Lynn LaFleur has a number of erotic romances out with Ellora's Cave and Avon Red, and a non-erotic romance from Cerridwen Press. She writes contemporaries, some with a trace of the paranormal. She writes both novellas and longer length stories. Try her Happy Birthday, Baby four-story collection from Ellora's Cave for a taste of a bit of everything!
Seren: Although you have other menage a trois stories at EC, "Michelle's Men" is the first one to include male-on-male sex in the relationship. What made you decide to do that?
Lynn: I read my first M/M romance about a year ago. I thought the developing relationship, both physical and emotional, was very well done. It made me curious about other authors' books featuring M/M, so I purchased several. These books are romances in every sense. Romantic, loving, showing genuine caring between the two men. I liked that and wanted to try writing one myself. I mentioned the idea of a menage featuring some M/M scenes to my Ellora's Cave editor. She said to go for it.
Seren: Why do you thing m/m romantic relationships have recently become such a big fad with women romance readers?
Lynn: Fantasy. Two hunky, attractive, sexy men who are in love and show that love sexually. Men have the same fantasy about two women having sex. It's hot and exciting and a little naughty. That sense of the forbidden makes it even more hot and exciting.
Seren: Do you think romance readers are as interested in just two men as they are in man/man/woman menages?
Lynn: As a reader, I like the menages best. What women wouldn't want two men who only want to please her? But strictly M/M romances are very popular, and show no signs of losing that popularity. Different readers have different tastes. That makes it so much fun for an author!
Seren: How do you research your male-on-male sex scenes? Do you think they are realistic?
Lynn: I read a lot of M/M books from other romance authors. And yes, I watched some gay movies. Purely for research, of course. I do believe my scenes are realistic, based on what I read and watched. I've had some wonderful fan letters from readers saying how much they enjoyed the book. I don't think they would've said that if the scenes didn't work for them.
Seren: Do you have more stories coming? And if so, will some include m/m or m/m/f?
Lynn: Michelle's Men was so much fun to write, and the response from readers has been wonderful. I definitely plan to write another book in the future featuring M/M or M/M/F.
Thank you so much for talking with me, Lynn! Best success for your upcoming books!
Email: lynn@lynnlafleur.com
Website: www.lynnlafleur.com
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Talking to the Authors: Alexa & Patrick Silver
Alexa and Patrick Silver are a happily married couple who share their love of reading and happily ever afters. Patrick is the technical geek and he makes sure everything makes sense. Alexa is the creative type and she makes sure the romance is high on spice.
Seren: You have your first book out with Ellora's Cave, a shapeshifter story with a married couple who incorporates another man into their relationship. What gave you the idea for this story? Why did you decide to include male-on-male sex in the relationship?
Alexa: The basic idea of the plot came forth when we were stuck at an airport with all the other frustrated families. My mind started wandering, examining the fun ways a couple without children could pass the time. When I saw Ellora’s Cave’s call for submissions, the idea of two hunky shifters came to me. I approached Patrick with the idea and he was all for it.
The story was conceived with a male/female/male ménage. I always wanted to write a story that contained male/male elements and I think the emotional relationship between the three characters was quite natural to write. Thankfully, Patrick was as open to it as I was.
I think Animal Attraction would have had less intensity if the story was only about Wes and Tab. The addition of Brand, the more natural Alpha, makes the marriage of Wes and Tab take on more significance and adds so much to their struggling relationship. It is a blend of old and new, of the old relationship flourishing with new blood. And then you have the shifter element and the pecking order of the Alphas. Our readers and publisher were particularly happy with a scene where the two men establish the pecking order. We were firm in our belief that both men needed to be Alpha, but one the more dominant Alpha. I hope that came thorough!
Patrick: When Alexa brought up the idea of the story, I was all for it. We both love the idea of shape shifters and since we are both devoted cat people, it is no surprise our heroes tend to be big cats. Besides, were-kitties are just plain fun to write!
As far as the male-male relationship goes, I agree 100% with Alexa… there is something endearingly touching about two men, macho on the outside, feeling their way into a relationship. The dynamics are fascinating. And on the coldly commercial side, everybody doing a ménage story writes about a woman joining a hetero couple. We both figured that doing a story about the other possibility was both a unique opportunity and a challenge to write properly. How DO two men, both Alphas and both indoctrinated by our society to be highly touchy about their sexuality, break past those barriers to form a relationship? In this case, their mutual love of Tabitha became their bridge to each other.
Seren: Why do you thing m/m has recently become such a big fad with women romance readers?
Alexa: I think it is a natural progression from the ménage. Women are fascinated by Alpha Males who can show their vulnerability and is there anything more vulnerable than a man who can expose his soul to another man? Add in the emotional layers to a male/male relationship or a ménage where the males are also romantically involved, and many women are hooked.
Additionally, women are more well spoken about their sexuality than ever. With the advent of the Internet, adventurous women are exposed to all sorts of literature. Erotic romance is no longer as taboo as it once was. Many bookstores carry erotica and erotic romance books. As erotic romance has become more mainstream, women have felt free to seek out stories that push more boundaries. The Internet has also allowed “slash” (male/male) fan fiction to be accessible to fans of popular TV shows, books, and movies. It seems natural for readers to look for these sorts of stories featuring original characters.
Patrick: Well, I lack the proper plumbing to be qualified to guess why women find male/male attractive. I will however point out that it is unusual, rare and just reeks of overactive male pheromones. Male homosexuality in general is much, much more… animalistic, more primitive. It is loaded with raw maleness. Oh, it can be loving too, no doubt, but in general it involves tons of just plain male rut. I guess women find that attractive at an instinctive level.
Seren: Do you think romance readers are as interested in just two men as they are in man/man/woman menages?
Alexa: I think it depends on the story and the reader. For some readers, I’m sure that the appeal and fantasy of being the filling in a male/male sandwich is the ultimate, but for others the appeal of two men becoming vulnerable to each other is intoxicating. Some books lend themselves to a ménage well while others lend themselves to a male/male relationship. It all depends on the plot of the specific story. I think both have huge appeal!
Patrick: I think it depends on the reader. Straight male/male has its place and its readership. I think that male/male/female or even male/female/female relationships are more complex and thus far more interesting as story material. Speaking only for myself, I prefer to read a ménage story than a straight male/male story… unless it was very well done indeed.
Seren: Do you have more stories coming? And if so, will some or all include m/m or m/m/f?
Alexa & Patrick: Yes! For the foreseeable future, all of our ménages will have a male/male element. We do have some male/female non-ménage stories in the pipeline.
