Suggestions?

[gwydion]

I am in the mood for a gay love story where they are both alive in the end. F/SF preferred. Suggestions? I'd love something I haven't already seen or read.

Comments

[big-wired.livejournal.com]

I've got one! It's a pirate book, so not exactly fantasy, no magic or anything... it's called The Voyages of the Original Sin by Collette Moody and it's great! The two lovers come to discover their love for one another,there's excellent character growth, AND the two live happily ever after!

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

If you are familiar with Bujold's Vorkosigan series, I highly recommend _A Deeper Season_, which is one of the most impressive pieces of fanfic I've ever read, period. http://archiveofourown.org/series/1516
FYI: It's quite long (easily novel-length). I think there's a sequel but it's been a while.

(And now that I've brought this up, I think I need to go read it again. :) )

[gwyd.livejournal.com]

Thanks.. Sexy pirates works for me. I' trying to convince the library to buy or borrow it. If not, I'll Amazon it.

[gwyd.livejournal.com]

I am familiar with the Vorkosigan Saga and have recently finished the new Ivan centric one. As my pile of online things to read is impressive, it may take a little while for me to find time, but I'll make a note. (I need to lie down a lot still).

[brightlion.livejournal.com]

If you're up for a series I'd suggest Steven Harper's The Silent Empire series. It's sci-fi with psychics and has a gay protagonist. The main character and his lover don't die at the end. I think there's 4 books and the last one doesn't wrap things up quite as nicely as I'd like but it's still got a decent enough ending. It's not really a love story as such since the first book begins when they've split up. The second book happens before the first and shows how they originally got together. Their relationship is explored in the later books as well, and they do end up together but it's a bumpy road. And the plot comes first.

Fiona Patton's The Stone Prince has both the hero and his male lover alive at the end. It's been so long since I read it though.

Toby Johnson's Secret Matter is a sweet sci-fi story. It's a bit fluffy and a bit heavy on the religious undertones. I may have already sent you that though.

And if you've not read it, I recently read Trudi Canavan's Black Magician series. The main character is a woman. One of the main supporting characters is gay, which I wouldn't normally suggest but it does switch to his viewpoint frequently. However I don't think Trudi Canavan writes romance all that well.

I'll check my kindle and see if I've read anything else. I take it you want proper books though and not ebooks? Otherwise I'd suggest Ginn Hale's recent series which I've currently forgotten the name of.

[gwyd.livejournal.com]

I have no means of reading e-books. I love Ginn Hale, but I'm still paper all the way.

Those sound like good suggestions. I'll go see what I can get through the library. I'm all for plot heavy with relationships embedded but not central. I'm just tired of it all being straights having the adventures and I am reading a lot what with me needing to lie down so much.

[gwyd.livejournal.com]

It looks like we have "Stone Prince" and the Black Magician ones. I'm trying ILL for the others. Thanks.

[brightlion.livejournal.com]

It's sad, I've read a lot of fiction with gay characters and I can't think of much at all that actually fit your criteria. There's a lot of tragic deaths at the end. Or the books themselves contain uncomfortable content.

Oh Mel Keegan's The Swordsman might count. Not sure how easy that is to get hold of though and it's been so long ago since I read it I can't really remember what it was about or of it was any good. I haven't gone back to reread it at least.

I find short stories a lot better. Some of the nicest, sweetest, gay science-fiction/fantasy I've read has been short stories not novels. I think the So Fey collection edited by Steve Berman's got a story in it that I loved. Things Invisible to See: Lesbian and Gay Tales of Magic Realism edited by Lawrence Schimel has another. And Bending the Landscape the fantasy version has a third. There's others, but those three stick in my mind at the moment.

Hmm less reccommended "The Cat in the Cradle" by Jay Bell, did read rather amateurish to me. The world just didn't seem all that fleshed out and it seemed like a book that could have done with at least another rewrite. It's a fantasy book that fits your criteria though.

Josh Lanyon's "Strange Fortune" I can't remember being all that thrilled with it and I have issues even remembering the plot, even though it was a fairly recent read, but it fits as well.

Oh there was a recent Achilles young adult book I read too since it won some award or other and I was intrigued by the idea of a young adult book featuring gay characters that won an award. It was from Patroclus' point of view and it does stick true enough to the legend that it doesn't fit the alive at the end criteria. But it was focused on their relationship. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.

