The Inside Reader: Lynn Flewelling
Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends - Silas Weir MitchellI "met" Lynn Flewelling for real once, in September 2008 at YaoiCon. I was in the audience of the panel she had on gay characters, and the discussion shifted on why women read gay themed novel. Truth be told the audience was a little shy, and when Lynn asked our opinion, few of us had the courage to lift the hand. At first I didn't want, my spoken English is way worst than my written, but in the end I did (maybe surprising Z.A. Maxfield (
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
abstractrx) and Clare London (clarelondon) who were sitting near me ;-) Hi Ladies!). Anyway I remember that Lynn told me (and she confirmed it some days ago) that my theory can have some points. Personal remembrances aside, I'm really happy to have Lynn as Inside Reader this week. Enjoy her wonderful list! 
1) Fire From Heaven & The Persian Boy by Mary Renault. As I recall, Renault's work was my first experience of queer content literature. I discovered her books in high school because I love Greek history and mythology, and here if I first found gay characters in the mainstream of the plots, often as the heroes, in the process. In Fire From Heaven, Alexander the Great comes of age, and falls in love with his best friend, Hephaestion, just like Achilles and Patrocles. It was all so beautiful and heroic and exciting. I believe that comes out in my own work and I thank Renault for that early influence. As for the Persian Boy? Well, who doesn't love a sexy slave boy story? I know this one shows up on a lot of people's list of favorites. Seriously, though, the history is well done. That's right; the history. Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Vintage (June 11, 2002)
Publisher Link: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375726828
ISBN-10: 0375726829
ISBN-13: 978-0375726828
Amazon: Fire From Heaven
“Written with her usual vigor and imagination...Mary Renault has a great talent.”–The New York Times Book Review. Alexander’s beauty, strength, and defiance were apparent from birth, but his boyhood honed those gifts into the makings of a king. His mother, Olympias, and his father, King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son’s loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle. His love for the youth Hephaistion taught him trust, while Aristotle’s tutoring provoked his mind and Homer’s Iliad fueled his aspirations. Killing his first man in battle at the age of twelve, he became regent at sixteen and commander of Macedon’s cavalry at eighteen, so that by the time his father was murdered, Alexander’s skills had grown to match his fiery ambition.
Paperback: 432 pages Publisher: Vintage (February 12, 1988)
Publisher Link: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780394751016
ISBN-10: 0394751019
ISBN-13: 978-0394751016
Amazon: The Persian Boy
“It takes skill to depict, as Miss Renault has done, this half-man, half Courtesan who is so deeply in love with the warrior.”–The Atlantic Monthly. The Persian Boy traces the last years of Alexander’s life through the eyes of his lover, Bagoas. Abducted and gelded as a boy, Bagoas was sold as a courtesan to King Darius of Persia, but found freedom with Alexander after the Macedon army conquered his homeland. Their relationship sustains Alexander as he weathers assassination plots, the demands of two foreign wives, a sometimes-mutinous army, and his own ferocious temper. After Alexander’s mysterious death, we are left wondering if this Persian boy understood the great warrior and his ambitions better than anyone.
( books from 2 to 10 )
About Lynn Flewelling: Aside from pondering otters, Lynn Beaulieu was born on October 20, 1958, in Presque Isle, Maine, which--contrary to common assumption--is not an island, or anywhere near the ocean but deep in the North Maine Woods with lots of lakes, mountains, and potato farms. Her mother's people were from the coast, however, and she spent a great deal of time on Frenchman's Bay. She has travelled the world and found no more beautiful or inspiring place.
She received her undergraduate from the University of Maine at Presque Isle, where she majored in English, minored in History, and received a teaching certificate she had no intention of ever using. She married Douglas Flewelling in 1981. Since then, she has studied literature, veterinary medicine, ancient Greek among other things, and worked as a necropsy technician, a house painter, an office worker, a freelance editor, a freelance journalist (Other Writings), and yes, even as a teacher now and then, an instructor of workshops--on creativity and fiction writing. Her article "the Complete Nobody's Guide to Query Letters" has recently been reprinted as a chapter in Moira Allen's excellent book, Writer's Guide to Queries, Pitches & Proposals.
She is available for lectures and workshops. Contact her at: http://www.sff.net/people/Lynn.Flewelling/
Her fantasy novels have received worldwide acclaim and currently appear in twelve languages.
The White Road by Lynn Flewelling Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Spectra (May 25, 2010)
Publisher Link: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553590098
ISBN-10: 055359009X
ISBN-13: 978-0553590098
Amazon: The White Road
The White Road is the fifth book in The Nightrunner Series. It will be published by Bantam Spectra on May 25th, 2010.
The official summary given at the end of Shadows Return implies that the plot will deal with the Hâzadriëlfaie, a group of Aurënfaie who have cut themselves off from everyone else. They are Alec's ancestors, from his mother's side. In Shadows Return, there is foreshadowing that the Hâzadriëlfaie will attempt to seek out and kill Sebrahn, a child born from Alec through alchemy, and what they call a white child.
1) Fire From Heaven & The Persian Boy by Mary Renault. As I recall, Renault's work was my first experience of queer content literature. I discovered her books in high school because I love Greek history and mythology, and here if I first found gay characters in the mainstream of the plots, often as the heroes, in the process. In Fire From Heaven, Alexander the Great comes of age, and falls in love with his best friend, Hephaestion, just like Achilles and Patrocles. It was all so beautiful and heroic and exciting. I believe that comes out in my own work and I thank Renault for that early influence. As for the Persian Boy? Well, who doesn't love a sexy slave boy story? I know this one shows up on a lot of people's list of favorites. Seriously, though, the history is well done. That's right; the history. 
Paperback: 432 pages 
The White Road by Lynn Flewelling 
Loving Nate is an example of “inspirational” romance. Usually this type of romances are worthy more for their messages than their story, but I think that Nate and Tate’s story, even if maybe a bit too naïve, it’s a nice one. 
Loving Nate is an example of “inspirational” romance. Usually this type of romances are worthy more for their messages than their story, but I think that Nate and Tate’s story, even if maybe a bit too naïve, it’s a nice one. 
I know that, speaking of vampires, best friends or fantasy lords, a book by Sharon Maria Bidwell never disappoint me. And so enjoy a perfect medieval breeches rippers romp! As usual, I have to classify this as a fantasy, since in real medieval time there were nothing comparable to the figure of the adamite-knave, the male prostitute impersonated by sweet Licinius. But the author is up-front with that, and in a preface of the novella she explains, more or less, that this is a work of love, the love she has for ancient things and for men loving men. So yes, in reality, Licinius and Crassius were not allowed not only to love each other, but probably neither to live. Above all, Crassius would not be a favourite knight of the king. 
I know that, speaking of vampires, best friends or fantasy lords, a book by Sharon Maria Bidwell never disappoint me. And so enjoy a perfect medieval breeches rippers romp! As usual, I have to classify this as a fantasy, since in real medieval time there were nothing comparable to the figure of the adamite-knave, the male prostitute impersonated by sweet Licinius. But the author is up-front with that, and in a preface of the novella she explains, more or less, that this is a work of love, the love she has for ancient things and for men loving men. So yes, in reality, Licinius and Crassius were not allowed not only to love each other, but probably neither to live. Above all, Crassius would not be a favourite knight of the king.