Title page
Table of Contents
1. Making Camp by Clare London **
2. Good Breeding by JL Merrow *
3. A Naughty Trip by Serena Yates ***
4. Beside the Seaside by Lucy Felthouse **
5. Fighting c***s by Stevie Woods ***
6. The Utterly True History of Guy Alien and the Rise and Fall of His Band, X-Wing by Stevie Carroll *
7. Fantasy Man by Jay Rookwood ***
8. On the Pull by Elin Gregory **
9. Frozen Angel by Lisa Worrall ***
10. Silent Witness by Anna Marie May ***
11. Sweet Temptation by Jennie Caldwell **
12. A Matter of Opinion by Mara Ismine ***
13. Jeu d’Esprit by Chris Smith *
14. What Katy Did on Holiday by Stevie Carroll **
15. Riding with Hob by Alex Beecroft *
16. Bloody Mathematicians by Charlie Cochrane **
17. We’ll always have Brighton #2 by Zahra Owens ***
18. Blooming Marvellous by Josephine Myles ***
Heat levels:
* Butter Melting
** Pot Warming
*** Kettle Boiling
Introduction
What do you get when you invite a group of romance, gay lit, and erotica authors to embrace their British voice and examine what it means to be queer in Britain?
The answer is this anthology, a collection of positive l***q stories with a decidedly British flavour. Take a journey with us through the British Isles: from the rugged coast of Ireland, via our sprawling cities and bustling towns, through to the sheltered seclusion of our English churchyards. Meet adventurous Scotsmen, Irish fishermen, and English characters from across the class spectrum. Step back in history to Elizabethan England and the early twentieth century, or slip sideways into a rural fantasy land.
All of these stories deal with same-s*x relationships, although they are not all romances in the usual sense of the word. While we have plenty of stories of relationships just starting, there are also stories that deal with reconciliation after a break up, such as “We’ll Always Have Brighton” and “Bloody Mathematicians”. We even have a tragedy in the form of “Silent Witness”, and a couple of stories with more ambivalent endings where the main character cannot see a way to the love they crave: “Fantasy Man” and “Frozen Angel”. “The Utterly True History of Guy Alien and the Rise and Fall of His Band X Wing” gives another take on relationships, where a failed one is examined from a point in the future when the narrator has found happiness.
However, the majority of the stories are romances of a kind, from those that tease us with just a glimpse of first interest, to those that are unabashedly erotic. The one thing they all have in common, though, is their connection to British life with its tensions between tradition and the pull of the new. Read romances between conservative and punky women in “What Katy Did on Holiday” and “Beside the Seaside”, and between men of different classes in “Fighting c***s” and “Good Breeding”. Meet gay couples who cross borders of race in “Blooming Marvellous” or nationality in “A Naughty Trip”. Find out how a clergyman follows his nature in “Sweet Temptation”, and discover just how sexy cricket whites can be in “On the Pull”. See how love blossoms among the morris dancers in “Riding With Hob”, under canvas in “Making Camp”, behind the scenes at a royal wedding party in “Jeu d’Esprit”, and down the local pub in “Matter of Opinion”.
While the stories make use of icons of British culture, the writers refuse to resort to cliché, giving us a fresh and vibrant take on queer life in Britain, past and present. What’s more, they are written with authentic slang and dialect, too often ironed out by non-British publishers. Have a bloody brilliant time getting down and dirty with the Brits!
I would like to thank all the authors for their generosity in providing their stories for free, so that the profits from this anthology can be used to help fund an annual convention of GLBT fiction in the UK. If you enjoyed their contributions, please show your gratitude by going out and buying some of their other work. I would also like to thank Alex Beecroft, Charlie Cochrane, Clare London, and JL Merrow for volunteering to help me select and edit the stories, and to Serena Yates for proofreading. Without you all, this anthology would never have been possible. Cheers, me old muckers!
Josephine Myles, June 2011