[gwyd.livejournal.com]

David Leviathan does realistic fiction, but wrote a set of fluffy gay teen romances before he got into collaborating on straight fluffy romance novels. I have a couple SF and Fantasy ones like Swordspoint and the Hales, but the numbers are small. I want something not rapey where they live. you'd thing that would be easy, but it so isn't.

I am fond of short stories, so I'm ordering those at the library as well.

Song of Achilleus is in my to read stack. I've got to finish the new Seanan McGuire as it's short time being new, but I can move Achilleus up the pile.

I am so glad you responded as this does seem up your ally and I do appreciate your help.

Have I mentioned how delightful it's been rping with you on the MUSH? I really missed playing last week and it made me sad to miss even one session.

[brightlion.livejournal.com]

I'll dig out the names of some other short story collections. I have problems remembering which are the good ones admittedly and ever since I got my Kindle I just stuffed all the short story books into one box. Generally I can find one or two good stories in each collection and a lot of rubbish.

I thought finally being able to access ebooks and the wealth of m/m literature out there I'd have access to better books, but most of them have been either distracting fluff or terribly disappointing. I'll check my Kindle though and see if there's any names of authors whose work I did like. Sometimes fluff is nice. I think some of Anne Sommerville's stuff was good. I remember reading her fiction on her website way back in the day. There was another author, only I can't remember. And I can't remember the name of any of the books.

Have you read Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner books? There's also Diane Duane's Door in the Fire series, I couldn't get that far in it though, it just lost my interest. Tanya Huff's The Fire's Stone. (But I know you have read Tanya Huff). Ricardo Pinto's The Chosen, but I got stuck on the second book there and couldn't even force myself to finish it so I've no idea the state of the romance at the end. The writing was far too descriptive and florid for me though.

Speaking of David Levithan I read Will Grayson/Will Grayson fairly recently. I actually enjoyed it, although maybe not the end. And I had issues with a few plot points. Have you read it? I won't spoiler it if you have. I think I did suggest Boy Meets Boy to you years and years ago. Or maybe I suggested it to someone else. I know you've read it.

Which reminds me, I want to read something by Brent Hartinger, not the Geography Club (although I am somewhat excited about the movie that's coming out based on them) but I think he has a modern supernaturalish book. I've yet to actually look it out though.

And thank you. I've loved playing with you too.

[gwyd.livejournal.com]

Don't put yourself out. I have plenty on order thanks to you.

I've ordered a Night Runner. No Sommerville in my library looks like.

I read Boy Meets Boy ages ago as well as Wide Awake, which I loved, and Will Grayson, which I only vaguely remember. I've read some of his short stories and several of his straight things before I got bored. The 9/11 one I couldn't stomach.

I can't remember if the Geography Club was the one that annoyed me and there's not enough in the short desc to tell me for sure if it's the one I thought it was, but now I'm thinking it's not. I'm going to order it and see.

[brightlion.livejournal.com]

The first three Nightrunner books are quite good. Luck in the Shadows, Stalking Darkness, and Traitor's Moon, in that order. (And I'd suggest reading them that way.) I loved them in my teens, they were everything that I'd hoped Mercedes Lackey's books would be but weren't. There's no angsting over sexuality, no terribly tragic endings. There is one thing in the second or third book which I found problematic but otherwise they're decent reads.

Shadow's Return is an absolutely awful book. It was written at least ten years after Traitor's Moon and I just hated it. I'd suggest skipping it completely. I don't want to spoiler it when you haven't read the rest of the series but I really, really loathed that book and I'm quite happy to pretend it doesn't exist. The White Road is marginally better but still not particularly good.

Casket of Souls is more in line with the first three books. So I'd suggest reading the books in the order of 1,2,3,6 (assuming you like them) and then if you feel the need go back and fill in 5 and 6.

I've not read Wide Awake. I'll dig that out.

OH! I just remembered. Steve Berman's Vintage. Have you read that? It's a ghost story and one of my favourite books.

[gwyd.livejournal.com]

I'm ordering Vintage. Luck in Shadows is already waiting at the Library, but I was too tired to go get it today. Monday, likely.

Wide Awake is very American. It's also more realistic than BMB. Don't get me wrong, I liked BMB, but it's deliberately wish fulfillment. BM takes place in a perfect world. Wide Awake takes place in an optimistic version of the real, if that makes sense. It's happy, but not quite as fluffy.