64 Books, 1 Champion
It’s selection time in the Smart Bitches’ annual DABWAHA contest which is a kind of knock down, drag out, contest between an initial selection of 64 books. They go up against each other in several rounds of voting until there’s only one left.
This year, False Colors is in the starting blocks in the LGBT section, facing desperately stiff competition, so if anyone fancied going and voting it through to the next category, that would be fab! (If you fancy voting for one of the other books instead, that’s also fair enough 🙂 )
It’s kind of complicated to explain, so I’ve linked to the explanatory post first, but this is where the actual voting goes on.
I’m very chuffed indeed to be even in the first round, but trying to avoid getting my hopes up any further, as there’s every possibility that the first round will be as far as I get 🙂
??????? ????? ????? ?????!I was interested by your novels. But there regarding egalitarian homosexuality it is described, and it, as far as I know, till 19-20 a century was a rarity even in Europe. Usual homosexuality in traditional societies is either use juvenile, or effeminate men, or violence over slaves, captured, etc., or UST. For the adult free man passive homosexuality was considered very shameful, and men usually reckoned with it (unlike church interdictions for "fornication", even the prospective anger of God of their scarecrows is much less, than expected loss of the courage;//) Therefore it is difficult to me to present that described in your novels could occur in a reality.
??????? ????? ????? ?????!I was interested by your novels. But there regarding egalitarian homosexuality it is described, and it, as far as I know, till 19-20 a century was a rarity even in Europe. Usual homosexuality in traditional societies is either use juvenile, or effeminate men, or violence over slaves, captured, etc., or UST. For the adult free man passive homosexuality was considered very shameful, and men usually reckoned with it (unlike church interdictions for "fornication", even the prospective anger of God of their scarecrows is much less, than expected loss of the courage;//) Therefore it is difficult to me to present that described in your novels could occur in a reality.
Hello Fiona! Thanks for the comment 🙂 I understand what you are saying and I used to think that was the case as well. However, my mind was changed by reading Rictor Norton's research on the 18th Century Molly culture. He's condensed most of his arguments into his book, "Mother Clap's Molly House", but on his website he has links to the original source material from which he draws his conclusions. These are mostly records of trials for homosexuality at the Old Bailey.
A very convincing picture comes out that, in the 18th Century at least, the gay scene was very much already in its modern mode of dealings between adults, with the whole set up of gay bars (Molly houses) and cruising grounds that we are familiar with.
So I'm afraid I'm going to have to say that I did do my research first, and my books reflect the actual historical details of the 18th Century as far as it is possible to know them through modern scholarship. If you're interested, I definitely recommend Mother Clap's Molly House by Rictor Norton http://rictornorton.co.uk/molly.htm as a really eyeopening bit of research as well as a very entertaining book.
It's clear that we're not going to agree on this. I am happy that my books are supported by the evidence that I have read. It seems to me that you are determined to make me agree with your stance on the matter, but my research does not lead me to agree with you, and therefore I can't.
You've started to repeat yourself now, and if I replied, I would end up repeating myself too. I don't see the point of that. So, since we've both said what we want to say, I suggest we stop now and agree to disagree.
If your point is simply to persuade me that I shouldn't be writing m/m romance because egalitarian relationships were as unlikely between two men as they were between a man and a woman in the past, then I'm afraid that makes no difference to me. Even if I was persuaded that all m/m relationships everywhere had been unequal, I would still be writing slash.