Score

What a weird list...you know there are tons of "male" authors who are actually women. I can't imagine this is all that accurate. Although to be frank, I don't know why it matters all that much to begin with.

Hmm I definitely think differentiating gay erotica written by men is important. It's about sovereignty and entitlement really. Before the hateration begins I've read hundreds of books M/M books authored by women and have enjoyed them. At the same time I question what entitlement do mostly straight women think they have to not just write stories but create or reinforce representations of gay men that are often hetero-sexualized, overly feminine, emotional...and perhaps largely inaccurate. One's imagination is boundless but there is something to be said about respecting the representations of gay men that come from actual men. If it didn't matter why do many women authors use male pseudonyms? I sometimes view this as a form of colonization, the oppressor being women forcing themselves the few spaces queer men have. I liken it having your bachelorette party in a gay club. Okay the radical Black feminist scholar in me is shutting up now. It'd be interesting to hear what other folks have to say about this list.

Woah, that is like a whole other way more serious discussion than the one I was trying to have. (Although I do get what you are saying, and I certainly would be interested to hear what other people think. But it's not gonna be me.)

I just meant that I personally don't really differentiate between male vs. female authors. And that goes for anything, m/m romance or otherwise. I just don't care. Maybe it's interesting to know, but for the most part, I just don't think about it.

Also, I was trying to point out that I think this list is kinda bizarre in its attempt to categorize the gender and sexuality of a bunch of m/m romance authors. I mean, come on! There's a lot of variability out there, and putting labels on folks doesn't really work all that great.

Finally, and maybe this is just petty, but not all those people on the list are men!

If this list isn't accurate, it might be really useful to indicate here all those incorrectly added authors. And then, anyone with a librarian status can remove them.

This list isn't about m/m romance authors only; it's about books featuring gay or m/m relationships where the feelings of love may be present or not.

Being born a male it's a fact not a label. The gender identity it's another thing, and their sexuality, from my point of view, has nothing to do with the subject of "male authors". The purpose wasn't to assign attributes, to put them into some kind of categories. For me it doesn't matter the author's gender, but to some people it might (one reason being that gay relationships are described more realistically by a man instead of a woman), and this is where this list proves it's existence.
The plot, the characterization, these are the elements that should really count when choosing or evaluating a book.

I don't agree though with "faking" your gender in order to reach a larger target. But that's the author's choice, and I'm not the one to question it, since I don't know for sure what stands behind this decision. I guess writing means not only passion, but making some money out of it too.

I like to know the gender of the author to. As a gay man buried in a heterosexual majority, books are not just entertainment, they're also fellowship. When I read a book by a female author, it may be a very good book and I enjoy it, but it won't make me feel less lonely. When I read a book by a gay male author, I feel a sense of fellowship. When he depicts things that I recognize, or approaches things in a way that is familiar to me, I have that sudden lightness of feeling, "Aha! I know what he means! I am not alone!" Now perhaps I am fooling myself and every single item in a gay man's book is a complete and utter piece of fiction that he has no first hand knowledge of... but then again, maybe he does. He's more likely to have experienced it than a female author, at any rate.

These days there's no need to fake your gender to reach a larger audience -- the larger audience is women. The vast majority of readers of gay love stories are women. Speaking in generalities, female authors are usually better at providing what women want from a novel while male authors are usually better at providing what men want in a novel. Of course there are exceptions. But I will never forget the reader who posted a review to the draft of The Sallee Rovers with the complaint, "It sounds like it was written by a man!"

Um, yeah. It does. Because I'm a guy. Apparently, there's something wrong with men writing gay fiction... And that's why this list is needed.

@M. - I definitely hear where you're coming from, and I can understand the appeal of having a "written by men" list of m/m romance. Although it's not always the case, romance novels written by men can take on a bit of a different tone than those written by women. As a female reader though, I'm pretty equal opportunity when it comes to m/m romance and I find that the sex of the author doesn't have much of an impact on my enjoyment. So it's just not something I tend to think about much. But that's just me.

The reason this list bugged me so much at first was because when I first saw it, there were a bunch of female authors (with male pseudonyms) on it. It just made me question the accuracy and efficacy of even having a list like this. And it reminded me of the ridiculousness of female writers using male pseudonyms to being with. I guess I don't really like the idea of trying to label authors like that, as if being a man would make someone an inherently "better" m/m romance writer or something.

