Fiendish Whispers

So my publisher, Interactive Publications sends out an eNewsletter every quarter profiling its releases, authors, industry news and whatnot. In their latest issue, I had the pleasure of chatting with very charming Joe Townsend about The Beast Without, writing LGBT Sydney and new projects.

You can find the full newsletter here, and it's well worth a look. My interview, I've copied below:

JT: How did the LGBT community of Sydney influence the writing of The Beast Without? 
CB: Sydney’s a very special city in the way it blends sexuality and sexual openness with this roguish, convict-influenced past. It’s the glamour capital of Australia, yet at the same time has this wonderfully grungy, seedy quality to it. That stretches well beyond the LGBT community, but it has historically allowed the community to grow and become a part of the city’s identity in a way that it hasn’t in other cities. I think it’s very telling that Sydney’s Mardi Gras is one of the very few gay pride para…

A little observation now that my first 'GayRomLit Retreat' has had time to digest (and I had a great time, so don't misunderstand what I'm saying here).
The thing that bothers me about blanketing LGBT fiction under 'romance' is that a lot of it isn't. To label it as such sells both romance and LGBT fiction short. It sets up false expectations in some readers while needlessly deterring others.

I don't look down on romance or rule out writing it in the future, but I do know it's not what I'm writing just now. It's a specific genre, with particular conventions and expectations. We don't label every story in which a heterosexual couple falls in love a 'romance', so this is something of a double standard. Both the publishers and readers of this work cover a much broader range of genres than romance, so why does the label persist? 

Thoughts? Will we see this event for instance, turned into 'GayLit Retreat' in the near future?