I’m a newly published author in the M/M or GLBT romance genre. I’m also a gay man, something I didn’t realize was so rare in this genre. Some of the things I’ve read, such as:

“You wouldn’t believe the amount of email I get from men telling me they had no idea that there was gay romance”

This was true for me 5 months ago. I had no clue it was out there, and I’m delighted to find it is, as both a reader and writer.

I was a little surprised by the amount of female authors, but certainly didn’t find it shocking. I’ve always had stellar relationships with women. LOL…usually better ones with women. They tend to last longer if nothing else. This fact also made it seem odd there would be an issue with it in the first place. Gay men and straight women have a long running history together, it doesn’t seem remotely odd to me that there would be women readers and writers in this genre. I love writing women, they wind up being some of my favorite characters. What’s the difference, in that respect.

What I do have an issue with is some of the comments I hear like, men who cry in a GLBT or M/M romance are perceived by some to be weak, or less masculine. That these male characters are really just women with a penis. This is crazy! I would never berate my friends or call them sissies for crying? I’d attempt to comfort them.

I think that people who feel this way, aren’t really interested in reading GLBT stories. They may like the M/M idea, as long as they behave like a straight man. Part of the liberating thing about being gay for me, is that I don’t have to conform to the same heterosexual male model of behavior. It was like being set free from a cage for me as a nineteen year old coming out of the closet way back in the dark ages of the early 90’s. I certainly have no intention of being shoved back into that way of thinking for me as an individual, or me as a writer.

Personally, I came into this genre because of Suze Brockman’s Jules Cassidy and Robin Chadwick. I was HOOKED.

I’ve only been reading romance for 3 years so I’ve been at discovering the Troubleshooters (although I am happy I have another 12 books in the series to enjoy ) I’ve only just met Jules (I finished The Defiant Hero last week) and I am so happy there is an HEA down the line for him

Jessewave did an interesting poll/post on this at her site, and I admit the number of readers who said they had moved into m/m via menage did slightly soften my attitude toward it. I hadn’t previously considered the chick anything but an unnecessary justification for having two men together. I see now that for some readers it’s a way of easing into something that might seem otherwise utterly (as Kris or someone above put it) WTF. *g*

One of the things I find so frustrating with this type of fiction, though, is that unhappy endings seem to be the standard- I quickly began to get sick of gay protagonists that were tortured, murdered, etc. etc. And of course, romantic relationships are downplayed in genre fiction (unless, of course, we’re going to be killing them off, a la Mercedes Lackey)- authors seem to be so afraid of romance and sex. Even in a series like Lynn Flewelling’s Nightrunner (which has a huge fan girl following), we never really see Alec and Seregil interact on a romantic level- generally, they’re too busy running for their lives or saving the world or what have you, which is good for the plot but not as great for romantically-inclined readers.

I discovered m/m fiction in late 2007. And, honestly, I was NOT impressed with what I first read. While the stories might have more romance and sex than traditional genre fiction, this often came at the expense of believable characterization or a well constructed plot. And (this is just a personal preference) I became so frustrated that the men I was reading about seemed so restricted in terms of their sexuality- I mean, I know super toppy tops and incredibly submissive bottoms exist in real life, but Christ, it’s just so goddamn hard to relate to them as a reader… where are the normal, playful guys who just like sex and don’t need collars and capes and god-knows-what to enjoy it? It seems to me that a lot of female writers got their beginning in slash or yaoi, where sexual roles are more regimented. And maybe most women find it easier to idealize a sexy aggressive alpha and empathize with a charming mouthy beta (who always ends up bottoming… okay, this also drives me crazy. Just because a guy is short or slender, does not mean he automatically likes to/ must always bottom. And vice versa for big, alpha men and topping, lol). Although I know this works for a lot of women, it doesn’t for me.

ANYWAY, somehow I managed to stumble upon Jordan Castillo Price, an M/M author who writes a mix of paranormal/romantic suspense/horror. And wow, did she ever completely sell me on the genre. One of the things I love about her PsyCop books is that we get to see a monogamous, happy relationship between the two male leads develop throughout the series (who are both gay and define themselves as such, with none of this ‘gay for you’ silliness)- and these are two guys who are genuinely likeable, as well, despite their hangups and flaws. Soon after, I discovered Lee Rowan, who writes a completely different genre (historical), and yet I fell in love with her work, too- absolutely charming protagonists (though definitely NOT Mary Sues), an incredibly tender love story and well researched, interesting plot lines.

I guess I haven’t answered the original question here, why I, as a female reader, enjoy m/m fiction. I do agree with many of the posts above- the dynamics of a relationship between two men can be really fascinating, and yes, two gorgeous men together is better than one gorgeous man by his lonesome. But aside from the curiousity/sexiness factor, I think I’m drawn to these novels because, when they’re done well, I’m able to completely escape from my life and fall in love with the characters. I read m/m for the same reasons I read every genre- it’s entertainment that I’m (hopefully) able to become emotionally invested in.

It’s exciting to know the male demographic of the readership is growing, because it just cements it for publishers, authors, and readers that this is a genre (or multiple genres) of worth and it should keep on coming! What got me to read m/m was actually a m/m/f book that had me thinking part way through “these men are great and obviously ave awesome chemistry together, why aren’t they exploring their sexuality with each other as well?” and then it happened – I don’t want to analyze why I had such a grin when it happened, but there it was. It was amazing. And it was all about the chemistry and emotion and trust. Then I got into reading the strictly m/m stuff and I love that as well. But then, I would: I *love* love.

Yes! I recently read Be with Me, which was good (it was menage with 3 men, one woman), but really, the thing that bothered me about it was this denial/repression of sexuality/sexual feelings between the men. It just didn’t ring true for me. I don’t know if that’s because I’ve been reading m/m and had this level of expectation, or if it was the book itself, which didn’t sell the fact that these men could be so focused on the woman, but not on each other.