Jamie Craig: Five Faves

Jamie Craig ~ Master Of Obsidian (The Master Chronicles 1)
From: Amber Quill Press

Our favorite title: Master of Obsidian is our favorite gay title, and perhaps not coincidentally, our first Jamie Craig M/M title. It wasn’t as though we weren’t interested in M/M prior to that book. I had even published gay titles before that. But this one taught us several things. First, it taught us we really enjoyed writing m/m together. Second, we learned that it was okay to go a little bit dark, to push the boundaries a little bit, and to let our imaginations really run wild. And third,we learned how much *fun* it is. Of course, it spawned 9 more novels and 2 more novellas, and Gideon and Jesse still rate as our favorite characters. In fact, though we’re done with the series, we still miss them quite a bit.

1. James Kirkwood ~ Good Times/Bad Times (Vivien’s recommendation): I’ll admit, I haven’t re-read this since I was a teenager, so I have no idea how it stands the test of time. But it moved me in ways it’s hard to replicate now. ***Teddypig ~ No eBook***

2. Jonathan Kellerman ~ When The Bough Breaks (Vivien’s recommendation): This isn’t a gay story, and it’s not a romance. It’s the first of Kellerman’s Alex Delaware mysteries, and no, Alex isn’t even gay. However, his best friend Milo, a big burly cop, is. I’ve followed this series almost since it was first introduced, starting when I was in high school (there, that should date me, lol), and loved how Milo was treated with equal respect by the author. I still buy Kellerman in hardcover at the time of release today, because Milo and Alex feel like old friends. ***Teddypig ~ I took the liberty of just linking to the Alex Delaware Series Page on Fictionwise for eBook goodness.***

3. E.M. Forster ~ Maurice (Vivien’s recommendation): Hasn’t everybody read this? I find Forster hit or miss for me, but I’ve loved this ever since college when I saw the movie and then promptly ran from the theater to Borders downtown to track down a copy of the book. As much of a soft spot I have for the movie, the book is so much better. ***Teddypig ~ No eBook still.***

4. Josh Lanyon ~ Snowball In Hell (both of us): Vivien read this first, then promptly messaged Pepper and announced, “You have to read this. You’re going to love it.” Though we had already started having our own M/M titles released when it came out, we both consistently point to this story and say, “This. This is what is so great about M/M Romance.” Part of it’s the period – this is a favorite for both of us – part of it’s the men – Nathan is one of the most multi-layered heroes around – and part of it’s because the storytelling and prose is just that good.

5. Larry McMurtry ~ Lonesome Dove (Pepper’s recommendation): I grew up watching Lonesome Dove. My mom recorded the mini-series and it was one of my favorite movies (maybe I was a weird kid?). Actually, I loved westerns in general, especially Tombstone and Silverado. Still, Lonesome Dove held a special place in my heart, and I read the book the first time when I was 15. By then, I had read a steady diet of romance and horror (and Stephen King definitely depicts gay people in his novels but never in a very positive way), but nothing I read up to that point made me feel like Augustus McCray and Woodrow Call. I didn’t have the word for “subtext” then, I didn’t see the world through “slash goggles,” and I didn’t even have a fully formed idea of what it actually meant to be gay (I grew up on a mountain in Utah). But reading about those two men and their relationship had a serious impact on me. Gus had been married several times, but he chose to grow old with Call. And when Gus died at the end, it was Call’s reaction that carried the emotional weight, not the reaction of the two women ostensibly in Gus’s life at the time. Gus was definitely a lady’s man (well, he liked his whores), but the truly meaningful, emotional relationship in that novel was between Gus and Call. The
moments I treasured in that novel were the moments they spent together. I rushed out and bought the sequel (Streets of Laredo) and the prequels (Dead Man’s Walk, Comanche Moon), and I did that because I was pretty much desperate for more of those two men. I never read Streets of Laredo, even though I’m sure it’s excellent, because I can’t stand the thought of Woodrow Call alone (and no matter who he was with, he’d be alone without Gus). Much, much later, I realized that, in the vernacular of the fandom, I shipped them. And much later after that, I realized that their dynamic and those basic character types show up in my writing again and again. ***Teddypig ~ No eBook***

Side note from Vivien: There was a book I wanted to put on here, but didn’t, mostly because I have no idea who the author was or what the book was called. When I was quite young (11 or 12), I found out my uncle was gay. He was also a voracious reader, just like everybody else in the family. At home, I would gobble up my grandmother’s Harlequins, but after school, when I had to wait at my uncle’s apartment to get picked up, I sneaked into his private stash. He had oodles of the gay pulp titles from the 60s and 70s, as well as straighter romance titles, and I would read them in secret whenever I was there alone. I never got to take them home, and I never got to read for more than an hour at a time, which is a big part of why I don’t remember any authors or titles, lol. But they were all packed with sex, which alongside the more traditional romances I read at home, pretty much formed the foundation for a lot of what I do today. The specific book I wish I could remember was *very* trashy, but there was a scene in it where the guy was having a 3some with his wife and his best friend, and at one point, he’s crushed to the floor with both of them on top of him, and his buddy has his forearm across his throat as they both fuck the woman, and he strains against his buddy’s strength to reach up and kiss him. Almost thirty years later, I still think that’s hot, but damn if I know where I read it.

Vivien & Pepper

Tags: Five Faves, Jamie Craig