Romance... FOR GUYS!?

[speakingtohe]

I think you need to give us something more here, like a few books you actually like.

Most fiction books have romantic elements.

Guy meets girl, guy gets girl or doesn't.

Do you want true love or steamy sex as in bodice rippers.

Not knowing I will recomend in the Urban fantasy Line.

Phoenix Risng BY Tee Morris ans Pippa Ballantine
Nightside series by Simon R. Green

Horror
Odd Thomas
Repairman Jack.


Helen

[aecardenas]

Two incredibly well written and beautifully romantic stories from a male perspective come to mind:

Somewhere in Time (originally published as Bid Time Return)
and
What Dreams May Come

both by Richard Matheson

Both are incredibly romantic and heartbreaking, with the hero trying to find the love of his life across time (Somewhere in Time) and from beyond death (What Dreams May Come).

[wyndslash]

Somewhere in Time is too sad. I just got annoyed in the end

[replica145]

Originally Posted by Tassyr

*facepalm*

Teehee

[steven522]

What exactly do you consider romantic for a "guy's" read?

Muscle-bound adventurer rescuing the woman he wants while hacking and slashing his way through hordes of enemies? Try one of any pulp series out there. A lot of the older adventure stories contain some "guy gets the girl" in it somewhere.

Originally Posted by steven522

What exactly do you consider romantic for a "guy's" read?

Muscle-bound adventurer rescuing the woman he wants while hacking and slashing his way through hordes of enemies? Try one of any pulp series out there. A lot of the older adventure stories contain some "guy gets the girl" in it somewhere.

You mean the original Tarzan books


Love the odd soppy book myself.
captain Corelli's mandolin.
The Night Circus.

depends on the amount of romance and what the romance is about

[morriss003]

One of the luckiest days of my life was the day that I decided to give Jude Deveraux and Marion Chesney a chance. I checked one book of each writer from my local library. Both books were well written and interesting. After that, I started exploring romance literature. Like any genre, 90% was crap, but the other 10% was great. I wish I had read romance literature when I was a young teen. I would have gotten laid a lot more. Favorite writers include, Jayne Ann Krentz, Nora Roberts, Pamela Morisi (early stuff) Julie Garwood (early stuff) and a few others.

[FizzyWater]

I'm on an email list for Linnea Sinclair, who writes (wrote?) Science Fiction Romance. Some of her books are more SF, some more romance, but all are SFR of some type or other. I just don't remember how much of the book is spent from the guys' point of view...I know there was some, but I think there was alternating POV so you got into both their heads (hero and heroine).

And ignore the cheezy "Down-Home Zombie Blues" title - it's a SF story set on earth. No zombies.

[Tassyr]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

I think you need to give us something more here, like a few books you actually like.

Most fiction books have romantic elements.

Guy meets girl, guy gets girl or doesn't.

Do you want true love or steamy sex as in bodice rippers.

Not knowing I will recomend in the Urban fantasy Line.

Phoenix Risng BY Tee Morris ans Pippa Ballantine
Nightside series by Simon R. Green

Horror
Odd Thomas
Repairman Jack.


Helen

See, Actually looking for 'love' instead of 'one shade off porn.' I'm not looking for captain manly man of the manly brigade slashing his way through a bunch of mooks, either. I'd prefer something a little more realistic. Hoenstly, as I said, it can even be a sideplot- that seems to work best.

And sadly as to 'what else I like-' er. I've been off the reading wagon for a long time, and am only just coming back to it- so I'm still learning what I like now. I do enjoy scifi more than fantasy, however. As a rule.

Apologies for the super lag between my posts. I haven't forgotten about this place- I've just had a car accident, so most of my time is tied up in that.

[drofgnal]

I just finished the Physician by Noah Gordon. It has a small romantic element to it, but not enough to be nauseating or sappy. An excellent book. You might also try any of the books of the King Arthur legend as romance is a definite part of that story.

[Nyssa]

If you don't mind unconventional vampires, I'd suggest The Black Dagger Brotherhood series. It is fantasy/romance; each book is centered on a specific member of the Brotherhood including how he finds his significant other. There is also an overarching plot that binds the books together, as the Brotherhood is at war with their nemesis.

[Tassyr]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

If you don't mind unconventional vampires, I'd suggest The Black Dagger Brotherhood series. It is fantasy/romance; each book is centered on a specific member of the Brotherhood including how he finds his significant other. There is also an overarching plot that binds the books together, as the Brotherhood is at war with their nemesis.

How do you mean 'unconventional?'

[Tassyr]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I'm on an email list for Linnea Sinclair, who writes (wrote?) Science Fiction Romance. Some of her books are more SF, some more romance, but all are SFR of some type or other. I just don't remember how much of the book is spent from the guys' point of view...I know there was some, but I think there was alternating POV so you got into both their heads (hero and heroine).

And ignore the cheezy "Down-Home Zombie Blues" title - it's a SF story set on earth. No zombies.

Alternating POV? That might be interesting. I'll definitely have to look!

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by Tassyr

How do you mean 'unconventional?'

Nothing like Dracula...they don't hunt humans... at least not for food.

Here is a good description taken from Hub Pages, edited by me to remove slightly spoiler-ish stuff:



The Black Dagger Brotherhood series tells the story of a race of vampires created by a deity [name redacted]. While these vampires need blood to survive, human blood just doesn’t do it for them; they must have blood from a member of their race’s opposite sex to survive.

Genetically bred to serve as protectors of the race, the brothers are a group of massively built warriors whose mission is to destroy [their nemisis] created by [their deity's] opposite, [name redacted]. This cabal of [enemy combatants] is, of course, bent on destroying the vampire race.

[curtw]

Originally Posted by goldshirt9

You mean the original Tarzan books

Yep. Before the term "science fiction" was coined, Burroughs was labelled "scientific romance." The first three books in the John Carter (Mars) series are highly romance-driven, as are the first two Pellucidar (Earth's core) books. I'm sure he did it in the Venus and Caspak series as well, but those don't stand out as strongly in my memory (from reading them 30+ years ago). A few others pop up along the way in all of the series, mostly when a new male protagonist is introduced--he needs a love interest to keep him motivated!

In his stand-alone books, The Monster Men, The Cave Girl, The Girl From Hollywood and The Efficiency Expert come to mind quickly as having significant romance mixed in with the action.

Marcia of the Doorstep is supposed to be a "traditional" romance. I have it sitting on my shelf, but haven't started reading it yet.

(oh yeah, warning: many of these are written from a first-person perspective. I got past that. I think you will too--none of these men brag about their exploits. They're pretty much universally idiotic in their wooing. Which, of course, is a large part of what leads to more adventures.)

I'll put the wikipedia entry for Master Mind of Mars below, in spoiler tags, to give you an idea of a typical plot...

Spoiler:

On Mars, Paxton is taken in by elderly mad scientist Ras Thavas, the "Master Mind" of the title, who educates him in the ways of Barsoom and bestows on him the Martian name Vad Varo. Ras has perfected techniques of transplanting brains, which he uses to provide rich elderly Martians with youthful new bodies for a profit. Distrustful of his fellow Martians, he trains Paxton as his assistant to perform the same operation on him. But Paxton has fallen in love with Valla Dia, one of Ras' young victims, whose body has been swapped for that of the hag Xaxa, Jeddara (empress) of the city-state of Phundahl. He refuses to operate on Ras until his mentor promises to restore her to her rightful body. A quest for that body ensues, in which Paxton is aided by others of Ras' experimental victims, and in the end he attains the hand of his Valla Dia, who in a happy plot twist turns out to be a princess.