Why Straight Women Love Gay Romance

It's a question I get asked so often that if I had a pound every time someone asked it, I'd be a rich woman by now: why do straight women read/write/love gay fiction/romance? Well, thanks to a series of very searching and inspirational questions from Geoffrey Knight, you're about to find out.

Because Why Straight Women Love Gay Romance will be published by MLR Press on 7 September, and includes an interview with me, and I'm very proud indeed to be in it. Many thanks to Geoffrey for asking me, and I'm also delighted to say that the book is endorsed by, and includes a foreword from, US bestselling author Suzanne Brockman. Great news indeed for gay romance/gay fiction writers. And, hey, what's not to like about that cover?...

Meanwhile, there are only 4 days left before the anniversary book tour of critically acclaimed fantasy novel The Gifting begins on 27 August. It runs until 7 September and during that time you can win a Kindle ereader in the competition plus a host of other goodies. So don't miss out.

It's also not long before the UK GLBTQ Fiction conference in Brighton in September, so I'm very much looking forward to that. You can find out more about it, and some of the participants including myself, at Jessewave Reviews. I really can't wait! We're off to a cabaret on the Saturday night too, so that will be great.

And I'm looking forward to publishing my two Bible stories, Little Bird and A Small Betrayal, on Kindle under the title The Betrayal of Birds. The cover's really shaping up beautifully so I can't wait to reveal it. Other book news is that literary lesbian short story The Girl in The Painting was briefly at No 71 in the Amazon UK gay & lesbian charts, plus gay thriller A Dangerous Man gained a 5-star review at Goodreads (many thanks, Ayanna) and Where You Hurt The Most gained 4 stars (thank you, Silkeeeeee - I hope I'm getting the number of Es right there!).

Turning to more erudite matters (well, sort of ...), it's good to discover that Prince Harry (ah, you can always rely on a redhead) occasionally takes his clothes off and sometimes in a room with another person in it, hey ho. Mind you, I did enjoy the fact that the online US picture (no, really, you can Google it yourself if you wish to - my loyalty as a British subject naturally prevents me from aiding and abetting you ...) helpfully puts a red star over the prince's bottom so we can be spared the experience of the royal ... um ... passageway. How very thoughtful of them. Or perhaps, as K pondered earlier today, the big red star on the behind is how you recognise the rich folks. It could well be the case.

Speaking of husbands, K has gained a HUGE raft of Husband Points this week by (a) clearing out the garage so it now looks wonderfully ordered and neat; and (b) mending my computer chair. However, I gain equally HUGE numbers of Negative Wife Points as he mended my chair on Tuesday and I only just noticed it today (Thursday) - even though I'd been sitting on it since Tuesday evening ... Ah well, I never pretended to be the most observant of women.

The weekend's cake was Carrot Cake with Mascarpone Frosting, and I have to say it was really incredibly tasty. Mmmm, will definitely be making this one again. I particularly enjoyed the addition of walnuts and banana to it. Lovely!

I'm very happy with my Russian Giant sunflowers, as there are now two of them and very glorious they look as well. My indoor gloxinia is also beginning to come into flower, and I'll be taking a photo of that as soon as it's completely out.

Finally, a big thank you to my sister-in-law and her family, D, B & H, who came for lunch on Sunday and we had a fantastic time. Lunch at The Woolpack was wonderful too and that chocolate dessert was to die for. Bliss indeed.

Anne Brooke
The Gathandrian Fantasy Trilogy
Gay Reads UK
Biblical Fiction UK
Lori Olding - Children's Author