Right now, we have two stories accepted by Ellora’s Cave. Primal Fate is part of the Torrid Tarot series and is based on the Emperor tarot card. It is set in the African savannah. Can a lion and a meerkat shifter overcome their differences and find love? It is a male/female erotic romance.
Troika is also part of the Torrid Tarot series and is based on the Two of Pentacles card. When Steve Delarian crash lands on a planet during a supply run, he never expects to find his old lover and his lover’s wife there. Since James left Steve for the woman, there is a lot of unfinished business between the two men. Add in Moira and a sexy emotionally charged ménage results. But Steve has never been the kind of guy to settle down and he is desperately needed elsewhere. Can James and Moira break down his defenses? This is a male/male/female ménage.
Additionally, we have two stories (male/female) under consideration with our publisher and we’re just about to start on our first male/male erotic romance.
Seren: How do you research your male-on-male sex scenes? Do you think they are realistic?
Patrick: Hey, come back here, Alexa! Hmm. Well, since my partner seems to have chickened out on this answer, I guess it’s up to me. How does a man answer this without sounding like he himself is deeply into male/male sex himself? I am very comfortable with my own sexuality, Thank You Very Much!
Seriously, if you have an open mind and have not the slightest trace of homophobia, it becomes a matter of common sense, mostly. How would you feel in situation? Is it anatomically possible? How would a homophobe react to that? How would an open-minded man react to that? We males are conditioned from birth, by our very environment, to react in certain prescribed fashions to scenes involving other men. Most men are scared to death of reacting positively to the sexuality of another man, for fear of his reaction! If you can get your mind past that, past the conditioning of your upbringing, it becomes a matter of “what would bring me or my partner the most pleasure?”
I also have the advantage of having friends who live the life. The best man at my first wedding, decided after 8 years of marriage and two children he preferred men. He and his wife parted amicably and raised their kids together. He is still, to me, one of my best friends. I have others I can ask difficult questions, if common sense can’t provide an answer.
Alexa: Well, researching the physical aspects of male/male isn’t the hardest part. The hard part is to make sure the males involved react as men instead of women with penises. The male brain, the male approach to sex is different to the way females approach sex and relationships. To make the men realistic and not caricatures we need to delve into the emotional consequences of situations.
The pure physical research can be done by watching movies or looking at pictures. It’s the emotional reactions that are so much harder to quantify, as neither of us has been in a male/male relationship. We have wonderful friends who are quick to answer questions and are gracious enough to discuss their experiences with us.
Seren: Thank you very much for talking to me, Alexa and Patrick. And good luck with your upcoming releases, I'll look forward to reading them!
Email: thesilvers@alexasilver.com
Website: http://www.alexasilver.com/
Animal Attraction: ebook at Ellora's Cave; $2.99 download
http://www.ellorascave.com/productpage.asp?ISBN=9781419909511
Seren: You have your first book out with Ellora's Cave, a shapeshifter story with a married couple who incorporates another man into their relationship. What gave you the idea for this story? Why did you decide to include male-on-male sex in the relationship?
Alexa: The basic idea of the plot came forth when we were stuck at an airport with all the other frustrated families. My mind started wandering, examining the fun ways a couple without children could pass the time. When I saw Ellora’s Cave’s call for submissions, the idea of two hunky shifters came to me. I approached Patrick with the idea and he was all for it.
The story was conceived with a male/female/male ménage. I always wanted to write a story that contained male/male elements and I think the emotional relationship between the three characters was quite natural to write. Thankfully, Patrick was as open to it as I was.
I think Animal Attraction would have had less intensity if the story was only about Wes and Tab. The addition of Brand, the more natural Alpha, makes the marriage of Wes and Tab take on more significance and adds so much to their struggling relationship. It is a blend of old and new, of the old relationship flourishing with new blood. And then you have the shifter element and the pecking order of the Alphas. Our readers and publisher were particularly happy with a scene where the two men establish the pecking order. We were firm in our belief that both men needed to be Alpha, but one the more dominant Alpha. I hope that came thorough!
Patrick: When Alexa brought up the idea of the story, I was all for it. We both love the idea of shape shifters and since we are both devoted cat people, it is no surprise our heroes tend to be big cats. Besides, were-kitties are just plain fun to write!
As far as the male-male relationship goes, I agree 100% with Alexa… there is something endearingly touching about two men, macho on the outside, feeling their way into a relationship. The dynamics are fascinating. And on the coldly commercial side, everybody doing a ménage story writes about a woman joining a hetero couple. We both figured that doing a story about the other possibility was both a unique opportunity and a challenge to write properly. How DO two men, both Alphas and both indoctrinated by our society to be highly touchy about their sexuality, break past those barriers to form a relationship? In this case, their mutual love of Tabitha became their bridge to each other.
Seren: Why do you thing m/m has recently become such a big fad with women romance readers?
Alexa: I think it is a natural progression from the ménage. Women are fascinated by Alpha Males who can show their vulnerability and is there anything more vulnerable than a man who can expose his soul to another man? Add in the emotional layers to a male/male relationship or a ménage where the males are also romantically involved, and many women are hooked.
Additionally, women are more well spoken about their sexuality than ever. With the advent of the Internet, adventurous women are exposed to all sorts of literature. Erotic romance is no longer as taboo as it once was. Many bookstores carry erotica and erotic romance books. As erotic romance has become more mainstream, women have felt free to seek out stories that push more boundaries. The Internet has also allowed “slash” (male/male) fan fiction to be accessible to fans of popular TV shows, books, and movies. It seems natural for readers to look for these sorts of stories featuring original characters.
Patrick: Well, I lack the proper plumbing to be qualified to guess why women find male/male attractive. I will however point out that it is unusual, rare and just reeks of overactive male pheromones
Seren: Do you think romance readers are as interested in just two men as they are in man/man/woman menages?
Alexa: I think it depends on the story and the reader. For some readers, I’m sure that the appeal and fantasy of being the filling in a male/male sandwich is the ultimate, but for others the appeal of two men becoming vulnerable to each other is intoxicating. Some books lend themselves to a ménage well while others lend themselves to a male/male relationship. It all depends on the plot of the specific story. I think both have huge appeal!
Patrick: I think it depends on the reader. Straight male/male has its place and its readership. I think that male/male/female or even male/female/female relationships are more complex and thus far more interesting as story material. Speaking only for myself, I prefer to read a ménage story than a straight male/male story… unless it was very well done indeed.
Seren: Do you have more stories coming? And if so, will some or all include m/m or m/m/f?
