J.J. Massa -Give Or Take A Word...

I’m J.J. Massa and Jerry was kind enough to ask me if I’d like to post a note to his blog.

Obviously, I said I would.

It’s so exciting how many authors are writing Male/Male and Female/Female romance these days. Sometimes I’m not sure if it should be a separate genre—romance is romance, right? Or not… After all, there’s paranormal, Sci Fi, erotic, Inspirational— you get the idea. It’s a positive reflection of the age we live in, in my opinion.

I write a lot of different kinds of romance and erotic romance. My first book was published in 2004, though it wasn’t Male/Male. I have been writing Male/Male stories for many years, but it never occurred to me that they could be published seriously. I once took part in a friendly collection of stories for an online magazine, but that was a one-shot that disappeared faster than it started. I first realized that Male/Male was considered a salable genre when I saw an excerpt for a story written by Willa Okati. Consider me an ostrich, I guess. There are so many things about the e-publishing world that I’m still discovering, forget about the paper publishing industry.

My early years were spent as a military brat and I’ve traveled all over the world. As a small child, I didn’t care either way about gay, straight, slightly bent, like most kids, I didn’t have a clue. I figured it out later, reflecting on the time we lived in Japan and I had to be left home a lot.

One of my father’s friends always volunteered to watch me—he and another man. When it was just us, they were openly affectionate and we had a great time together. They spoiled me rotten, fed me well, and were, in short, excellent parents. For those two years, I had an assortment of wonderful uncles who loved each other and me, life was great. Then my parents divorced and we moved back to the states.

It wasn’t until years later that I realized the men were homosexual and that they had to hide most of the time. I found that a terrible shame. It was one of the happiest times of my life, so eventually, I began writing about it. Sort of.

I love the various dynamics of Male/Male relationships. So many possibilities. So much angst and then potential happiness. Forbidden love, you and me against the world. It’s lovely, especially when it all works out. What’s not to like?

I have a handful of Male/Male stories at Torquere Press and books that include male couples or M/M short stories at Samhain Publishing, Linden Bay Romance and New Concepts Publishing.


It’s next to impossible these days for me to write a story that doesn’t include at least one homosexual couple, although I know more gay men than women. I hope that the vast readership of GLBT romance means that we, as a society, are becoming more accepting of the fact…in the meantime, I intend to do my part through fiction.

Oops, I went over, Jerry.

Sorry.

J.J. Massa

http://www.jjmassa.com