Contemporary m/m really doesn't do it for me, unless there is a paranormal or fantasy element. (This is true, really, for all types of media I like - I'm a fan of historical, SF, or fantasy stories/movies/etc, but I find 'ordinary people in contemporary situations' boring!) I think [personal profile] sineala reviewed Warriors of Rome recently - yeah, I just went and looked at her review; her favorite was The Left Hand of Calvus, but I remember reading her review and thinking that no, this collection didn't interest me.
This used to be me, and I'm not sure what happened! And it still is, in a way - almost all the fanfic I read is for sf/f type canons, and my non m/m reading is almost always genre. But I burnt out on published secondary world fantasy a while back (I still read some, but only by authors I know or for books with very convincing recommendations), and I've failed to finish any of the published m/m in fantasy worlds I've read (off-hand, I've stalled out in books by Josh Lanyon, Marie Sexton and Heidi Cullinan, all of whom write contemporaries I like). But I loved The White Palace as well, and I think it's a reflection of shukyou's ability as an author (and possibly the fact that she's not working within typical romance novel conventions) - the whole beginning sequence with Fard's flatmates, and just the whole construction of the world, is not something I get out of the fantasy novels (m/m or otherwise) that I can buy.
(I thought when I got into manga that I'd be reading a lot of the very iddy BL stuff as well, but apparently what I like is dysfunctional relationships between white-collar workers in dead-end jobs in contemporary Japan. No idea.).
I know why s2b2 does it, but I really wish they included summaries of their stories! I don't think I've read Murder Ballad, but I have been recently reading her supernatural duo, Mike Dies at the End and This Story Has Scorpions in it, Seriously Dude, Don't Read It (titles from memory!) and loved them. I have enjoyed those sort of supernatural m/m's, where it's ghosts and mediums rather than werewolves and vampries - Jordan Castillo Price's Psycop series (published) is great.
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carisma_sensei
no subject
Date: 2013-01-26 03:16 am (UTC)This used to be me, and I'm not sure what happened! And it still is, in a way - almost all the fanfic I read is for sf/f type canons, and my non m/m reading is almost always genre. But I burnt out on published secondary world fantasy a while back (I still read some, but only by authors I know or for books with very convincing recommendations), and I've failed to finish any of the published m/m in fantasy worlds I've read (off-hand, I've stalled out in books by Josh Lanyon, Marie Sexton and Heidi Cullinan, all of whom write contemporaries I like). But I loved The White Palace as well, and I think it's a reflection of shukyou's ability as an author (and possibly the fact that she's not working within typical romance novel conventions) - the whole beginning sequence with Fard's flatmates, and just the whole construction of the world, is not something I get out of the fantasy novels (m/m or otherwise) that I can buy.
(I thought when I got into manga that I'd be reading a lot of the very iddy BL stuff as well, but apparently what I like is dysfunctional relationships between white-collar workers in dead-end jobs in contemporary Japan. No idea.).
I know why s2b2 does it, but I really wish they included summaries of their stories! I don't think I've read Murder Ballad, but I have been recently reading her supernatural duo, Mike Dies at the End and This Story Has Scorpions in it, Seriously Dude, Don't Read It (titles from memory!) and loved them. I have enjoyed those sort of supernatural m/m's, where it's ghosts and mediums rather than werewolves and vampries - Jordan Castillo Price's Psycop series (published) is great.