Alexa & Patrick: Yes! For the foreseeable future, all of our ménages will have a male/male element. We do have some male/female non-ménage stories in the pipeline.
Right now, we have two stories accepted by Ellora’s Cave. Primal Fate is part of the Torrid Tarot series and is based on the Emperor tarot card. It is set in the African savannah. Can a lion and a meerkat shifter overcome their differences and find love? It is a male/female erotic romance.
Troika is also part of the Torrid Tarot series and is based on the Two of Pentacles card. When Steve Delarian crash lands on a planet during a supply run, he never expects to find his old lover and his lover’s wife there. Since James left Steve for the woman, there is a lot of unfinished business between the two men. Add in Moira and a sexy emotionally charged ménage results. But Steve has never been the kind of guy to settle down and he is desperately needed elsewhere. Can James and Moira break down his defenses? This is a male/male/female ménage.
Additionally, we have two stories (male/female) under consideration with our publisher and we’re just about to start on our first male/male erotic romance.
Seren: How do you research your male-on-male sex scenes? Do you think they are realistic?
Patrick: Hey, come back here, Alexa! Hmm. Well, since my partner seems to have chickened out on this answer, I guess it’s up to me. How does a man answer this without sounding like he himself is deeply into male/male sex himself? I am very comfortable with my own sexuality, Thank You Very Much!
Seriously, if you have an open mind and have not the slightest trace of homophobia, it becomes a matter of common sense, mostly. How would you feel in situation
I also have the advantage of having friends who live the life. The best man at my first wedding, decided after 8 years of marriage and two children he preferred men. He and his wife parted amicably and raised their kids together. He is still, to me, one of my best friends. I have others I can ask difficult questions, if common sense can’t provide an answer.
Alexa: Well, researching the physical aspects of male/male isn’t the hardest part. The hard part is to make sure the males involved react as men instead of women with penises. The male brain, the male approach to sex is different to the way females approach sex and relationships. To make the men realistic and not caricatures we need to delve into the emotional consequences of situations.
The pure physical research can be done by watching movies or looking at pictures. It’s the emotional reactions that are so much harder to quantify, as neither of us has been in a male/male relationship. We have wonderful friends who are quick to answer questions and are gracious enough to discuss their experiences with us.
Seren: Thank you very much for talking to me, Alexa and Patrick. And good luck with your upcoming releases, I'll look forward to reading them!
Email: thesilvers@alexasilver.com
Website: http://www.alexasilver.com/
Animal Attraction: ebook at Ellora's Cave; $2.99 download
http://www.ellorascave.com/productpage.asp?ISBN=9781419909511
Talking to the Author: Katherine Cross
Katherine Cross is a new author, and her first story released is a male/male/female menage set at Christmas, with a sort of fantasy/paranormal element. Different and delicious. She agreed to talk about what it was like creating that first story. She sounds like an erudite and experienced lady.
Seren: You have your first book out with Ellora's Cave. What gave you the idea for this story? Why did you decide to include male-on-male sex in the menage a trois relationship?
Katherine: My first book with Ellora's Cave is a Christmas Quickie called Nutcracker Prince. I've always been fascinated by the Nutcracker ballet—it's a yearly tradition in my family—so it seemed only natural to use that as the base idea for my story. As for the M/M sex in the ménage a trois relationship… I prefer an equal romantic triangle when writing. While I enjoy reading M/F/M fiction, I tend to want to write relationships where all partners are equals.
Seren: Why do you think m/m has recently become such a big fad with women romance readers?
Katherine: Actually, there is nothing new about M/M. M/M has been around for a very long time, gaining widespread recognition during the 70's due to Star Trek fanzines and the popularity of the Kirk/Spock romantic pairing. Fan communities centering around M/M romances (called slash as a result of the slash mark used between the two character names) have been around for many years; however, it has only recently "broken out" amongst erotic romance publishers. I'm not certain why that is, but I have a few guesses. One guess is that Romance's trend toward Paranormal and Futuristic has opened the genre up to these fan communities—many Romance writers now write what these fans want to read. TOR has opened a Romance line, Harlequin has opened a Fantasy line… Speculative Fiction and Romance are blending together to a certain extent, which has encouraged readers to cross over. As these readers and writers bring their genre tropes into Romance, "old-time" Romance readers are realizing that hey, M/M is pretty darn hot.
Seren: Do you think romance readers are as interested in just two men as they are in man/man/woman menages?
Katherine: That's a tricky question. I think that as a whole, M/M/F is easier for a lot of people to swallow than M/M, so it's embraced more fully. M/M/F takes the excitement and eroticism of M/M and makes it accessible to women. It's really the best of both worlds—two hot guys who are into each other but who are also interested in *me*? What's not to like? I do think there is a definite market for M/M and that there are many readers who want (pardon the pun) straight M/M, but M/M/F has the ability to reach a wider audience.
Seren: The one everyone really wants to know: How do you research your male-on-male sex scenes? Do you think they are realistic?
Katherine: As much as I'd like to say I have two boyfriends stashed away at home… I'll go for honesty and say reading. I'm a big fan of M/M and M/M/F and I read a great deal. Gay fiction, gay romances, stories written by men, stories written by women… A large part of a writer's education is through reading and internalizing what we read. I also ask questions, make it my business to meet people who have hands-on experience and do research. As for realism, I'd have to answer yes and no. Women writing gay sex will naturally approach gay sex from a feminine point of view. I can differentiate between the reality and the fantasy of M/M and M/M/F just as I can differentiate between the reality and fantasy of M/F. Romances typically offer a somewhat idealized vision of sex and romance no matter the gender of the participants—no one wants to read about morning breath, after all. It's my job as a writer to understand the reality, recognize the fantasy and give the readers something in between the two.
Seren: Do you have more stories coming? And if so, will some or all include m/m or m/m/f?
Katherine: I do have more stories coming. I am just now finishing a M/M historical set on a British Navy ship of the line during the Napoleonic wars called Lover's Knots. I also have a M/M/F demon ménage called Devil's Night, which has been a lot of fun to write. Along with these, I have several M/F books, including a necromancer/nephilim story called Death-Speaker, which will be included in the Ellora's Cavemen Seasons of Seduction volume IV. It releases in digital and print on December 22 nd.
Thank you very much, Katherine!
Katherine's web site is http://katherine-cross.com/
She can be reached at katherinemcross@gmail.com
Nutcracker Prince: ebook at Ellora's Cave; $2.99 download
http://www.ellorascave.com/productpage.asp?ISBN=1-4199-0793-X
Seren: You have your first book out with Ellora's Cave. What gave you the idea for this story? Why did you decide to include male-on-male sex in the menage a trois relationship?
