LGBTQ romance is a genre within

gay literature Gay literature is a collective term for literature produced by or for the gay community which involves characters, plot lines, and/or themes portraying male homosexual behavior. Overview and history Because the social acceptance of homosexuali ...

and

romance fiction A romance or romantic novel is a genre fiction novel that primarily focuses on the relationship and romantic love between two people, typically with an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. Authors who have contributed to the developme ...

focused on same-sex characters who fall in love and have a

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...

or homoromantic relationship. The genre has met with increasing acceptance and sales from the 1980s onward. Bussel, in ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'', notes that as of 2020, presses that specialize in LGBTQ romance, mainstream publishers, and booksellers are expanding their offerings and inviting a more diverse authorship.

M M romance genre

Term

This genre of gay romance was originally called "M/M Romance" (from

slash fiction Slash fiction (also known as "m/m slash" or slashfic) is a genre of fan fiction that focuses on Romance (love), romantic or sexual attraction, sexual relationships between fictional characters of the same sex.Bacon-Smith, Camille. "Spock Among ...

, meaning male-on-male not mass-market), but is now often called "M M Romance" or "mm romance", and features queer men falling in love. The term was in use on

fan fiction Fan fiction or fanfiction, also known as fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF, is fiction typically written in an amateur capacity by fans as a form of fan labor, unauthorized by, but based on, an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted ...

sites by 2004. By 2008, hundreds of such novels were being published.

History of genre

A 2009 article in the gay newspaper '' The Liberty Press'' stated that the genre was emerging: ""slash' fiction has been around for decades. Women were writing '

Kirk/Spock Kirk/Spock, commonly abbreviated as K/S or Spirk and referring to James T. Kirk and Spock from ''Star Trek'', is a popular pair in slash fiction, possibly the first slash pairing, according to Henry Jenkins, an early slash fiction scholar. Earl ...

' romances long before the Internet even existed. But up to now, none has been published by mainstream presses and stocked next to the

bodice ripper A romance or romantic novel is a genre fiction novel that primarily focuses on the relationship and romantic love between two people, typically with an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. Authors who have contributed to the developme ...

s." Also in 2009, the first mainstream review of a novel marketed as "an M/M Romance" appeared, announcing that "male/male romantic historical fiction is the newest publishing trend." In 2010, ''

Rolling Stone Magazine ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known ...

'' and ''

Out magazine ''Out'' is an American LGBTQ news, fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle magazine, with the highest circulation of any LGBTQ monthly publication in the United States. ''Out'' was owned by Robert Hardman of Boston, its original investor, until 2 ...

'' named M/M romance one of the hottest developing literary trends. In 2011, ''

Library Journal ''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...

'' described the genre as "male-on-male, or M/M romance" and mentioned that it was "mostly written and read by straight women." It speculated that ''

Queer as Folk ''Queer as Folk'' may refer to: * Queer as Folk (British TV series), ''Queer as Folk'' (British TV series), 1999–2000 * Queer as Folk (American TV series), ''Queer as Folk'' (American TV series), a 2000–2005 American and Canadian version of th ...

'' and the 2005 ''

Brokeback Mountain ''Brokeback Mountain'' is a 2005 American neo-Western romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee and produced by Diana Ossana and James Schamus. Adapted from Brokeback Mountain (short story), the 1997 short story by Annie Proulx, the screenplay ...

'' drove the genre's expansion but that its origins were "in the

genre of the 1990s in which

erotic fiction Erotic fiction is a part of erotic literature and a genre of fiction that portrays sex or sexual themes, generally in a more literary or serious way than the fiction seen in pornographic magazines. It sometimes includes elements of satire or so ...

about television, book, and movie characters found a lively audience online." ''Library Journal'' also noted that

yaoi , also known by its abbreviation , is a genre of fictional media originating in Japan that depicts homoerotic relationships between male characters. It is typically created by women for a female audience, distinguishing it from the equivale ...

graphic narratives, popular with Japanese women since the 1980s, were an influence on the M/M genre. Since January 2010, the genre of M/M Romance has tripled in Amazon's online

Kindle Store The Kindle Store is an online e-book e-commerce store operated by Amazon as part of its retail website and can be accessed from any Amazon Kindle, Fire tablet, or Kindle mobile app. At the launch of the Kindle in November 2007, the store had ...

.Iannacci, Elio. (February 11, 2011).
What women want: Gay male romance novels
" ''The Globe and Mail.'' Emerging from the margins, best-selling romance authors began to write M/M romance novels.Jones, Michael M. (June 8, 2015).

