Interview with M.J. Pearson

AE: What is some of the best feedback you've received from gay men?
MJP: One of the first fan letters I've [gotten] … was from a man who said, "I've been looking for this kind of book all my life." That it's the kind of lighthearted gay historical romance [he was looking for]. He hadn't seen anything like it. And that's the kind of response that I would like. I like to feel that there really was a niche.

There has been other gay romance out there, but the difference that I see is I come from a strong romance background. I've read it my entire life. I'm really firmly grounded in the genre. It brings a little something [to my books].

A lot of the women who write gay romances are coming from different starting points. There are the kind that come from the science fiction/fantasy genre, which is more open to the sexual difference or overtones, or out of fan fiction. So it's really interesting because it adds a lot to the gay romance genre.

AE: Why do you think there are so many women writing exclusively gay male couples? Where do you think that comes from?
MJP: I know one of the places it comes from in historical romance is that if you have any kind of background in history, it's really hard to write historically accurate heterosexual couplings. Tolerance was very different between men and women, and most romance writers completely ignore that.

There are a lot of realities that are hard to juggle. Though if you start with a male couple, you might have the class differences and the money differences, but you don't have the gender power relations going on. Which makes it a little easier to write, in a way.

Another thing is a lot of women, including me, find men attractive. When you find one man attractive, what's more attractive than two?

AE: There is just a basic sexual nature.
MJP: Probably. It's just the way people are wired. If you're wired to find people attractive in various situations, it's gonna be how you're gonna write.

AE: You've written two well-received novels so far. What is the third one that is coming up? Can you give us a preview?
MJP: I am working on one that was actually suggested to me by my son who plays a lot of war games on the computer. He knows that during the Regency, the Napoleonic wars are going on. So he said, "Why don't you have an English soldier and a French soldier fall in love?" That was the starting point for the one I'm working on right now.

AE: Do you have a title?
MJP: Right now the working title is Sacrifice Treasure.

AE: What are the names of your two main characters?
MJP: Right now, Emil is the Frenchman, and the Englishman, who goes by his middle name, is LeRon. He's actually half-French.

AE: An AfterElton.com exclusive.
MJP: There you go! I don't think anyone else has that.

AE: What does your family think of your novels?
MJP: Well, my husband doesn't read a lot of fiction in general. He did read the first book and thought it was a page turner. They're fine with it. My son's fifth-grade class got into a discussion about one of my books. Some of the kids said that they thought it was wrong, while the others stood up and said it was fine. He was pleased to know which kids in his class supported him and which didn't.

AE: What other historical gay authors do you admire?
MJP: Emily Vainglory has done some good e-books, one called The Highwayman. Going back to Mary Renault's The Persian Boy — that was very influential in my life. [It's] also like Gaywick and Standish, but they're just a little too gothic for me. They are very angsty and full of rape and beatings and stuff like that. Which is …

AE: A little heavy?
MJP: Yeah, yeah. I prefer the lighter genre, which there hasn't been a ton of [in gay romances].

AE: Have you ever considered writing something that takes a serious look at gays in historical settings?
MJP: I actually do have a manuscript that was written during the Oscar Wilde trial in 1899. That really is a time when essentially closet doors were slamming all over England. The main character of that book is just trying to essentially reconnect after his lover's suicide. He's just re-emerging into social life and considering getting back into a relationship again when this trial is going on. It is a little darker, and it deals with things like blackmail and suicide. But in the end it's very romantic, and it's got a lot of humor in it.

AE: You also mentioned Mary Renault, a founding mother of gay literature. How influential has her work been on your state of mind?
MJP: I think she was very influential — and at a very early age. My junior-high library had a lot of her books. I loved all of them, but mostly The Persian Boy. I do remember looking around for others like that and not finding anything else.

AE: I'm sure you've been compared to Jane Austen quite a bit.
MJP: [Laughs.] I don't think anyone has actually compared me to her. But I adore Jane Austen.

AE: Three hundred years after her death, her work is still influential and meaningful. When people analyze your books, how do you want them to be perceived?
MJP: I think my main goal is I want to entertain people. If I can give them something to think about occasionally at the same time, that would be great. I would like that young gay men, or gay men of any age, to see they [are apart of the romance genre]. I also like readers of traditional romance to say, "Oh, well this is really great, even though it's about men!"