Geoffrey Knight - Why Straight Women Love Gay Romance

Table of Contents

WHY STRAIGHT WOMEN LOVE GAY ROMANCE

GEOFFREY KNIGHT
EDITED BY KRIS JACEN

mlrpress

www.mlrpress.com

One of the worlds biggest secrets is coming outWhy do straight women love gay romance?

What is it that attracts straight women to the idea of two men falling in love? Is it the muscles? The mystery of the male mind? The idea of true love overcoming all odds? How has it changed who these women are and how they see the world? And how powerful is this once-silent army of readers in the fight for equality?

Readers, authors, publishers and editors share their opinions and tell some very personal stories that will make you laugh, cry and ultimately inspire, as 32 women across 9 countries and 4 continentsincluding New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Brockmann, Amelia from the Huffington Post, bestselling gay romance author Carol Lynne and award-winning publisher and author Laura Baumbachfinally reveal

Why Straight Women Love Gay Romance.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2012 by Geoffrey Knight

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

Published by

MLR Press, LLC

3052 Gaines Waterport Rd.

Albion, NY 14411

Visit ManLoveRomance Press, LLC on the Internet:

www.mlrpress.com

Cover Art by Michael Cunningham

Editing by Kris Jacen

Print format: ISBN# 978-1-60820-762-6

ebook format: ISBN#978-1-60820-763-3

Issued 2012

This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of International Copyright Law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines and/or imprisonment. This eBook cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this eBook can be shared or reproduced without the express permission of the publisher.

For Helen,

Who made me realize there was a world of female readers out there.

And for Bill Neale,

Who made me realize this book needed to be written.

THE AGENDA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prologue: Who? What? Why?

Redefining Normal by Suzanne Brockmann

Chapter One: Reporting for Duty

Chapter Two: Uncharted Territory

Chapter Three: Achieving Mission Accomplished

Chapter Four: International Affairs

Chapter Five: Classified Information

Chapter Six: Spreading the Word

Chapter Seven: Element of Surprise

Chapter Eight: Exploring the Boundaries

Chapter Nine: Minority to Majority

Chapter Ten: Tactical Maneuvers

Chapter Eleven: Do Ask, Do Tell!

Chapter Twelve: A Brave New World

Chapter Thirteen: Children of the Revolution

One Mans Good, Two are Better by Laura Baumbach

Decoding the Language: What Were They Saying?

Contacts: How to Find the People in This Book

From the Facts to a Little Fiction

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Theres a saying that no book is written by one person alone, and its especially true of this one. The thirty-two women interviewed in this book not only said yes when I approached them to be part of the project, they were thrilled to be involved and eager to have their voices heard. Without their honesty and openness, this book would never have been possible, so ladies thank you one and all!

I also want to say a special thanks to Laura Baumbach, my publisher, who made this project a labor of love the moment I pitched the concept to her. Thanks also to Kris Jacen who helped me take every step of this journey, from sharing ideas all the way through to editing what was quite a large project and bringing it back to something short, sharp, and concise. Thanks also to my dear friend Michael Cunningham for designing a cover that is sexy, eye-catching, and ready to spark any readers curiosity.

And last but by no means least, a truly heartfelt thanks to Suzanne Brockmann who embraced this project from the very start and poured her time, experience and love into it.

I hope that together weve started a discussion that will have the whole world talking and acting and changing the way we all think.

PROLOGUE

WHO? WHAT? WHY?

Heres how it all started. I was having a few drinks with friends and when one of them asked how my writing was going, I mentioned that Id just finished a new manuscript and had sent it off to my friend Helen to read. The conversation went something like this

Friend at the pub: Helen? A woman reads your books?

Geoff: Yeah, lots of women read my books. In fact, the majority of my readers are female.

Friend at pub (curious): But I thought you only wrote gay porn?

Geoff: Well, its a bit more than just porn. But its erotica and romance, and yes, its gay.

Friend at pub (perplexed): What are lesbians doing reading about gay men?

Geoff: I dont think there are that many lesbians who read my books, maybe a few, who knows.

Friend at pub (getting really confused now): But you said women read your books.

Geoff: Yeah, mostly straight women.

Friend at pub (downright baffled): But why?

Geoff (searching but not coming up with much): I dont know.

That was the first, but by no means the last time Ive ever had that discussion. In fact, its a conversation thats come up at readings and book club appearances and writers forums that Ive attended in both Australia and the United States. And every single time, the discussion plays out exactly the same way, with the exception of the last chat I had on the subject which ended with

Geoff (searching but not coming up with much): I dont know. But you know what? Im gonna find out!

And so it began.

I started thinking about how to get to the bottom of this, who to go to for answers, and whether people were ready to know about something that was, in my opinion, one of the worlds best kept secretsWhy do straight women love gay romance?

I had met a great number of wonderful women at the inaugural GayRomLit retreat in New Orleans in October 2011 (and yes, the overwhelming majority of attendees were straight women), so I knew I could comfortably ask several friends Id made at GRL if theyd like to help out. There were also a great number of women on Facebook and several Yahoo Groups dedicated to gay romance who I thought might be interested. I started contemplating the kind of questions I wanted to ask

How did you discover gay romance?

Who knows you read it?

What reaction do you get when you tell people?

Does your husband know?

Has it changed your sex life?

but in the back of my mind one lingering thought kept holding me back.

What if these women didnt want their secret told?

What if they were happy reading about gay men in love, without the world even knowing about it?

Then in March 2012, something else happened that made me want to push past this barrier. A wonderful gay romance author named William Neale died. Bill wrote some of the most touching, honest, and heartfelt gay love stories ever written. One day he sent his latest manuscript to his publisher. The next day he was gone, without any warning at all.

News of his death took this very small and very tight little gay romance community by complete surprise. Bill had made many friends and fans, he was one of the organizers of GayRomLit, and his passing left us all reeling, whether we knew him well or not.

And this was something I couldnt figure out either.

I barely knew Bill. I spoke to him a few times at the retreat in New Orleans and via email, and yet his death left me devastated. And I wasnt the only one. Fellow authors and fans of Bill who had never met him were left so upset by his sudden passing that it were as though theyd lost a member of their own family.