LGBT/Gay Fiction Recommendations

[Rhiathame]

I must have posted just as the threads were being merged.  Mercedes Lackey has a trilogy within her Valdemar series called the Last Herald Mage (beginning with Magic's Pawn) that is not bad.

[Geoffrey]

Saw a message about this book on the Amazon boards:

Zombie by Joely Skye


Its free.     it's erotica  (BTW) and it's book 2 in a series.  Haven't read it yet but thought I'd mention it ... being free and all ...

[Leslie]

These aren't for the Kindle....but sort of fun to read. "Flash"...very short fiction.

http://www.gayflashfiction.com/current_issue.htm

This issue is all about pizza boys. LOL.

L

[BBMountain]

Here's a website that has some free gay novels:
http://online-novels.blogspot.com/2008/08/gay-and-lesbian-novels-1.html
I really loved "Nameless" by Sam Starbuck.  I had found this offered on another website as well.  Not a lot of gay content but quite a bit of read-between-the-lines gay content...you'll know what I mean!  Loved it!
Also good is Art Works (aka Dome of Death) by Rigby Taylor.
Fall Love by Anne Whitehouse was very good reading, as was Jackal in the Dark by David Patrick Beavers.
It has been a while since I downloaded these & I can't remember what format they're in.  I was able to convert them all to be readable on my Kindle 2, even those that were pdf's. 
This has been the best website that I have found for free gay literature, and already I'm looking forward to re-reading several of them!

[Leslie]

To bring this thread back to life....

I am reading this right now. I'm about 80% through and I would recommend it. It's a mystery, but different. Lots of interesting characters. I would suspect that anyone who lives in or knows Toronto would really enjoy it, since there are lots of references to the city.


Was his ex-lover really a twisted killer?

While cleaning out his dead ex-lover Ronnie's apartment, staid history professor Michael Dunn-Barten makes a grisly discovery--a mummified corpse in a trunk. Suddenly Michael must travel back 25 years to find answers by revisiting everybody who knew Ronnie. Back to the 1960s, back to the realization of his sexuality and the boy he loved. Back to the troubling time when his wife threw him out and his family disowned him. Back to uncover disturbing answers amidst drag queens and murky memories--and to reveal whether or not his first real love was truly a twisted killer. Drag Queen in the Court of Death is a taut thriller about a man who needs to face his past in order to forge a future. He must unravel a mystery that's a quarter century old--no matter how painful the truth may be.

It's not available at Amazon but you can buy a version that will work on your Kindle here:

http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=DQCD0001

L

[MonaSW]

I must have posted just as the threads were being merged.  Mercedes Lackey has a trilogy within her Valdemar series called the Last Herald Mage (beginning with Magic's Pawn) that is not bad.

Not bad? It's my favorite trilogy of all time, bar none. Nothing else she has written is as good. The Arrows trilogy is almost as good. Vanyel is also one of my favorite characters.

[MonaSW]

I enjoyed "His Name is John" by Dorien Grey. He is coming out with another book in the series in about two weeks "Aaron's Wait." I'm waiting for it with bated breath.

[harfner]

The on-line excerpt is pretty good!

To bring this thread back to life....

I am reading this right now. I'm about 80% through and I would recommend it. It's a mystery, but different. Lots of interesting characters. I would suspect that anyone who lives in or knows Toronto would really enjoy it, since there are lots of references to the city.


Was his ex-lover really a twisted killer?

While cleaning out his dead ex-lover Ronnie's apartment, staid history professor Michael Dunn-Barten makes a grisly discovery--a mummified corpse in a trunk. Suddenly Michael must travel back 25 years to find answers by revisiting everybody who knew Ronnie. Back to the 1960s, back to the realization of his sexuality and the boy he loved. Back to the troubling time when his wife threw him out and his family disowned him. Back to uncover disturbing answers amidst drag queens and murky memories--and to reveal whether or not his first real love was truly a twisted killer. Drag Queen in the Court of Death is a taut thriller about a man who needs to face his past in order to forge a future. He must unravel a mystery that's a quarter century old--no matter how painful the truth may be.

It's not available at Amazon but you can buy a version that will work on your Kindle here:

http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=DQCD0001

L

[Leslie]

I enjoyed "His Name is John" by Dorien Grey. He is coming out with another book in the series in about two weeks "Aaron's Wait." I'm waiting for it with bated breath.

Here's the trailer for the Aaron's Wait.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cov00XG1qDQ" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cov00XG1qDQ</a>

[Leslie]

The on-line excerpt is pretty good!

Yes, that's the start of the book...and it doesn't go downhill.

There are some formatting goofs in the version I am reading, which is mildly annoying, but they aren't bad enough to make me throw up my hands in disgust. Just a few careless errors that should have been fixed.

L

[MonaSW]

Here's the trailer for the Aaron's Wait.