Katherine: My first book with Ellora's Cave is a Christmas Quickie called Nutcracker Prince. I've always been fascinated by the Nutcracker ballet—it's a yearly tradition in my family—so it seemed only natural to use that as the base idea for my story. As for the M/M sex in the ménage a trois relationship… I prefer an equal romantic triangle when writing. While I enjoy reading M/F/M fiction, I tend to want to write relationships where all partners are equals.
Seren: Why do you think m/m has recently become such a big fad with women romance readers?
Katherine: Actually, there is nothing new about M/M. M/M has been around for a very long time, gaining widespread recognition during the 70's due to Star Trek fanzines and the popularity of the Kirk/Spock romantic pairing. Fan communities centering around M/M romances (called slash as a result of the slash mark used between the two character names) have been around for many years; however, it has only recently "broken out" amongst erotic romance publishers. I'm not certain why that is, but I have a few guesses. One guess is that Romance's trend toward Paranormal and Futuristic has opened the genre up to these fan communities—many Romance writers now write what these fans want to read. TOR has opened a Romance line, Harlequin has opened a Fantasy line… Speculative Fiction and Romance are blending together to a certain extent, which has encouraged readers to cross over. As these readers and writers bring their genre tropes into Romance, "old-time" Romance readers are realizing that hey, M/M is pretty darn hot.
Seren: Do you think romance readers are as interested in just two men as they are in man/man/woman menages?
Katherine: That's a tricky question. I think that as a whole, M/M/F is easier for a lot of people to swallow than M/M, so it's embraced more fully. M/M/F takes the excitement and eroticism of M/M and makes it accessible to women. It's really the best of both worlds—two hot guys who are into each other but who are also interested in *me*? What's not to like? I do think there is a definite market for M/M and that there are many readers who want (pardon the pun) straight M/M, but M/M/F has the ability to reach a wider audience.
Seren: The one everyone really wants to know: How do you research your male-on-male sex scenes? Do you think they are realistic?
Katherine: As much as I'd like to say I have two boyfriends stashed away at home… I'll go for honesty and say reading. I'm a big fan of M/M and M/M/F and I read a great deal. Gay fiction, gay romances, stories written by men, stories written by women… A large part of a writer's education is through reading and internalizing what we read. I also ask questions, make it my business to meet people who have hands-on experience and do research. As for realism, I'd have to answer yes and no. Women writing gay sex will naturally approach gay sex from a feminine point of view. I can differentiate between the reality and the fantasy of M/M and M/M/F just as I can differentiate between the reality and fantasy of M/F. Romances typically offer a somewhat idealized vision of sex and romance no matter the gender of the participants—no one wants to read about morning breath, after all. It's my job as a writer to understand the reality, recognize the fantasy and give the readers something in between the two.
Seren: Do you have more stories coming? And if so, will some or all include m/m or m/m/f?
Katherine: I do have more stories coming. I am just now finishing a M/M historical set on a British Navy ship of the line during the Napoleonic wars called Lover's Knots. I also have a M/M/F demon ménage called Devil's Night, which has been a lot of fun to write. Along with these, I have several M/F books, including a necromancer/nephilim story called Death-Speaker, which will be included in the Ellora's Cavemen Seasons of Seduction volume IV. It releases in digital and print on December 22 nd.
Thank you very much, Katherine!
Katherine's web site is http://katherine-cross.com/
She can be reached at katherinemcross@gmail.com
Nutcracker Prince: ebook at Ellora's Cave; $2.99 download
http://www.ellorascave.com/productpage.asp?ISBN=1-4199-0793-X
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Talking to the Author: Samantha Kane
Samantha Kane, and her Brothers In Arms stories at Ellora's Cave, has become an auto-buy for me. So, being as I know her editor, I got brave enough to ask "Do you think she'd do an interview for my blog?" And Samantha was incredibly gracious and kind.
Seren: You have a very popular Regency-set erotic romance series out with Ellora’s Cave, BROTHERS IN ARMS, and each story is a ménage a trois including male-on-male sex. That’s unusual in an historical romance. What made you decide to write that?
Samantha: I’d like to say that I spent hours and hours refining a high concept for the idea, but that would be a lie, LOL. It was one of those lightbulb moments where you’re sitting or walking along, da dum, dum, dum, and WHAM! It hit me and I sat down and wrote the first five or six chapters and it worked. I think the idea was percolating in my head, and my brain, without my conscious participation, said hey stupid, how about this? Idiot. My brain talks to me like that a lot.
Honestly, I have always liked really hot romance. I was totally fed up with books that led up to excruciatingly short, euphemistic love scenes that ended before they began by slamming the bedroom door in my face. I had already completed one manuscript, which was a sensual romance, and most of the people who read it said the same thing—you write amazing sex scenes. So I didn’t have to be a genius to figure out what my strength was. Then I discovered Ellora’s Cave and erotic romance, and thought wow,what a fantastic idea, romance with extremely hot, explicit sex that ends with a happily ever after. I want to write that.
I only read a few erotic romances, and of those only two or three ménage stories, before writing THE COURAGE TO LOVE. It’s as if that idea was just waiting for the opportunity to present itself. The ménage stories I read were contemporaries, and after reading them I felt…cheated. It was as if half the love story had been edited out. Here were two gorgeous, amazing men who were close friends making love to the same woman for whom they both had feelings, or had the potential to have feelings for, and the sexual tension and chemistry between the men was never addressed. Not only that but the men never even touched while making love to the woman, a feat that would take a great deal of work and the limberness of a Chinese acrobat. The love story was incomplete, and the sex unsatisfactory. So I decided to write a ménage the way I wanted it to be.
I had two goals in THE COURAGE TO LOVE. One, create a situation where two men would development the kind of close relationship that would make them want to share a woman for life, and two, provide a plausible happily ever after for my three lovers. War was very much on everyone’s mind at the time, and it occurred to me that there is a situation where men become incredibly close, particularly men who fight together, watch each other’s backs, live together, and survive together. It was a natural step to imagine the heroes of COURAGE as veterans. Contemporary veterans, however, was not, in my opinion, an option. I think a contemporary setting presents too many problems for a believable ménage happily ever after unless it’s a paranormal, but I’m not going to talk about that right now. So I had to make my veterans historical characters. I’m a huge Regency-set historical fan, Jo Beverly is a favorite, so I decided to make my heroes Peninsular War veterans. This was a big gulp moment for me, because I had always written contemporaries. COURAGE was the first historical I tried.
