The Backlot Gay Book Forum discussion

And this is the place where we all start to sing "Getting to know you, getting to know all about you..." (Hey, nothing beats a good Rodgers and Hammerstein show tune, eh?)

If you'd like to say a few words about yourself and introduce yourself to other members of the group, please feel free to do so here.

Well, since I'm here already, why don't I start...

Not much to tell, actually. I'm a bit of a hermit who is rapidly entering the grumpy old man stage of life---I'm just one step away from being that guy who yells "Hey you kids, get off my lawn!"

I've always been a huge reader, but it's only within the past five years or so that I've discovered how very many gay-themed novels are now being published. I didn't really know it at the time, but I had been looking for these sorts of stories my entire life, and I'm thrilled to lose myself in them now.

When I don't have my nose in a book or pressed up to my Kindle, I spend time doing home renovations (there's always some project going on---holy cow, it's a Sisyphean task) and yard-work. (I enjoy gardening, but unfortunately do NOT have a green thumb.)

I also work in stained glass (lampshades and windows)---a job that manages to be both artistically and creatively satisfying, and incredibly dull, simultaneously.

Yo, fellow AfterElton Orphans! (See, I did get to use it!) Uly is in the house. I want to copy all my Amazon reviews into Goodreads now...Richard Kramer ("These Things Happen") just friended me, and we discovered we were at Yale together.

Am I allowed to post again? As my old AfterElton buddies know, I'm a museum curator (coming up on 33 years at the Newark Museum, in New Jersey, USA, in two months). My specialty is decorative arts (household things - furniture, silver, glass, ceramics, jewelry) and I also am the chief curator and manage my museum's great 1885 Ballantine House, the 27-room mansion built by a beer baron and his wife. I am a voracious reader of m/m romance and of YA books with LGBT themes. My passion for these kinds of books stems from a very basic human need to see oneself in the books one reads. Straight folks have always had this, and it might be hard to understand how starved one gets for such things. I will probably never read a m/f romance again, and I mean Fitzgerald, Hemingway, etc.

Well hello there AfterElton Orphans/Backlot Users. I'm allanj over on AE and just plain Allan over here.

I'm a 40-something year old Scot living in Manchester, UK. Happily reading my way through many of the suggestions made by those on the old AE forum, as well as reading a few other things too. I've given up on most TV these days, so spend way more time reading and listening to music. I see this as a pre-cursor to the 'hey kids, get off my lawn' stage that Octobercountry mentioned above.

I like most genres and i'm willing to give most LGBT books a go.

I'm Carnell and I'm from France. I have not posted much on the AE thread (I actually have posted once) but I have read all your reviews guys and read a lot of books you all have recommended over there.
I started reading MM books 3 years ago and couldn't stop since then. I'm looking forward to hear about books here from now on!

I was trying to think of some way to sound more interesting than I am, but here goes: I'm a woman of a certain age, married to the hubs for 30 years (come November), two kids, two cats. I work part time as a substitute teacher (PreK-6) in two large suburban school districts.

Between setting my own hours and having grown kids (though not out of the house), I have plenty of time to read which is a great stress reliever for me since I tend to be an over-thinker/worrier sort of person. (Even though I am lucky enough to have very little to actually worry about. Oh my god, did I just say that? Quick, knock wood, throw some salt over your shoulder, something!)

I also follow my home town sports teams, the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres, often to my sorrow.

That's me in an aging, out-of-shape nutshell.

Hello, I'm Martin and I'm from the UK. Well obviously I read quite a lot or I wouldn't be on this thread. I didn't follow the book thread on After Elton because I found the randomness too frustrating, but I have been on Goodreads for a few years now and I'm looking forward to this new shared experience.

Hi guys!

My name is Mercedes and I posted as MLevy on AE. I am originally from Honduras but have lived in the US for 18 years. At the moment I find myself living in NJ.