Very cool, sounds like an interesting story.

[Leslie]

This just came through on a mailing list I am on. I have never read anything by E. Lynn Harris. Has anyone else? He seems to have lots of good reviews on Amazon.


With great sadness, I report that New York Times bestselling author E. Lynn Harris passed away on Thursday, July 23, while on tour for his eleventh novel.

I don't know many details yet, but it's believed it was a heart attack. I've spoken with Lisa Moore of Redbone Press and Don Weise of Alyson, both of whom knew him well, and we're all just stunned.

I worked with Lynn for over ten years as his editor and came to be his personal friend as well, so this loss strikes very close for me. Lynn had a very big heart, which he revealed in his storytelling and in his interaction with his audience. Attending a Lynn Harris reading was a family affair, and there were always flowers, tears, and loads of laughter. His novels often changed his reader's lives, and he truly was grateful for his ability to help people. I will miss him, his laughter and his big heart.


Sincerely,

Charles Flowers
Lambda Literary Foundation

A Random House executive has confirmed to The BV Newswire that best-selling author E. Lynn Harris has died.

Harris was 54. He was currently on a book tour of the West Coast promoting his 11th novel Basketball Jones, which involved an NBA player and his gay lover.

According to Essence.com, the celebrated author's personal assistant confirmed that his health had declined but would not provide any details as to what caused his death.

A cheerleading sponsor/coach for Arkansas and a passionate Razorbacks fan, Harris' books dealt with black, gay culture.

Most recently, the Detroit native served as a visiting professor for the English department at the University of Arkansas.

The former IBM executive just celebrated his 54th birthday on June 20.

Since bursting on the scene in the early 1990s with his seminal tome Invisible Life, Harris steadily wrote page-turner after page-turner. And his biggest fan base were women. With more than four million books in print, he originated as a self-published author -- setting the blueprint for independent authors getting picked up by major book publishers.

"I think I've been a success because I write about things I'm passionate about and have something to say," he told BlackVoices.com last year. "I think people relate to me because they know I relate to them."

A longtime author for Random House, his titles include Just As I Am, And This Too Shall Pass, Abide With Me, and his 2004 memoir 'What Becomes of The Brokenhearted.'




L

[Leslie]

I read this yesterday on the plane:



It had a lot of sex but I don't think it was to the point of being erotica, since it had a story, too. Overall it was good, not great, but did a good job of keeping me entertained on the plane for a few hours.

Now I have started:



by the author who just died. I bought it mostly because I was curious. We'll see how it goes.

L

[MonaSW]

Yeah! It's available for the Kindle (and cheaper)!

[ladyknight33]

@ Leslie

I have read most of E. Lynn Harris's books. I do like his writing. Most of the main characters in his books are athletes. I had not purchased tha last oneon kindle yet it was listed as $11.99.

[Leslie]

@ Leslie

I have read most of E. Lynn Harris's books. I do like his writing. Most of the main characters in his books are athletes. I had not purchased tha last oneon kindle yet it was listed as $11.99.

I am at the 53% mark and the story is picking up. I wasn't so sure at the beginning if I was going to like it--I swear, he used the words "skin-care products" 38 times in one chapter!--but once I got going, the story got better. It is a fast, easy read--not too hard on the brain. LOL

L

[Leslie]

Yeah! It's available for the Kindle (and cheaper)!

Mona,

I am on a mailing list with Dorien and I posted that you were excited Aaron's Wait was out. He is having modem problems and thus, limited Internet time so he asked me to pass this message along:

Anyway, thank you, Leslie, for telling me that I have a fan on Kindleboards. Since I don't have a kindle and can't reply to posts there, could you do me a huge favor and thank Mona for me? I really appreciate her support. Dorien

L

[koolmnbv]

I'd like to read Basketball Jones

[Leslie]

I'd like to read Basketball Jones

I finished it. Obviously, I thought it was an okay read since I zipped right through it. Some of the stuff that bugged me at the beginning -- all the references to skin care products, eg, -- were done to show that the character was sort of shallow and he grew and matured over the course of the book.

There was a decent plot with a few twists and turns to keep it interesting. Some loose ends were never resolved and I found his writing style, overall, to be wordy (this might not bother others as much as me).

Will I read anything else by this author? Probably no, but that's just because an author has to be really, really great to hook me. This book was good, not great, but entertaining. If you area into gay black life or black athletes it might resonate more with you than it did with me.

L

[davebaxter]

These might be something a little different:

Comic series by Donna Barr, about a gay German officer in Africa during WWII, specifically Manfred Pfirsich Rommel - the gay younger brother to Erwin Rommel, "The Desert Fox"!  Manfred died at birth in real life, but this series supposes what might have happened had he lived.  The early issues are mostly humorous, but the series gets very dramatic as it goes.  Only 1 and 2 currently up.  Future issues should hit the Kindle approx. monthly.

