My wife, an eminent novelist of what is often dismissively called the "romance" genre, is not averse to red-blooded men with big balls and desires. She writes within the genre, mostly for women but for men, too, in increasing numbers. So I applaud you for your inclusiveness and for your taste in modern men-oriented fiction. Deutermann is one of the relatively few writing today whom I grab eagerly.
Thanks for this, Peter. My biological kids--39 and 31 now--both grew up in a household with big readers--who were also bookstore owners, booksellers, collectors, writers, and worked in publishing. They still read books.
But my stepkids, who grew up with a mom who is a writer but not those other things (until I married her 9 years ago) and are much younger--21 and 16--don't read books. They play online games. One practices music, then plays games. This article describes some of what happened to them, I believe: https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2019/08/22/whats-wrong-how-schools-teach-reading
My good friend, Sam Quinones, may have earned a new nickname: Sam Cojones. Good on ya, laddie.
His new essay makes a couple of points that I relish: One is that there are fewer and fewer male readers, cis or gay. I would say that comes from the acceptance of the idea that there are lots of gay men who are men first and gay second. Examples: Douglas Murray and Andrew Sullivan plus anybody who gets the "Bear Camp"
On books without sex, I disagree with Sam a bit: It isn't the "forbidden" aspect of sex on the page that registers with male readers. I think it's "the desired" that yanks our chains. Influencers and writing writers say the path to fame today involves "writing what somebody really wants to read," rather than something that the critics think we out to read. Men are sexual beings, and more aggressively so than women, so their tastes in fiction are different. They don't necessarily want pornography on the page; they do want straightforward portrayals of desire, where the men and the women involved want to be right where they are, usually in bed or up against a wall somewhere.
Otherwise, I find a great deal of truth and insight in Sam Cojones' work.
Thought it was Page 28. Rather than take your word for it I'll go back and check. Also, What They Carried -- great book. O'Brien's quote reminds me of the recent movie Warfare, which, according to reviews (I haven't seen it yet), would pass his test.
Uterus haver here. I’d like to recommend the naval novels of PT Deutermann as great reads for men (and women).
My wife, an eminent novelist of what is often dismissively called the "romance" genre, is not averse to red-blooded men with big balls and desires. She writes within the genre, mostly for women but for men, too, in increasing numbers. So I applaud you for your inclusiveness and for your taste in modern men-oriented fiction. Deutermann is one of the relatively few writing today whom I grab eagerly.
Thanks for this, Peter. My biological kids--39 and 31 now--both grew up in a household with big readers--who were also bookstore owners, booksellers, collectors, writers, and worked in publishing. They still read books.
But my stepkids, who grew up with a mom who is a writer but not those other things (until I married her 9 years ago) and are much younger--21 and 16--don't read books. They play online games. One practices music, then plays games. This article describes some of what happened to them, I believe: https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2019/08/22/whats-wrong-how-schools-teach-reading
My good friend, Sam Quinones, may have earned a new nickname: Sam Cojones. Good on ya, laddie.
His new essay makes a couple of points that I relish: One is that there are fewer and fewer male readers, cis or gay. I would say that comes from the acceptance of the idea that there are lots of gay men who are men first and gay second. Examples: Douglas Murray and Andrew Sullivan plus anybody who gets the "Bear Camp"
On books without sex, I disagree with Sam a bit: It isn't the "forbidden" aspect of sex on the page that registers with male readers. I think it's "the desired" that yanks our chains. Influencers and writing writers say the path to fame today involves "writing what somebody really wants to read," rather than something that the critics think we out to read. Men are sexual beings, and more aggressively so than women, so their tastes in fiction are different. They don't necessarily want pornography on the page; they do want straightforward portrayals of desire, where the men and the women involved want to be right where they are, usually in bed or up against a wall somewhere.
Otherwise, I find a great deal of truth and insight in Sam Cojones' work.
Thought it was Page 28. Rather than take your word for it I'll go back and check. Also, What They Carried -- great book. O'Brien's quote reminds me of the recent movie Warfare, which, according to reviews (I haven't seen it yet), would pass his test.
So, then a novel about Stony and the story of his fiction malaise… where he is now
He sounds like a good character and fits snug with your last quote
What happened after he walked off with your novel in his hand and no money. I want to read that story
thanks for the shout out!