I think I found the AE board umm towards the end of last year. I started reading MM books around a year ago? I found my way to reading MM books via fanfic, specifically Sherlock fanfic. I fell in love with the show and Sherlock and John. After reading almost all decent fanfic out there for them I saw a rec on another board for MM books (Cut & Run series actually) and the rest is history.

I LOVE reading! (duh!). I set out to read 200 books this year and I have already read 104 stories! I don't sleep very much as you can guess, 6 hrs or so does it for me. I spend a fair amount of time here on GR actually, reading reviews and discovering new books to read.

I'm Emilie, also known as neyronrose on various other places on the Internet.

Here's a bit from my LiveJournal: "I fell into reading gay romance with Scott&Scott's Romentic books around 2007 or so, then got 'if you liked that, you may like this' recommendations for m/m romance."

I had read straight romances since my teens, and GLBT non-fiction (concentration on the B then) from about when I was twenty or so. I still read GLBTQI non-fiction books. I started reading gay and lesbian genre fiction a few years ago. (I haven't seen many books with bisexual protagonists.) The romance genre was a nice blend of some of my previous reading interests. I read mysteries and gardening books also. Some of the mysteries will be suitable to discuss on this forum, but probably very few of the gardening books will be.

I edit romance, and now a couple of YA (young adult) books as well. I garden, although my method of gardening is generally to put plants out in pots and see if they survive.

I live in southeastern Pennsylvania. I go down to Baltimore relatively frequently to visit my brother and sister-in-law. Most of our other relatives live in New Jersey. I won't drive in Philadelphia, but I go there by train every so often.

Please do ask questions if there's more you'd like to know.

For those of you who haven't been exposed (and that's the right word) to my opinionating, I'm the quintessential nice old guy who squirts the little kids with the hose when they aren't looking.

I'm a retired paralegal, so I have a tendency to escape a life of dry-as-dust contract drafting by commenting like I'm actually talking. (Anyone who has a degree in psychology will have a ball with my stream-of-consciousness prose......I fear.)

BTW, some of you may know me as TallCR, but I've been concealing my superhero identity: I'm actually Charles (Chuck) Ruebsamen right here on GR.

Hey all, I'm Chris, also known as D. River, also known as Tiger Cub, also known by the name, "That effing bastard" by several AE members. :)

I'm a ten-foot tall purple tentacle monster with one tooth and bad eyesight. I smell like a sewer and I have a temper to match.

And don't let Ulysses tell you otherwise. He tells lies.

Hello All -

I'm Jamie...I was one of I think two Jamie's on AE. I was the nicer and prettier one. :-) (unless the other Jamie reads this...you are fabulous!)

I was an avid lurker of the AE gay book forum, and would post here and there, but not as often as most. I would get a little overwhelmed, but I found MANY great books by reading the forum, so it was a great source for me!

I'm a native Delawarean, 40 something, married and have a houseful of 4-legged kids. I read a lot, watch too much TV and lately have been devoting many hours working with Equality Delaware, trying to get full marriage equality in 2013.

I read all types of genres, but try to read as many LGBT themed books as possible, when I can find good ones to read.

Thanks much to Octobercountry for putting this group together and to Chris for letting me know about it.

Look forward to chatting/discussing with you all.

Chris wrote: "Hey all, I'm Chris, also known as D. River, also known as Tiger Cub, also known by the name, "That effing bastard" by several AE members. :)

I'm a ten-foot tall purple tentacle monster with one to..."

I knew that Ulysses wasn't to be trusted. Not that I'm saying I trust you any more than I trust him.

