Are there any good fantasy books....

R

raZe

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Jun 17, 2002
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..containing gay relationships? I'm gay, and although I absolutely love for example The Wheel of Time and the relationships between the men and women there, I'm wondering if there are any good fantasy books that has gay people included. I doubt it, but if anyone can prove me wrong, please do. :cool:
 
Hi!

Actually, that is an interesting question. And I am looking for those books, too, for I need them as input for a story I am writing.

Well, I never came across a fantasy book with gay main characters. But some were bisexual, I would say.

Like Kushiels'Dart: Phédre is doing it with both men and women. And she is even very smitten with one special woman.
Or the trilogy by Allison Spedding, 'A Walk in the Dark'.

Then there was 'Havenstar' by Glenda Normaly in which the main protagonist meets a pair of female lovers. Only mentioned, yet better than nothing.

And the German fantasy books based on the RPG-World of Aventurien. In some of the (more than 60) novels it is not unusual to come across someone gay.
The only translations I know of are three books. The series is called 'Realms of Arkania' and I don't know much about those three books. Generaly I don't like these books, anyway.

More I do not know . . . ah, I do! Freda Warrington's 'Jewelfire'-Trilogy. There is a gay relationship in it! And not an too unimportant one.

But that's it.

Bye!
 
I can think of two series right off.

One is the Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling. The books revolve around two gay men. The first two books 'Luck in the Shadows', and 'Stalking Darkness' are actually one story. I thought it was pretty good fantasy yarn. I didn't care for the third book 'Traitor's Moon'.

The other series that comes to mind is the 'Last Herald Mage' trilogy by Mercedes Lackey. This series is pretty popular, but I personally didn't care for it. I stopped after the first book because it seemed a little high schoolish for me. Lackey has written many other books set in the same world as the LHM, but I don't how many have gay characters.
 
Richard/Ricardo (?) Pinto's Stone Chameleon books feature one, if not several gay characters. The quality of the books are dubious though - I couldn't make it past the 100 page mark in the first book due to the poor writing style and appalingly slow pace of the narrative.
 
raZe, how gay do you want?

You might look into Storm Constantine's, WREATHTHU. It's not overtly homosexual, but it was able to, and this is an accomplishment, make me, a heterosexual male, feel awkward.


I don't know if I can recomend this book, as I never could finish it. I have a few freinds who read it and they all liked it... I was half way through when Jordan came out with a new book. I switched and just couldn't get back into WRAETHTHU after that... Funny thing was that was the last WOT book I could read, gave up Jordan after that.:rolleyes:

I suppose if you were to split hairs you could say Martin's Storm of Swords played with it... Danny WAS pleasured by another woman.

-Silas
 
There's a couple that I've read some good reviews for, but have yet to get around to reading. The first was already mentioned (Pinto's The Chosen - Book One of The Stone Dance of the Chameleon) and the other is called Kirith Kirin by Jim Grimsley and Doug Beekman. Oh yeah, and Lackey's Magic's Pawn trilogy...
 
Originally posted by Llama
Congratulations on asking an original question. Doesn't happen that often around here.

The Lambda Literary Awards are given each year for gay/lesbian themed sf/fantasy works.
Click to expand...


They have awards for gay literature? Iesu, are there no limits these days? Ahh well, awards and award shows lost their importance years ago, so one more down the drain won't matter.
 
You want to check out Chaz Brenchley's Outremer Series. It' s a very well handled display of gay relationships, but completely integrated in the story. very recommendable if you're lookin for such kind of stuff.
 
Well my 3 obvious ones have already been stated - Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner series, Chaz Brenchley's Outremer, and Ricardo Pinto's series.

The Nightrunner series tends to explore the difficulties and confusions faced by some as they come to terms with their sexuality and I found it a really enjoyable read (and no - I'm not homosexual).

Other than these, there are other works by Mercedes Lackey (anything in the Valdemar series) and Anne McCaffery (the Pern series) which quite frequently contain gay relationships. Mercedes Lackey often has them as her main characters, though this isn't usually the case with McCaffrey (from memory). There is also a novel by Mercedes Lackey and Piers Anthony called "If I Pay Thee Not in Gold" which puts a novel slant on things as well. However, I can't say too much here without giving the whole thing away. :D

That's all I can think of at the moment - if I come across anymore I'll let you know :D
 
Qin, it's a good series with or without the gay bits. I don't need to treasure homosexuality to enjoy a well written book. If it was gay porn I wouldn't like it but as it isn't it's a great series.

Oh and her new book "The Bone Doll's Twin" Book one of the Tamid trilogy is even better.
 
Marion Zimmer Bradley's old Darkover novels used to occasionally deal subtly with gay themes. If I recall correctly, The Heritage of Hastur is where they are most overt. At least before she became a feminist icon--to be fair, I've never read her Arthurian novels--MZB believed in writing books with lots of action, so any philosophical themes are muted in the interest of telling stories. It has been many years since I've read the books, so it's possible I would no longer even like them. Reader beware.

The protagonist in The Warrior's Tale by Alan Cole and Chris Bunch is a lesbian.

There are important gay characters in Lost Souls and, especially, Drawing Blood by Poppy Z. Brite. The books are contemporary supernatural horror or dark fantasy.

There are several bisexual characters in Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake books.

The main characters of Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner are gay.
 
I agree that the Nightrunner Series is really quite good. Also, Melanie Rawn has a gay couple in her Exiles Series. Personally I didn't like the series, but I'm the only one I know who stopped halfway through it so maybe I'm abnormal.

I'm not gay, but I personally think it is great that they have awards for the best gay fantasy/sci-fi. Specific awards such as that are a great way of letting people know what's good in a particular area. If you don't like that type of book you don't have to read them, but why bash the awards or books just b/c it has an element you don't like? To each his own, right?

Caleyna
 
Mark Anthony's The Last Rune series has a couple of gay characters, though they don't appear until the 3rd book, IIRC. MZB's Lythande stories also have a gay lead character, but I think they may be out of print now.
 
Does anyone think Baruch and Balthamos, the angels in Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' were lovers?
 
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