Male-on-Male Romances in the Mainstream

No, you didn’t misread that title. M/M romances by small publishers have made it to the attention of the American Library Association. On December 16, 2010, the article “Bodice Rippers without the Bodice: Ten Male-on-Male Romances for the Core Collection” appeared in LibraryJournal.com (http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/newslettersnewsletterbucketbooksmack/888366-439/
bodice_rippers_without_the_bodice.html.csp) In that article, the author chronicles the rise of gay characters in other media outlets, citing Brokeback Mountain and Queer as Folk but also slash fanfiction, although she missed the Kirk/Spock fiction of the early 70s. She then went on to list ten titles she considered a good start for building a collection of m/m romances in a library.

I have to admit it. I squealed like a kid at Christmas when I saw the article. Yes, I’m a little biased since one of Dreamspinner’s titles was included on the list, but even if it hadn’t been, I still would have been excited. I remember as an adolescent the thrill of crossing into the “adult” section of the library for the first time and being allowed to check out books labeled “adult.” Now, for the record, adult in my library’s system dealt as much with the reading level of the books as it did with the content. Stephen King’s books were classified as adult right along with the Harlequin romances. My first paid job was working in the library shelving books. So I have a reverence for libraries that makes this article all the more special for me. Those hallowed halls have taken a look at the kind of books I write, the kind of books my employer publishes, and have approved.

I can hear the naysayers now pointing out that having books on a list in an online publication doesn’t change anything. The list is not a mandate; the American Library Association doesn’t work that way. Libraries are independent entities, and each library’s acquisitions director, or whatever title the person bears at each library, will have to decide for himself or herself whether to add any of these books to their collection. Some of them probably already have. Some of them may have even done so before this list came out. Others probably never will. The very fact of the article’s existence is a step in the right direction, though. Unlike a number of recent articles on m/m fiction, this one doesn’t question the
validity of the books because of the gender of their authors, and the list includes books by both men and women. The only caution it gives is the fact that much m/m romance is explicit and so librarians should consider their audience in selecting which books to purchase, but even that is a statement of fact, not a criticism.

Libraries’ collections reflect the directions of interest and acceptance from their patrons. Indeed libraries are often the first places to provide resources for special interest groups within a community because they have a mission to serve all areas of that community, unlike a bookstore which must worry constantly about what will sell. This article is proof that the American Library Association continues to follow the trend that began with such authors as Maupin, Warren, Forster, Renault, and others.

Change is never instantaneous, however much we would like it to be, but for me, and for a good many others, I hope, this article is proof of the changes that have occurred in publishing over the past few years and will continue to occur.

- Ariel Tachna

Dreamspinner Press… Where Dreams Come True …
Publishers of Quality M/M Romance Novels, Novellas, Short Stories, and Anthologies.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com