… everyfrigginwhere ménage-ry…
or should this be menagerie??
I know I’ve done a ‘maybe it’s me’ on this topic before, but I feel it warrants a follow up. In other words I need to rant about this because the saturation of this genre on the epublishing market is now beyond a fucking joke.
The 2007 and 2008 bestsellers list (appropriated from TPig) from Samhain Publishing make it extremely obvious these type of books are popular with readers, which is why publishers and authors – everyfrigginwhere – are churning these out like nobody’s business.
Well that’s what it looks like to me anyway. Like there is a mini-factory somewhere out there in publishingland manufacturing ménages to the detriment of m/f and m/m romances.
What about the readers who don’t fantasise about being in the middle of a meat sandwich? Or whose voyeuristic tendencies lean towards reading m/m as opposed to lying on a bed yelling ‘woot, go for it boys!’? What about me?
I admit I started reading m/f/m, quickly progressed to m/m/f and then ‘ended up kicking the chick to the curb most of the time like everyone else’ (quote from Emmy in the comments here, which sums up my own experience exactly).
There is also no doubt there are authors like Samantha Kane and Jet Mykles, who achieve great things with this genre. They have been writing m/m/f and m/f/m for some time and very successfully to the enjoyment of many readers. Although I often wonder how they feel about ‘their’ genre becoming not really a band wagon, but more a huge bloody road train with a gazillion trailers and carriages.
The (over)abundance of m/m/f in particular has made me completely intolerant of any stories along these lines and has led me to have the view some stories are perpetuating the myth m + f + m = m/m ok.
It worries me these books (and I know I’m speaking in lumps) send a message that if you add a chick into the mix it’s alright to engage in homosexual or bisexual activities. I’ve said it before: I don’t buy it and I think it’s wrong.
A blunt message to the epublishers of ménages:
For Christ sake, would you give it a rest already! How about meeting the market demands of ALL your readers?? Or at the very least have the integrity to publish decent ménage reads.
An even blunter message to the readers enjoying ménages:
Good for you, but how about you stop jonesying on the sex – because if you take a step back you’ll realise some of these are only about gratuitous sex – and start demanding books that deal with issues such as the relationship/s of the partners outside of the sex, familial expectations and reactions to the ménage, the attitude/s of society, the impact on any children there might be, etc, etc…
… you know the stuff which actually makes up a real story as opposed to chick porn??
Here endeth the rant.
Kris + Books = Good. *Sometimes*. 
Woo hoo! You just tell it like it is girl. Don’t hold back or anything. *cheering from the sidelines*heh heh.I think I must be the only m/m reading female who hasn’t read a m/m/f or m/f/m menage. This is because of some of the reasons you have claimed, Kris, as well as not wanting any girl cooties near my hot men.I’ve never liked the idea as it seems like it’s not really romance, just sexual kicks. I’m sure some authors write it well and explain the relationships between the three in such a way that it seems believable, but it just doesn’t push my buttons at all and raises such issues as infidelity within relationships – can you be unfaithful if you are both being unfaithful with the same man/woman at the same time? I suppose I’m making generalisations because I haven’t read any, but we all have a line somewhere and this type of menage is where I stop.m/m/m menage, however, is HOT!
Ah, I’ve finally found some penis-envying kindred spirits!I guiltily admit to having jumped on that menage train–it’s difficult for an erotic-romance author not to, because of the theme’s wild popularity–but the ride always made me…itchy. I finally realized, thanks to two male characters who demanded to be together, that the female presence always seemed intrusive. Worse yet, it seemed like a copout.So…I jumped off the train, got my men together sans any justification other than their attraction, and finally felt good.Thanks for speaking out on this, Kris. Honestly, that whole woman-as-a-link-between-hot-men trend has bugged me for a good long while. Healthy men don’t need a link, other than the ones they already have built-in. 😉
Jen, I think the ‘be nice’ filter has slipped considerably in the last few days. Whoops! He, he, he.The issue of being unfaithful is an interesting one. I’ve recently read the blurbs of several m/m/fs where the guy has always wanted the gal and convinces his guy, who up to this point has only been gay, to start a r/ship with said girl. WTF! I’d be well and truly pissed and hurt if this ever happened to me. How could you not resent that kind of thing?BTW, I can’t believe you’ve never read m/m/f or m/f/m. How did you get into reading m/m?Oh, and m/m/m… friggin HOT!
