# Are there romance novels for gay and lesbian audiences? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2003, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864 "2003-02-27T13:31:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/1 "2003-02-27T13:31:45Z")
I’ve never seen one in any popular bookstores, but the shelves are full of hetero novels of this genre. Do they exist? Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/2 "2003-02-27T13:41:35Z")
On second thought, although this is a factual inquiry this might be more of a Cafe Society sort of question. If deemed so would a mod please move it. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/3 "2003-02-27T13:46:19Z")
Well, I found that there are definitely [lesbian](http://www.rainbowsauce.com/lesfic/leslove.html) romance novels. I didn’t find any immediate results for novels geared for homosexual men, but I didn’t go past the first page of results I got from google. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/4 "2003-02-27T13:48:58Z")
Ok, I went a couple of pages into the results (I didn’t feel like leaving this half answered) and found [this](http://shergoodforest.com/fiction/love.html). As to the quality of any romance novel…well, that’s to the reader to decide. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/5 "2003-02-27T14:05:38Z")
Gay mystery novelist: [www.michaelcraft.com](http://www.michaelcraft.com) [sub]No, I’m not gay. But, well, never mind…[/sub] :o ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/6 "2003-02-27T14:09:04Z")
A love story about gay men: The Front Runner by Patricia Nell Warren (it’s probably been at least 15 years since I read this one, so you might not find it on the shelves of local book stores, but you could try Barnes and [Noble.com](http://Noble.com)) It was a great book! ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/7 "2003-02-27T14:12:52Z")
Of course, there are also Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/8 "2003-02-27T14:24:47Z")
[Gordon Merrick’s books](http://www.gaymart.com/shopbook/1catgory/c0490233.html) would probably qualify as “romance novels.” ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/9 "2003-02-27T15:28:15Z")
You bet your friggin’ bippies there are! Kensington, one of the largest romance publishing houses – imprints include Zebra, Brava, BET Books, Dafina, Kensington – puts out 2-3 a month. Their gay-romance releases for May 2003 are: Hunk House, by Ben Tyler, ISBN 0758200161\* Where the Boys Are, by William J. Mann ISBN 0758203268 \*Also by Ben Tyler: Tricks of the Trade ISBN 1575668149 Summer Share ISBN 0758200889 As to where exactly a bookstore would choose to shelve these books, you got me (almost certainly not in the Romance section). ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/10 "2003-02-27T16:03:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hello Again \* > \*\*As to where exactly a bookstore would choose to shelve these books, you got me (almost certainly not in the Romance section). \*\* Many of the chain bookstores have gay and lesbian sections. ---
**Author:** ![Indefatigable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9d8465/32.png) [@Indefatigable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indefatigable)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/11 "2003-02-27T16:24:17Z")
Some of the big chain bookstores up here have Erotica sections, which contain both heterosexual and homosexual material. I don’t know if they carry gay ‘romance novels’ of the formulaic assembly-line Harlequin type. ---
**Author:** ![dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorkusmalorkusmafia/32/7266_2.png) [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/12 "2003-02-27T16:43:05Z")
Yes, there are tons of romance novels for the gay and lesbian crowd. Most of them are written by authors unknown outside of the gay and lesbian fiction world. There are also gay sci fi, fantasy, mystery, general fiction, etc written predominately for the gay and lesbian folk that straight folk will likely never see. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/13 "2003-02-27T16:48:12Z")
Off to Cafe Society. **Drmatrix** - GQ Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/14 "2003-02-27T16:48:46Z")
Wallace Hamilton ---
**Author:** ![dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorkusmalorkusmafia/32/7266_2.png) [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/15 "2003-02-27T16:59:48Z")
I forgot to add, there is a whole genre that is only gay and lesbian to my knowledge. [Slash fiction, or fiction written by fans of pop culture where they change the main characters into gay relationships.](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22slash+fiction%22) ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/16 "2003-02-27T17:18:40Z")
There is also Naiad Press that specializes in lesbian literature and videos. You know those cheap romance novels you see in the grocery store that had Fabio model for the illustrated cover? Well, Naiad Press makes lesbian versions of those dime-store romance novels – roughly the same quality too, but no Fabio. ---
**Author:** ![Indefatigable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9d8465/32.png) [@Indefatigable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indefatigable)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/17 "2003-02-27T17:32:19Z")
**Dorkusmalorkusmafia:** fan fiction, the writing of stories about your favourite TV or movie or book characters, is a big subculture of amateur writing. Slash stories are a subset of that, but there’s a lot of fanfic out there that is not slash. I have no idea how many gay fan writers actually write slash. Most of the slash writers I know are straight guys who want to see two hot girl characters together, or straight girls who want to see two hot guy characters together. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorkusmalorkusmafia/32/7266_2.png) [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/18 "2003-02-27T17:46:30Z")
Indefatigable, I know that fan writing is popular. I am not aware of a straight equivalent where casual straight relationships are turned into romantic straight relationships. I am sure they are out there but they don’t have a genre name unto themselves like slash fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/19 "2003-02-27T17:52:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crafter\_Man \* > \*\*Gay mystery novelist: [www.michaelcraft.com](http://www.michaelcraft.com) > > [sub]No, I’m not gay. But, well, never mind…[/sub] :o \*\* Mark Manning novels are crap, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Indefatigable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9d8465/32.png) [@Indefatigable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indefatigable)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864/20 "2003-02-27T18:56:56Z")
_I am not aware of a straight equivalent where casual straight relationships are turned into romantic straight relationships._ Well… a lot of fanfic writers write romance/erotica. There are plenty of stories where characters who are male and female but not romantically attached in the original work end up attached in the fanfic. All that has to happen is that a fan of a show thinks, ‘Gee, they’d make a cute couple, even though they aren’t one officially’, and goes and writes the story. It happens all the time, whether the characters in question are the same sex or opposite. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-romance-novels-for-gay-and-lesbian-audiences/157864.md?page=2)