Best in Gay/les fiction

There are nearly always nice, juicy veins of queerness in Clive Barker's books.

Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear are my favorites as far as science fiction and fantasy are concerned. Monette's Doctrine of Labyrinths books are for the win

Although one of my all-time favorites is Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness in SF and O'Neill's At Swim, Two Boys in literature/fiction.

I’ll second The Doctrine of Labyrinths by Sarah Monette- it’s a brilliant series. And if you’re into fantasy there’s Lynn Flewelling’s Night Runner series, and Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner.

Anything by Alan Hollinghurst and Sarah Waters is always worth the read. I also recommend Sebastian's Tangibles by Anthea Ingham, and Hallucinating Foucault by Patricia Duncker.

So in love with Ellen Kushner.

I definitely agree about Sarah Monette. I've read the first three books in the Doctrine of Labyrinths series, and will read Corambis after the paperback edition is released.

I haven't read Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner series yet, but plan on doing so. I bought the first book last weekend. Might be a while before I get to reading it.

Under lesbian fiction (romance, fantasy and mystery), I'd also list Melissa Good, Ali Vali, J.M. Redmann and Jane Fletcher.

I'll admit to being fond of Melissa Good's Dar & Kerry series.

Parametric said:

So in love with Ellen Kushner.

Click to expand...

Seconded. I love Alec.

I haven't read Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner series yet, but plan on doing so. I bought the first book last weekend. Might be a while before I get to reading it.

Click to expand...

Having read Flewelling first and Monette and others after, I have to admit that her Nightrunner series is probably not one of the best, but I still can't help loving it. Seregil rocks

Also, as far as literary SF is concerned, Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness is absolutely of the win. Especially since it covers transgender aspects.

Same as Flewelling's less popular Tamir Triad. I really liked the issues she raised in those books

ETA: Heh, already mentioned Left Hand of Darkness, but can't pimp it enough. Estraven = awesomeness!

Doris Grumbach. Jeannette Winterson. Sapphire (Push.) Willa Cather. Actually, believe it or not, Well of Loneliness is quite the page-turner.

E. Lynn Harris's(RIP) books are too good.


I remember sitting with my friend Anthony at the job from hell,reading"B Boy Blues" By James Earl Hardy. It was romantic,hip-hop,and oh so fun to read about two people falling in love. It was even sweeter because Raheem and Mitchell were from totally different worlds. I loved this book and the series is awesome.

I haven't read it myself, but one of the panelists at the GLBT in Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror discussion at MarsCon today was talking about an Anthony Burgess book called The Tree. It's an alternate universe where homosexuality is considered the norm, and heterosexuals are scorned and ridiculed as outcasts. Never heard of it, but it sounded intriguing--and reminded me a bit of this short story called "Love Alters." Can't remember that author, but I'll look it up when I get home.

dystophil said:

Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear are my favorites as far as science fiction and fantasy are concerned. Monette's Doctrine of Labyrinths books are for the win

Click to expand...

I just started reading Bear's Carnival. Liking it so far.

Nicole

I love Emma Donoghue's work. I'm still thankful for the day I stumbled across her books in a tiny bookshop.

NicoleMD said:

I just started reading Bear's Carnival. Liking it so far.

Nicole

Click to expand...

I read this a while ago but found the characters a little two dimensional TBH. But sci-fi isn't really my thing, I only picked it up because of the mm romance- I'm shallow that way

Darklite said:

I read this a while ago but found the characters a little two dimensional TBH. But sci-fi isn't really my thing, I only picked it up because of the mm romance- I'm shallow that way

Click to expand...

I think I'm hooked despite the characters. I'm really digging the world building. I was expecting sci-fi, not mm romance. That's just a bonus.

Nicole

Rhoda Nightingale said:

I haven't read it myself, but one of the panelists at the GLBT in Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror discussion at MarsCon today was talking about an Anthony Burgess book called The Tree. It's an alternate universe where homosexuality is considered the norm, and heterosexuals are scorned and ridiculed as outcasts. Never heard of it, but it sounded intriguing--and reminded me a bit of this short story called "Love Alters." Can't remember that author, but I'll look it up when I get home.

Click to expand...

Is The Tree an alternate title for The Wanting Seed?

One of Burgess's best novels has a gay protagonist - Earthly Powers - though it's not SF/F/H.

In science fiction, Stephen Harper's The Silent Empire series was very good (m/m relationship). I also second Monette and Flewelling, though they're very different sorts of fantasy--Monette is much darker, with an almost literary edge. Nightrunners is classic fantasy, and while it has its dark spots it's overall lighter and fluffier.

And since I just realized all three of the above are members of the Outer Alliance: http://blog.outeralliance.org/members

There are probably absolutely, without doubt, tons of other good writers in that list, too.

Right now I'm reading Luck in the Shadows, the first Nightrunner book. I'm not expecting much gay stuff, since I think Lynn said that the relationship between Alec and Seregil doesn't really get started until the next book.