Gay romance

Gay romance is a genre within gay literature and romance fiction focused on same-sex characters who fall in love and have a homosexual or homoromantic relationship. The genre has met with increasing acceptance and sales from the 1980s onward.[1] In 2019, Romance Writers of America accepted Rainbow Romance Writers, a chapter for LGBTQIA+ romance fiction.

M M Romance Genre

Term

This genre of gay romance was originally called "M/M Romance" (from slash fiction, meaning male-on-male not mass-market) but now often called "M M Romance" or "mm romance" and which feature queer men falling in love.

The term was in use on fan-fiction sites by 2004.[2] By 2008, hundreds of such novels were being published.[3][4]

History of Genre

A 2009 article in the gay newspaper The Liberty Press stated that the genre was emerging: ""slash' fiction has been around for decades. Women were writing 'Kirk/ Spock' romances long before the Internet even existed. But up to now, none has been published by mainstream presses and stocked next to the bodice rippers."[5] Also in 2009, the first mainstream review of a novel marketed as "an M/M Romance" appeared, announcing that "male/male romantic historical fiction is the newest publishing trend."[6] In 2010, Rolling Stone Magazine and Out magazine named M/M romance one of the hottest developing literary trends.[7][8] In 2011, Library Journal described the genre as "male-on-male, or M/M romance" and mentioned that it was "mostly written and read by straight women." It speculated that Queer as Folk and the 2005 Brokeback Mountain drove the genre's expansion but that its origins were "in the slash fiction genre of the 1990s in which erotic fiction about television, book, and movie characters found a lively audience online."[9] Library Journal also noted that yaoi graphic narratives, popular with Japanese women since the 1980s, were an influence on the M/M genre.

Since January 2010, the genre of M/M Romance has tripled in Amazon's online Kindle Store.[1]

Emerging from the margins, best-selling romance authors began to write M/M romance novels.[10] In 2015, M/M romances were nominated for RITAs for the first time.[10]

Sub-Genres

Some of the sub-niche categories are coming out, "gay-for-you" and "first-time gay." Some M/M romance novels feature transgender or asexual protagonists.[10] Some feature Christian characters or are in the Amish romance genre. Some are m/m/f romance novels, featuring polyamory, pansexuality, and bisexuality.

Publishers

DreamSpinner Press (founded in 2007), Less than Three (2009), Running Press, Loose ID (now closed), Carina Press, InterMix, MLR (ManLoveRomance), and Riptide Publishing (2011) were founded to publish gay romantic fiction almost exclusively.[11] [12]

Authors

Some of the founding authors, writing in the early aught years of M/M Romance fiction, were Alex Beecroft, Josh Lanyon, Donald Hard, Sean Kennedy, J.L. Langley, Tere Michaels, M.J. Pearson, Erastes, Jordan Castillo Price, Charlie Cochrane, Laura Baumbach, and Lee Rowan, most of whom were British or Australian.[13]

Controversy

The majority of gay romance novels are written by and for women.[1] The issue of whether women should write books featuring gay men has been a frequent topic of popular and scholarly discussion.[14] [15][16][17]

Lesbian Romance Genre

Lesbian romance, a genre within gay literature and romance fiction. Scholarship on this genre dates back to the 1980s but only became common in the 1990s.[18][19][20][21]

Scholars have defined the tropes of this genre: "Like the classic Greek romances, the themes of removal to a distant place, captivity, isolation, escape, search, and pursuit characterize the lesbian romance novel. Typically, the smooth progression of the budding romance is jeopardized by some obstacle to love. The subsequent separation or threat of separation stimulates the lovers' (and readers') concerns over whether the longed for union will be achieved. Once the pair overcome the age, class, or race barriers and is united, they supposedly live happily ever after." [22]

Some publishing companies, like Bold Strokes, have a focus on lesbian romance novels.[10]

References
  1. "What women want: Gay male romance novels" article. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  2. "The Price of Temptation by M.J. Pearson | Smart Bitches, Trashy Books". smartbitchestrashybooks.com. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  3. "Best M/M Romance Published in 2009 (210 books)". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  4. "Best M/M Romance Published in 2008 (108 books)". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  5. LeSage, S. (2009, 05). Editorially speaking: Of springtime mornings, androphilia, and M/M romance. The Liberty Press, 15, 4-5.
  6. Lundgren, A. (2009, Mar). False colors: An M/M romance. Colorado Springs Independent.
  7. "M/M Romance" Rolling Stone. 10/14/2010, Issue 1115, p90-90.
  8. Cintra Wilson, "W4M4M? Out" Los Angeles Vol. 20, Iss. 2,  (Sep 1, 2010): 98-103.
  9. Thomas, Devon. 2011. "Bodice rippers without the bodice: ten male-on-male romances for a core collection." Library Journal. Feb 15Volume 136. Issue 3. Page 40.
  10. "Finding Love In All the Right Places: Romance 2015" Publishers Weekly; New York Vol. 262, Iss. 23,  (Jun 8, 2015).
  11. "About Us". Riptide Publishing. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  12. "Three digital M/M and LGBT romance publishers sound off – Crane Hana Books". www.cranehanabooks.com. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  13. "Best M/M Romance Published in 2008 (108 books)". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  14. Beecroft, Alex. "Why Do Women Write M/M Romance?" The Macaronis: Historical Fiction Out of the Closet. http://historicromance.wordpress.com/2008/08/15/why-do-women-write-mm-romance/
  15. Larsen, Katherine; Zubernis, Lynn (2011-11-15). Fandom At The Crossroads: Celebration, Shame and Fan/Producer Relationships. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4438-3556-5.
  16. Foster, Guy Mark (2015-10-02). "What To Do If Your Inner Tomboy Is a Homo: Straight Women, Bisexuality, and Pleasure in M/M Gay Romance Fictions". Journal of Bisexuality. 15 (4): 509–531. doi:10.1080/15299716.2015.1092910. ISSN 1529-9716.
  17. Shramko, Lizzy. "Can M/M Romance Challenge the Definition of LGBT Lit?." Lambda Literary 18 (2010).
  18. Hermes, Joke. "Sexuality in Lesbian Romance Fiction." Feminist Review 42.1 (1992): 49-66.
  19. Juhasz, Suzanne. "Lesbian romance fiction and the plotting of desire: Narrative theory, lesbian identity, and reading practice." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 17.1 (1998): 65-82.
  20. Stimpson, Catharine R. "Zero degree deviancy: The lesbian novel in English." Critical Inquiry 8.2 (1981): 363-379.
  21. Ehnenn, Jill. "Desperately Seeking Susan Among the Trash: Reinscription, Subversion and Visibility in the Lesbian Romance Novel." Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice 23.1 (1998).
  22. Rose, Suzanna, Debra Zand, and M. Cini. "Lesbian courtship scripts." Rothblum & KA Brehony (Eds.), Boston marriages: Romantic but asexual relationships among contemporary lesbians (1993): 70-85.
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