Books you love that fit other's "hard no" criteria

[hildea]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who sees their favourite books hit several of the "hard no" criterias from "Buying books: words or phrases that can turn a 'yes' into a 'no'?". Please share them! I wonder who can hit the highest number of other's red flags?

One of my favourite books:

• is romance
• has a horrible cover with a mostly naked man

(It's also a gay love story, but that isn't a prominent part of the description from the author or the publisher, so it doesn't fit that red flag from the other thread.)

The book is "A Seditious Affair" by KJ Charles, and the publisher's description doesn't do it justice.

But this review (warning: Spoils much of the story) captures why I love the book, and why one of the protagonists is among my favourite fictional characters and romance heroes:

Originally Posted by Review

So Silas Mason. He’s a foul-mouthed guttersnipe bookseller of radical political philosophy on the high road to fifty. Happily, there is no way he could ever be described as sculpted. In his spare time he writes radical or “seditious” pamphlets pseudonymously. Sedition seems such a quaint word, little used in these parlous times. I suppose today Silas would be labeled dismissively as a social justice warrior or, worse still, put on a watch list and booted off airplanes.

Silas Mason has done time. His back is heavily scarred from floggings by the authorities. His knees hurt. He’s feeling his age. But for all that he’s not only a street fighting bravo (he owns a cudgel!) but also an autodidact with a lively, inquiring mind and deep interest in politics, philosophy and literature, most particularly William Blake whose poetry Charles weaves beautifully into the narrative. Silas has been dedicated non-stop to the fight for the radical cause since he was sixteen using both his fists and pen. And despite imprisonment, torture and defeats Silas still can growl, “We haven’t won yet, but the cause ain’t lost. Never will be.”

Be still my heart.

And here's some pillow talk between Silas and Dominic (who, unknowing to Silas, works for the Home Office (Regency equivalent to the FBI)):

Originally Posted by A Seditious Affair, by KJ Charles

Silas shoved him, not hard, and the Tory sat up a little, making space. Silas moved to lie alongside him, feeling the heat of his bare skin.
“I finished the book,” the Tory said.
“Oh, aye? What’d you think?”
“Good. Terrifying. Strange. I can’t understand why you like it.”
“Why would I not?”
“I wouldn’t have thought you’d agree with it.” The Tory gave him a wry smile. “After all, its burden is the need for man to keep in his place—”
“What?” said Silas incredulously.
“The overreaching man dares to play God and pays a terrible price. Abuses the natural order and creates a monstrous thing.”
“Bollocks,” Silas said. “That ain’t what it’s about.”
“It’s what happens.”
“No. What happens is he creates, he’s responsible for, something that should be”—Silas waved his hand—“great and strong, something that he owes a duty to. And he says to it, The hell with you. Go die in a ditch. I’ll have my big house and pretty wife. And it says, You don’t get to live in a grand house and ignore me. Do your duty or I’ll tear you down. Treat me like I’m as good as you, or I’ll show you—”
“That I’m not,” the Tory interrupted. “The creature murders—”
“Because he ain’t given a chance to live decent,” Silas interrupted right back. “You treat men like brutes; you make ’em brutes. That’s what it says.”
“No, you create brutes when you distort the rules of nature and the order of things,” the Tory retorted. “That’s what the book’s about. It’s obvious.”
“It’s not.” Silas snorted. “You think its author meant that?”
“Oh, do you know the author?” The Tory looked intrigued. “Who is he?”
“She.”
“A woman? A woman wrote Frankenstein?”
“A girl,” Silas said with some satisfaction. “Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin’s girl.”
The Tory’s mouth dropped open. “That—female who married that appalling poet?”

[meeera]

Oh, I keep hearing good things about KJ Charles. Thanks for the rec!

My answers would probably be Romance/gay Romance too, since so many people are prejudiced against those books. "Red, White and Royal Blue" was one of my recent faves. Those and the Knitting in the City rom-com series by Penny Reid.

I also read a fair bit of YA and Middle Grade and graphic novels, which some people will rigidly avoid. Some of my (many) favourites have been Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina (marketed, mediocrely, as The Things She's Seen in the USA), the Lumberjanes series, anything by Vikki Wakefield (which definitely don't fit into any negative YA stereotypes), The Rest of Us Just Live Here, A Single Stone, Heartstopper, Small Spaces, and Code Name Verity.

[maddz]

Oddly, I have several KJ Charles in my TBR collection. That wasn't one that caught my eye though.

I don't mind what gender (or species for that matter) the protagonists are, I just object to gratuitous sex that appears to be the only reason for writing the book (as opposed to gratuitous sex - Mark Smylie, I'm looking at you).

