Gay fantasy?!? O_o;;

[Geek Mama]

My first experience with gay characters was, of course, The Last Herald Mage by Mercedes Lackey. The book was recommended to me by a counselor for a school program when I complained about not having anything new to read. I was very surprised and shocked at first, I had honestly never heard of gay characters in a story before. (I was also a bit young)

Yet Ive never intentionally went looking for stories with gay characters. I enjoy a bit of yaoi-ish stories as far as my anime and manga goes, but its nothing I cant live without. Sometimes you want something raunchy (Hello, Beauty and the Beast by Anne Rice, anyone?) and sometimes you want something tragically romantic (You fool! Look at what you did to your Companion! To your lover! Poor Vanyel!).

In short, I support characters all of sexual things. Orientations, preferences, whatever. Its just a different way of looking at the story and I love new experiences.  

[icykia]

Yes, I, personally, rather enjoy seeing gay relationships in my fantasy novels. I'd been having trouble finding any decent novels that were fantasy with gay characters....as opposed to gay novels with fantasy characters....but I finally came across a few. The new (well, relatively new) books Melusine and The Virtu by Sarah Monette feature one main gay character and a few peripherals. And then, of course, there's always Swordspoint and Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner which has a gay pair as well.

I was trying to think of a few others. Of course, The Vampire Armand (Anne Rice) goes into that between Marius and Armand. And her Sleeping Beauty Trilogy also.... There's the Sigil Anthology which is a collection of gay-themed fantasy stories. I liked one or two of those stories.

Poppy Z. Brite has Lost Souls, Drawing Blood, and Exquisite Corpose. But those really aren't fantasy novels, I suppose. Lost Souls treads the line, as it's technically vampire fiction, though.  

[koorimefiregirl]

I don't really care if there are samesex relations in the story. I know that no one who has read the Wheel of time could be too offended by it R. Jordan makes about a hundred references to lesbian activities. Also there is a lesbian couple in Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth Series.  

[Sol-chan]

I'm not sure if anyone's already said these but I know of some:
The Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling
Kirith Kirin by Jim Grimsley
Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner
The Fall of the Kings by Ellen Kushner and Dellia Sherman  

[icykia]

Sol-chan

I'm not sure if anyone's already said these but I know of some:
The Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling
Kirith Kirin by Jim Grimsley
Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner
The Fall of the Kings by Ellen Kushner and Dellia Sherman

Hooray for Elllen Kushner books! Have you read the new one?

You know, I've been meaning to read Kirith Kirin for a long time. Is it fairly good?  

[Sol-chan]

icykia

Sol-chan

I'm not sure if anyone's already said these but I know of some:
The Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling
Kirith Kirin by Jim Grimsley
Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner
The Fall of the Kings by Ellen Kushner and Dellia Sherman

Hooray for Elllen Kushner books! Have you read the new one?

You know, I've been meaning to read Kirith Kirin for a long time. Is it fairly good?

aha, nope those are the only two Ellen Kushner books I've read. I didn't know she had more. sweatdrop Silly me, of course such a great author would have more than two! razz

And yes, Kirith Kirin is VERY good. Like all books it has it's slow points but it picks up very quickly. But, if you're planning to buy it (if you haven't already) I would suggest trying to check it out from a library first, because it's pretty pricey. I bought it for about $35...  

[icykia]

Sol-chan

aha, nope those are the only two Ellen Kushner books I've read. I didn't know she had more. sweatdrop Silly me, of course such a great author would have more than two! razz

And yes, Kirith Kirin is VERY good. Like all books it has it's slow points but it picks up very quickly. But, if you're planning to buy it (if you haven't already) I would suggest trying to check it out from a library first, because it's pretty pricey. I bought it for about $35...

Yeah, I didn't know about the new book until just a month ago. It apparently came out last year around summertime. It's called Privilege of the Sword, if you want to look it up.

Oh my goodness. $35? I don't remember it being that much back when I was looking for it. Unfortunately I already know my library won't have it. Might see if I have a friend who does, though.  

[Sol-chan]

icykia

Yeah, I didn't know about the new book until just a month ago. It apparently came out last year around summertime. It's called Privilege of the Sword, if you want to look it up.

Oh my goodness. $35? I don't remember it being that much back when I was looking for it. Unfortunately I already know my library won't have it. Might see if I have a friend who does, though.

Thank you!! I will definatly look for it!! biggrin

Well, the price on the cover is only $16, so I'm not really sure what happened. Maybe amazon.com is just being weird...  

[Angleic Shadow]

Kolibris

Fine, then shounen-ai. I don't know exact word meanings. I just use them. Despite the fact that I keep telling myself not to.

I've read a couple of Mercedes Lackey's books, and didn't like them one bit. I read her version of the Swan Princess (I think it was The Black Swan or something like that) and Winds of Change (or was it Fury?) or one of those books. They bored me, so that explains why I haven't read the aforementioned series. And I've never read anything by either of the other authors. I tend to stick to authors I already know. Or similar books, at the very least.

That sounds dangerously closed-minded to me.
I personally really like most of Mercedes Lackeys books- the fact that she can write about gay characters and still get it published says a lot if you ask me  

[Angleic Shadow]

koorimefiregirl

I don't really care if there are samesex relations in the story. I know that no one who has read the Wheel of time could be too offended by it R. Jordan makes about a hundred references to lesbian activities. Also there is a lesbian couple in Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth Series.

He does, but it's generally very vague  

[lovebooks]

I generally don't care if the characters are gay or straight. I'm just a sucker for a happy ending and good writing

I do enjoy mercedes lackey books. Those are really well done.  

[Angleic Shadow]

lovebooks

I generally don't care if the characters are gay or straight. I'm just a sucker for a happy ending and good writing

I do enjoy mercedes lackey books. Those are really well done.

Yeah, I'm the same way  

[Merlinssister]

The only book I've read where there's been any hints of homosexuality which I remember was His Dark Materials with the angels, I'm sorry but my memory of their names is a bit fuzzy. I don't go searching for gay fiction but I don't mind if the book I'm reading has gay relationships in it. It makes things a bit more interesting.  

[Maze353]

The plot is what I'm interested in, not the characters' sexual perferences.  

[babalonsatene]

I've actually never read gay fantasy, but I definitely would, if I came across it