 Hello and welcome to Reader Corner! Ever since my very first book was published a highlight for me has been interacting with readers. I love learning about others and giving them a place to tell us about themselves. If you're interested in joining the fun email me atelizabeth.noble19@gmail.com or use the contact link at the top of the page. Welcome back to another installment of Reader Corner. I took a bit of an unexpected hiatus, got dragged into overtime at my day job and simply ran out of steam! Today I'm delighted to have Ami join me. She comments and participates in a number of events, so it's great having the opportunity to get to know more about her wonderful outlook on life. Ami, would you tell us a little about yourself? What can I say about myself … well, I am a nearly 40-years-old Indonesian; I live and work at a brand/ media agency in Jakarta in a qualitative research division. I am an asexual, single (with no plan of being in a relationship, married, or have kids), introvert, pragmatic, a dreamer, a planner (when it comes to my travel only it seems *laugh*), a procrastinator (when it comes to things I don’t feel the mood of doing), a voracious reader, a daughter, a sister, and well, I’d hope also a good friend.  A stock picture of Jakarta. It's lovely!  How did you discover MM romance and gay literature?
I cannot really remember the turning point before I switched from M/F romance to M/M romance – and how I alternate in between both genres now – but I think it was a combination of few little things. In mid-2000s I found myself being bored with what M/F romance offer. The big theme of women looking for love, wanting to get married, and have kids just didn’t work for me at that time. I couldn’t relate to it. And I was a gigantic movie watcher in the 2000s … and one of my introductions to gay issues and gay romantic element came from movies. I came across movies like Brokeback Mountain (2006), and discovered My Beautiful Laundrette (Daniel Day Lewis!) or Maurice. Then I found Shelter, which showed that well, gay romance didn’t have to end tragically. So I opened my eyes to what other movies, TV series (oh how I loved Bryan/Justin and Kevin/Scotty), and books. At first I read gay literature, but I didn’t like it because they were often depressing. Then I scoured Amazon sites, looking for recommendations, and found MM romance. Two of my early authors were J.L. Langley and Ally Blue … but I gotta say that I wasn’t prepared for all the sex-galore! I love romance but I don’t like reading too many sex scenes. I was ready to give up on the genre … but then I stumbled into Josh Lanyon, Jordan Castillo Price, and Victor J. Banis – who offered romance in a mystery/paranormal setting … and well, the rest is history as they say Why do you like this genre? For the stories, I love MM because it offers “Love is Love” – and the fact that there’s more to the ‘normal’ convention of women having to marry men. As for the social part of it, I made GREAT friends among the MM readers community, few of them are real life Indonesian friends. I feel like I connect and I belong with them. One other thing that makes me feel GRATEFUL for this genre is that it actually helped me finding out about my asexuality. I would've never heard about this before. Especially since Eastern culture about sex is different with Western. Because of this genre, I know about my own sexuality, and it helps me be at peace with my choices in life. So I can say I owe this genre as well. So you see, this genre has enriched my life for sure – not just my reading! |
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