Hello,
I was new to the AE forum this year, having just discovered it and desperate to find something other than Amazon's recommendations to help find new gay titles. Haven't posted much, but avidly read the forum to pick up on new titles to read. Disappointed it's leaving AE, but understand I just have to bear with it here, and it will probably work. After living in LA for forty years, have been 'early' retired to the Big Island of Hawaii for the past two years, with my husband of 21 years and pups of 20 months, and am reading as much as I can find time to–when I'm not working in the garden. Thanks for all the reviews, tips etc., and I look forward to figuring this site out. Maybe post a bit more to share too.
Steve

Hi I'm Ste, aka PaperMoon @ AE but I will also respond to other sweet endearing names (altho I may draw the line at Sailor Moon - *cough* Ulysses *cough*).

I lurked on AE for a year before signing up to comment and that was over 4 years ago. Am bereft at having to move away from AE's book forum but that's the way things have to be for now (have to apply acceptance and commitment theory here).

What else ... I'm a couple of years off the half-century mark, live in apparently the most-liveable city in the world on the continent downunder, married for 18 years, and have returned to Uni studies after decades of work experience in government bureaucracy, library collection management, bookshop retail, University administration and private music tuition (piano).

My reading habits these days tend towards primarily gay-themed novels but my bookshelves are crammed with gardening, cooking, counselling/self help, gender/masculinity, spirituality titles. Of course given my return to tertiary studies - most of my daily reading is textbook related (health info management).

I am very much looking forward to participating with you all on this new home for past AE book lovers and new friends.

Ulysses wrote: "Yo, fellow AfterElton Orphans! (See, I did get to use it!) Uly is in the house. I want to copy all my Amazon reviews into Goodreads now...Richard Kramer ("These Things Happen") just friended me, ..."

I think it exquisite that you connected with Richard Kramer over posting a review of his wonderful book!

I'm Jerry. In real life I am an IT manager. I am in a long-term relationship with another guy, though historically I largely dated women (it was an unfortunate phase).

I first got into gay fiction through the slash community, primarily because back at the dawn of time there simply weren't that many books which portrayed gay couples. And many of the 'literary' gay books were simply too depressing. Slash fiction at least wrote about loving male couples and this made me happy.

I eventually moved to gay romance novels as those became more mainstream. I loved being able to read about two men developing a loving relationship. But as I read more and more gay romance, I became increasingly disappointed in the stories. Too many stories of gay men seemed to be about a straight couple where the woman happens to have a penis and the gay angle is largely used as a source or angst and a way to keep the couple apart. The gay stories I wanted to read with a romantic story had frequently morphed into class straight romance stories for women.

Since women are the primary purchaser of gay romance novels, it makes sense that the market largely caters to that aesthetic. But it isn't what I hunt for in a gay novel.

Long ago I tried to read the book forums at AE, but the lack of organization and the way one could not easily follow comments or discussion threads made it too difficult and I gave up.

I've read many gay novels and ideally I'd like to contribute here quite a bit, but the reality is that with limited time I'll probably not be here very often. :-(

I thank everyone who is devoting time and energy to create this forum. I think it is an awesome idea, and I think it will be popular and successful.

Hi, I'm Aussie54. I just dipped into the book forums now and then at AfterElton, but hope to contribute more here.

I can c & p Jax's intro above, with a few changes (thank you, Jax, we seem to be very similar):

I'm a woman of a certain age, married to the hubs for almost 40 years, two kids, one cat.

I have plenty of time to read which is a great stress reliever for me since I tend to be an over-thinker/worrier sort of person. I have had a great deal of stress over the past 10 years, and turn to reading to escape reality.

I started reading m/m fiction in 2003, firstly Harry Potter fan fiction, then moving on to original gay fiction. That's about all I read these days. I have a Sony Reader, which is a joy, but I still like to read print books.

I'm looking forward to joining in here; I'm not keen on The Back Lot's new site, and am a little more familiar with Goodreads.

Welcome...good to have more representation from down under.

Hi folks, I'm Rick. I live at Bowen Mountain, a small hilltop community in the Blue Mountains behind Sydney in Australia. I work with my father in a small import business in the Sydney suburbs. The result is a long commute between home and work, but living in the mountains surrounded by National Park is pretty special and impossible to give up!

