Happy Alban Arthan/Yule/Winter Solstice

[jana_denardo]

It's one of my favorite times of the year, so much so I put it into one of my stories A Light in Winter. I had fun writing about the Druids (neo-Druids, whatever you want to call them). It remains one of my few contemporary stories and I am still fond of it because it reminds me of my time in Wales which had been wonderful (air flight aside).

However it did sort of start me on the path I took this year with 'sweet reads.' (I prefer that term to 'clean reads.' While I know that is a good branding tool for publishing, it just seems to me to suggest sex is dirty and that bothers me). Actually A Light in Winter does have sex in it. A few friends pointed out they saw a few reviews about people complaining there wasn't enough romance/sex and too much on the Druid ritual (keeping in mind that was sort of the theme of the anthology, holiday traditions).

It got me thinking. It was a short story and it did have some sex, after all. Then selling at a con this year, so many people about passed us by until we mentioned, hey there is guy on guy sex in these books and then boom, they were all there, ready to buy. On one hand there's the thought of whoo-hoo sales but in the back on my mind was the thought, there was no real obvious interest in the plot.

Now not every LGBT author writes sex. I would be entirely happy to not write it. It's never been the part of the story to interest me as a reader. Half the time I skip over it to get back to the plot. I think it has a place, of course but I have to admit,I felt vaguely uncomfortable with the idea that the sex was the main selling point.

So I was curious, could I sell things without sex? The answer was yes. How it will be received is yet to be seen. I am very interest to see. I am also interested in Dreamspinner's non-romance line which presumably is heavier on plot and less about the sex. I don't know yet what 2017 will bring but I hope to mix it up a bit.