Gender Bender ….. by Jaye Valentine and Wave
June 24, 2011
68 Comments
/ 1,919 views
Jaye and I were talking about cross-dressing men a few weeks ago and decided to join forces on this post since we both love them – for different reasons. He wants to bed them, 
I just want to read about them. Here’s Jaye’s love-in about gender bending:
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Bulging biceps. Ripped, washboard abs. Meaty pectoral muscles. Popping calf muscles. Deltoids, trapezius muscles, latissimus dorsi. The epitome of maleness. Rawr!
However, that strapping, muscle-bound, primo example of masculinity is highly unlikely to trip my personal trigger.
But this does. The Visual Kei movement in Japan in the 1990s made Jaye very, very happy.
Not as a steady diet, mind you, but on occasion I love nothing more than fawning over a pretty boy wearing makeup and a dress. Why is that, you may wonder?
Beats the hell out of me. Why does anyone prefer one aesthetic to another? I can no more explain why I find certain men who cross-dress to be wildly sexy any sooner than I can explain my preference of the color blue instead of orange. I like it, and that’s that.
Now, that’s not to say that every attractive man wearing a dress will start my pulse to pounding and make me pant like a dog on a hot day. As Wave stated, concerning my request for one particularly tasty entry in her “Friday Guys” post of June 3rd, “You always love the same type of guy. Sleek, young, androgynous looking, but all man.”
Why, yes, in fact I do.
(And yes, I’d love to see that particular Friday Guy wearing makeup and a dress, thanks for asking!)
For clarification, my personal frame of reference is modern Western society regarding gender, with gender defined as “socially constructed roles, behaviour, activities and attributes that a particular society considers appropriate for men and women.” (World Health Organization).
I’m not referring to male-to-female transsexuals, or any other transgendered persons, when I discuss cross-dressers. It’s unconditionally inappropriate to describe transgendered or transsexual persons as engaging in cross-dressing.
Neither am I talking about drag queens, who do indeed practice a variety of cross-dressing. A drag queen—or “female impersonator” to use the old-school term, “gender illusionist” for those of you in Las Vegas—is by definition a male-bodied person who performs while wearing feminine clothing, typically exaggerated in the degree of femininity: big heels, big boobs, big hair, glitzy gowns, and sparkly jewelry . . . although not always. Two gender-bending queens in particular come to mind who don’t fit the classic description—Ongina and Raja Gemini. Not surprisingly, they are two of my favorite queens.
(There are other varieties of cross-dressing, such as transvestic fetishism, which is typically described as a heterosexual man who experiences sexual arousal by wearing specific articles of feminine clothing. Cross-dressing is also a common element of cosplay, a type of performance art in which participants dress up to represent their favorite characters from anime, manga, video games, fantasy movies, and comic books.
While those are all fascinating topics—some merely entertaining, with others representing important social issues warranting contemplative thought and serious discussion—that’s not what I’m here to talk about today. I simply wish to start another glorious summer weekend by sharing with you my shallow but unbridled lust appreciation for hot, androgynous guys who embrace their inner chic and express themselves by wearing makeup and pretty clothes.
Men dressing as women have existed for the bulk of recorded history, some examples of which one can find in the mythologies of various ancient peoples, including the Greeks. However, the practice of cross-dressing in those stories usually involves force, as in the case of Heracles, or an effort to conceal identity, as in the case of Achilles.
Heracles (or Hercules, for you ancient Romans tuning in) served as a slave for one year for his murder of Iphitos, and some texts describe Heracles as forced to do “womanly work” and wear female garb.
The Goddess Thetis, mother of Achilles, dressed her son as a girl and hid him away in the court of Lycomedes to spare him from conscription into the Trojan War.
It’s only been much more recently that men “who have way too much fashion sense for one gender” (to borrow part of a quote Miss Noxeema Jackson in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar) have come out of their fabulous walk-in closets simply because they love the way going en femme makes them look.
