for me as a younger writer. Would they, the establishment, make the stretch to identify with me?
There’s definitely accommodation for the stereotypical image of the woman, but she is not “me” at all. Perhaps some women, including myself, are not interested in reading about female characters because we are not interested in being the people that the feminine stereotypes make us out to be. With every day spent pushing against the expectations and restrictions placed on me because of my sex and gender, escapism for me does not involve stepping back into the stereotypical role.
It’s also possible that writing and reading m/m fiction also protects us from the interference of men because of the homophobia in our society. It is a safe place for us, because it is unsafe for them. The internet or the mailbox, the post office box, and the pseudonym protect us as well. Who can tell us to stop, who can force a profit from it, who can criticize it, if everything is in shadow... and what man is going to foray into the ‘dangerous’ realm of homosexuality and risk conversion or mistaken association to meddle with the ‘insignificant’ activities of bored housewives? What critic is going to forge into our domain and tell us that, by the standards of the male-dominated craft, we’re doing it wrong?
Ironically or not, the place for many women to come into their own, to create their own styles and their own business of creating, may be in the realm of writing m/m fiction. Reading about men may be the escapism that many women are seeking when they pick up a book. The thrill of subversion may add to the entertainment. Or, it may be as simple as the fact that the pictures in our heads are pretty when we read about men together.
Anah Crow
http://www.anahcrow.com
anahcrow@gmail.com
My former student, Traci Castleberry, is putting together a proposal for a non-fiction book on queer sf/f, and she wants your input. Here is her proposal, and here is a survey she's conducting in relation to the book. Go help her out.
I hosted the Torquere Happy Hour today and wrote a little ficlet based on some promts some raving maniacs dear friends gave me. It's called CATERING and you can read it for free here:
And please give me feedback on it. I love to hear comments from readers. And while you're at it, let me know if you'd like to see something like this done here at Friskbiskit.
Hey everybody, I'll be hosting Torquere Press's LiveJournal tomorrow. I'll be doing the Ficlet Fresh to Order thing again, so get your story prompts in early and see what kind of story I can come up with in an afternoon. I'll also be posting some excerpts from my Hero series, and who knows what else we might get up to.
See you tomorrow!
This is from about a year ago, but it's new to me. The Subterranean Press review of Nebula Awards Showcase 2007
Hello, Jessica and all the Friskbikit readers,
Thank you for having me as a guest blogger.
Jessica’s interview with me is titled, “Phyllida and the Publishing of Philander,” and I thought I might write a little more about the problems of selling a “bisexual” romance. In some ways, it isn’t really a problem of substance, merely one of language. While I didn’t change anything in the plot or story from the original subsidy-published version, the subtitle did change from “a bisexual Regency romance” to “a novel.” The B word scares everybody. Of course it’s going to be a hard sell to the mainstream publishing houses. But even perfectly nice people who are quite comfortable with same-sex romance of the L or G variety recoil at the mere thought of a bisexual story. It feels sometimes as if “bisexual” is the love that dare not speak its name.
I have to say, after all the
careful consideration within HarperCollins, and between me and various
people at HC, as to how to present a bisexual romance without actually
calling it bisexual, it is very gratifying to see how well Phyllida
has been received among readers of “gay” romance and fiction. And
no, I don’t think this is only because they don’t yet know it’s
a bi romance (boy, are they going to be pissed when they start reading
and discover the title character, Phyllida, is a woman!) The back cover
and other promotional copy make it pretty clear that there are three
main characters in this romance, and that one of them is a wife.
My agenda in writing a bisexual
romance was personal. Much as I believe in the cause (yes, bisexuality
does exist; no, it’s not the same thing as “doing anything that
moves;” yes, bisexual people can and do have monogamous relationships;
and no, it doesn’t have to mean polyamory or any other poly lifestyle),
all I wanted to do was imagine myself as a woman in a relationship with
a man who likes men. It seemed to me that if a woman really is a “girl
who likes boys who like boys,” then she’d like her husband to be
one of those boys. And if she’s serious about this preference, she
might actually prefer that he continue to like boys, even after marriage.
Another huge concern for me
was not wanting to imply in any way that gay men can be “changed;”
that it’s only a matter of finding the “right woman.” This idea
strikes me as so offensive that it should be illegal to express it seriously
in public, and so immoral that people who believe it should face mandatory
commitment to a psychiatric facility. Plus it’s just plain disgusting.