Anyway, since then, most all of the female authors I initially noticed have been taken down, so at least the accuracy seems a bit improved. However -- I'm just going to say this even though many may argue with me -- I'm not convinced that Josh Lanyon is actually a man. "His" books are in several of the top spots, and that alone makes me a little leery of the list. Personally, I don't give a crap if Josh Lanyon is a man or not, and I don't want to belabor the point. I'm just saying that there are a number of things that are screwy with this list.

But anyway...

@M. - I find it pretty ridiculous that someone would review a m/m romance novel (or any novel) and complain that "It sounds like it was written by a man!" I mean, what a crazy thing to gripe about.

I'd like for my books to be removed from that list.I find is disrespectful to my (female) co-writers Barbara Sheridan, Kate Cotoner and Raev Gray, who see their contribution as women subsumed into my work.

Also, to me it smells of sexism and I'm simply not comfortable being singled out. I want readers to read my books without them thinking about my plumbing or that of my co-writers - whom I work with for their voices, their talent, their passion, but never ever for their plumbing.

Well said Aleksandr.

I've now spent 20 minutes trying to work out how to remove my books from that list - 20 minutes I could have spent writing.

Argh. A list-savvy librarian to the rescue?

I think I managed to delete your books - there were 2.

And I'm glad I'm not the only person who thinks this is a weird list. Oh well.

It started with four or five - but I just checked, they are all gone now. Thank you!

I would never presume to declare myself non-sexist, non-chauvinistic or completely liberal-minded. I'm almost absolutely certain that sometimes, I am sexist, chauvinistic and not always as liberal minded as I fancy myself being. Evidently being a gay man myself has not prevented me from learning and believing the same stereotypes and presumptions as everybody else...

I have enjoyed immensely, the writing talents of both male and female m/m romance authors, willingly suspending disbelief and allowing them to take me to places and emotions with people who could only possibly exist in the imagination. I can't explain it or quite put my finger on it but there is something about the writing of a male writer, particularly an acknowledged gay male writer, that particularly holds my interest. It holds my interest in a different way, not necessarily a deeper or better way, but decidedly different, perhaps truer or closer to my own life experience. I hazard to say that the experience of living life as a self-identified homosexual male can't help but inform a gay male author's writing. Perhaps that is what I, as a gay male consumer of m/m romance, am unwittingly responding to.

I'm with Blip 100% on this one. Can. of. worms.

Plus, both this list and the one created in response display a sexism and divisiveness that I'm uncomfortable with.

To edit the list, you have to be a librarian. (And it's pretty easy to become one if you are interested.)

But if you are a librarian, there is an "Edit" link at the top of the page, right after the list description. Then there's a link to "remove particular books."

@Aves - I do think that research & empathy is key. In the end, there's always caveat emptor - if I'm not sure if I'll relate to a new-to-me author, I'll read their free stories on their website. The time when you had to buy books "blind" is long over.

I'd not want to support an orientation/genetic gender test for writers - or artists, or really anybody else. Reminds me of a discussion where I talked to a woman who told me flat-out that any "lesbian" who'd ever slept with a man an enjoyed it wasn't a "real lesbian". It brings to mind my transgender friends who are being told they aren't "real men" or "real women".

I simply don't condone anything that tastes of sexism. And making my co-writers seemingly insignificant or invisible on this list feels like a kick in the face.

@Kate - yeah. We really need a list for transpeople, for bisexuals, for straight women, straight men, straight transmen, straight transwomen....white writers, black writers, Asian writers....

And our beautiful community turns into a labelling fest. No, thanks.

@leah "At the same time I question what entitlement do mostly straight women think they have to not just write stories but create or reinforce representations of gay men that are often hetero-sexualized, overly feminine, emotional...and perhaps largely inaccurate."

I've heard this critique often and usually from other women who are activists or scholars in areas relating to power, social dynamics, and culture. I think the characterization of straight women as a mainstream, colonizing force ignores the fact that straight male sexuality and straight female sexuality are not the same thing, and do not enjoy the same cultural privileges. In fact, male violence denies women their sexual agency, and there are very few cultural outlets for women who wish to express a desire for men in a non-heteronormative way.

In my opinion, m/m is one of those outlets.

I have no beef with gay men who want to read books by other gay men. Makes total sense to me. But to place this list in the context of a genre largely composed of women writing about men from a non-straight-male-mediated perspective does come across to me as judgemental, and that I do object to.

Hm. I'd like to meet the "librarian" who traversed the globe performing crotch checks on all these authors. I'd shake that person's hand, I would.

Well...then again, maybe not.

But I do have to applaud this divisive effort. The human population definitely needs more precise segregation.