Back in Baltimore, I had a very good friend (whom I’ll call “Mike”) who cross-dresses on a mostly full-time basis except for during the day while he’s at work. When I first met him (this is going back almost twenty years now), I thought he was the most adorable thing I’d ever seen. Blond hair that barely brushed his shoulders, a sweet smile and big, blue eyes, and a lithe little body that wouldn’t have recognized a gym had he tripped into the front door of one. Of all places, we met at a fetish club that was having a “Back to School” night in early September, where Mike strutted into the place wearing his younger sister’s Catholic high-school uniform. White, short-sleeved blouse with a skinny black necktie. A pleated, tartan skirt with the hem falling to mid-thigh. White knee high socks. Black-and-white saddle oxford shoes.
OH. MY. GOD.
After I collected my jaw off the floor and reeled my tongue back into my mouth, a mutual acquaintance introduced me to Mike. I found out that his manner of dress, while special in theme for that specific occasion, was typical of him for a night out on the town. To make a long story short, we became great friends, and the first time we got together after the “Back to School” party, we had a nice getting-to-know-you dinner at his place. Once we’d loosened up sufficiently after a couple gin-and-tonics, I asked him why he liked dressing in women’s clothes.
He shrugged and said, “Do I need a reason?”
No, he didn’t. He didn’t need a reason, any more than I needed to explain my why I like Coke better than Pepsi.
Delving a little further, after polishing off a few more drinks, he assured me he wasn’t concealing any sort of secret motivation. He had no desire to become a woman, and according to his braggart of a boyfriend, Mike was pretty damn good at being a man. Mike wasn’t attracted to drag queens and had no interest in becoming one. When he dressed en femme, he didn’t over-feminize: natural-looking makeup, no tucking, no padding, not even a little duct-taped décolletage, and he didn’t change the way he wore his hair or attempt to feminize his deep, sexy purr of a voice.
The bottom line, he told me, was that he felt as if he were living inside someone else’s skin when he wore traditionally masculine clothes, and he couldn’t explain why and frankly didn’t care.
I fully admit that there’s a good bit of Mike in all my cross-dressing characters, more so in some than others. He helped me to feel surer inside of my own skin, taught me that I didn’t have to explain or apologize. For those things, I’ll always be grateful to him, and infusing my characters with small glimpses of him allows me to share that with all of you.
I also have Mike to thank for my long-standing obsession with short, flouncy skirts and fishnet stockings, but that’s another story . . . .
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Along with his partner Reno MacLeod, Jaye Valentine resides on Cape Cod in Massachusetts and writes gay erotica, gay erotic romance, and sometimes just plain porn.
http://www.macleodvalentine.com/
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Jaye’s wonderful essay is a great lead-in to my less fun portion of this post.
So, would you remove a man from your dinner invitation list if you knew he cross-dresses in private? What about a character in a romance - would you love him less as a hero if he cross-dresses for his man, even if he has muscles up the wazoo? Is a cross-dresser not a manly man in your eyes? I think gender bending men are really cool and they have to be stronger than most gay men because it takes a lot of balls (yes it does) and mental strength to tell your partner that you love to wear women’s underwear or outerwear, in bed and out. Imagine the conversation the first time red silk thongs show up under a suit or in the laundry! What about that hot guy in a black cocktail dress at the dinner table? Deciding what to pack for vacations must be hell.
I love the different types of characters in M/M romances because the world is made up of a wonderful array of people, and I keep hoping that the more daring M/M authors will write books with gender bending protagonists for those readers who like to walk on the wild side. We’re reading gay romances in ever-increasing numbers, something that would have been a huge leap just a decade ago, and I think that a cross-dressing hero is just another brick in the M/M wall. During my research I found out that many alpha gay men in RL don’t embrace their cross-dressing brothers because they feel that they promote a negative stereotype of gays. They may be surprised to learn that gender bending men in the real world include macho football linebackers as well as the fussy clerk in the office; they cross-dress because it makes them feel sexy and it’s as much a part of who they are, like their eye and hair colour. There’s nothing like silk against bare skin to make someone feel sexy and desirable and when some men wear silk or lacy underwear or other gorgeous feminine apparel it gives them a feeling of sensuality and sexual power.
I asked Thorny who recently came out as a cross dresser on his blog I’mJustThorny what it is about cross dressing that makes him feel empowered, and here’s what he said:
“So what about cross-dressing makes me feel empowered… Since what I do is more for me and my husband Jazz in the bedroom, the part that I’m most amazed about and can’t get enough of is his reaction. I wear some little lacy or silky something and feel beautiful
and sexy because of the way he looks at me, touches me. He’s a talker too, so he tells me all about what he thinks and feels when I dress up and he gets to undress me! Before him, I felt like a freak for even wanting to try something on. Since him, I’ve explored it more and accepted it as something fun for us to play with sometimes. It took a while to get here — mostly because I scared myself into not talking about it — but here is good and I’m happy (and I know he is too!).”
