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New post up at Muse Rising: Mundanity and Lesbian Books: Is This All There Is, or Do You Want More?
My wife (although, now she's my fiancee again, thanks to NY state--we'll update more about that later!) and I were talking late last night, propped up on our tummies and sharing ideas and just discussing many random things. The subject turned to books, as it usually does, and we brought up the subject of lesbian books.
It has been my eternal and personal frustration that almost all lesbian books are either crime stories, detective stories, mid-life-awakening stories...stories set in the mundane world with women who are either finding themselves or are already found, all in search of women or intent on keeping the one they have. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, but I've never been a remote fan of crime or detective or awakening stories, and I would rather die a slow death of suffocation in a cotton candy machine than read a book about such things.
I grew up and cut my teeth on Piers Anthony, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Tamora Pierce, Peter S. Beagle--all writers who embrace the fantastical and put out books on magic, sorcery, dragons, little blue men...things we normally don't see in our day to day lives, places and situations and moments of escapism all wrapped up between the covers of a book. Everyone reads books for different reasons, but the magic of a good fantasy or science fiction or dystopian or mythical novel completely spoiled me to literature. I love the classics, Shakespeare and poetry, but my favorite fiction has to have something more than a mundane story.
Maybe I'm strange or weird, but I don't think that's the case (ABOUT THIS, ANYWAY. :D). There's always been a booming science fiction and fantasy genre, and as YA has opened up as a genre on its own, you can't throw a rock for hitting something to do with vampires or werewolves or zombies. The majority of young adult novels contain something fantastical in them, and that's fantastic and wonderful.
Interestingly enough, the paranormal genre has also begun slipping over into other places--romance is now filled with vampires, and there are many horror stories now with romantic elements. There is a glut of magical situations and moments in much of literature now, as the public demands more.
But...the lesbian genre remains the same, with stories about normal women set in the mundane world.
...continue reading~
My wife (although, now she's my fiancee again, thanks to NY state--we'll update more about that later!) and I were talking late last night, propped up on our tummies and sharing ideas and just discussing many random things. The subject turned to books, as it usually does, and we brought up the subject of lesbian books.
It has been my eternal and personal frustration that almost all lesbian books are either crime stories, detective stories, mid-life-awakening stories...stories set in the mundane world with women who are either finding themselves or are already found, all in search of women or intent on keeping the one they have. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, but I've never been a remote fan of crime or detective or awakening stories, and I would rather die a slow death of suffocation in a cotton candy machine than read a book about such things.
I grew up and cut my teeth on Piers Anthony, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Tamora Pierce, Peter S. Beagle--all writers who embrace the fantastical and put out books on magic, sorcery, dragons, little blue men...things we normally don't see in our day to day lives, places and situations and moments of escapism all wrapped up between the covers of a book. Everyone reads books for different reasons, but the magic of a good fantasy or science fiction or dystopian or mythical novel completely spoiled me to literature. I love the classics, Shakespeare and poetry, but my favorite fiction has to have something more than a mundane story.
Maybe I'm strange or weird, but I don't think that's the case (ABOUT THIS, ANYWAY. :D). There's always been a booming science fiction and fantasy genre, and as YA has opened up as a genre on its own, you can't throw a rock for hitting something to do with vampires or werewolves or zombies. The majority of young adult novels contain something fantastical in them, and that's fantastic and wonderful.
Interestingly enough, the paranormal genre has also begun slipping over into other places--romance is now filled with vampires, and there are many horror stories now with romantic elements. There is a glut of magical situations and moments in much of literature now, as the public demands more.
But...the lesbian genre remains the same, with stories about normal women set in the mundane world.
...continue reading~