The best way to avoid even the hint of such impropriety was to make
sure that my gay-to-bisexual hero went right on happily committing sodomy
with his boyfriends long after he fell in love with his beautiful, spirited
wife and began happily committing heterosexual acts with her.
As it happens, this strange journey has a very happy ending (or two). Once the (B) word gets out, people who want a bisexual romance, or are intrigued by the idea, learn about it quite easily from all the usual online sources. It can actually be an advantage: if potential readers know that a book is a bisexual love story even though it doesn’t say upfront it’s bisexual, then they know a “secret.” They have discovered something that “they” don’t want us to know, and naturally they want to get hold of this forbidden, hidden-in-plain-sight book. At least, that’s how it seems at the moment, after my successful release party and seeing the sales so far on Amazon.
I thank all of my readers for responding with such enthusiasm to my “different” kind of story.
Ann Herendeen's groundbreaking bisexual Regency romance, Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander, is out from Harper Collins today and to celebrate, I'm posting an excerpt from an interview I did with her. The full interview will appear in the next issue of BENT Magazine.
For those of you who don't know, Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander is the tale of Lord Andrew Carrington, who, though unabashedly gay, nevertheless intends to produce an heir to his title -- on his own terms. With that goal in mind Carrington seeks an open minded and practical bride, and finds her, in Phyllida. The marriage soon becomes more affair of the heart than marriage of convenience, however, and when the gorgeous Matthew Thornby arrives on the scene, Carrington's happiness would appear to be complete. But will blackmailers destroy his loving, if non-conventional, family?
Originally self-published, Phyllida is the first queer historical Regency to be picked up by a mainstream publisher.
FREELY: What inspired you to write Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander?
HERENDEEN: I love to read for escape. Eventually I decided it would be even more satisfying to write my perfect fantasy. Two attractive men together are just hot hot hot. There’s nothing hotter. I prefer bisexual to purely gay male romance because I want to imagine myself in the story as an active participant. I want to be a part of that idealized—and hot—relationship, and imagining myself as the wife of an honest, attractive bisexual man is the best way to do that.
FREELY: There is a whole world of fiction which focuses on gay male romance for a female audience, including slash fan fiction, yaoi and gay male erotic romance. Have you read any of these genres? And if so, were you a fan before you wrote PBP?
HERENDEEN: I have read a little. I tend to stay away from it because I’m afraid of getting sucked into a vortex of reading, unable to resurface to do any of my own writing or go to my job. I read the entire Regency slash novel, Regency Fuck, online, compulsively. Recently I’ve discovered many women writers of gay male romance through PBP’s Amazon.com page.
(I want to make) a plea to writers to not “feminize” the mood of their stories too much. I don’t believe two men are going to spend so (much) time talking about their feelings and agonizing over whether they’re gay. Even in times when it’s dangerous to be gay, I don’t think men behave that way. They just have hard, fast sex and hope they don’t get caught. The trick is to show how, once in a while, true love can develop out of this unromantic masculine mood anyway.
FREELY: Why do you think this subject matter is so popular among women now?
HERENDEEN: I think it’s because, for the first time in history since prehistoric times, women are in touch with our sexuality—the real thing, not as defined by men. And I think this is the result of our having control of our reproductive lives.
Just as straight men are now totally open about being turned on by “lesbian” porn, so many women feel free to acknowledge just how hot it is to see or think about or read about two attractive men together.
Another aspect of this for women is that our most edgy or disturbing fantasies can be indulged more easily if we think about them in terms of two men. Take, for example, the common fantasies of rape, bondage or domination. There’s no way for me, as a woman, to read about any of this between a man and a woman without feeling uncomfortable if the woman is the “submissive” partner. But let it be between two men, and the partners are equal. We can enjoy all the sexy elements of the fantasy without feeling the discomfort or humiliation of being the “victimized” woman.
FREELY: PBP features a "molly wedding” at one point. Was there really such a thing?
HERENDEEN: There definitely were, as I learned in Rictor Norton's book (Mother Clap's Molly House : the Gay Subculture in England, 1700 to 1830). The Rev. John Church, a minor character in PBP, was a real person, notorious for officiating at these weddings in the molly houses, specifically the White Swan that was raided in 1810. What we can't know is whether these were serious ceremonies or just gay men goofing around, making fun of straight society. Molly weddings typically ended with a "consummation" in which the grooms and their "attendants" retired to a room with lots of beds and no doors, very much like today's bathhouses or backrooms. (Man-oh-man, would I have loved to attend one of those weddings!)