''Publishers Weekly.'' Vol. 262, Iss. 23, pages 24-28. The

Lambda Literary Award for Gay Romance The Lambda Literary Award for Gay Romance is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation, to a novel, novella, or short story collection "by a single author that focus on a central love relationship between two or more ch ...

was first awarded in 2007. In 2015, M/M romances were nominated for RITAs for the first time.

Sub-genres

Some of the sub-niche categories are

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

, "gay-for-you" and "first-time gay." Some M/M romance novels feature

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

asexual Asexual or Asexuals may refer to: *Asexual reproduction **Asexual reproduction in starfish *Asexuality, the lack of sexual attraction to anyone or lack of interest in or desire for sexual activity. **Gray asexuality, the spectrum between asexualit ...

protagonists. Some feature Christian characters or are in the

Amish romance Amish romance is a literary subgenre of Christian fiction featuring Amish characters, but written and read mostly by evangelical Christian women. An industry term for Amish romance novels is "bonnet rippers" because most feature a woman in a bonn ...

genre. Some are m/m/f romance novels, featuring

polyamory Polyamory () is the practice of, or the desire for, romantic relationships with more than one partner at the same time, with the informed consent of all partners involved. Some people who identify as polyamorous believe in consensual non-mon ...

pansexual Pansexuality is sexual, romantic, or emotional attraction towards people of all genders, or regardless of their sex or gender identity. Pansexual people may refer to themselves as gender-blind, asserting that gender and sex are not determ ...

ity, and

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

ity.

Authors

Authors writing M/M Romance fiction in the early aught years include

Victor J. Banis Victor Jerome Banis (May 25, 1937 – February 22, 2019) was an American author, often associated with the first wave of West Coast gay writing. For his contributions he has been called "the godfather of modern popular gay fiction." He was openl ...

, Alex Beecroft, Rob Byrnes,

Johnny Diaz Johnny Diaz is an American novelist and a journalist for ''The New York Times''. He previously worked for the ''Sun Sentinel'', where he wrote local feature stories about South Florida, and as a media reporter for the business section of ''The B ...

, Erastes, and

Marshall Thornton Marshall Thornton is an American writer of gay and lesbian mysteries best known for his ''Boystown'' series. He's won the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Mystery thrice and has been a finalist for the award six times. He's also been a finalist for ...

. Later authors writing in this genre include Andre Aciman,

Becky Albertalli Rebecca Albertalli (née Goldstein; born November 17, 1982) is an American author of young adult fiction and former psychologist. She is known for her 2015 debut novel, '' Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda'', which was adapted into the 2018 fil ...

Jay Bell Jay Stuart Bell (born December 11, 1965) is an American former Major League Baseball shortstop and former manager of the Rocket City Trash Pandas of the Southern League. He played for the Cleveland Indians (1986–1988), Pittsburgh Pirates (19 ...

Brad Boney Brad Boney is an American author of gay and lesbian fiction. Two of his novels have been finalists for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Romance. Personal life Born in Findlay, Ohio, Boney lived in Washington, D.C., and Houston before settling ...

Jane Jensen Jane Jensen (born January 28, 1963) is an American video game designer and author. She is the creator of the ''Gabriel Knight'' series of adventure games, and also co-founded Oberon Media and Pinkerton Road video game development companies. Je ...

, Rhys Ford,

Andrew Sean Greer Andrew Sean Greer (born November 21, 1970) is an American novelist and short story writer. Greer received the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel ''Less (novel), Less''. He is the author of ''The Story of a Marriage'', which ''The New ...

, Ginn Hale, Alexis Hall, Shaun David Hutchinson, T. J. Klune,

Bill Konigsberg Bill Konigsberg (born November 11, 1970) is an American author, best known for his LGBT novels. He wrote ''Out of the Pocket'', '' Openly Straight'', ''The Porcupine of Truth'', ''Honestly Ben'', ''The Music of What Happens'', and ''The Bridge' ...

Casey McQuiston Casey McQuiston (born January 21, 1991) is an American author of romance novels in the new adult fiction genre, best known for their ''New York Times'' best-selling debut novel '' Red, White & Royal Blue'', in which the son of America's first fe ...

, C. S. Pacat, Roan Parrish, Neil S. Plakcy,

Rainbow Rowell Rainbow Rowell (born February 24, 1973) is an American author known for young adult and adult contemporary novels. Her young adult novels '' Eleanor & Park'' (2012), '' Fangirl'' (2013), and '' Carry On'' (2015) have been subjects of critical accl ...

Paul Rudnick Paul Rudnick (born December 29, 1957) is an American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and essayist. His plays have been produced on and off Broadway theatre, Broadway. He wrote the screenplays for ''Sister Act'', ''Addams Family Values'', Jef ...

, and

Adam Silvera Adam Silvera (born June 7, 1990) is an American author of young adult fiction novels, known for his bestselling novels '' They Both Die at the End'', '' More Happy Than Not'', and '' History Is All You Left Me.'' Early life Adam Silvera was bor ...

