Yay! Thank you :) That's very kind of you :D

LOL! I'd be very happy to if I possibly can :)

It's clear that we're not going to agree on this. I am happy that my books are supported by the evidence that I have read. It seems to me that you are determined to make me agree with your stance on the matter, but my research does not lead me to agree with you, and therefore I can't.

You've started to repeat yourself now, and if I replied, I would end up repeating myself too. I don't see the point of that. So, since we've both said what we want to say, I suggest we stop now and agree to disagree.

If your point is simply to persuade me that I shouldn't be writing m/m romance because egalitarian relationships were as unlikely between two men as they were between a man and a woman in the past, then I'm afraid that makes no difference to me. Even if I was persuaded that all m/m relationships everywhere had been unequal, I would still be writing slash.

As I have understood, they put on in lady's wear, copied female manners and named itself female names as though felt women. At your heroes it not so? ;-)

Some certainly did, but others didn't. As with anything human, there's a wide variety of responses even in a single culture, depending on the individuals involved. Similarly, some of my characters call themselves by women's names - Sweet Bess, for example. Some dress as women - Lt. Mitchell in "Desire and Disguise," for example. Alfie has experience of the London cruising grounds, where he could pick up a guardsman for a quick shag around the back of the Inns of court. And some - like John - have been closeted and in denial and don't have any experience of the scene at all.

I understand that you think I'm wrong. All I can say to that is, read Rictor Norton, and then read the source documents that he has archived. In a choice between using actual court reports of the 18th Century for evidence versus research about homosexuality in a different country in a different century, I choose to believe the 18th Century evidence.

And yes, there is evidence that when it came to the 18th Century navy, the cases which got taken to court martial were largely cases of men with boys. There are also records of cases where the partners were both the same age and rank - and they were whipped and dismissed from the service rather than being court martialled. There is no one size fits all expression of homosexuality in the 18th Century any more than there is nowadays.

Of course I tell my stories as a modern writer would, with the values of a modern writer. That's why - although I know man/boy relationships existed, I don't choose to write about them in a romance context (except to have Alfie horribly disappointed that Farrant refused to have one with him.) But that doesn't mean that I am playing fast and loose with history. I'm choosing between alternatives which were all recorded as existing at the time.

Hello Fiona! Thanks for the comment :) I understand what you are saying and I used to think that was the case as well. However, my mind was changed by reading Rictor Norton's research on the 18th Century Molly culture. He's condensed most of his arguments into his book, "Mother Clap's Molly House", but on his website he has links to the original source material from which he draws his conclusions. These are mostly records of trials for homosexuality at the Old Bailey.

A very convincing picture comes out that, in the 18th Century at least, the gay scene was very much already in its modern mode of dealings between adults, with the whole set up of gay bars (Molly houses) and cruising grounds that we are familiar with.

So I'm afraid I'm going to have to say that I did do my research first, and my books reflect the actual historical details of the 18th Century as far as it is possible to know them through modern scholarship. If you're interested, I definitely recommend Mother Clap's Molly House by Rictor Norton http://rictornorton.co.uk/molly.htm as a really eyeopening bit of research as well as a very entertaining book.

Hello Kim! Thank you so much for dropping by and telling me that you liked False Colors! I think I'm particularly pleased that you liked it even though you're not a romance reader. I always hoped that it was good enough to appeal to all kinds of readers, rather than just being confined to one genre. But loving the age of sail is certainly something we share :)

It's really kind of you to pop in and give me some encouragement. I needed it today!

Thank you,

Alex

*G* I keep finding mistakes in my own stuff, or historians open up some new avenue of research and what you think was true turns out not to be - so I can understand and forgive the occasional mistake. I think that a certain attitude or habit of attention to the history shows through nevertheless. You know? I forgive even a big mistake more easily if it seems clear to me that the author is consistently trying to be faithful to history. It's like a fall in Olympic level ice skating - it's a terrible shame, but you can still see the dedication and skill that went into the work. As opposed to someone who is lurching about on the ice trying to stay upright :)

Thanks Ruth! I think 'No Darkness' might be a bit too 'literary' in its aspirations for a lot of the romance blogs on which it's been reviewed so far. There's a lot of ambiguity and not a lot of comfort in it, but I still think it's brilliant :)

Ooh, what should I read of Wayne's then? Can you recommend anything in particular?

Absolutely. And yes, there are currently so many books I want to buy that I'm having to stick some on the waiting list until I've saved up for them, but that's all part of the whole budgeting thing that I'm sure everyone has to do. A month or so's waiting won't hurt me.

And to you too! Thanks for the congratulations on Wages of Sin! You've just reminded me that the print book was supposed to be out a week ago, and I haven't heard anything about that. The book cover awards were a big surprise as I'd forgotten I'd even entered the competition!

LOL! I like the sound of that. I'm all for nice complicated plots with lots of intersections and sub plots. I like a book to have texture and complexity, and you can do all kinds of interesting mirroring and contrasting of themes that way :) So I am sure it will be worth it, even if it's making you pull your hair out at present! At least having an ending will simplify things because you know what you're aiming for.