A Regency setting was also a good choice for goal number two, a plausible happily ever after. As fans of Regency-set historicals know, the period was rife with sexual excess beneath its veneer of social rigidity. The way to legitimize those excesses was marriage. As long as your spouse looked the other way, or better yet engaged in the same activities, all was forgiven if it wasn’t too obvious or objectionable. So another aspect of the story emerged: the heroine had to marry one of the heroes to make their ménage “acceptable” in the eyes of society.
And there you have it. After only a couple of chapters it became obvious that COURAGE was the start of a series, not a stand alone book. There were so many veterans clamoring for their own story that I knew I couldn’t do this idea justice in just one book. The fourth Brothers in Arms novel will be out this fall, in November.
Seren: How do you maintain the romance, not just sex, between two men?
Samantha: I don’t differentiate between my lovers, it’s all romance. I treat the relationship between the men the same way I treat the relationships between the men and the woman. I try very hard to make sure that there are three love stories being told. To use the characters from THE COURAGE TO LOVE, I wanted to make sure that Tony and Kate, Jason and Kate, and Jason and Tony all had equal time. I think that may be even more obvious in LOVE UNDER SIEGE, and AT LOVE’S COMMAND, my upcoming fall release.
For each love story I explore what brings them together, what they find appealing about the other person, what they eventually fall in love with. The heroes in my stories are as enthralled with one another’s bodies, scents, laughter as they are the heroine’s. I also answer the central question in any love story, to me anyway--why are these two people together? What do they give, or provide, to each other that makes them so important? It’s a central part of the character arc. The relationships that develop change my characters in some positive way as a result of the love they share. That’s romance, baby.
Seren: Why do you think m/m romantic relationships have recently become such a big fad with women romance readers?
Samantha: Umm, let’s call it a trend, which I think will continue far into the foreseeable future. I’m going to combine this question with your next one: "Do you think romance readers are as interested in just two men as they are in man/man/woman ménages?"
I think the male/male/female ménage is a favorite female fantasy. So no, I don’t think romance readers as a group are as interested in just male/male as they are in the type of ménage I write about. That’s not to say there isn’t a readership for male/male out there, there obviously is. But I think romance novel readers would be more inclined to accept a male/male/female ménage because it’s a way to vicariously live the dream.Two gorgeous men want to have wild monkey sex with one lucky girl for the rest of their lives, and love her forever. Holy fantasyland, Batman, youbetcha! It’s also easier for them to relate to the sex when they can experience it through a woman’s viewpoint. And yes, I am making the assumption that most romance readers are women. Again, yes, there are men who like romance, but I don’t think I’m speaking heretically to say that your typical romance reader is a woman. And she wants to be able to place herself in the pages of the book. In a male/male/female ménage she’s able to do so as a participant. In a male/male, she’s an outsider looking in.That may be oversimplifying, but that’s the way I think of it.
As for why the male/male aspect of the ménage has become more popular, I think it’s because we like men, LOL. We especially like handsome, strong, masculine, sexy, take charge guys. Who are naked. I’ll take two, please. And then, oh yeah, have them make love to one another for my pleasure. Yep, that’ll do it. I don’t think it’s some social phenomena that’s a symptom of some greater societal issue. It’s just two naked sexy guys doing each other. Yikes, is it hot in here or is it me? We could get Freudian and say that through the male/male sex women are able to hypothetically fuck men, which in reality they can’t do without a strap-on. That may be Jungian. I honestly blew off that whole semester, but you get my drift.
Seren: Ooh, the thing we’re all dying to ask: How do you research your male-on-male scenes? Do you think they are realistic?
Samantha: ROFLMAO. I hate to disappoint, but as I told my Dad, I write fiction, not autobiography. I’m probably going to get a lot of grief over this but here goes—I never read, or watched, any gay or bisexual stories or movies before writing THE COURAGE TO LOVE. That’s right, not one. I drew on my own background of loving, and making love to, a man. The feel, the taste, the scents, the sounds, they don’t change based on who’s pitching and who’s catching in the lineup that day. And after forty years I damn well better be able to figure out which slot to put Tab A in. As for realism, (shrugging here) who’s to say? They’re realistic for me. I like to think they’re realistic for my readers. The feedback I get seems to indicate they are. But let’s be honest, how realistic are the sex scenes in the majority of romance novels? If we wanted realism we’d just read Sex forDummies. Instead we read fiction—romanticized ideals of what we want sex to be. I think the sex in erotic romances comes closest to the real thing than other genres, but again, readers don’t want the real thing. They want it better, faster, stronger, for less than six million dollars. Was that reference too dated, LOL?
Seren: Do you have more stories coming? And if so, will they include m/m or m/m/f?
Samantha: Yes, and yes. As I mentioned earlier, the next Brothers in Arms novel willbe released from Ellora’s Cave sometime in November, and is titled AT LOVE’S COMMAND. It is the story of Ian Witherspoon, his lover Derek Knightly, and Ian’s wife, Sophie. AT LOVE’S COMMAND is nearly twice as long as THE COURAGE TO LOVE and LOVE UNDER SIEGE, so it should satisfy all those readers who’ve told me to write longer books! For the first time I go back and explore the start of the men’s relationship during the war, and readers will also see Jason and Tony from THE COURAGE TO LOVE and their war experiences. I loved writing this book so much I was heartbroken when it was over. Luckily I had another project to jump right into. Right now I’m working on my first ever science fiction/futuristic novel. It’s also a male/male/female ménage, and I’m completely in love with the characters. I like to think of it as what if Han, Luke and Leia were doing it? Tell George Lucas not to panic, the story is completely different, but the whole good vs. evil and love triumphant theme still rings true. As someone once said, there’s only one story but endless ways to tell it. Next year will see more Brothers In Arms, specifically Freddy and Brett’s story, and quite possibly Very, Michael and Wolf’s story as well. Whew! I better get writing.
Seren: Thank you, Samantha! And now get back to writing! I'm really looking forward to your futuristic. Especially since our editor has so cruelly refused to give me a glimpse of your upcoming fourth Brother in Arms. November? I have to wait until November?!
Seren: You have a very popular Regency-set erotic romance series out with Ellora’s Cave, BROTHERS IN ARMS, and each story is a ménage a trois including male-on-male sex. That’s unusual in an historical romance. What made you decide to write that?