Publishers

Dreamspinner Press (founded in 2007), Less than Three (2009),

Running Press Running Press is an American publishing company and member of the Perseus Books Group, a division of the Hachette Book Group. The publisher's offices are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with many of the corporate functions taking place in ...

, Loose Id (now closed),

Carina Press Harlequin Enterprises ULC (known simply as Harlequin) is a publisher of romance, women's fiction and various other genres under multiple publishing imprints. Founded in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1949, from the 1960s, it grew into the largest publish ...

, InterMix, MLR (ManLoveRomance), and Riptide Publishing (2011) were founded to publish gay romantic fiction almost exclusively. Others, such as Decadent Publishing (2010), began as traditional romance imprints and shifted their focuses toward inclusive pairings, including gay romance, in recent years.

Controversy

The majority of gay romance novels are written by and for women. The issue of whether women should write books featuring gay men has been a frequent topic of popular and scholarly discussion. Foster suggests that the

heteronormative Heteronormativity is the definition of heterosexuality as the normative human sexuality. It assumes the gender binary (i.e., that there are only two distinct, opposite genders) and that sexual and marital relations are most fitting between peo ...

assumption that the readership of this genre is completely straight might be inaccurate

Lesbian romance genre

{{See also, Girls' love

Term

This genre of lesbian romance was originally called "W/W Romance" (from

, meaning female-on-female not mass-market), but is now often called "W W Romance" or "ww romance", and features queer women falling in love.

History of genre

Lesbian romance is a genre within

and

. Scholarship on this genre dates back to the 1980s, but only became common in the 1990s. Scholars have defined the tropes of this genre: "Like the classic Greek romances, the themes of removal to a distant place, captivity, isolation, escape, search, and pursuit characterize the lesbian romance novel. Typically, the smooth progression of the budding romance is jeopardized by some obstacle to love. The subsequent separation or threat of separation stimulates the lovers' (and readers') concerns over whether the longed for union will be achieved. Once the pair overcome the age, class, or race barriers and is united, they supposedly live happily ever after."Rose, Suzanna, Debra Zand, and M. Cini. "Lesbian courtship scripts." ''Rothblum & KA Brehony (Eds.), Boston marriages: Romantic but asexual relationships among contemporary lesbians'' (1993): 70–85.

Authors

Authors in this genre include Sarah Aldridge, Georgia Beers,

Andrea Bramhall Andrea Bramhall (born 26 January 1979) is a British writer. Her novel ''Clean Slate'' won the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Romance. She's also been a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Romance twice and Lambda Literary Award f ...

, Jae,

Karin Kallmaker Karin Kallmaker (born 1960) is an American author of lesbian fiction whose works also include those originally written under the name Laura Adams. Her writings span lesbian romance, lesbian erotica, and lesbian science-fiction/fantasy. Dubbed th ...

Lori L. Lake Lori L. Lake (born February 9, 1960) is an American writer of fiction, mainly about lesbian protagonists. She is also an editor, writing instructor, and former publisher. Personal life Lake was born in Portland, Oregon, the oldest of five daught ...

Beth Bernobich Beth Bernobich (born 1959) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. She also goes by the pen name Claire O'Dell. She was born in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania in 1959. Her first novel, ''Passion Play'' was published by Tor Books in October 20 ...

Radclyffe Radclyffe (real name Dr. Lenora Ruth Barot, born 1950) is an American author of lesbian romance, paranormal romance, erotica, and mystery. She has authored multiple short stories, written fan fiction, and edited numerous anthologies. Radclyffe i ...

, and

Merry Shannon Merry Shannon (born June 12, 1979) is an American author. She writes lesbian romance/adventure novels and short stories published by Bold Strokes Books. Life Shannon was born in Sacramento, California, and grew up in Texas and Colorado. She recei ...

Publishers

Some publishing houses, such as

Bella Books Bella Books is a small press publisher of lesbian literature Lesbian literature is a subgenre of literature addressing lesbian themes. It includes poetry, plays, fiction addressing lesbian characters, and non-fiction about lesbian-interest ...

Bold Strokes Books Bold Strokes Books is a midsized independent publisher headquartered in Cambridge, New York that offers a diverse collection of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer general and genre fiction. Their list includes romance, mystery/intrigu ...

Regal Crest Enterprises Regal Crest Enterprises (RCE), established 1999, is a small press publisher of lesbian literature. As of January 1, 2021, RCE became an imprint of Flashpoint Publications and is based in Ohio. Since the publication of its first title in 1999, R ...

, and Spinsters Ink, focus on lesbian romance novels.

References

LGBTQ literature Romance (genre) Queer culture