I’m not talking in this post about drag queens since there are many stories about them, and in any event they wear women’s clothing for entertainment purposes and don’t have the motivation that gender benders do. Why are cross-dressers mostly absent as romantic leads in M/M romances? Is it because our authors don’t think that readers would relate to them other than as the best friend and won’t buy the books? We welcome different characterizations in M/M and I love alpha cowboys, cops, special agents and marines, but I also love beta characters and cross-dressers. I love to read about protagonists who are nuanced, e.g. a cowboy or cop who can be tender as well as strong, and if a few of them wear fem underwear in bed, or welcome their partners at the door in silk stockings with garters because they make them feel real, more power to them. If a cross-dresser has a partner who loves him and recognizes this is a part of who he is, that’s awesome. Many guys like to role play for their man’s pleasure since this is another way to light his fire. I think if our authors portray their gender bending protagonists positively, and the characters are well defined and three dimensional, they can be just as manly and appealing as the hot alpha mob boss. On the other hand, nothing turns me off more than when I read a book about a cross-dresser who is treated like so much fodder, and his desire to go en femme is portrayed as a kink that the author adds for “colour”.
I have read quite a few books with protagonists in gender bending roles. Last January I reviewed Taking You Home by Cooper Davis which I absolutely loved and Max is now one of my favourite characters. I have re-read this book countless times because Max’s and Hunter’s story is a great ending to their romance that started in Boys of Summer. I’m not going to give you a list of books with cross-dressing protagonists, but two short stories that I enjoyed recently were Only Words and Any Excuse by Acer Adamson starring tough cop Max and 
his cross-dressing boyfriend Skyler. I love, love, love these characters and if you read the books you may understand why I can’t forget them, especially Skyler who is no pushover in his silky underwear and skirts. I can’t wait for the full-length story about this couple that the author promised to release later this year.
Vive la différence loosely translated means “to celebrate differences”, but M/M writers don’t seem to be doing much celebrating when it comes to cross-dressers. There are different types of gay men in real life so why are we so hesitant to test the waters in M/M? Sure there are a few excellent gender bending stories around like the ones mentioned above, but there isn’t a whole range of excellent books from which to choose, which is a pity because there are gender bending gay men in RL despite the fact that macho, alpha types wish they would go away. News flash – they aren’t going anywhere.
Back to my original reason for writing this post. Yes there is a reason other than admiring the guys in Jaye’s portion of the post. lol. Do you like to read romances with well drawn, three dimensional characters in gay romances who are cross-dressers, or would you prefer not to go there? I’m hoping that this post will give a few more authors the impetus to write great stories about cross-dressing heroes. I know that some readers say they want their men to be men, but cross-dressers are strong men - they just like to play different games.
If you don’t want to read about gender bending heroes could you tell us why they turn you off?
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Here are a few boyz for Jaye. I hope he shares them with Reno. :) 
Author Information
Wave
Madonna196
Bogusia
Larissa
Sirius
Oh, Jaye . . . we are so very much on the same page when it comes to the beauty of gender bending. I’m embarrassed to admit that the Visual Kei movement passed me by without notice, but I am suddenly eager to discover everything I can about it.
Some of the Visual Kei stuff is way over the top, but the pictured gentleman at the beginning of the post, Yoshiki Hayashi of the band “X Japan,” did a classy version that really appealed to me.
I am not a huge fan of crossdressing characters. Why? I don’t know, it just doesn’t trip that neuron in my brain that says it’s hot. That’s not to say there are not some cute pictures I’ve seen of men wearing more feminine clothes, I love a man in guyliner and a bit of make-up (but less than the first picture) and I’ve read some stories with crossdressing characters I enjoyed, some less-so. So I’m not anti-crossdressing. It’s just kind of there. Whatever floats your boat, but it’s not my boat.
