recommendations

[vsvs44]

Hi. I'm new here and I just didn't know where else to go for

some recommendations.

I'm looking for any online or paperback fiction stories concerning gay youths in "rural" environments. A prime example of this is Dream Boy by Jim Grimsley. Lots of woods/sunlight/trees in that book. That kind of thing.

Also, any gay short films of any kind.

Thanks.

[Bruin Fisher]

Hi. I'm new here and I just didn't know where else to go for some recommendations.

I'm looking for any online or paperback fiction stories concerning gay youths in "rural" environments. A prime example of this is Dream Boy by Jim Grimsley. Lots of woods/sunlight/trees in that book. That kind of thing.

Also, any gay short films of any kind.

Thanks.

Firstly, welcome! I'm fairly new here myself and I'm sure, like me, you will quickly feel at home.

Gay youth stories in rural environments? That's a broad range, and it would help to narrow it down a bit so I looked up the book you mention and on Jim Grimsley's site it's described this way:

Dream Boy

(Scribner, 1997)

Set in North Carolina, this novel "centers on Nathan, a shy, bright high-school sophomore who falls in love with Roy, the farm boy next door. The danger of discovery is compounded by hints of abuse from Nathan's father, which become explicit when the man tries to molest him. Nathan escapes on a camping trip with Roy and his two friends, a jaunt that ends in horror when the friends find the secret lovers in a compromising position, and one of the boys brutally rapes Nathan. But Roy at last openly accepts the younger boy as his lover."

Well I haven't read any of Jim Grimsley's work so I can't comment, but the setting, gay explorations during a camping trip, is one of those clich?s of gay fiction. The Nifty archive has a whole category for it and if that's what you're looking for you might find it there at www.nifty.org.

Not sure how 'new' you are, so it might be appropriate to point out that Nifty is a vast archive of erotica, and not all of it is good by any means. If you are under the age at which it is legal for you to read such stuff in your country, Nifty is not a good place for you to be. If you are looking for good quality writing that may or may not count as erotica, you might be better to look here at AwesomeDude, or on one of the other Gay Fiction sites. If you look at the home page here you will see some suggested sites, including Gay Authors, Archerland, IOMFATS, The Hub. IOMFATS hosts the writing of Grasshopper and his lastest story, Darkfall, is an epic set in a rural environment that covers the youth of the protagonists. It was discussed recently in the forums here and was received very favourably. But it's far from being a 'romp in the woods' camping story.

I do have one rather radical suggestion - if you know just the kind of story you're looking for, why not try writing one? That's how many of us got started and you never know what might come of it!

Hope this helps a little - others may have better suggestions, specific recommendations.

Bruin

[Trab]

You might also like Grasshopper's Dreamchasers, I know I did.

http://www.iomfats.org/storyshelf/hosted/grasshopper/

[vwl]

Though the characters are older in the works of Rock Lane Cooper, the series that starts with Two Men in a Pickup is one of the best. They can be reached through the Best of Nifty listing button at the top of the AD page.

Also, Desert Sons and follow-on by Mark Kendrick--through the links page at Crvboy.org-- and Ron Donaghe's Common Sons trilogy are very fine (at rldbooks.com)

[Camy]

http://www.iomfats.org/storyshelf/hosted/grasshopper/

Both 'Promises to Keep' and 'Darkfall' are great stories, as is Trab's recommendation: 'Dreamchasers'.

[JamesSavik]

I think you would like Driver's stories and maybe Freethinker. They have a very familiar small town flavor.

Freethinkers stories can be found here at AD.

Drivers stories can be found at Stories by Driver

[vsvs44]

Bruin, I'm not new to Nifty at all. I just got tired of sifting through all of it to find what I wanted. So I came to you guys. Thanks for the recs everybody, I'll consider them all.

Now just to narrow things a bit: please recommend any gay paperback fiction novels. You know, your favorite. I'd appreciate it.

[colinian]

Now just to narrow things a bit: please recommend any gay paperback fiction novels. You know, your favorite. I'd appreciate it.

My #1 favorite gay fiction novel is Leave Myself Behind by Bart Yates. You can get the paperback edition on amazon.com for $10.20. Search for Bart Yates (for some reason a title search didn't find this title for me). The protagonist, Noah York, is 17 is one of the most fully drawn gay characters I've ever read about. The book is funny... no, it's hilarious, with page after page of laugh-out-loud teen dialogue and narrative. The story is not only a coming of age novel but is also an amazing mystery story, a story about kids relating to their parents, and a story about twisted and dysfunctional families. I give it ten stars on a five-star scale.

Colin

[Camy]

My #1 favorite gay fiction novel is Leave Myself Behind by Bart Yates.

The author's website - with excerpts from his two novels: http://www.bartyates.com

Hmm. How odd it is that the Raccoon's den is becoming all literary (striped smoking jackets, pince-nez and wiffly pipes). Shouldn't we be robbing rubbish?

