Supporting lesbian books - at what price?

[kannaophelia]

I've been reading, come some reason, old blog posts on the whole straightening of YA debacle from a while back. Not really in the mood to engage with all the she-said she-said only to note that I have no problem believing that it's harder to sell books with gay main characters, especially when I see people saying that characters shouldn't be gay "

Comments

[stormkpr]

You said it all. I'll keep supporting lesbian books because I think it's the right thing to do. But too many of them suck. I tried but couldn't finish "Ash".

[kannaophelia]

Ash is actually much better than Huntress. :|

[lilacsigil]

Just what you always wanted as a kid

I read a lot (a lot!) of crappy books as a kid. I think there's so many books out there that something with a point of difference that will really matter to some weird little kid is worth supporting. I can't possibly read all the books in the world, so "lesbian fantasy YA" (or SF in this case) makes it stand out from the crowd for me.

I also enjoyed Lo's first book and not her second, but this one sounds like exactly the kind of book I love, so I'm buying it anyway.

[kannaophelia]

Let me know what you think!

I actually wonder if Huntress was Lo's actual first book. More precisely, if she'd had it sitting in a drawer since she was fourteen, and she subbed it because Ash sold and they wanted more lesbian fantasy from her. But there's no excuse for the publisher in letting it go out in that state, IMO.

[meril]

I honestly don't think that buying traditionally-published lesbian fantasy will make publishers think the demand is for lesbian fantasy as opposed to whatever trope/high concept the book contains, or it will show that readers want more of that author specifically. I didn't like Ash much because I kept feeling like I had seen it before, and the lesbian romance was, as you said, arbitrary. I didn't pick up Huntress because it did seem like the sort of thing that I wouldn't like. I'm glad that Lo has sold 3 books with lesbian or bisexual protagonists, but I'm just thinking at this point (because I haven't seen much sff with lesbian/bi protagonists following) that it just shows that Malinda Lo's writing sells, not lesbians.

[kannaophelia]

My main problem with that is that I find it really hard to believe the writing that was in Huntress sells. But I suppose the writing in 50 Shades of Grey sells, too, so it doesn't prove much. :D