Diverse M/M Books 2012

76 comments

• 

  Wow great list. Thanks for that Kaija.

  I suppose I could plug my own short Winterlude which has a half Fracophone/half Libyan non-practicing Muslim named Omar. 🙂 They do talk about Ramadan and the practices a bit. I believe I may have written it in response to some things said here about a lack of characters from other cultures/religions. The site is inspirational. 😉

  Since we’re talking religious:

  Horny for Hanukkah by Rob Rosen has two Jewish men
  Holiday Outing by Astrid Amara (Jewish)
  Love Ahead by Astrid Amara (Jewish and non-Jewish)
  Carol of the Bellskis Astrid Amara (Jewish)

  As you can see Astrid writes lots of books with Jewish characters, with lots of humour as well.

  • 

    Hi Tam

    This project was more time intensive than any of the other lists on the site. After Kaija finished compiling it then Lynn had to convert all the information into HTML and I had the job of checking all the missing information which took literally days and in the end I deleted some of the books because I had no more time.

    Thanks for the additional books (including yours) 🙂 but we won’t be updating the list for another 3 – 6 months and at that time I’ll ask for specific information from the readers so that I don’t have the nightmare that this project has been this time around. 🙁

    Most of the books were submitted by the readers and it’s unfortunate that a lot of Astrid’s books have been omitted. If Lynn is up to it I’ll see if we can include her books but she and I just need a break from this project right now and in any event Lynn’s away for 2 weeks starting tomorrow.

    • 

      That’s fine Wave, I just thought I’d throw out a few that jumped off the top of my head. I know those lists are lots of work and hopefully it will be useful for readers seeking something specific.

• 

  Thank you so much!!!! :great:

• 

  The name of the author of Normal Miguel is Erik Orrantia, not Eric Oranta.

  http://cheyennepublishing.com/books/miguel.html

  http://www.amazon.com/Normal-Miguel-ebook/dp/B003PDN790

  • 

    Thanks Tracey. I made that change.

• 

  Fantastic list thank you for the efforts you have all made to compile it and share it.

  Amber Green’s wonderful book ‘Khyber Run’ has a Pakhtun hero and a Native American hero

  • 

    Merrian
    As I mentioned to Tam, this list was compiled from information submitted by readers in April – that’s how long this project took to get to this stage. Lynn and I recognised that there will be many books that were published later which would not be inclued on the list, but we had to have a cut off date.

    The list will be updated in a few months at which time I’ll request additions and I expect that Khyber Run will be submitted at that time but we’ll keep it on a list for the update. Right now we just need a break from this project which was really time consuming.

• 

  Yes Khyber Run has to be included… awesome book.

  • 

    Hi Saga
    Please see my comment to Merrian.

    The information on this list was compiled from recs. submitted in April. Obviously there will be newer books that are missing and some older ones that were not submitted. However the update (I’ll be posting about that in about 3 months) should pick up most of the omissions I hope.

• 

  Awesome list!

  One addendum: Val Kovalin’s Ink Illusions has a Norse Pagan together with a Jewish character

  • 

    Hi Feliz
    Thanks for the information. I’ll try to insert the additional stuff about Val’s book but at least Ink Illusions is on the list. I’m trying not to get Lynn mad by requesting all kinds of changes since we all worked very hard on this list – she was updating it after midnight last night. 🙁

• 

  Great list! And encouragingly long. I’ll have a few more to add to the next one, too. 😉

  Can I just ask, though, how you define “older” in “older protagonist”? Forty and up?

  • 

    Good question. The older I get, the older “old” gets. 😆

    • 

      Isn’t that the truth? When you’re 30, old is anyone over 40. lol.

  • 

    Hi Jamie
    “Older” in the context of this list is one protagonist should be at least 35 years old. Of course it’s up to the readers and I couldn’t check every rec. so maybe there are a few 34 year olds on this list. lol I recall a book by JM Snyder that I reviewed a couple of years ago but it’s not on the list because it wasn’t submitted by me. The characters were at the end of their lives so they were pretty old – I guess the book qualified. 🙂

• 

  THANK YOU!!! :biglove:

• 

  wow, great list, thank you for all the work!

• 

  Terrific list and I know you put in a lot of time. I’m sorry to trouble you with corrections.

  However, the title of our book is Privateer’s Treasure, not Pleasure.
  Naomi is not my co author for Swimming through the Net nor for Nikolai

  Shell-Shocked is a pagan inspirational romance, Celtic solitary.

