Rowan's Ramblings

Recently, I received a comment (copy/pasted below) from a Jascian reader that broke my heart. They live in a place where buying gay-themed books (physical or digital) could get them into a lot of trouble, so they can only read stories that are posted online. While I do intend to update Jascian as soon as I can, realistically that could take a while. So I’m asking for suggestions from you. Gay male love stories (centered around love, not just sex) that don’t have to be downloaded in order to be read. I know there are a lot of really, really great stories posted online for free, and I’d very much like to show this reader that we as a community care.

Please post your suggestions in the comment section of my home blog (not tumblr, twitter, or Good Reads) to make them easier to access. Whatever platform you’re reading this on should have a link to it, but just in case: http://rowanmcbride.com/blog/?p=391 . They didn’t ask for any of this, but if it were me a story suggestion, or a few words of personal encouragement, would go a long way.

Thank you. And thank you to w. brown for writing to me.

__________________________________

From w. brown:

This is harking back to antiquity and another topic but the theme is timeless and I don’t see it on the index.

I’d give anything to read the continuation of the story, The Jascian’s Toy.

I live in a country with an oppressive attitude toward LGBT, a country where nobody is out because being out would mean the end of your career, eviction from your home, the loss of most if not all your friends because people would be desperate to show that the contamination of association with a gay had not wiped off on them. Gays who have been discovered while they’re doing military service have been killed because it gets them out of barracks nobody would want to share with them. Gay bars are a hopeless dream here. There are covert meeting places but they can be dangerous and at the best are little better than a meat market. You might meet a guy you like but just as likely meet one that you need to hide from later and there’s isn’t any time to linger over finding somebody compatible. It’s the luck of a hasty draw that determines who your partner is.

Buying a book from abroad would be impossible because it never would clear customs. I would even be afraid of getting anything by email since I don’t know if surveillance would extend to it, or to transactions needed to obtain it. The only source I have to read LGBT material is sites like this, of authors who have generously shared their work in public because I still have anonymous access to some PCs at my workplace. This story in particular has been a godsend since it is a masterpiece, and an abiding consolation that I can resort to without growing tired of it. It is the thing I always turn to when I feel discouraged. I can feel there is a happy ending lurking in it and that Gavin will find a way of showing Blake where his true happiness may lie, and Blake will quietly continue to improve the plight of lessers by urging Gavin to employ His power sympathetically. But it is more than just a beautiful romantic tale, the great adventure of the the love between The Ideal Giant and a human. It makes me feel that there is more to live for than the life I see around me. Every time I read it I want to be a better person, one like Blake, although I cannot be as brave as he is but I think that I could be as brave as I am on my best day.

Please, Mr McBride, do not forget about this life-changing story and that it is crying out for completion. Even the occasional addition of a chapter would be such a blessing.