Gay Fiction has struggled for a long time. Back in the eighties and nineties it was mostly
about pornography or graphic gay sex. Guy
on guy fiction was either about domination, slavery, cruising, muscle or coming
out. And though these subjects work for
some readers, other readers did want and still do more from their gay
stories. They want to read about characters
who grow, who overcome obstacles, who find happily ever after. And why shouldn’t they? People read stories to find hope and motivation
and to engage their imagination. So why
shouldn’t our stories be more complex?
Now, there’s a current trend of women writing our fiction for
us. There’s nothing wrong with women
wanting to get in on stories about gay love—after all, strong men are engaging,
exciting and enticing to read about. The fact that women want to write about
gay men or man on man stories is just proof of how captivating this “men for
men” arena really is. It’s rich and
forbidden. The subject is still Taboo to
some. After all: don’t you feel excited
about the possibility of taking a forbidden adventure?
But what about those of us who want to read fiction from gay
male authors who’ve had the experience?
Who’ve been there? You can’t deny
that an author writing about what he knows intimately gives a story a sense of
authenticity.
Gay stories about men in love don’t have to be just about gay
sex. Granted, sex is a part of life and
is a great motivator for some character—many a guy’s life has gone terribly
wrong because he was thinking from his sex glands rather than his head. But you can’t deny that Many great stories
have nothing to do with sex. And we, as
men, hopefully have more to us than our physical desires and lust.
Our stories can and should can have complex plots and fully
developed characters. They needn’t be
about stereotypes from writers who haven’t had real-life, first-hand experience
with the subject matter. And something
in the stories should happen. Stories
about gay guys should have fully developed plots that should not only delve
into some greater truth, but that should mirror the natural process a human
goes through when he or she experiences change.
Otherwise, what’s the point of reading a story to begin with?
I hope you enjoy Forbidden and Taboo. Not only do they take the reader through the struggles
of being gay, of the pitfalls behind finding love, but they address some huge
real world issues that face all of us now, issues that very few are willing to
own up to right now. Issues like: have
we been lied to? Are our gifts stolen
from us when we are very young? Is our educational
system hobbling us? What metaphysical forces
lie below the surface of our every day experiences? And do our leaders have our
best interests at heart?