[MonaSW]

Mona, I am on a mailing list with Dorien and I posted that you were excited Aaron's Wait was out. He is having modem problems and thus, limited Internet time so he asked me to pass this message along: Anyway, thank you, Leslie, for telling me that I have a fan on Kindleboards. Since I don't have a kindle and can't reply to posts there, could you do me a huge favor and thank Mona for me? I really appreciate her support. Dorien L

Thank you Leslie for passing on Dorien's thanks! I finished Aaron's Wait, and it was a lovely story. My only complaint is it was too short!   Elliot is such a interesting and likable character who gets into some interestingly different situations. I stayed up most the night reading when I should have been sleeping.

I also posted on Dorien's Facebook page about how much I enjoyed the book.

[harfner]

My own novels are LGBT books.  All four of my Silent Empire books were finalists for the Spectrum Award, which is given to science fiction or fantasy work with positive portrayal of LGBT characters.  Here's a snippet from NIGHTMARE.  Ben and Kendi are both sixteen.

   Ben was waiting when Kendi arrived at his house.  “Well?” he asked without preamble.
   “I found a clue,” Kendi said eagerly, and told him what had gone on.  Even though Inspector Tan had told him not to talk about the investigation, he didn’t think the prohibition included Ben.  Ben’s blue eyes went wider and wider as Kendi spoke, and he found himself embellishing on some of the details.  His chest swelled and he felt like a hero, as if he had caught the murderer instead of just finding a potential clue.
   They were on the living room sofa.  Kendi had pulled his long legs up and he felt rather like a grasshopper.  Ben sat cross-legged next to him.  He wore black sweats and white socks.  The weather had grown heavy and moist, and there was a faint electric charge in the air.  Black-bottomed clouds were visible through the windows.  Kendi was glad of an excuse to stay indoors.  Although water falling from the sky had been a rarity for him in Australia, it had been all too common on Giselle Blanc’s frog farm, and most of the time he and the other slaves had been forced to continue working in it.  Rain was no longer fun or a novelty.
   “It must’ve been creepy,” Ben said.  “I wish I could have gone.”
   Kendi laughed.  “I got creeped out a couple times,” he admitted.  “I kept expecting to find a dead body or something.”  He scratched his nose and gave Ben a sidelong glance.  His red hair gleamed softly in the lamplight and a light scattering of freckles gave his face a boyish look.  He was shorter than Kendi, and stockier.  It made him come across as solid and immovable, unlike the ever-shifting, always-changing Dream.
   Kendi shifted position to sit cross-legged like Ben.  Their knees almost touched, and Kendi could feel Ben’s body heat.  A coppery taste filled his mouth.  Pup and Pitr, he thought.  Remember what happened with Pup and Pitr.  He made himself lean casually back against the rear of the couch.
   “So what have you been doing while I was gone?” Kendi asked.
   “Working out.”  Ben pantomimed lifting weights.
   “Getting some definition?”
   Ben flushed slightly.  “A little.  See?”  He rolled up his sleeve, displaying a solid arm just as a heavy sheet of rain crashed against the window.  Ben dropped his arm and looked nervously at the ceiling.  It sounded like someone had dropped thousands of marbles on the roof.
   “Don’t like storms?” Kendi said.
   “No,” Ben said shortly.  “It’s stupid, I guess, but--”
   Thunder smashed through the room loud as a cannon.  Ben jumped sideways and ended up half-tangled with Kendi.  They struggled for a moment, and Kendi was intensely aware of Ben’s warm body against his own.  After a moment, they separated.
   “Sorry,” Ben said sheepishly.  His eyes, bluer than deep pools of water, didn’t leave Kendi’s face.  “Thunder always does that to me.”
   “Yeah.”  Kendi’s voice was thick.  “That was a big one.”
   Ben’s eyes stayed on Kendi’s, and Kendi didn’t want to look away.  His heart beat fast as the raindrops.  Was he reading this right?  Or was he wrong again, like he had been with Pitr and with Pup?  He wanted to know, yet he didn’t.  Slowly, Kendi’s hand crept toward Ben’s.

[Edward C. Patterson]

Here's an excellent, fast-paced read in the LGBT arena and written by Kindleboards' own Leslie Nicholl (penned under the pseudonym E.N. Holland). It's called Taming Groomzilla and it is hilariously funny and an excellent read. I just gave it a five-star review up on amazon. Here's the linkage:



Edward C. Patterson

[Leslie]

Hahaha, while Broomzilla sounds good (some sort of witch?) it's actually Groomzilla. Stop typing with those fat fingers on your BlackBerry, Ed!  

And thank you for the mention of my book. I appreciate your support!

L

[Edward C. Patterson]

I should get myself one of them QWERTY keyboards, dontcha think, but the evidence is gone now. 

Edward C. Patterson