Ace-rep at an M/M price
Hello, and thank you to Dani for letting me talk to Love Bytes readers again.
I want to have ace-rep in my books. I want to do my bit in spreading the word that being ace is normal. Hence Detective Nick Seabrooke. I introduced him in the third book of the County Durham Quad series (the eponymous ace of Ace in the Picture) and his story is continued in the new release, Body Parts And Mind Games. I also want readers who are ace themselves to feel comfortable when they turn the page. I’m ace, and I’m not bothered in the slightest reading (or writing or watching) examples of M/M intimacy, but I know that sex of any description is a deal-breaker for many other aces.
My stories’ protagonists are four gay, polyamorous men—just the kind of guys that, hopefully, lots of Love Bytes followers like to read about. Nick’s gay too, and romantic, but he is also sex averse, if not sex-repulsed. So, I have a predicament. I’m trying to reach two audiences and, in doing so, I’m in danger of missing both.
The heat level in my books is low. Most times, the Quad’s sexuality is expressed in their pillow talk and not in action. Even these in-bed discussions will upset/ irritate/ offend at least some of the less sex-favourable asexuals who might be tempted to try out one of the tales. M/M afficionados are probably equally irritated. I imagine that they want the flame count to be higher. Can’t see a way around this for the novels. I feel I solved the problem for a short story, though. It’s Scar Ghyll Levels, an ebook about two young lead-miners, and I recently uploaded an audio version to YouTube (complete with 200 photographs of the setting). The video description warns viewers that, at 22 minutes in, there’s a brief explicit description. Obviously, I can include TWs when I blog about the novels or post on forums, but that won’t catch everyone.
I think that, much as it might alienate the M/M side, I have to go with meeting the expectations of the aces. I think that, as an M/M reader myself, I might be disappointed if a story didn’t tick the high-flame box, but I wouldn’t be upset in the way some aces could be if, suddenly, they were thrown into a page of P to A penetration (or even deep kissing and sassy groping). I have to hope that my plots and my characters have enough going for them to make M/M readers happy. Do, please, let me know.
Best wishes
Jude
Title: Body Parts And Mind Games
Series: Book 4, County Durham Quad Series
Author: Jude Tresswell
Publishing details: Self-published
Length 60,000 words; 198 pages
Release date: November 2019
Buy link: Amazon
Jacket blurb:
Organ trafficking, types of attraction and far-right nationalism are ingredients in this tale about Mike, Ross, Raith and Phil, a gay polyamorous quad who live in North-East England.
Phil is a surgeon at Warbridge Hospital. A patient’s organs are harvested illegally. Are Phil’s colleagues involved?
Detective Nick Seabrooke returns to Warbridge and asks Phil to aid the investigation. Agreeing to do so endangers the quad in more ways than one. How will Nick, who is asexual, react to meeting the quad again? How will they react to him?
This is the fourth story in the County Durham Quad series. Background information is included within the story-line for new readers.
Jude Tresswell is married and has grown up children. She lives in South-East England, but like her four gay protagonists, she is from Northern England. She misses the wild, moorland scenery that is the stories’ setting! Unlike the quad, she identifies as asexual. She introduced Nick Seabrooke (in Book 3, Ace in the Picture) partly because she wanted to see more aces represented in fiction. Jude is particularly interested in asexual/sexual relationships and has recently produced a YouTube video that explores the issue. It contains 200 photographs of Northern England. They form the backdrop to a short audio story. (https://youtu.be/M6xSuQ9utWg )
Jude blogs at polyallsorts.wordpress.com There are posts about polyamory, asexuality, queer history – all sorts of off-shoots from the stories.
Blog https://polyallsorts.wordpress.com
YouTube video https://youtu.be/M6xSuQ9utWg
Amazon author page https://amazon.com/-/e/B07PDGWWPG