FREELY: Speaking of Rictor Norton, could you comment on his theory about the label of mental illness being applied to homosexuality in the late 19th century and the impact that had on the self-concepts of homosexual people?
HERENDEEN: At the time of PBP, 1812, the science of psychology did not exist. A man would be considered gay based on his behavior, not on his mental state or personality. It’s the fundamental divide between defining people’s sexuality by “what they do,” vs. “who they are,” an argument that is still going on today.
A letter writer to a newspaper in the early 18th century, defending the harsh laws against sodomy, based his arguments on the idea that if sodomy were not illegal, men would always chose it over sex with women, and the institutions of marriage and family would disappear. There is, as Norton points out, an element of misogyny in this view: men are “superior” to women and therefore prefer to be with their own kind. But what’s interesting to me is the presumption that the desires are ubiquitous—wrong, but shared by most men. Morality consists, not in being free of these desires, but in having the willpower to suppress them. It’s the exact opposite of the later idea that only certain “sick” individuals have these desires at all.
So, up until then, men who desired their own sex—and acted on it—were seen as sinners or lawbreakers, but there was no speculation about “why they became that way.” No theories of suffocating mothers or distant fathers. I imagine, as do Rictor Norton and other scholars of gay history, that most gay men didn’t lie awake at night worrying that they were messed-up psychologically. They might worry that they were in danger of being blackmailed, but they had no reason to think of themselves as all that different from the rest of their sex, perhaps just extreme in the level of their desire or their inability to control it. Their basic desire was no different from that of other men.
FREELY: What else are you working on?
HERENDEEN: My current project is the bisexual Pride and Prejudice. As an acknowledgment and courtesy to the slash community, I’m calling it Pride/Prejudice. It’s Jane Austen’s characters and plot, with what I see as a very real sexual undercurrent between the domineering Mr. Darcy and his friend Mr. Bingley brought out into the open and made explicit. I don’t sense this bisexual tone in Austen’s other works; I’m not slashing the story just to do it, but because I feel it’s a genuine element in this particular novel. I love Jane Austen, and I don’t like people to think that I’m being disrespectful. As you can see from this interview, emphasizing the bisexual aspects of her story is, for me, the highest form of praise.
Tune in tomorrow for guest post from Ann Herendeen! Yes, it's Phyllida Week here at Friskbiskit. Get out there and support Queer Romance in the mainstream!
Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander by Ann Herendeen is the first bisexual Regency romance to come out from a major print publisher. Could this be the thin edge of the wedge bringing m/m and alternate romance into the mainstream market?
Let's hope so. So far, the signs are good. Phyllida has received rave reviews:
"Delightful. . . . Herendeen’s book brings a breath of fresh air
and creativity to the romance genre and with her humor and ability to
entertain, she is sure to woo fans." -- Publishers Weekly
"Sparkling with Regency wit and panache, Herendeen’s debut
novel...is a brilliant exploration of love, sexuality, class, and
gender, but above all, it is a wonderful love story. Highly recommended
for those readers comfortable with alternative sexual and erotic
literature." -- Library Journal
"Impeccable research, fantastic characters, and even a bit of mystery
made this one of the best novels so far for 2008. Be prepared to be
shocked, to learn something about the Regency world, and to laugh out
loud. Ms. Herendeen writes a dynamite tale." -- Jani Brooks, Romance Reviews Today
So, if you're looking for an
entertaining read, and you want to send a message to mainstream
publishing about the kind of romance you want to buy, run, don't walk,
to your nearest bookstore and buy a copy of Phyllida and the
Brotherhood of Philander.
And stay tuned to friskbiskit for more coverage of this watershed
publishing event. Tomorrow I'll post excerpts from an interview I did
with Herendeen for BENT Magazine, and if we're lucky, we'll get a guest
post from Herendeen herself.
I'll be hosting the Torquere Live Chat tonight at 8 pm EST. The topic: M/M, what's your favorite flavor?
There will be contests and giveaways provided by Torquere, too, so don't miss out. See you tonight.
Nebula Awards Showcase 2007
Includes "Still Life with Boobs."
Year's Best Fantasy 6 (Year's Best Fantasy)
Includes my Nebula-nominated short story, "Still Life with Boobs."