I got into m/m by being sucked in by the cover of “My Fair Captain” by JL Langley which was being shown on the Smart Bitches site. I was reading a lot of regencies at the time and thought it sounded quite fun.I also wanted to see what all the fuss was about m/m because I’d read a lot of stuff about it over the blogs.You’re not kidding about being bolshy at the moment! Was that you ranting about Jake over at Wave’s site?!I love Jake! *ducks*
LOL. Hey KZ *waves* come join the rest of us perves! It’s also great to get your perspective as an author.You wrote menage?! For shame, K Z, for shame. You ‘saw’ the light though, so all is forgiven. 🙂 I totally understand your comment about it seeming like a copout. As a reader who this genre is srsly pissing off I see it as a major copout by authors to pander to market demands as opposed to not writing straight (? ok that’s a bit weird) m/m. (Side note: for some unknown reason the names Butch and Z keep on going through my head.)Besides which it’s completely destroying the whole ‘artist-starving-in-a-garret-for-the-integrity-of-his/her-art’ thing I have in my mind. Talk about not catering to MY fantasies!
Jen, you DARE come on MY blog and start talking about ‘he who shall not be named’??I think I’m gonna start asking people to state their allegiances as part of their comments.Hmph, not happy in the slightest!
Jen’s allegiances:Jake = yay!Derek Craven = Boo!m/m/f menage = Boo!m/m/m menage = Yay!Shifted sex = yuk!aliens with two penises = WTF?I have many, many more!
ROFL! We should so do a post on this, Jen. Imagine the fun we could have… *g*PS – shifted sex = much ickynessaliens with two penises = a special type of mind
Oh yes, a joint post would be fun!
While I agree with you that there are WAY too many menages out there I do read them from time to time and enjoy them. Of course Samantha Kane’s my fav so far – I love her work. My personal preferences run toward m/f or m/m and keeping the 3rd person out of it. But I do have my moments! 🙂
Hey Tracy, I think my peeviness has been exacerbated by the glut of menage on the market. I’m so off put by it that’s it got to the stage where I will not start a series, even though I’ve heard incredible things about it, because I know that a female lover is added in later books.Having said all this, I absolutely HEART Jet Mykles and will read anything she writes, including menage. The rest…. meh.
Jen, when I get orgainsed, I’m so sending you an email about this – so much fun to be had!
I’m with ya sister! 🙂 And I heart Jet too.
I refuse to read Jet’s latest offering (so far) which is a M/M/f menage. No more girl cooties for me :)I think it’s time I did another poll this one about the fact that I can’t get a fricking book to read b/c all the DAMN publishers are on this menage bandwaggon. If I wanted to read M/F I would read het. We should revolt and write the pubs. (well I guess we can’t go that far)!! Maybe we could.Hey Kris how are you? After wanting to kill off my man Jake now you want to kill menages? *g*
I’m totally with you, Wave. I’m friggin sick of not being able to find anything to read because of all the bloody menage books. It’s getting ridiculous. So big yeses from me about doing a poll – the cool thing is you get a lot of authors and publishers stopping by your blog so at least some may take note of what readers are thinking at the moment.You may have noticed that I appear to be on a rant at the moment, Wave. LOL. Maybe it IS sleep deprivation brought on by pain-in-the-neck kittens.Regardless, I’m still thinking of making a strong argument to Josh about killing Jake off if he writes another book in the series. I’ve already started a list. 🙂
Menage…it depends. I mean the first book I ever down loaded from EC way back when ::cough two years ago possibly three:: was Lora Leigh’s Men of August. Whoa Boyz. Now that was an eye opener. There’s a progression most of us have made, your right, but…you know…some folks they love their meat sandwich, and others just like their meat.I like a little of everything.I’ll get creamed for this, I’m sure, but I see those pigpiles as kinky and m/m as normal. That’s just me.It’s not MORE I want to see in any genre; it’s better.
KrisI’m writing a post as we speak to see if anyone cares but just a small group of readers. I have to check a couple of things but I’ll send you a link when I do post – it’ll be soon!!
Hey LB, I’ve never thought of multis as being ‘kinky’ and m/m ‘normal’. I admit I have a tendency to agree with you on this one (but am secretly thanking God you brought it up first!).As you say, if what you get is ‘better’ in terms of storylines, character development and sex which is not gratuitous but assists/forms part of the plot, then maybe more readers like me would be interested. I am a believer in the ‘less is more’ approach – and this relates to both publishers and authors.
Wave: Goodo! It will be interesting to see the responses.
KrisMy post is up and you got an Honourable Mention *g* Your comments would be appreciated as usual.