I guess when I look at the first picture I see a woman, and if I want to look at women I’ll find pictures of women, and knowing it’s a man who looks like a woman doesn’t really intrigue me. That’s just my brain not making the “whoa hot” connection for that particular thing. Now give me some piercings and tattoos, which other people find repulsive, and my little “whoa hot” sensor is going wild.
Because I’m kind of neutral on the subject, I’d have no problem with someone who wants to dress that way and come to dinner at my house or hang out that way. If my husband suddenly wanted to start dressing in women’s clothes? Ummm. In the bedroom, some sexy underwear (I’ve seen Thorny’s fave shopping site), if this was out of the blue, I’m sure it would take some getting used to, but it would be fine. If they wanted to go to Loblaws in heels and a dress with me? I think I’d feel too weird, especially if for years they’ve been exclusively dressing as a guy. I’m being honest, I’m not sure I’d be comfortable. But then if I loved them? Who knows? Until I was there I can’t say.
I should also note I don’t like the big muscle-bound hunks with thighs like tree trunks either. The ones you posted at the bottom are more my speed as you well know.
Whatever floats your boat, but it’s not my boat.
And that’s what makes the world such an interesting place.
Hi Tam
Thanks for commenting.
As you can tell, I do love a cross- dressing man because they really trip my triggers. Guys with guyliner and makeup – yum.
I likeall kinds of characters in my M/M books, some more than others, and including gender benders is another way to add diversity to my romances. In Toronto it’s not unusual, if you shop downtown, to see a well made-up man en femme especially next week which is Gay Pride week here.
Like you, in RL I don’t go for guys with lots of muscles. A medium build with not much body hair is my ideal. lol
Jaye – yes, exactly.
I’m a woman who likes butch women – crew cuts and suits – who “look like men” and regularly get thrown out of women’s restrooms. It’s ridiculous that having XX or XY chromosomes somehow means it’s “natural” to have one’s hair a certain length or wear a particular kind of shoes.
And also: Fae Sutherland’s “Gambling on Maybe.” Yum.
It’s ridiculous that having XX or XY chromosomes somehow means it’s “natural” to have one’s hair a certain length or wear a particular kind of shoes.
I couldn’t agree more!
Yoshiki had many, many femme incarnations – the one you posted is probably the most extreme. But, among all VK artists, he was the one who pulled this look the best. Although, my personal favorite is still Atsushi Sakurai (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_B0mgwZ4Xo).
I’m not seeking cross-dressing characters in my romance on purpose, mainly because I personally am not attracted to the look and I like to strongly identify with one or both protagonists in my fiction (that piercings/tattoos Tam mentioned are one of my hot buttons). That said, I’ve read several stories with cross-dressing characters that were absolutely beautiful (and yes, Max and Skyler’s stories are among them – I’m still waiting for the sequel!). M. Jules Aedin’s Windows in Time, A.B. Gayle’s Caught, anthology Bravo!Brava! are some of them. In the end, like with everything else, it all depends on how the author treats the subject.
Although, my personal favorite is still Atsushi Sakurai
Oh yeah. In which case, you are no doubt familiar with the infamous photo shoot that Yoshiki and Atsushi did together?
That magazine spread was the inspiration for two of my and Reno’s characters, David and Kiyoshi (anagram name For the win!) in “Soft Focus.” 
Oh, dear god, yes, Atsushi in uniform and Yoshiki in fishnets and frilly shirt! I already had Soft Focus on my TBR list, but after learning about inspiration behind it – it went to the top of it.
That photo shoot with Yoshiki and Atsushi? … oh man, I think my brain just started melting out of my ears.
I have to re-read Soft Focus now that everyone reminded me.
I’m with LadyM – Soft Focus just launched its way to the top of my TBR list as well!
I also loved Cooper Davis’ books. While cross-dressers don’t (to borrow Tam’s phrase) flip my whoa-hot meter, I enjoy reading them, as long as they are done well. I like to read about a variety of different, well-drawn, likable characters.
This post opened my eyes to nuances of cross-dressing I had never considered. Thanks for a delightful start to my Friday!
You’re welcome!
I love cross dressing characters in m/m stories. It really does trip my trigger. Even if it’s just a little – a pair of woman’s underpants behind his suit trousers, or a corset as club wear.
Awesome article, Wave and Jaye!
Hi Merith
Like you, cross dressers are my secret fantasy. The thought of red silk thongs or black lacy underpants under a suit – whoo!!! Hot.
