Girls Who Like Boys Kissing Boys: Writer Reaches for Untapped Market

With the aid of print-on-demand technology, a young fantasy author reaches an audience which largely goes ignored: young women who enjoy romantic fiction featuring gay men. Learn about her, her writing and the fictional phenomenon known as "yaoi" or "slash."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
R. T. Burns
Phone: (734)547-1785
Email: goddess@yaoigoddess.com
Web site: http://rtburns.yaoigoddess.com/

Girls Who Like Boys Kissing Boys: Writer Reaches for Untapped Market

Ypsilanti, MI, 2/11/2003 - In Japan, they call it yaoi: fiction depicting attractive young men in same-sex romantic relationships, written almost exclusively by and for women. These stories are sold in most bookstores there, and many international fans have written their own yaoi tales and posted them online.

In the States, they call it slash: fan fiction in which two male characters are paired up for love, for lust or both, or for any number of other reasons. It's easiest to find online, either on Web sites or on mailing lists devoted to these pairings. As with yaoi, the vast majority of its readers and writers are female.

Whatever you call it, the biggest consumers of this type of fiction are women. And judging from the sheer volume of it, it has a LOT of fans.

So, why isn't there more of it on the shelves of traditional US booksellers?

"Good question," says fantasy author R. T. Burns, "and I'd like to help change that." And with her new fantasy novel Goddess Blood, the first installment of a trilogy, she hopes to give her fellow American yaoi and slash fans a little of what they've been starving for: male characters in same-sex relationships - prominently featured - in which there's real hope for a happy ending.

Knowing it could be awhile before traditional markets would accept such a story from an unknown writer, Burns chose to publish it herself through iUniverse, a print-on-demand publisher. Burns observes, "In the fantasy and science fiction books I've read, gay relationships were either only hinted at or ended tragically. I think its time for something where the drama, romance and eroticism don't get killed by politics or the fear of going 'too far.'" But her ambitions dont end there.

"Why is it so strange for girls to like guys with guys?" she wonders. "No one says anything about men liking lesbians. Id like to help break down the double standard, and I hope to encourage other authors to write stories like this."

However, Burns is quick to add that heterosexual men are welcome to read and enjoy her books.

"I write the story first and foremost," she says. "It's primarily about the story, not the sex, and I think that anyone could like these characters."

Goddess Blood by R. T. Burns can be purchased from the publisher at http://www.iuniverse.com/ or from any major online bookseller. It can also be special ordered from traditional book stores. The trade paperback retails for $14.95.

To learn more the book, its author and her upcoming works, please visit the authors official Web site at http://rtburns.yaoigoddess.com/ .

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