  • 

    No problem with the corrections on the name. We just inserted the information submitted by other readers but I’ll definitely amend the list to reflect that the book is Privateer’s Treasure. We’ll also delete Naomi’s name from Swimming Through the Net and Nikolai.

    Re Shell Shocked – are you saying that we should remove it from where it is currently and insert it under Non-Christian Religion or you want the book in two locations? (That would take a little time since Lynn will be away for 2 weeks and she did the list in HTML – I could try but I don’t want to screw everything up.)

    Also, since I’m not familiar with the different religions, where does Celtic solitary come in in relation to Pagan inspirational?

    • 

      There are many kinds of paganism. The type Gabe practices is not Wicca or Asatru, but a solitary Celtic faith instead. It’s like saying Christian Inspirational (Baptist).

      As long as the addendum is in the notes, that it is not just about physical and mental disability, but also religious diversity, things are fine.

      And thanks for the corrections.

• 

  I have read some of the list,
  I would like links to the list, easy to find 🙂
  Marie*

  • 

    Hi Marie
    I don’t have separate links to the list – the only link is to the entire post. Sorry.

• 

  Great list :-). Have one to add, Sympathy, by Jordan Castillo Price.

• 

  Wow! What a great list. Well done, Kaija and Aunt Lynn. :bravo:

  Awww. 35 is old. Kill me now. :help: 😆

  • 

    Hi Gaye
    35 is only “older” in M/M where twenty somethings rule. 😮 😯

    In regular society, the usual rules apply – you’re as young as you feel. 😀

    • 

      That’s good. I can be a different age every day then. 😀

• 

  Wow, I am so sure compiling this list took a lot of time and effort!! Thanks to everyone who was involved in such lengthy work.
  Nice to see some book show up in more than one place.
  I plead the fifth in this “older” conversation. 😀

  • 

    No sweat on the term “older”. As I explained to Gaycrow, 35 years is “older” only as it relates to M/M. lol

• 

  What a great list! having tag words like this helps me to locate books in my ever growing ebook library. Sometimes it is hard to remember the book title so categories help.
  Thanks All! 😀

  • 

    You’re welcome Tara.

• 

  Thank you for mentioning a few of my books – including the Mingo McCloud series however, he is Hawaiian and his lover and partner is African American.
  Thanks!

  AJ

  • 

    HJ AJ

    I will add Hawaiian to the ethnicity for Mingo McCloud. However with respect to the term “African American” I decided to use “Black” throughout the list to refer to protagonists of African ancestry since these books include Black protagonists from all over the world (e.g. Canada, Europe etc.) not just the US.

• 

  Two authors who write (or wrote) m/m stories centering on African American characters are:

  James Earl Hardy (the B-Boy Blues series) and

  E. Lynn Harris. (Some of the Harris books have m/f sex on page, I think, so they may not all meet the Jessewave standard.)

  (I’ve only read a couple of the James Earl Hardy books, and some years ago, so I can’t promise there’s no m/f anywhere, but I don’t recall any. :))

  I don’t know if these are the kind of books you want on the list, but thought I’d put them out there, and you can decide, Wave. At least some of the Harris books are available as ebooks. The Hardy B-Boy books aren’t available in ebook on Amazon (although my local library has them).

  • 

    Hi Cary
    Thanks for commenting. As I mentioned in the post I can’t make any additions to the list – this project has been the most time consuming of all the lists we have put together.

    As I also indicated, I will be requesting updates in about 3 – 6 months and I hope that everyone will submit their new recs at that time. Unfortunately we can only include M/M since this site does not review M/F.

• 

  Guys, thank you so very much :), definitely will see how many I never heard of and hope this list will grow.

• 

  Do historical books set in other culture counts? If so, I some of my favorite books are Over the Mountain of the Moon by Reiko Morgan (Historical Japanese) and Fall of State by Kate Cotoner (Historical Chinese).

  Dona Nobis Pacem by Willa Okati has a main character who is mute.

  • 

    Oops, I see that you’ve listed Dona Nobis Pacem. But the character is not deaf, he is mute.

    • 

      Hi Cleon
      I made that correction. In our defense, we can only go with the information submitted by the readers.

  • 

    Hi Cleon

    Yes all M/M books are eligible for the list and Dona Nobis Pacem is on the list, although the reader who recommended it only indicated that one of the main characters was deaf. I’ll try to remember to add “mute.”