[Tanuki Racoon]

I think you would like Driver's stories and maybe Freethinker. They have a very familiar small town flavor.

I might disagree if this member is looking for lots of sex. Driver's stories do not have lots of sex. I don't think in that case it's a good recommendation. If the member wants GOOD, WELL-WRITTEN set in the rural area, certainly. If he wants porn, definitely not.

[Trab]

I'll add my two bits worth here: I don't think it is really even possible to write a 'good' sex filled story. I think the sheer baseness of the act, repeated over and over, precludes a meaningful and good tale. In the same vein, I can't see how someone could write a good story about other excretory functions, whether urinary, intestinal, oesophageal, nasal or ocular in nature. It is the emotions, and the complexities woven from different characters that makes a tale worthwhile.

[The Pecman]

I'll add my two bits worth here: I don't think it is really even possible to write a 'good' sex filled story.

I guess that would depend on what you define as a "sex-filled story."

I would say that John Rechy's work, particularly City of Night and The Sexual Outlaw, clearly falls into the category of a classic sex-filled novel with real literary merit. Rechy has won a couple of dozen awards and written several best-sellers. So it can be done; it's just rare.

I continue to believe that having no sexual content in a romantic situation is disingenuous, especially if the characters involved are teenagers (male or female). I think it can be done in a way that's subtle and interesting, and my opinion is that's the difference between erotica and pornography. To me, if the sex is the point of the story, it's the latter. If the story just has a few sexual moments here and there, then it's erotica. I have little interest in porno as a writer, but at the same time, I wouldn't say it's impossible to write a good one, even one with very high literary merit.

Read John Rechy's works before dismissing the entire category out of hand. The subject matter may not be your cup of tea, but there's no denying that the guy's a brilliant writer.

[Cole Parker]

I may be wrong--something that occurs way too often--but I don't see where this request for references to good stories has mentioned the word 'sex-filled.' Didn't we have two requests like this? One asked for the stories to be full of randy, raunchy sex, and this one didn't say that at all. What I don't know is if this is the same person, simply asking the same question again, or were there two people asking for sort of the same information.

If it's the latter, and this person is simply asking for well-written stories containing outdoor scenes, then we owe him an apology.

If both these requests are from the same person, then, that's different.

Anyway, here's a link to a fine story, and much of it occurs outdoors:

http://www.iomfats.org/storyshelf/hosted/feangol/

Cole

[Tanuki Racoon]

Yes, Cole, you're right (first for everything, I suppose).

Seriously, though. I don't classify Driver's work as "Gay" because they are stories. Sometimes there happens to be characters. Sometimes not. This person was looking for GAY stories. While I think any intelligent person would love Driver's work, if you're wanting GAY, don't read Driver. I was trying to clarify -- most people seem to be looking for Gay With Porn elements. I should have been more clear in what I was saying.

[Cole Parker]

My opinion, for what it's worth, is that everyone was mixing this request for info with Ian's (yes, I went back and looked!) Ian wanted raunch, this request was for good stories that had an outdoors component to them.

I think we've given him some good leads.

C

[vsvs44]

Yeah...I'm not "Ian".

What I really meant by "gay" was male homosexual love stories, whether it has pornographic descriptions or not. If not, whatev. If so, awesome.

Thanks for the recs, nonetheless.

P.S.

I think the sheer baseness of the act, repeated over and over, precludes a meaningful and good tale.

whaa?! That's silly.

[DesDownunder]

At the risk of being monotonous, which the b/f says I am, if not predictable, may I once more implore all lovers of romantic stories to read Mary Renault's books from the 1950s. These were banned in some countries, but should be freely available now.

Mary's stories are set in the Hellenic period of Greece and are like Josh's Jeet without the sex.

(Josh's Jeet by the way is an extraordinary tale.)

But they are gloriously romantic, depicting male love of the period.

Try her;

"The Last of the Wine"

and

"The Mask of Apollo." (a kind of ancient Greece gay equivalent to Stanislavsky's "An actor Prepares.' (which is not gay.)

If it is romance you want, she delivers.

Mary was a lesbian with a knack for writing gay stories about men. That she did this during a time when homosexuality was thought to be an unnatural act punishable by prison in most countries, is even more amazing.

Don't delay, order her books today.

[The Pecman]

...but I don't see where this request for references to good stories has mentioned the word 'sex-filled.'

I was very clearly responding to Trab's comment. My point was it is possible to have a sexual story that's very well written -- but that they're rare.

To the original poster: there are whole collections of rural-based gay stories, some of which are carried by the Insight Out book club. You can reach them here:

http://www.insightoutbooks.com

Even if you're not a member, you can go through their listings and find quite a few interesting titles. Nifty has an entire section devoted to gay rural stories:

http://library.gaycafe.com/nifty/gay/rural/index.html

but, as you might expect, the quality varies all over the map.