In addition to my love of gay themed books and movies, I really enjoy camping and hiking. For years I've been exploring the outdoors with a gay camping group that organise on Facebook. A great group of friends, we've travelled to explore all kinds of beautiful locations.

I discovered the book forums on AfterElton following a web search taking me to a 2008 AfterElton survey of the 100 best gay books. At the time I started reading forum posts, you were discussing moving here to Goodreads. I'm hoping to get involved and contribute.

Early in the 2000's, the first book I remember purchasing with a newfound interest in fiction with gay characters was Common Sons by Ronald L. Donaghe. I read his sequels and other books popular at the time like Mark Kendrick's book Desert Sons and sequel.

Since then it's been an on-again-off-again affair with my reading, but lately I've been right back into it with numerous new purchases and a brand new Kindle reader. I'm working through 3 or 4 books a week currently, with an ever increasing reading list thanks in no small part to the suggestions and discussions by this great little community.

Thanks for reading :)

Another Aussie! Yay. I wish we could persuade our old buddy Pete from AfterElton to join us - but his dad keeps him on a short tether!

Rick wrote: "Hi folks, I'm Rick. I live at Bowen Mountain, a small hilltop community in the Blue Mountains behind Sydney in Australia. I work with my father in a small import business in the Sydney suburbs. The..."

The Aussie contingent grows - A A A oi oi oi!

I'm Brandon, quite like Octobercountry, but I'm the old man with the rock salt shot, so please, stay off the grass.

Written a few books (more to come), big on LGBT youth homelessness issues,and quite often poking around the interwebs.

Aussie54 wrote: "Hi, I'm Aussie54. I just dipped into the book forums now and then at AfterElton, but hope to contribute more here.

I can c & p Jax's intro above, with a few changes (thank you, Jax, we seem to be..."

Well hello! I had to laugh when I read your message. And it seems we like a lot of the same books & series too. Yes, I poked around your bookshelves cuz I'm nosy like that.

LOL, thanks. Hope you found something new there.

Jax wrote: "Aussie54 wrote: "Hi, I'm Aussie54. I just dipped into the book forums now and then at AfterElton, but hope to contribute more here.

I can c & p Jax's intro above, with a few changes (thank you, J..."

Jax wrote: Well hello! I had to laugh when I read your message. And it seems we like a lot of the same books & series too. Yes, I poked around your bookshelves cuz I'm nosy like that.

Hi! It's nice to meet people with similar interests. I don't know any in real life, so I'm always happy when it happens on the net.

Hey everyone!!! I'm Amanda Clay, DaisyViolet on AE, and SO HAPPY this book forum has moved over here and continued to exist.

Info about me~ I'm a librarian (currently in a public library, though I have in the past and probably in the future) been a school librarian for many different age levels. I'm also the mother of the most amazing child ever born (sorry, other children, Alice rules!!) and the author of a YA novel, Echo, which has minor queer content, and of some other forthcoming books which are much much gayer.

Additionally, I'm the current chair of the ALA Stonewall Book Award committee which means I get the extreme honor/duty of reading pretty much all the gay stuff that comes out in a given year, and then bestowing awards upon the best of it. What a treat! I've tried to share the love by keeping October's book group informed of what I've found (and lord knows, if I had the ability I'd give all y'all shedloads of free books because the gay, it's starting to take over my house...)

Glad to see the usual suspects and have a place to talk books. xox

Amanda wrote: "Hey everyone!!! I'm Amanda Clay, DaisyViolet on AE, and SO HAPPY this book forum has moved over here and continued to exist.

Info about me~ I'm a librarian (currently in a public library, though..."

Yay! So glad to see you followed us over here. I always look forward to your recs. You seem to find stuff that none of the rest of us do or at least you're able to give us the very early heads-up thanks to your inside scooptitude (I'm making that a word. Change approved.)