Samantha: I’d like to say that I spent hours and hours refining a high concept for the idea, but that would be a lie, LOL. It was one of those lightbulb moments where you’re sitting or walking along, da dum, dum, dum, and WHAM! It hit me and I sat down and wrote the first five or six chapters and it worked. I think the idea was percolating in my head, and my brain, without my conscious participation, said hey stupid, how about this? Idiot. My brain talks to me like that a lot.
Honestly, I have always liked really hot romance. I was totally fed up with books that led up to excruciatingly short, euphemistic love scenes that ended before they began by slamming the bedroom door in my face. I had already completed one manuscript, which was a sensual romance, and most of the people who read it said the same thing—you write amazing sex scenes. So I didn’t have to be a genius to figure out what my strength was. Then I discovered Ellora’s Cave and erotic romance, and thought wow,what a fantastic idea, romance with extremely hot, explicit sex that ends with a happily ever after. I want to write that.
I only read a few erotic romances, and of those only two or three ménage stories, before writing THE COURAGE TO LOVE. It’s as if that idea was just waiting for the opportunity to present itself. The ménage stories I read were contemporaries, and after reading them I felt…cheated. It was as if half the love story had been edited out. Here were two gorgeous, amazing men who were close friends making love to the same woman for whom they both had feelings, or had the potential to have feelings for, and the sexual tension and chemistry between the men was never addressed. Not only that but the men never even touched while making love to the woman, a feat that would take a great deal of work and the limberness of a Chinese acrobat. The love story was incomplete, and the sex unsatisfactory. So I decided to write a ménage the way I wanted it to be.
I had two goals in THE COURAGE TO LOVE. One, create a situation where two men would development the kind of close relationship that would make them want to share a woman for life, and two, provide a plausible happily ever after for my three lovers. War was very much on everyone’s mind at the time, and it occurred to me that there is a situation where men become incredibly close, particularly men who fight together, watch each other’s backs, live together, and survive together. It was a natural step to imagine the heroes of COURAGE as veterans. Contemporary veterans, however, was not, in my opinion, an option. I think a contemporary setting presents too many problems for a believable ménage happily ever after unless it’s a paranormal, but I’m not going to talk about that right now. So I had to make my veterans historical characters. I’m a huge Regency-set historical fan, Jo Beverly is a favorite, so I decided to make my heroes Peninsular War veterans. This was a big gulp moment for me, because I had always written contemporaries. COURAGE was the first historical I tried.
A Regency setting was also a good choice for goal number two, a plausible happily ever after. As fans of Regency-set historicals know, the period was rife with sexual excess beneath its veneer of social rigidity. The way to legitimize those excesses was marriage. As long as your spouse looked the other way, or better yet engaged in the same activities, all was forgiven if it wasn’t too obvious or objectionable. So another aspect of the story emerged: the heroine had to marry one of the heroes to make their ménage “acceptable” in the eyes of society.
And there you have it. After only a couple of chapters it became obvious that COURAGE was the start of a series, not a stand alone book. There were so many veterans clamoring for their own story that I knew I couldn’t do this idea justice in just one book. The fourth Brothers in Arms novel will be out this fall, in November.
Seren: How do you maintain the romance, not just sex, between two men?
Samantha: I don’t differentiate between my lovers, it’s all romance. I treat the relationship between the men the same way I treat the relationships between the men and the woman. I try very hard to make sure that there are three love stories being told. To use the characters from THE COURAGE TO LOVE, I wanted to make sure that Tony and Kate, Jason and Kate, and Jason and Tony all had equal time. I think that may be even more obvious in LOVE UNDER SIEGE, and AT LOVE’S COMMAND, my upcoming fall release.
For each love story I explore what brings them together, what they find appealing about the other person, what they eventually fall in love with. The heroes in my stories are as enthralled with one another’s bodies, scents, laughter as they are the heroine’s. I also answer the central question in any love story, to me anyway--why are these two people together? What do they give, or provide, to each other that makes them so important? It’s a central part of the character arc. The relationships that develop change my characters in some positive way as a result of the love they share. That’s romance, baby.
Seren: Why do you think m/m romantic relationships have recently become such a big fad with women romance readers?
Samantha: Umm, let’s call it a trend, which I think will continue far into the foreseeable future. I’m going to combine this question with your next one: "Do you think romance readers are as interested in just two men as they are in man/man/woman ménages?"
I think the male/male/female ménage is a favorite female fantasy. So no, I don’t think romance readers as a group are as interested in just male/male as they are in the type of ménage I write about. That’s not to say there isn’t a readership for male/male out there, there obviously is. But I think romance novel readers would be more inclined to accept a male/male/female ménage because it’s a way to vicariously live the dream.Two gorgeous men want to have wild monkey sex with one lucky girl for the rest of their lives, and love her forever. Holy fantasyland, Batman, youbetcha! It’s also easier for them to relate to the sex when they can experience it through a woman’s viewpoint. And yes, I am making the assumption that most romance readers are women. Again, yes, there are men who like romance, but I don’t think I’m speaking heretically to say that your typical romance reader is a woman. And she wants to be able to place herself in the pages of the book. In a male/male/female ménage she’s able to do so as a participant. In a male/male, she’s an outsider looking in.That may be oversimplifying, but that’s the way I think of it.
As for why the male/male aspect of the ménage has become more popular, I think it’s because we like men, LOL. We especially like handsome, strong, masculine, sexy, take charge guys. Who are naked. I’ll take two, please. And then, oh yeah, have them make love to one another for my pleasure. Yep, that’ll do it. I don’t think it’s some social phenomena that’s a symptom of some greater societal issue. It’s just two naked sexy guys doing each other. Yikes, is it hot in here or is it me? We could get Freudian and say that through the male/male sex women are able to hypothetically fuck men, which in reality they can’t do without a strap-on. That may be Jungian. I honestly blew off that whole semester, but you get my drift.
Seren: Ooh, the thing we’re all dying to ask: How do you research your male-on-male scenes? Do you think they are realistic?
Samantha: ROFLMAO. I hate to disappoint, but as I told my Dad, I write fiction, not autobiography. I’m probably going to get a lot of grief over this but here goes—I never read, or watched, any gay or bisexual stories or movies before writing THE COURAGE TO LOVE. That’s right, not one. I drew on my own background of loving, and making love to, a man. The feel, the taste, the scents, the sounds, they don’t change based on who’s pitching and who’s catching in the lineup that day. And after forty years I damn well better be able to figure out which slot to put Tab A in. As for realism, (shrugging here) who’s to say? They’re realistic for me. I like to think they’re realistic for my readers. The feedback I get seems to indicate they are. But let’s be honest, how realistic are the sex scenes in the majority of romance novels? If we wanted realism we’d just read Sex forDummies. Instead we read fiction—romanticized ideals of what we want sex to be. I think the sex in erotic romances comes closest to the real thing than other genres, but again, readers don’t want the real thing. They want it better, faster, stronger, for less than six million dollars. Was that reference too dated, LOL?