    BTW, as I mentioned in the post, I will be sending out a separate post on updates in about 3 – 6 months since there’s no time to add books to this preliminary list. I will make corrections but that’s about all I can do at this time. Could you please send in Fall of the State (which I loved) and Over the Mountain of the Moon at that time? I would really appreciate it.

    Thanks.

    • 

      Sure will! Thank you for all your hard work in organizing it. It’ll be awesome to see a database on diversity in M/M books. Although it probably will wipe out my credit card. LOL.

• 

  *hee* Well, not to add to the chaos, but… my two protags in ‘The One That Stayed’ were in their 50s/60s (respectively)… and the two guys in ‘Berry Blue: Complicated’ are 50 and 39, respectively. 😛

  Of course, I’ll just save those for when you guys are wanting to update the list. 😛

  Oh, and Travis from ‘The One That Broke Free’ was mostly-somewhat-disabled (leg injury from the war) for most of the book.

  *hee* Just sayin’. 😛

  ~Tis

  • 

    Hi Tis
    How are you?

    It’s not my fault I swear – blame the readers. lol. Actually the readers and/or authors did not include your books (like many others that were omitted from the list) so unfortunately they are not here.

    This is a first cut and hopefully when I request additions you will add The One That Stayed (which I loved and reviewed) as well as your other books that meet the criteria. 🙂

    • 

      I’m doing well, Wave. 🙂 Much writing and such (cuz otherwise I get bored *hee*).

      I was just poking about the list. *grins* For fun. I’m going to have to read some of the ones I missed!

      Great job to Kaija and Aunt Lynn for making it happen! It looks like a heap-load of work!

      ~Tis

• 

  Great list! Thanks for including some of my stories on it. And thanks for the all the hard work putting it together! 🙂

  • 

    Hi ML

    Thank you and you’re welcome. Kaija and Aunt Lynn did most of the heavy lifting and I was involved in the latter stages to verify the information.

    I will be requesting new recs in a few months and I hope to see many more books from you on the new list. 🙂

• 

  Very big thanks to those involved with bringing forth this list!

  • 

    Hey Val
    It was a tough job but someone had to do it. 🙂 Thank you again for your offer – I really appreciate it.

    • 

      You’re very welcome. 🙂 I’m glad we have this now as a resource / shopping list!

• 

  This is a great list – thank you for starting it.

  Both my husband and little boy have Type 1 diabetes, so I’m always interested in reading stories that include a diabetic protagonist. Blood Signs by Amber Kell also features a diabetic. (I have to say, though, while I’ve liked this author’s other books, I thought the way the diabetes was treated in this one was unrealistic. The protagonist never seemed to worry about high or low glucose levels – he just seemed to take a “magic shot” when he needed it. No issues with carbs, no issues with control at all.) I read Bittersweet tonight after seeing it on this list – I found it depressing but much more true to life.

  There’s another book I am looking for about a diabetic man arriving at a ranch as a guest. I came across it then forgot the title and haven’t been able to find it again. If anyone knows this book, I’d be grateful for a reference. Thanks.

  • 

    Oops, I just read your most recent post that you don’t want new titles in the comments section of this post. Sorry! Please feel free to delete (I really would like to know the title of that other book, though!).

    • 

      Hi Pea

      I just want to make sure that new titles are submitted when I do a post asking for them. A lot of readers may assume that if they leave the names of recommended books here that they will automatically be included, and that may not happen.

      • 

        Thanks, Wave. I’ll remember these and whatever others I come across for your future post.

  • 

    Hi Pea,

    The book you described sounds a lot like Bareback Cowboy by Carol Lynne (publisher is Ellora’s Cave).

    • 

      That’s it! Thank you very much.

  • 

    Hello Pea

    I can relate to your comment about the way that Type 1 Diabetes was handled in Blood Signs by Amber Green. I haven’t read this book but I can understand your frustration since I have a friend who has had Type 1 Diabetes for 35 years and it’s a horrible disease. No magic pill seems to work for her and she has to use a pump to control the flow of insulin into her body since needles don’t work any more.

    I hope that in future authors who write about these diseases do the appropriate research and talk to medical professionals so that the books are more realistic.

    Thanks for writing.

    • 

      It’s a bit of a vexed issue for me – I appreciate when authors think to include these types of characters in their writing but because half of my energy these days (it seems) is dedicated to keeping my son’s blood sugar levels on an even keel, it’s very jarring when I read something that seems inconsistent or not true-to-life.

