18th century, age of sail, fantasy, gay romance, historical novels, mystery novels, sailing, science fiction, spaceships, Fortean Times, Anglo-Saxon re-enactment
Music
Rock, Trance, some Classical, some Folk. I'm an old Prog-rocker and cherish my Hawkwind collection, though I admit to having stopped listening to ELP these days.
Movies
Blade Runner, Master and Commander, Alien, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Time Bandits, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, Bedrooms and Hallways... why can't I remember any more?
Television
Red Dwarf, Doctor Who, Torchwood, SG1, anything with Damian O'Hare in it, Rome (both series)
Books
Anything by Tolkien, Ursula LeGuin, Terry Pratchett, Patrick O'Brian, Isaac Asimov, Mary Renault
Adventure books with romance in them, or romances with adventure
Alex Beecroft [Blog] Round Robin at Coffee Time Romance: Some time ago I seem to have signed myself up to host a round robin stor... http://lnk.ms/12KtK view more
Hi! I'm an author of Fantasy and m/m Romance fiction, and my books include:
Captain's Surrender is a gay love story set in the British Navy during the 18th Century, in which true love has to triumph not only over mutiny and the French, but also the Navy's Articles of War which state that the punishment for homosexuality is Death. Out now in print and ebook.
Witch's Boy is a dark Fantasy in which a man's attempt to leave behind an abusive childhood is made a lot harder because his abuser is a powerful sorcerer.
For his first command, John Cavendish is given the elderly bomb vessel HMS Meteor, and a crew as ugly as the ship. He's determined to make a success of their first mission, and hopes the well-liked lieutenant Alfie Donwell can pull the crew together before he has to lead them into battle: stopping the slave trade off the coast of Algiers.
Alfie knows that with a single ship, however well manned, their mission is futile, and their superiors back in England are hoping to use their demise as an excuse for war with the Ottoman
Empire. But the darker secret he keeps is his growing attraction for his commanding officer-a secret punishable by death.
With the arrival of his former captain-and lover-on the scene, Alfie is torn between the security of his past and the uncertain promise of a future with the straight-laced John.
Against a backdrop of war, intrigue, piracy and personal betrayal, the high seas will carry these men through dangerous waters from England to Africa, from the Arctic to the West Indies, in search of a safe harbor.
Rarely, oh so rarely, I’ll read a book that is so sublime, so transcendent, I actually come away from it a little melancholy, because it’s over and I can never read it for the first time ever again, because I know I’ll never be able to do justice to it in my review or analysis, and because I know I won’t meet its equal for many a year. But the process of devouring the book, of eking out its layered, textured meaning, of savoring its descriptions, and the emotions–oh, the emotions!–leaves me flying for days and the melancholy only makes it all the sweeter.
This is one of those books. It ravished me. It scoured my insides. I feel like I’m stuck in it and I don’t ever want to get out.
Who I'd like to meet: Authors, publishers, readers, reviewers, fellow fans of imaginative, historical or speculative fiction, particularly if it also contains gay romance.
However, I'm finding MySpace too cumbersome to use these days. So although I'll be leaving my profile up, I'm going to disable any further comments. If you want to get in touch with me, the best place to find me is here:
Now this is what I'm talking about. If you want a taste of what floats my boat when it comes to gay historical fiction, (no pun intended), then this is it.
I said at the beginning of this review that Captain's Surrender thrilled me. It satisfied a craving I've had for decades, for a certain kind of book, the kind that's so seldom written it's an almost violent surprise when one crosses my path. It drilled right down to the bedrock of my psyche, dug out that part of me that whiled away childhood afternoons with elaborate seagoing, swashbuckling epic fantasies, then set it in the sunshine beside my adolescent longing for a more bent, more tolerant world. Add to that damned good writing to satisfy an adult self with high standards and broad tastes, and you've got a keeper. And something to recommend with impunity.Read the whole review HERE
When you finish this succinct book (which is slightly under 200 pages) you will be amazed at the range of emotional and physical territory covered by Captain's Surrender... which is the best gay novel I've read this year.
And very importantly to me, it's been given a big thumbs up by Lee Rowan, author of 'Ransom':
When it's this early in the year--the first week of February--it's not saying much to call Captain's Surrender the best gay Age of Sail book of the year, but I have to say it anyway. ...
Captain's Surrender is a book I would recommend to anyone; it surpasses genre and is absolutely superb.
You can read the rest of that review or buy 'Captain's Surrender' HERE
So, should the composers, lyricists, actors and all the other people behind these endeavors have hung their heads in shame, disappeared from view, never to be heard from again? Of course not. These people did not fail; what they did do is try to create something worthwhile. Not to have tried at all would have been to fail. In trying, they achieved a form of success.
When someone says that, what he or she means is, of course, “I feel sad. ”
But how “blue” ever came to be a synonym for “sad” is baffling to me. I think blue is the happiest of colors. It’s the color of the sky and the sea, not to mention blueberries, bluebells and bluebirds. What would make more sense to me is for “I feel blue” to mean “I feel wonderful!”
That “darkly” part tempts us to look away. It spurs us to distract ourselves with smaller things, like television, and all the other sights and sounds of daily life. And so we need to remind ourselves, from time to time, to go back to the glass, to try to see through it, even as we know we cannot. We need to take a break from life’s dailiness to contemplate life’s secrets, to seek answers to life’s bigger questions. Whether the secrets are revealed or the questions answered is not as important as our contemplating, our seeking.
Thanks for the add! --- The first volume of NewFoundSpecFic is on sale now. Enjoy ten speculative stories that test the mind and imagination. Order your copy today!
If winter – with its darkness, its hard, frozen earth – is the season of despair…
Then spring – with its light, its flowers breaking through that now-softened earth, the miracle of all that sudden, extravagant color – is the season of hope.
“If she had nothing more than her voice she could break your heart with it. But she has that beautiful body and the timeless loveliness of her face. It makes no difference how she breaks your heart if she is there to mend it. ”
~Ernest Hemingway
We all love free books. So check out my contest at www.lindaciletti.net I’m giving away 2 romantic adventure books to one winner--a historical and a time travel either in ebook pdf format or trade paperback. The historical is a 2009 Eppie Winner.
Like a once-a-day vitamin, try to take five minutes once a day to be by yourself. That does not necessarily mean sitting alone in a room; you can still be by yourself while taking a walk around the block.
May you always have
Walls for the winds
A roof for the rain
Tea beside the fire
Laughter to cheer you
Those you love near you
And all your heart might desire.
It's Oscar time, which means just one thing for me: a long, boozy weekend. Why, you ask? Because, once again, I wasn't nominated! Ergo, no chance to win. Yes, I know the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has that short-sighted, small-minded rule about one having to actually DO something in the way of making some sort of motion picture art in order to be considered for one of their gold-plated trinkets. (And I've seen said trinkets up close and personal; let me tell you, they ain't all that.)
Anyway, if you're looking for me this weekend, here are some of the dives where you might find me, drowning my sorrows...
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