Nice to see you too, Jax! And everyone. I think I'll just hang out here rather than the remeddled AE. Sad but true.

Scoopitude. I like it.

This is so fantastic! I'm so glad you guys started this up!

I'm Brent Hartinger, and I co-founded AfterElton.com, along with my partner Michael Jensen and our very good friend Sarah Warn, who had earlier founded AfterEllen (and also her partner Lori, who never takes any credit, but who worked her financial magic from day one).

We sold AE to Logo/MTV in 2006, who employed me until I left in 2011; Michael left a few months later.

But first and foremost, Michael and I are both novelists, and that's (mostly) what we've been up to since then. My first published novel was a gay teen novel, GEOGRAPHY CLUB (2003); a feature film version of the book co-starring Scott Bakula and Nikki Blonsky is currently making the film festival circuit now and will hopefully get a wider release this fall. The book turned out to be the first in a series, the Russel Middlebrook Series, the fourth book of which I just published last month: THE ELEPHANT OF SURPRISE (I've extremely pleased with both the book and the response so far!).

I've written a number of other books, mostly non-gay YA. My favorite is probably PROJECT SWEET LIFE, about three teenage boys forced to get summer jobs by their dads, who invent "fake" jobs to fool their parents, then embark on a series of (disastrous) get-rich-quick schemes to make the money they should be making from their jobs.

I also write screenplays (although I didn't write the screenplay for GEOGRAPHY CLUB). My first produced movie, THE STARFISH SCREAM, will hopefully be filmed this spring for a 2014 release. It's actually another gay teen story, based on a play I wrote (and had produced in New York and elsewhere) back in the 1990s, but it's very different from GEOGRAPHY CLUB (same sensibility, maybe, but it's a little more "serious"; GEOGRAPHY CLUB is a teen/middle grade novel/movie that I've very proud of, but THE STARFISH SCREAM is more of a movie for adults that just happens to be about teenagers).

Michael and I are currently writing a novel together--a sci-fi/thriller for adults. We're about halfway done, but if I told you what it's about, I'd have to kill you.

I also have a number of other projects, finished and being submitted by my agents, that will hopefully see the light of day in the next year or so.

As a reader, I most enjoy speculative fiction of all sort (George RR Martin, Patrick Rothfuss, Ursula le Guin, Ken Oppel, Tolkien, Earnest Cline, Robert Sawyer, Robert Charles Wilson, (some of) Dan Simmons, Jacqueline Carey). I read YA, especially gay teen lit, but I have an extremely low tolerance for vampires and I'm actually sick to death (TO DEATH!) of dystopian. I loved THE VAST FIELDS OF ORDINARY, A YEAR OF ICE, LEAVE MYSELF BEHIND. My favorite gay novel of all time is GIOVANNI'S ROOM, which absolutely blew me away at age 21.

I'm also not a fan of what I call "gay asshole fiction," which are those books about a main gay character who is teased and abused as a kid for being gay, but who then grows up to be a raging asshole, doing to his friends and lovers exactly the kind of abuse that was done to him, and never really changing or having any insight about it. I know this describes a lot of gay literary fiction, not so much lately, but at least in the 80s and 90s -- you were supposed to know it's "truthful," I guess, because the characters all act so horribly. But none of this ever really resonated with me (it's actually a big part of the reason why I wrote GEOGRAPHY CLUB -- I wasn't reading gay characters that I personally could relate to).

Oh, I'm also very opinionated, about books and a lot of other things. Can you tell? ;-)

Anyway, I guess I've written enough. Glad to be here!

Brent Hartinger
http://brenthartinger.com
https://twitter.com/brenthartinger
https://www.facebook.com/brentharting...

Brent wrote: "This is so fantastic! I'm so glad you guys started this up!

I'm Brent Hartinger, and I co-founded AfterElton.com, along with my partner Michael Jensen and our very good friend Sarah Warn, who had ..."