Seren: Do you have more stories coming? And if so, will they include m/m or m/m/f?
Samantha: Yes, and yes. As I mentioned earlier, the next Brothers in Arms novel willbe released from Ellora’s Cave sometime in November, and is titled AT LOVE’S COMMAND. It is the story of Ian Witherspoon, his lover Derek Knightly, and Ian’s wife, Sophie. AT LOVE’S COMMAND is nearly twice as long as THE COURAGE TO LOVE and LOVE UNDER SIEGE, so it should satisfy all those readers who’ve told me to write longer books! For the first time I go back and explore the start of the men’s relationship during the war, and readers will also see Jason and Tony from THE COURAGE TO LOVE and their war experiences. I loved writing this book so much I was heartbroken when it was over. Luckily I had another project to jump right into. Right now I’m working on my first ever science fiction/futuristic novel. It’s also a male/male/female ménage, and I’m completely in love with the characters. I like to think of it as what if Han, Luke and Leia were doing it? Tell George Lucas not to panic, the story is completely different, but the whole good vs. evil and love triumphant theme still rings true. As someone once said, there’s only one story but endless ways to tell it. Next year will see more Brothers In Arms, specifically Freddy and Brett’s story, and quite possibly Very, Michael and Wolf’s story as well. Whew! I better get writing.
Seren: Thank you, Samantha! And now get back to writing! I'm really looking forward to your futuristic. Especially since our editor has so cruelly refused to give me a glimpse of your upcoming fourth Brother in Arms. November? I have to wait until November?!
Book Review: The Courage to Love by Samantha Kane
I didn't think I'd be interested in male-on-male romances. I subscribe to the theory that the female reader consciously or subconsciously identifies with the heroine, wants to be in her place in the story. Which means I want the man or men paying attention to ME, not to each other. Plus, I just didnt' think I'd find detailed descriptions of gay sex appealing or even interesting.
Boy, was I wrong. Okay, maybe I cheated a little. This story, and most of the ones in this genre I've read since then, are actually menages of two men and a woman. Yeah, the two guys have sex with each other, but they are also each making it with the heroine - so I get to put myself in the fantasy.
This is the first in Ms. Kane's Brothers in Arms series. There are three books out now, a fourth coming soon. The setting is Regency England, the main characters are men who were British officers in the Napoleonic Wars. They survived the horrors of war by supporting each other, often sharing women - and sometimes ending up sharing each other. But now back at home in England, they have to think about propriety, about their families' expections, about finding wives who will provide heirs.
In The Courage to Love, Jason and Tony have been in love with Kate for several years. But she was married to another man. She became a widow, but they were away. Now they are back and they want her - they BOTH want her. Although she seems able to accept the shocking notion of two men and a triad relationship, she refuses to marry them. The reasons for her reluctance, the horrifying event that is affecting her, and the villain lurking about are gradually revealed.
At the start of the story, Jason and Tony are best friends, deeply and emotionally attached to each other - but they've never had a sexual or romantic connection between them. Through their shared love for Kate, and sharing her in bed, they come to recognize the depth of their attachment to each other. And eventually the threesome becomes truly three-way.
There are many secondary characters. Lots of fellow officers get introduced, who become heroes in future books in the series. It was hard to keep them and their relationships straight. But they were all enjoyable. The only character I didn't care for was Kate's niece, who lives with her. I was uncomfortable with this very young (she's 15 or 16) woman in the situation, and I found her an annoying and obnoxious person. (Of course, she's a teenager--so maybe that's realistic.)
I cannot tell you how much I loved this story! The main characters are so vivid, so intense, so endearing in their emotional struggles. The sex is beyond hot. Yes, I drooled over the male/male sex scenes, to my surprise. Yep, I immediately purchased and read the second and third in the series, and am eagerly awaiting the next. They just get better and better.
Ebook at http://www.ellorascave.com/ . The print book will be out in September.
Author website samanthakane.us
Boy, was I wrong. Okay, maybe I cheated a little. This story, and most of the ones in this genre I've read since then, are actually menages of two men and a woman. Yeah, the two guys have sex with each other, but they are also each making it with the heroine - so I get to put myself in the fantasy.
This is the first in Ms. Kane's Brothers in Arms series. There are three books out now, a fourth coming soon. The setting is Regency England, the main characters are men who were British officers in the Napoleonic Wars. They survived the horrors of war by supporting each other, often sharing women - and sometimes ending up sharing each other. But now back at home in England, they have to think about propriety, about their families' expections, about finding wives who will provide heirs.
In The Courage to Love, Jason and Tony have been in love with Kate for several years. But she was married to another man. She became a widow, but they were away. Now they are back and they want her - they BOTH want her. Although she seems able to accept the shocking notion of two men and a triad relationship, she refuses to marry them. The reasons for her reluctance, the horrifying event that is affecting her, and the villain lurking about are gradually revealed.
At the start of the story, Jason and Tony are best friends, deeply and emotionally attached to each other - but they've never had a sexual or romantic connection between them. Through their shared love for Kate, and sharing her in bed, they come to recognize the depth of their attachment to each other. And eventually the threesome becomes truly three-way.
There are many secondary characters. Lots of fellow officers get introduced, who become heroes in future books in the series. It was hard to keep them and their relationships straight. But they were all enjoyable. The only character I didn't care for was Kate's niece, who lives with her. I was uncomfortable with this very young (she's 15 or 16) woman in the situation, and I found her an annoying and obnoxious person. (Of course, she's a teenager--so maybe that's realistic.)
I cannot tell you how much I loved this story! The main characters are so vivid, so intense, so endearing in their emotional struggles. The sex is beyond hot. Yes, I drooled over the male/male sex scenes, to my surprise. Yep, I immediately purchased and read the second and third in the series, and am eagerly awaiting the next. They just get better and better.
Ebook at http://www.ellorascave.com/ . The print book will be out in September.
Author website samanthakane.us
Vacation is Hard Work
I'm almost at the end of my two-week vacation. You know, that time when I was going to spend lots of time reading great books, lounge in the yard...and make many blog entries. What did I actually spend my time doing? Cleaning. And more cleaning. Reorganizing the kitchen and bedroom. Doing minor house repairs. More cleaning. I HATE CLEANING.
