erastes: (Default)
erastes ([personal profile] erastes) wrote2006-09-10 09:18 am

Sunday blah.

I do hope that I don't turn into a Preachy Person when and if I ever get better known as a writer. I love reading other writer's blogs, but I'd like to see them being more real and screwing up rather than teaching us "wanabees" Lessons. I shall be screwing up all my life, I would imagine, and will always be sharing the disasters I get myself into, as well as the joys. You needn't look here for inspirational advice!

Yesterday I was definitely below par. Don't know what it was, wasn't "ill" so to speak, just bleurgh. Couldn't concentrate, couldn't write, that's for sure. All I had to do is add a sex scene to my latest short story and I couldn't do it. I think I wrote about 54 words.

Trouble was I spent 3 hours trying to find a market for my Gay Boys In Space story that (I have to assume) has been rejected by Greg Herren for Distant Horizons, as I've heard of a lot of people being accepted, and some being rejected and I've heard nothing. So I spent ages trying to find a new market for it, and ended up sending it somewhere I know won't accept it, as they say "no space opera" and really, my story is. It's very Heinlein-esque (in the pace, not at all in the quality!!!) I just don't know the SF markets. If I need to find a gay market, I can just do so! [livejournal.com profile] rwday says that a lot of markets are accepting of gay protagonists, so that's reassuring. There's no sex in it, not even any kissage, the fact that they are gay just happens to be a fact, it's not over-emphasised any more than if a husband and wife were running a ship. Mr & Mrs Stone aren't shagging every five minutes in Space Family Stone, after all!!

I've also got a sequel of sorts, although it's a completely different story, with the same two protagonists. Perhaps I should wait till I have 10 stories and attempt to put them in an anthology, although that will probably be completely unsaleable.

However, perhaps I'd better just stick to what I do best. I get too stressed trying to find markets. The Sci-fi stemmed from a direct call, and I liked the characters so much that I did a sequel, but I'd only ever able to write Space Opera, being raised on Heinlein, I'll never be able to write about Barsoomian Worlds. So back to the historical gay romance.

Talking of that, I discovered a historical gay writer yesterday. Michael Jensen, who has written a couple of gay historical books that I might check out, so if anyone's read them I'd be appreciative of a recommendation.

Talking of that, I'm planning to do some reviews on my website too, of purely historical gay fiction, to attempt to raise the profile. Some classics, obviously (although they hardly need my ignorant five pence) but also things like Emily Veinglory's "The Highwayman" which I've just finished, and other contemporaries, if I can find some.

So rec me some, if you know of it?

[identity profile] leni-jess.livejournal.com 2006-09-13 12:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Try Diana Gabaldon's Lord John and the Secret Matter - well researched, as far as I can see, and very readable.

Also, to go way way back, you do know Vincent Verga's Gaywick, don't you? Not strictly a historical novel (set in Edwardian times in the New York area), but more a spoof on the gothic novel, as written for gays. From that angle, very funny and very clever. Also, I fancy, well researched.

Does WWII count as 'historical'? Ursula Zielinsky's Middle Ground, told from the POV of an Austrian utterly unJewish Jewish schoolboy who wound up in a prison camp run by his uncle's lover. Or Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Catch Trap - a 'serious' novel in intention, and quite well done.

[identity profile] erastes.livejournal.com 2006-09-13 09:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you I'll try Diana's book.

And yes! It was Gaywyck that encouraged me write Standish, actually. Or rather, I'd started STandish and heard about Gaywyck and realised that someone else had done the genre, even if it was 20 years ago.

I haven't managed to get hold of a copy, as it's out of print.

According to my historical crit group, that does count as historical, and it certainly does in my book (i'm planning a novel based in that time) so I'll check out those too.

Thank you so much!