I had to change my schedule a little because I accidentally moved Angel Martinez here, not recalling this blog today. Dont fear, Angel will be up on her original scheduled day.
We still have quite a treat. Laura Tolomei, brilliant author with a wonderful guest blog.
Hope you enjoy!
*****
Women and M/M: reading or writing, there’s no end to our fascination with the genre
“I admit it wasn’t half-bad,” Chris mumbled reluctantly, moving Ylianor’s sleeping form aside to snuggle closer to Duncan, “even if I don’t see why you go to all this trouble to make me change my mind about women.”
“I don’t want to change your mind. I want to broaden it because being a council member means you can never, ever allow your sexual orientations to prejudice your dealings with an entire gender. Like it or not, you’re going to have to work with women, too, so the sooner you start considering them as individuals, the more effective your job will be.” Grabbing Chris’s face, he held it tight. “What I’m trying to say, my beautiful love, is that it’s fine you should like only men in your bed. I have no problems with that. It’s your choice. You’re free to fuck whomever you like, so women will just have to live without your incredible sexual energy. What I object to is that you use it as an excuse to discriminate them in life. That’s wrong and unbecoming a council member for they are our equal partners in every way and in every place…” He paused for his lips curved in an ironic grin. “Your bed excluded, of course. Do you read me?”
“Loud and clear.” He returned the kiss, lingering on to make the sensation last longer. “To be honest, I’ve never thought of it in quite those terms, but I suppose you’re right and I shouldn’t have taken it for granted I kept away from women simply because I didn’t like them.”
“In bed, Angel, only in bed, though that’s changing, too, with Ylianor—”
“Why do you always have to bring her into the picture, lover?” He scoffed. “She’s different, I agree, but that only proves why I don’t like women…in bed,” he added with a mischievous grin, wanting to show Duncan he had understood.
“Tonight you weren’t much into liking her either…in bed.” A rueful smile curved the prince’s lips.
Chris lowered his head.
(taken from The Festival, Book 3 Virtus Saga)
Now why do so many women enjoy M/M especially if written by other women? I mean we’re all seemingly unqualified, both as readers and as writers, yet we love the genre. So what is it that fascinates us? Can’t answer for all, of course, but for me, I love writing M/M for a variety of reasons besides the very obvious one that it’s sexier than M/F or F/F, more exciting, thrilling, mouth-watering, seductive, stomach crunching, passionate and lustful. And the moment it moves beyond sex and becomes a choice for an alternative lifestyle, then it really gets interesting!
It’s the confrontation between two equals, in bed and out, which gets my attention and holds it stead-fistedly. And if the sex is more explosive and animal-like, the relationship isn’t less powerful with the constant challenge of being on the same level with someone who can turn the tables around quicker and more effectively than any different-gender mate, which also might explain why hypocrite morality and an underlying close-mindedness is against it—yes, even in today’s so-called liberal times still as full of prejudices as they were a century ago, only now they’re more subtle, more disguised beneath an apparent open-mindedness that serves marketing purposes more than any real acceptance—to the point of using labels like gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, not just to identify and set them apart, mostly to denigrate them. Well, to me this business of labels and categories sounds more like a patient confined in isolation so he can’t “spread the infection” to others, or in the words of Leon from Tasting Leon’s Mark: “Gay doesn’t define you. It simply limits your choices. You’re a person, first of all, who happens to have his own particular tastes, which should never, ever become a label.”
But since I believe everyone should be free to pursue the life that makes them most happy, my M/M characters aren’t tied down by those prejudices, not eve Drake in To Seduce A Soul Mate however much he has to battle with them before coming to a decision, for they all question the accepted standards related to the traditional family and come up with different solutions. And this is true for some of my best characters in whatever time or place their story happens, like Cedric and Rhodri’s Bloody Passion set in Celtic Britain, First Century AD Attilio and Aurelio in Roman Seduction and Trespassing All Hallows Eve, Mitra and Vayu in the Persian Empire and Shaun and Halifax in Divinitas, Lord Brahany and Ilenio medieval Transylvania’s Visionquest, or Leon and Sean in Tasting Leon’s Mark and Re-Scue—soon to be released by Romance Divine. But probably my best known M/M couple is Duncan and Chris from the Virtus Saga, living on a planet where sex is not limited to numbers or genders, so much that the first sexual experience is usually with a friend of the same age and sex in a process known as the phase.
So I’ll keep writing about them and their satisfying, borderline, incredible and arousing stories that fire me up in the hope they ‘broaden my readers’ minds, too, and make them think with their own heads.
Laura Tolomei aka Lalla Gatta
JUST RELEASED Visionquest
Website lallagatta.com
5 comments:
TY for the great blog Laura.
That was very interesting to read! Even though I don't know yet if I agree with your opinion on labels ;)
Visionquest looks like a fantastic story. The cover alone could sell this book. I wish you all the best.
TY everyone for visiting! :)
Good post. I don't limit my reading. There are so many books to read that I'll miss something fantastic if I limit my reading choices. I think it's a shame that people label books then make choices based on those labels. I like the variety. It broadens my horizons and gets me out of my comfort zone and I have discovered some wonderful authors and books.
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