How nice to see you here Brent! Welcome to our little (but growing) band of readers. It would be so nice to see your opinions again, it's been sorely missed - especially those from the pigeon-column!

Thanks for the update on your work ... I'm looking forward to viewing the movie when it eventually comes downunder (Melbourne Queer Film Festival).

Welcome aboard, Brent!

Hey, Brent! Welcome to the monkey house. (I actually used that line at work the other day and NOBODY got it. Jeez, young people...)

Great to see you here, Brent! Miss you and Michael these days (although it's good to see you on Twitter). AE isn't the same without you.

Okay, I had written a gigantic introductory post, but Goodreads ate it. Let me see if I can come up with something similar in only a few minutes. I do need to sleep eventually!

I'm Nick Almand, and I'm the writer of the upcoming gay-themed sci-fi novel SONS OF NOWHERE. I've already posted three prequel short stories and a database (The Ophion Foundation) at http://www.sonsofnowhere.com/

My primary influences in writing are H.P. Lovecraft, Michael Crichton, Grant Morrison, Alan Moore, Earnest Hemingway, Stephen King (to an extent), and I'm barely young enough to count Brent Hartinger as an influence, too.

Besides SONS OF NOWHERE, I have a graphic novel coming out sometime next year through Oni Press (the publishers of Scott Pilgrim, if anyone's familiar with that). It's a samurai fantasy story with a gay protagonist, but the title is still in flux so I'm (still) not allowed to say much about it. @_@

I tend to like more realism vis-a-vis homophobia in modern, non-speculative fiction, while I don't mind a more utopian approach in speculative fiction. In a setting that's supposed to reflect reality to a certain degree, a utopian approach tends to grind on me as I feel it unintentionally erases, trivializes, or invalidates people's experiences with homophobia. When I was a teen, I found myself feeling more jealous than empathetic towards characters in those types of settings, and feeling a strong urge to spit upon the pages of books like that (I was a teenager. Extreme reactions are part of the deal). When I read stories about other teens dealing with the same shit I did, it really helped me feel as if I was not alone, that someone out there understood where I was coming from and the life I was leading. With the exception of "tragedy porn" (usually ending in a suicide), I found these to be much more helpful to my growing psyche than reading about impossibly beautiful white boys falling in love in an impossibly accepting high school/society.

In speculative fiction, though, I never quite had this issue. Possibly because of the fact that the setting had no intention of reflecting reality in a literal way. Speculative fiction usually has bigger fish to fry. I see no reason to spend a substantial amount of a sci-fi novel about giant aliens erupting from the ground on the religious hang-ups of a teen boy's family. Not that it can't be done well (I know it can), I just don't mind a utopian approach to sexuality in a fantasy or sci-fi setting that simply accepts it as part of its reality.

Okay, that's about all I can remember. This place seems awesome, and I'm looking forward to buzzing around with you guys!

-Nick Almand
http://www.sonsofnowhere.com/
https://www.facebook.com/malmand
https://twitter.com/mnicholasalmand

Thanks, Chris, PaperMoon, Ulysses, and Aussie! Great to see so many familiar "faces."

Hey All,

Michael Jensen, former editor of AfterElton here. Brent told me about this group and I wanted to stop in and say hi. As many of you know, long before AE was a twinkle in my eye I was an author. And long before that I was a huge book lover, so I feel right at home here.

While I can't say I've spent much time on AE since I left, I have frequently thought about it and love the idea that a small but very important part of it is going to live on here.

As for books, one of the ironies of running AE was that I had almost no time to read. I went from reading one book a week to maybe five a year. It was pathetic.

Since leaving AE I wrote a new novel that I'm currently working on getting published. And as Brent mentioned, we're working on a book together.

I am finally reading more. I tend toward historical fiction and science fiction. I guess the present day just doesn't interest me much!

Anyway, I look forward to hearing about what folks are reading!

