Life with Mr Brammers

[blamebrampton]

'Hey, you'll probably like this book I'm reading.'

'Oh yes? Why?'

'It's a fantasy and the hero is gay. You should tell all your internet friends, they'll love it.'

'Is that so?

'Yeah, and the heroine's a lesbian, your other friends will love it, too.'

and

'It took me years to work out Freddie Mercury was gay.'

' ... HOW?'

'Well, I lived in Murwillumbah.'

(The book, in case you are interested, is The Steel Remains, by Richard Morgan.)

Comments

[tomatoe18.livejournal.com]

Book. Fantasy. Gay hero.

That rings a bell.

Or maybe not.

*opens store database even though is supposed to be rushing to the cinema*

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

You're incorrigible ;-)

[abusing-sarcasm.livejournal.com]

I love how one-dimensional they make us seem...

Yesterday, my husband and I had this conversation:

Him: Did you hear David Carradine died?
Me: Yeah. I saw it on someone's LJ.
Him: Really? But he's not even gay!

He seems to think we never discuss news unless it's gay or gay-adjacent. Which is really only KIND OF true...

[symetric.livejournal.com]

LMAO!

Which is really only KIND OF true...
*gasp* how dare you say that?! Sometimes we debate about the pros and cons of het. How much more diversity do you want?

[abusing-sarcasm.livejournal.com]

Well, to be fair, when the debate mostly comes up "icky," it's not THAT diverse... :p

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Where is the dignity?

(Of course, it's a question Mr Carradine should have asked himself before he decided on a Michael Hutchence memorial performance.)

[bryoneybrynn.livejournal.com]

lol

I like your Mr B - he knows how to keep the masses happy. ;)

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

He's a good man.

[rickey-a.livejournal.com]

snorfle

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Living with him is fun!

[adores-draco.livejournal.com]

I just had to google Murwillumbah. Place of many possums, I see.

I was over twenty when I found out that not all gay men are hairdressers or flight attendants because there was one at the financing company were I worked. *blushes*

I cannot even explain that by living in Murwillumbah...

[lilian-cho.livejournal.com]

There are gay flight attendants? =O

<--where she comes from, 99.99% of flight attendants are young attractive females in their 20s at least 165 cm tall. And all male hairdressers there are gay, yes.

[adores-draco.livejournal.com]

My hairdresser is straight but he's really lovely. Even though he's not gay. ;)

Flight attendants are mostly good looking (well, more or less) females but the male ones tend to be gay and gorgeous. *(happy?) sigh*

I shouldn't whine about all the nice and best looking men being gay because I've a colleague who's eighteen, beautiful (!!!) and straight. He's already looking forward to seeing Brammers in August. ;)

[blindmouse.livejournal.com]

I just had to google Murwillumbah.

Totally my home town! Population 7000, 3500 of them hippies. I am not sure how that constitutes an excuse for bad gaydar, but, uh ... possibly all the dope smoking? Who knows!

[adores-draco.livejournal.com]

Hippies? Are there still hippies? I though they were already extinct.

I just have to see that place! :)

[blindmouse.livejournal.com]

Well, in the nineties the new ones were ferals instead, but ... yeah, there are totally still hippies :-) The alternative drop-out lifestyle lives on strong in a lot of places, it's pretty awesome.

(Mur'bah is near Nimbin, which if you google you will get a LOT more hits for. Especially if you google Nimbin and hippies.)

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

His family were RAAF, he led a sheltered childhood, and it was the 70s ...

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Surely there's a Finnish equivalent? Mr Brammers took me there the other year, it is green, by a river and they have very bad cream cakes. I was terribly upset by this last point

[who_la_hoop]

lmao! But is it a good book with fantasy and a gay hero? Otherwise, it'll just be extra disappointing :D

[mabonwitch.livejournal.com]

So very, very true! I'm always exceptionally irritated by book recommendations that turn out crap.

I once picked up a book at a friend's recommendation, only to discover that, while it was in the genre that I liked, it was also about 5 years too young for me. At 14, I was probably more offended that someone thought I read 5th grade books than I would be were something similar to happen today.

Also, I feel we should compile a list of books/authors we know to write good gay fantasy. Yes?

[who_la_hoop]

We should! My list is... very short. *cries*

And yes, I feel your pain about bad book recommendations. I've read some awful crap on the recommendations of friends throughout the years! But then I expect some of the things I've inflicted on them haven't been universally approved of, so it all evens out in the end :D

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Mr Brammers is enjoying it so far, and he is fussy, but I have not looked at it at all. I'll get to it eventually and let you know whether or not it belongs on the list!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Mr B is very much enjoying it, and he is hard to please. I will read it after he is done if you can wait to hear from me.

[kareina.livejournal.com]

who is Freddie Mercury?

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Lead singer of Queen, lovely man, alas, no longer with us.

[meredyth-13.livejournal.com]

Mr B does rock, in that male tolerant, trying to engage kind of way. :D

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Oh, half his friends are Revolutionary Brothers, it's just the writing about it on the internet he teases me over ;-)

[mific.livejournal.com]

Oooh yeah, The Steel Remains, one of my favourites. RM in general is just about top of my "must get" list when a new one's out. Great mix of hard-edged coolness and intellect - and now gay heroes as well (sighs happily). Were you teasing Mr B, knowing full well he came from Murwillumbah? Naughty!
Another excellent read, free off the net via creative commons and reccd by RM, is "Blindsight" by Peter Watts. Not slash, not fantasy - it's "hard" (space/science) sci-fi about 1st contact. I just finished it and it pushed all my buttons: an amazing hard-edged take on vampires as the ultimate predators, stuff about consciousness and perception, the works. http://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm
Um, but not slash. No. See, I do read other things sometimes!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

No, I was genuinely surprised that anyone could look at Freddie Mercury and not think gay! As I said at the time: 'Moustache, leather trousers and vest, excessive pouting, what did you think?' Mr B replied: 'He really liked motorbikes?'

I will have to try Watts, but I have to read RM first, and him after I finish the large pile of my own books to read, let us not speak of writing ...

[sbbo.livejournal.com]

You know, if you're not going to be visited by the random assignations faerie anymore because of a spouse, you've picked a very good one.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

HEE! You're right, he is very good value.