      I read Bareback Cowboy yesterday and enjoyed it. I thought the treatment of the protagonist’s diabetes, including hypoglycemic episodes and absent-mindedly forgetting one’s insulin kit or not having a snack ready while out working, was well-done. Inevitably, though, little things, like focusing on eating meat when having a low blood sugar episode, didn’t make sense to me (potatoes, yes, but not the meat itself which doesn’t have the carbs to raise your blood sugar). But I recognize that I have to be the pickiest reader in that respect. (And I do like Carol Lynne’s work!)

      Okay, I’m going to stop now…

• 

  Question? don’t Mormons and the Amish consider themselves christian? who’s definition of christian are we using? looking from the outside these religions might not look like what someone else’s defintion of christianity is but wouldn’t they call them selves followers of Christ?

  • 

    Charmed

    I was debating this point up to when the list was puished and some of these books will come off the list shortly. Many more books with religion as the basis for the plot were deleted before the list was published so don’t be surprised if in about a week there are further deletions. 🙂

    Thanks for commenting.

    • 

      my comment looks so silly there now, that the name of that list is non traditional religions. oh well, great list.

      • 

        Charmed
        You were quite correct which is why I changed the category to Non Traditional Religion. 🙂

• 

  Oh and great great list! thank you so much for all the hard work. I think I should have started with that.

• 

  Just found this, THANKYOU. I’ve been looking for this sort of list for a long time! Well done.

  • 

    Hi Jan
    Glad you found the list and I hope some of the books work for you. I just reviewed Exposure by Elizabeth Lister which I can personally recommend. If you’re interested in checking it out the review is on the site.

  • 

    You’re very welcome Jan. We’re glad to help you spend your money. 🙂

• 

  Pretty sure this is the link to the book. I have read them all and I KNOW one character is blind. Pretty sure it is Joe in this book. Nexus by Mary Calmes in The Warder Series.

• 

  Disability and health: Heidi Cullinan “A Private gentleman” – one character has a very poor vision and another statters and also has somethin else, which I wonder if I should even reveal because this is going to be pretty big spoiler.

• 

  Oh. Non traditional religion – Ann Sommerville “Cold front” and “Unsettled conditions” – one of the guys is spiritualist.

• 

  Sarah Black writes beautifully with Native American protagonists and themes. If you haven’t read her writing, it has a mytical quality that I haven’t seen in any other author. I will read anything she writes for the shear pleasure of the language.

• 

  HANDLE WITH CARE by JOSEPHINE MYLES – the main character falls in love while waiting for a kidney and pancreas donor. Great book.

  • 

    Hi Norma

    I’m afraid this book will have to wait for the next update. We closed off recs in early April I believe.

• 

  Thanks for mentioning the Mahu series! My M/M romance novel The Russian Boy has an older protagonist– a guy who reflects many I know in South Florida, who was married, had kids, then came out later in life.

  Many of my characters, like me, are Jewish, including Aidan Greene in the Have Body, Will Guard series, and Brian Cohen in GayLife.com.

  • 

    Hello Neil
    I left this post open for at least a month so that everyone, including the authors, could get their recs in. As you can appreciate, it was a lot of work to compile this new list and I can’t ask Aunt Lynn or Kaija to make any changes at this time. I even tweeted that we were revising the list so I thought that any interested parties (authors and readers) would have seen it.

    Any new books can only be added when recs for a new updated list are requested.

    • 

      Sorry, didn’t mean to imply that I expected you to update the list! I know how time-consuming it is to compile this kind of thing.

      • 

        Hi Neil

        I was just trying to explain and I know you weren’t looking for us to slip yours in. 😆

        For this list we asked authors as well as readers to submit recommendations and for the authors this included their own books. Yours are not the only books left off the list but we’ll do our best to accommodate all the recs next time. Geez the list is getting long. 🙂

• 

  My novel Fire Dragon is a gay Asian fantasy novel.

  In an exotic and magical land, Shuibai, a lowly bucket-maker, is appointed Fire Warden. He surprises–and annoys–everyone by taking his job seriously. But as he attempts to enforce the fire laws intended to keep his city safe, he finds his own life in peril as he stumbles across dangerous secrets.

  Mysterious foes are smuggling illegal guns into his city, and they will stop at nothing, not even arson, kidnapping, and murder, as they wage their secret war. He is helped by the man he loves, the handsome but crippled ex-firefighter, Zashi, a man tormented by demons of his own.

  Is the Fire Dragon real, or is the truth far more sinister?

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