Michael

PS You can also follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/michaelgjensen

Woohoo, so good to hear from you Michael! As I told Brent, a lot of us really missed you guys after you left AfterElton. Though it's quite understandable that you both would want to turn your attention to other endeavors, the site really wasn't the same without your input.

Please, do feel free to use this forum to mention any good books you happen to read.

Wonderful to have you both here. I'd love to know what you're collaborating on, but I know these things are not to be discussed until you're read...

Michael wrote: "Hey All,

Michael Jensen, former editor of AfterElton here. Brent told me about this group and I wanted to stop in and say hi. As many of you know, long before AE was a twinkle in my eye I was an a..."

Great to see you here, too, Michael! I hope you pop in now and then, to let us know how things are going. :)

Brent wrote: "This is so fantastic! I'm so glad you guys started this up!

I'm Brent Hartinger, and I co-founded AfterElton.com, along with my partner Michael Jensen and our very good friend Sarah Warn, who had ..."

Ooo, ooo! So glad you're here Brent (and is Michael lurking about?) I came aboard the Good Ship AE just as you all were exiting.

We've missed you (and that's the truth.)

As I enter my second childhood, I should be excellent fodder for reading your YA novels. In any case, I can certainly try (if someone will help me with the big words.)

Michael wrote: "Hey All,

Michael Jensen, former editor of AfterElton here. Brent told me about this group and I wanted to stop in and say hi. As many of you know, long before AE was a twinkle in my eye I was an a..."

Just ONCE I should learn to page down before I put fingers to the keys.

Michael and Brent.....together again.....with us.

Heaven not only on a bun, but with extra mayo. Yum!

And Michael reminds me that my occasional rant (usually while watching Chris Hayes or Rachel) can be found at http://twitter.com/TallCR

Thanks for all the hellos. And I couldn't help but notice your bookshelf has my book alongside Brent's. Awwww....

I'll definitely pop in. Alas and ironically, I don't read a ton of gay-themed stuff. Maybe I'll be inspired by what's discussed here. I am sort of trying to read The City of Devi which as a gay character in the second half of the book. I should pop over to the book forum to see if any of you guys have read it.

Michael wrote: "And I couldn't help but notice your bookshelf has my book alongside Brent's. Awwww...."

I think Fred did that as homage to you guys LOL. Seriously though Michael - thanks for popping by and adding to our discussions.

Hi, It's me, "Miz Liz" from AfterElton/Backlot, and bizbee19 on Twitter. Uly, OctoberCountry and Allan have been encouraging me to check out the Backlot Goodreads page and I'm glad I did, now I know where all the cool kids are hanging out.

I read quite a bit of M/M romance, but my interest in rather narrow - pretty much contemporary happy-ever-after stories. No wolf packs, mermen, shape-shifters, or alternate universes.

While I didn't post much in the AE forum, I did regularly checking out what you guys were writing about because I'm always looking for suggestions. I like the set up on Goodreads, I think it will be much easier to find my type of books here.

Hey there Liz, welcome to the site. We certainly have been mentioning quite a few contemporary romance novels on this forum, so perhaps you'll come across something you'll enjoy. (Funny you should say "no mermen," though, because I JUST finished reading a merman story!)

Octobercountry wrote: "Hey there Liz, welcome to the site. We certainly have been mentioning quite a few contemporary romance novels on this forum, so perhaps you'll come across something you'll enjoy. (Funny you shoul..."

Ha! Well I hope you enjoyed it.

Thanks for the welcome.

Liz wrote: "Hi, It's me, "Miz Liz" from AfterElton/Backlot, and bizbee19 on Twitter. Uly, OctoberCountry and Allan have been encouraging me to check out the Backlot Goodreads page and I'm glad I did, now I kn..."

Your Mermanaphobia saddens me. I didn't know you were so anti-fish.

Chris wrote: "Your Mermanaphobia saddens me. I didn't know you were so anti-fish."

(hands up) ... not into fishy business either here. Nope.