Bosom Friends update and stuff goes boom

[erastes]

i’ve been working on Bosom Friends over the last couple of days – it hadn’t moved on much since it started, and I offered to help get it revitalised.  Now we have a growing list of lesbian historical fiction (over 70 titles already) and it’s interesting to see the trends.

--There’s a LOT of Westerns.  I suppose it is a time when women had more freedom so that would explain that!

--There’s also a lot of governess stories.

--There are no salacious covers. Why is this?  (see discussion on Cover Artists)

--There’s a lot more of it that I thought there was.  So many times I hear “Gay Historicals are popular but no-one’s interested in lesbian historicals.” Well, that’s obviously not true but that leads onto :

--It’s bloody hard to find!!  I’ve had to seek out Listmania lists and then hunt down in the “people who liked this also bought” sections of the recommended books.  Authors!  TAG your books!  Readers!  TAG the books you like!  It’s a lot easier to find things on Amazon if they’ve been tagged properly.  Yes, in an ideal world, we should rely on Amazon to place the books in the right category – but they don’t have a gay or a lesbian category yet.

And why don’t authors care about their books listings?  So many products don’t even have a DESCRIPTION. It drives me bonkers!

Anyway – here’s the updated list so far (I’m still working on it) so please:

1. If you know of other titles not included, please let me know.

2. If you want to review any books (don’t have any free ones for you, sorry) that you’ve read please let me know.

3. Let your friends know about Bosom Friends – particularly if they have an interest in the genre.

 

On a personal note, my 3 year old washer dryer blew up last night.  Seriously – Gehayi often jokes that I must be a witch because electrical products never last long, but this sucks.  It’s full of water too. I don’t think it’s just the plug because there was a definite burning smell when it went BANG. Crap crap crap.

Comments

[joannesopercook.livejournal.com]

There's a lot of really neat "literary" stuff that definitely qualifies as lesbian, too - Fannie Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Cafe comes to mind, and I'm sure there are lots of others - the sad part, as you've said, is that you have to literally hunt them down to find them...

Sorry to hear about your washer - I kill technology, too, and streetlights spontaneously blow out when I walk under them. I'm not kidding - Hubby jokes about how often it happens when we're out in the evenings, walking the dogs. :D

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry about your washer. Machines always break when it's inconvenient, don't they?

more titles

[ruth-sims.livejournal.com]

I tried to leave a comment on the list page and winked out and then said the comment was a duplicate, so you may have a comment, 2 identical comments, or none at all. Following is what I said, more or less.

Anyway, I have a couple more titles as soon as I get myself together. I reviewed them on my review blog. I also have a couple of biolgraphies.

Jesse!

[ruth-sims.livejournal.com]

Nothing to do with Erastes' washing machine. I just had to comment about that picture. I think Jesse Martin is the most beautiful African American man I've ever seen. I loved him in Law and Order and totally adore him in Rent. My teen granddaughter and I have watched Rent together many times. What's he doing now, do you know? I don't know exactly how old he is, or how long ago Rent debuted on Broadway, but from the pictures I've seen he doesn't look any older!

I think I'll just sit here the rest of the day and look at the picture.

Re: Jesse!

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

According to IMDB, he's made or making a ton of movies:

Peter and Vandy -- due out October 9, 2009. It's a love story told out of sequence. It sounds a lot like the Broadway play "The First Five Years," in fact. Jesse plays someone named Paul.

The TV show The Philathropist, where he plays someone called Philip Maidstone. No idea what the show is about or who Philip is, sorry.

Buffalo Bushido -- listed as completed but still in-production. Jesse Martin plays a man named Shawn.

Silent Rhythm -- listed as being in pre-production, IMDB says this is about "[a] world involving Hip-Hop, at-risk kids, gang-relations, multi-racial, and an inner city dance school in Chicago, all merging in this gritty yet inspirational dance drama of redemption." It's a musical. Jesse plays a guy named Rev. James.

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

It always surprises me when I hear "nobody reads lesbian books" because when you look at the Amazon glbt lists--the combined bestseller lists--there are always scads of them. Maybe not so many "romances" per se--but most of the lesbians I know are (gee, ya think?) not into the m/f formula. And a lot of them are contemporary or sf--I'm guessing because it's a lot easier to write a dyke detective in an era where a woman isn't likely to be thrown into a mental institution wanting another woman instead of a husband and babies... which was the case so recently that there are still women alive who suffered that indignity.

The Wild West... a tough time and place to live, but probably one of the easier times to pass. If you ever saw a picture of Jesse James next to one of Calamity Jane, you wouldn't be able to guess the gender of either.

We had a pump motor go out on our washer once. Could be that, if the water won't drain. Good luck!

[essayel.livejournal.com]

Burning smells are NOT good especially in anything involving water + electricity. But it could be that the bushes have burned out, especially if you tend to cram it a bit.