My current novel, Pieces of Destiny, currently takes place on an 1864 Missouri farm, but I'd count it more as an SF/action-adventure story, rather than a rural story per se.

[The Pecman]

And speaking of gay short films, the best series I've ever seen is Boys Life, which is now up to six different DVDs. They're not sexually explicit (maybe a soft R at best), but some are very thought-provoking, well-acted, and quite emotional. I've only seen a couple of them, but one of them from Boys Life 5 really struck me. (In fact, I used an incident from that film as a brief backstory in one of my novels.)

You can see a rundown of the discs here:

http://www.tlavideo.com/results/index.cfm?...ubmitBtn=Search

and I'm sure they're rentable from most mainstream video companies like Netflix.

[sumbloke]

Hi. I'm new here and I just didn't know where else to go for

some recommendations.

I'm looking for any online or paperback fiction stories concerning gay youths in "rural" environments. A prime example of this is Dream Boy by Jim Grimsley. Lots of woods/sunlight/trees in that book. That kind of thing.

Also, any gay short films of any kind.

Thanks.

Marc Roeder's stories have rural settings. I have to say, that while I like Roeder's books and he's a decent writer, they are sometimes too pessimistic and a little didactic. On the whole though they are enjoyable.

[sumbloke]

At the risk of being monotonous, which the b/f says I am, if not predictable, may I once more implore all lovers of romantic stories to read Mary Renault's books from the 1950s. These were banned in some countries, but should be freely available now.

Mary's stories are set in the Hellenic period of Greece and are like Josh's Jeet without the sex.

(Josh's Jeet by the way is an extraordinary tale.)

But they are gloriously romantic, depicting male love of the period.

Try her;

"The Last of the Wine"

and

"The Mask of Apollo." (a kind of ancient Greece gay equivalent to Stanislavsky's "An actor Prepares.' (which is not gay.)

If it is romance you want, she delivers.

Mary was a lesbian with a knack for writing gay stories about men. That she did this during a time when homosexuality was thought to be an unnatural act punishable by prison in most countries, is even more amazing.

Don't delay, order her books today.

Bump this thread! LOL.

Seriously, I went through a period when I just couldn't bring myself to read any more Greek history - and alright by that I mean Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon, so I think I had the right! Mary Renault saved it all for me. Her novels set in ancient Greece are all great to read - on one level I think most teenagers could just enjoy them as stories and adventures; they are all beautifully written and some of them are very profound meditations on morality, love and power. The Charioteers is another absolute knock out. It's a very moving story. I would say that I don't think it has quite the teen appeal of the Greek stories.

But...I love her - and I owe her a debt of thanks for making ancient Greece come alive again.

Yak

[sumbloke]

As for films. These are enjoyable

Summer Storm

A Cause d'un Garcon

C.R.A.Z.Y.

Well and lots of others.

[sumbloke]

Bump this thread! LOL.

Seriously, I went through a period when I just couldn't bring myself to read any more Greek history - and alright by that I mean Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon, so I think I had the right! Mary Renault saved it all for me. Her novels set in ancient Greece are all great to read - on one level I think most teenagers could just enjoy them as stories and adventures; they are all beautifully written and some of them are very profound meditations on morality, love and power. The Charioteers is another absolute knock out. It's a very moving story. I would say that I don't think it has quite the teen appeal of the Greek stories.

But...I love her - and I owe her a debt of thanks for making ancient Greece come alive again.

Yak

And...then I remembered something - something that answered a little itching voice in the back of my head. When Renault and her lover Julie moved to South Africa, they joined the Black Sash movement protesting against the racist apartheid government. It's shaming to think about, two well brought up, upper class English women who went to South Africa to get away from prejudice - they apparently didn't think twice about putting themselves on the line to protest against racist injustice. Gotta love 'em.

[Drewbie]

As for films. These are enjoyable

Summer Storm

A Cause d'un Garcon

C.R.A.Z.Y.

Well and lots of others.

or how it's properly spelled :p Sommersturm.

Beautiful thing is another goodie, another good ones least by previews shelter looks good, I'll recommend it if I like it.

[The Pecman]

Mark Roeder's stories have rural settings. I have to say, that while I like Roeder's books and he's a decent writer, they are sometimes too pessimistic and a little didactic.

I have some issues with some of Mark's books, but he's got a lot of heart, as do his characters, and most of his stories are quite affecting. A few years ago, I contributed a little bit to his novel Keeper of Secrets, and got the inspiration for a gay Civil War-era story, after thinking about the 1800s ghosts in his story. Mark wasn't interested in pursuing that plot-line, but he encouraged me to try it myself, and that's what led to Pieces of Destiny.

BTW, with luck, we'll have another chapter done right after the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, when I get some much-needed time off from my day job.