[pwalker8]

I suspect that pretty much every thing I read is on someone's hard no list.

Let's see - some of my favorites
- LOTR - (described as racist in another thread, certainly sexist)
- Belgariad (author was a convicted child abuser)
- Monster Hunters (gun porn)

I could go on.

[Sirtel]

Gay erotica/romance with BDSM elements. Often very politically incorrect, depicting slavery, nonconsensual sex and even rape. Yes, I own quite a lot of the genre and love some of them. Examples:

• Bloodraven by P. L. Nunn
• Tribute by Lisa Henry
• Dark Heart by Thom Lane
• Prisoner by Megan Derr
• The Administration series by Manna Francis (not erotica, but pretty good science fiction. The two male protagonists have a BDSM relationship, though)

I know I said books with naked men on their covers are out, but this rule doesn't apply when I'm looking specifically for erotica. Very seldom nowadays, but I have a sizeable collection from my "erotica period", about 15 years ago or so.

Then many fantasy books. LOTR, The Wheel of Time, the first three ASOIAF books and several others.

An Exchange of Hostages by Susan R. Matthews (science fiction)

Several classics. King Solomon's Mines and the Mowgli stories (supposedly racist), Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice (romances), there are others.

[danicca]

The Administration is great. Now that I think about it, the description should have made me run for the hills. I don't know how I ended up reading it, but it was absolutely great.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I suspect that pretty much every thing I read is on someone's hard no list.

Let's see - some of my favorites
- LOTR - (described as racist in another thread, certainly sexist)
- Belgariad (author was a convicted child abuser)
- Monster Hunters (gun porn)

I could go on.

Ummm... what's gun porn? The first time I've seen the term.
(And I didn't know about Eddings either... guess I've been living under a stone or something).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I suspect that pretty much every thing I read is on someone's hard no list.

Let's see - some of my favorites
- LOTR - (described as racist in another thread, certainly sexist)
- Belgariad (author was a convicted child abuser)
- Monster Hunters (gun porn)

I could go on.

Tolkien being a racist is BS. He wasn't racist.

The rest is true.

Forest Ackerman, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Ed Bradley, and Marion Zimmer Bradley are but some of the awful people who are involved in SFF.

http://www.jasonsanford.com/blog/201...olden-everyone


But to get back on topic, one thing that works is if I've read a book by an author and enjoyed it. If another book comes out with some hard no in the description, it might get read anyway.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Ummm... what's gun porn? The first time I've seen the term.

Weaponry (firearms) described in minute detail down to the last micrometer. Seems to be a USA thing.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by maddz

Weaponry (firearms) described in minute detail down to the last micrometer. Seems to be a USA thing.

Gun nuts is a USA thing.

[SeaBookGuy]

Many reviewers complain about a book being non-linear, "all over the place" etc. That would be a plus for me as I'm into "quirky" non-mainstream content.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

Many reviewers complain about a book being non-linear, "all over the place" etc. That would be a plus for me as I'm into "quirky" non-mainstream content.

I find it takes a skilled author to make non-linear books work. Most authors who have tried to write in that style lack the skill to make it work for me. Not every author is an Emily Brontë, Joseph Heller or Kurt Vonnegut to name 3 authors who wrote non-linear books that I liked.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by hildea

(It's also a gay love story, but that isn't a prominent part of the description from the author or the publisher, so it doesn't fit that red flag from the other thread.)

My only problem with gay romance is that it is overwhelmingly written by women, often for women.

I'm not a believer in cultural appropriation. Anybody should be able to write about anybody. But if you go to Amazon's best sellers in gay fiction, of the top 50 books there are five male authors. That does bother me.

[MarjaE]

Tolkien is one of my favorite authors. Though I avoid most fantasy, I love his. And his values and the overall stories oppose racism. But his letters and the tropes in his stories sometimes support racism.

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Racis...kien%27s_Works

https://tolkienaboutscifi.wordpress....-lotrs-racism/

I tend to prefer books which are part of a series. It allows more stories, more character development, and more worldbuilding than if they're not.

I often look for books with disabled characters. I am struggling with my own issues, I want characters like myself, and I want the same for other people with other disabilities. Same with lesbian characters.

And yes, I look for books which try to support good causes. I'm considering a charity bundle which would support Doctors Without Borders.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

My only problem with gay romance is that it is overwhelmingly written by women, often for women.

I'm not a believer in cultural appropriation. Anybody should be able to write about anybody. But if you go to Amazon's best sellers in gay fiction, of the top 50 books there are five male authors. That does bother me.

Then you've never read any slash fan fiction? I suspect this falls into the same category, and the authors are hoping to be the next E L James.