Anyway, I didn't get all those blog entries done, and now I'm trying to catch up. My topic for the next week is male-on-male erotic romances. Book reviews, author interviews.
Anyway, I didn't get all those blog entries done, and now I'm trying to catch up. My topic for the next week is male-on-male erotic romances. Book reviews, author interviews.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Book Review: Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead
This fascinating paranormal is labeled as "fiction". It does have a bit of romance - at least, the start of one - but it isn't by any means a romance novel.
I loved the interesting and unique world building in this story. Yay, something a bit different! Georgina, the female protagonist, is a succubus -- but hates what she is. She's been around for, oh, a couple thousand years, but now lives in Seattle and works in a bookstore. Her history is gradually revealed, so that the reader can understand and empathize with her emotional dysfunctioning, her conflicted self-image. Georgina is a good person - she is still feeling guilty and suffering for a mistake made two thousand years ago, the one that led to her being converted to a succubus.
There are lots of intriguing secondary characters, both humans and various types of immortals. Several potential love interests crop up for the heroine. The plot involves denizens of Heaven and Hell somewhat disjointedly working together on a problem that falls into both their realms. I can't tell you more without spoiling the story for you -- definitely go read this yourself! The ending does leave just enough hanging strings to make you eager to read a sequel, without making you dissatisfied or annoyed by unanswered questions.
Oh, by the way, it is written in first-person, if that matters to you as a reader.
The author's website lists the sequel as "Succubus on Top", coming January 2008.
http://www.richellemead.com/
Kensington Publishing, March 2007, trade paperback, $15.00
I loved the interesting and unique world building in this story. Yay, something a bit different! Georgina, the female protagonist, is a succubus -- but hates what she is. She's been around for, oh, a couple thousand years, but now lives in Seattle and works in a bookstore. Her history is gradually revealed, so that the reader can understand and empathize with her emotional dysfunctioning, her conflicted self-image. Georgina is a good person - she is still feeling guilty and suffering for a mistake made two thousand years ago, the one that led to her being converted to a succubus.
There are lots of intriguing secondary characters, both humans and various types of immortals. Several potential love interests crop up for the heroine. The plot involves denizens of Heaven and Hell somewhat disjointedly working together on a problem that falls into both their realms. I can't tell you more without spoiling the story for you -- definitely go read this yourself! The ending does leave just enough hanging strings to make you eager to read a sequel, without making you dissatisfied or annoyed by unanswered questions.
Oh, by the way, it is written in first-person, if that matters to you as a reader.
The author's website lists the sequel as "Succubus on Top", coming January 2008.
http://www.richellemead.com/
Kensington Publishing, March 2007, trade paperback, $15.00
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
No More Clean Plate Club For Me!
Did your mama raise you right? Right after "Clean your plate, there are children starving in Africa" came "Finish what you start." For me, and I think many readers, that also applies to books. I spent most of my life thinking that if I read page one of a story, I had to read all the way to the end. It would somehow be a crime or a sin to not finish the book.
No more! I had an epiphany. I do NOT have to finish every book I start. If it's bad, I'm allowed to stop wasting time on it. Now, it took a lot of effort to convince myself of this. There's that hope of "well, maybe it will improve if I read one more chapter". Or the "I'm not enjoying this, but I do want to know how it ends." Or "I paid $7.99 for this book, it would be a waste of my money if I don't read the whole thing."
1) I've been reading for many, many years. (It's rude to ask a lady her age.) I can't recall any book where the first couple pages or chapters really turned me off, but then the book got significantly better. If the author couldn't entrance me with the beginning, it's just not going to get better. Stop hoping and just stop reading.
2) So I'm not enjoying the writing or the plot, but I do have a compulsion to know what happens to these characters. That's what "skimming" is for! I've learned to flip through the pages looking for a particular reference or character name, and just read snatches to grasp the action. Or just jump right to the last chapter to find out how it ends. (However, I'm going to have to keep this under control - I certainly don't want to become one of those people who read the ending first!)
3) The money's already spent. It won't cost me any more or less based on how many pages I read. So why should I now waste something even more valuable and scarce than money -- my time? I've got a TBR mountain - it's unfair to those books to ignore them while I spend time with a mediocre book.
So I'm practicing. I stop after two or three chapters and actually ask myself "Am I enjoying this story? Is it worth my time?" Sometimes the book isn't so bad, it's just that I'm not in the mood for that type of story at the moment. I'll put it aside and maybe I'll come back to it another time. But if I'm truly not intrigued by the story, or the writing style is driving me crazy -- it's time to quit, to put this book in the "take to the used bookstore" bag, and move on to a much better read.
How many books have you not finished recently? And what made you quit? Or are you still the "Clean your plate" type?
No more! I had an epiphany. I do NOT have to finish every book I start. If it's bad, I'm allowed to stop wasting time on it. Now, it took a lot of effort to convince myself of this. There's that hope of "well, maybe it will improve if I read one more chapter". Or the "I'm not enjoying this, but I do want to know how it ends." Or "I paid $7.99 for this book, it would be a waste of my money if I don't read the whole thing."
1) I've been reading for many, many years. (It's rude to ask a lady her age.) I can't recall any book where the first couple pages or chapters really turned me off, but then the book got significantly better. If the author couldn't entrance me with the beginning, it's just not going to get better. Stop hoping and just stop reading.
2) So I'm not enjoying the writing or the plot, but I do have a compulsion to know what happens to these characters. That's what "skimming" is for! I've learned to flip through the pages looking for a particular reference or character name, and just read snatches to grasp the action. Or just jump right to the last chapter to find out how it ends. (However, I'm going to have to keep this under control - I certainly don't want to become one of those people who read the ending first!)
3) The money's already spent. It won't cost me any more or less based on how many pages I read. So why should I now waste something even more valuable and scarce than money -- my time? I've got a TBR mountain - it's unfair to those books to ignore them while I spend time with a mediocre book.
So I'm practicing. I stop after two or three chapters and actually ask myself "Am I enjoying this story? Is it worth my time?" Sometimes the book isn't so bad, it's just that I'm not in the mood for that type of story at the moment. I'll put it aside and maybe I'll come back to it another time. But if I'm truly not intrigued by the story, or the writing style is driving me crazy -- it's time to quit, to put this book in the "take to the used bookstore" bag, and move on to a much better read.
How many books have you not finished recently? And what made you quit? Or are you still the "Clean your plate" type?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)