Angelia Sparrow & Naomi Brooks ~ Heart Of A Forest
From: Ellora’s Cave
I have three that I’m inordinately fond of right now. But Heart of a Forest is my favorite. It was the easiest and fastest to write and the easiest to edit. It’s the only one I never got sick of re-reading. Usually, I have to wait several months before I go back to a released book and try to read it. But Heart of a Forest didn’t have that delay. I think we captured the spirit of the Robin Hood movies and the voice is, while not obviously “Victorian Forsoothly,” a higher style than our normal slightly snarky, very modern narrator voice.
1. Brian Daley ~ Han Solo And The Lost Legacy This has been one of my favorite reads since it came out in 1979. It has informed everything from characterization to how I write action scenes to plotting. There’s a romance subplot, but it doesn’t go anywhere. ***Teddypig ~ Not Available In eBook***
2. Julian May ~ The Many-Colored Land Julian May’s Pilocene Exile saga (The Many Colored Land, The Golden Torc, The Nonborn King, The Adversary). This was my first encounter with GLBT characters that didn’t leave me going EWW! (I was very religious and a little immature in my teens) Felice’s doomed love for Amarie. Gert and Hansi. Stefanko. Johnny and Lee. Even Mr. Betsy. They all played a role in normalizing same sex relationships for me. Her Milieu trilogy goes even farther with same-sex couples marrying. This is operatic science fiction/fantasy (yes both) and has a number of romances, successful and un. ***Teddypig ~ Not Available In eBook***
3. Elusive Lover: Alternate Visions Cara J. Loup, editor. It may be bad form to include fanfiction, but this zine was what made me really want to write same-sex romance. It’s a Han/Luke alternate universe zine, and exceptionally well written and edited. Some of the stories are more romantic than others. ***Teddypig ~ I like fanfiction in fact I started reading it with Farscape.***
4. Laura London ~ The Windflower This was another non-squicky same-sex relationship, although it turned out to be only a pseudo-relationship. Rand Morgan was a big old flaming queen and the toughest pirate on the seas. Also, Devon and Merry were ridiculously hot and have undue influence on what I do with wine in sex scenes, but I was more interested in Morgan and Cat. ***Teddypig ~ Not Available In eBook***
5. Kiernan Kelly ~ Change Of Heart was one of the first stand alone m/m romances I read, where the focus was not on the fandom or on another pairing, but on the men. Kiernan is still one of the first authors I read in an anthology and one whose releases I keep up on. Available as an e-book.
Angelia
Tags: Angelia Sparrow, Five Faves
Cat Grant wrote,
I read those Elusive Lover zines too! In fact, I may still have my copies around here somewhere. The Windflower’s also a fave of mine.
Nice choices!
Link | December 14th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Wave wrote,
Angelia
More books for me to buy
I used to read Kiernan a lot until she killed off one of the protags in an epilogue (totally unnecessary IMO and that of other readers) so I’m pretty wary about reading more of her books.
Link | December 14th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
Samantha Kane wrote,
Yay for The Windflower! One of these days one of us needs to write the fanfic version of the romance that should have been. Or has someone already done that and I missed it? Knowing me, that is entirely possible.
I never wanted Han and Luke to get together. I suppose because I thought Luke was a little bit whiny. Can I say that here? lol
Link | December 14th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
TeddyPig wrote,
I love how people are picking the same books or series and yet more stuff you would not expect. I think people will have some good reading to hunt down from these lists.
That’s cool!
Link | December 14th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Kiernan Kelly wrote,
Thank you so much, Angelia! It’s always comforting to hear that another author whom I respect reads and enjoys my work!
Wave: I know, I know. :( I did it once, learned my lesson, and never did it again.
Link | December 14th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Ally Blue wrote,
Kiernan!! Fancy meeting you here at Chez Pig :D
Angelia, OMG, I loooooove your cover O_O
**licks**
I’ve never read The Windflower. Yeah I’m one of those girls that never read the old-school romances. I keep thinking maybe I should, but then I keep not doing it…
Link | December 15th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
TeddyPig wrote,
IHOP… International House of Pig
Link | December 15th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Ally Blue wrote,
LOLOL! OMG. Dammit, now I can never go to the other IHOP without getting the giggles!
Link | December 16th, 2009 at 6:58 am
Angelia Sparrow wrote,
Samantha, It’s okay. Luke whines. He’s 20. He can whine. But you’ll notice, he whines a moment, then he knuckles down and does the task. Unlike Han who, any time Leia asks him to do something, snarls at her and ignores her. (But any time Luke asks, he does it.)
I have no idea if there is Windflower fanfic. I can’t write fanfic anymore. it’s too hard playing with someone else’s stuff and not breaking it.
Ally, We’re fond of it. It’s not what we’d hoped for, but better than the first draft, which we mocked ruthlessly as “Avenging the Scooby Snack.” I only read romances with highwaymen, pirates and harems in them when I was in my teens. The Windflower was great and there was one, whose title I forget, that gave me a two-fer, a pirate named Roque who rescues the heroine from a pasha’s harem. (That also had the dead gay husband trope as well)
Kiernan, I love your werewolves. Not just Dae, but also “The Man who cried Werewolf.” That was, IMO, the best piece in Flipped Fables.
Link | December 18th, 2009 at 11:18 am