I read a book by Sean Michael called Secrets, Skin and Leather about a character who loved to cross dress in leather corsets. His collection was incredible. WOW. That book is one of my favourite re-reads.
I should tell you though that they liked to play other games.
I’ve listed a few other favourites in the post which I highly recommend.
I’ve read Secrets, Skin and Leather and it’s also one of my favorite re-reads! I’ve greatly enjoyed Acer Adamson’s work too! Can’t wait for more to read.
I think what I love most is a confident man who doesn’t care much what others think of how he dresses, and that dress sense might be in full regalia or a mix of gender and genderless clothing.
Hi Merith
Did you know that there is a short follow up called Secret Skin? If you haven’t read it you’re missing out. Here’s a link to the review:
Don’t you just love that book? Dillon and Dal are so incredibly smokin’. I don’t know how many times I’ve read Secrets, Skin and Leather since I bought it over 3 years ago – I keep it on my bedside table.
http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/2010/05/13/secret-skin/
Until Jaye mentioned he was helping to write this blog with Wave, I hadn’t realized just how often cross dressing appears in our stories. Even now we have at least two stories on the table with this gender element.
Yoshiki and Atsushi were inspirations for Jaye and I early on. Maybe if you ask Jaye nice, he’ll share the picture that sat on both of our desktops for months.
Hi Reno
Thanks for dropping by.
Yes, you do have lots of cross-dressing characters in your books which is one of the reaons I love them so much. lol. I’ll email Jaye now and ask about that picture.
Hi, Wave and Jaye!
I’m feeling a little bit famous now 
I seriously admire Mike and other men who can dress up and be completely unapologetic about it. I’m not to that point. Maybe I won’t ever be, but I’m cluing in to never saying never. I imagine that school girl outfit would go over VERY well around here, though! And I am packing a little something for our camping trip next week
Thanks to both of you for putting this article together! (and for including me)
Thorny
Thank you so much for helping with this post. Your input and personal experience showed that being a cross-dresser is a challenge but a wonderful fulfilling experience. I’m sure that Jazz enjoys your outfits even more than you do because you are IN them. lol. Or maybe it’s taking them off that’s most fun.
Jaye really likes that school girl outfit. Maybe he could give you a few tips about where to purchase a few items.
Thanks for stopping by to chime in, Thorny. I peeked at your blog because I’m nosy like that, and I’m glad I did. The Father’s Day movie theater boner story had me laughing out loud. You’re delightful.
Hi Jaye! Sorry I didn’t see this before –> I was away camping by the 25th for my anniversary. Camping? I know! But I loves him.
Thanks so much for visiting my little blog! Glad I made you laugh. When you get a moment, will you share shopping tips with me like Wave said you might? {please please}
I’ve not yet read a book with a cross-dressing protag – something to investigate! It’s not a personal thrill, but I wouldn’t mind it in a book, and certainly wouldn’t care in a real life friend. I admire honesty and well, you are what you are.
Guyliner? Hot. Adam Lambert – yum.
Hi Finn
Thanks for commenting.
I do love Adam Lambert. lol.
If you’re looking for a rec. I would suggest that you get Only Words and Any Excuse by Acer Adamson to start. Both books are reviewed on the site and you can pick them up at ARe – I think they are $1.99 each.
The only time I like cross dressing is in yaoi stories. You have to take those stories with a pinch of salt anyway and cross dressing is just that bit of extra fun.
Ingrid
I’m really surprised. I thought that you liked gender bending stories. I’ll have to recommend a couple of books to get you in the swing.
Years ago, a male friend who worked in menswear at a local department store with a large lingerie section told me about how men, nervously browsing the slips and panties, would buy items for their “wives” that were more likely for them. The sales ladies working the section felt so bad for these guys that they asked my friend if he would mind coming into their section to help out when men showed up. He was happy to help and word got around that certain times were “man” friendly in lingerie.
How wonderful that the internet has made comfortable what must have been supremely uncomfortable for these guys.
I really don’t think I’d be as comfortable as I am now with this if I actually had to go to a store and buy something.
Just the thought makes me feel a little sick! That they managed it, well, I can admire their determination. The internet has made it so I can shop with no pressure. If anyone’s interested, I’m especially fond of http://xdress.com 
Thorny
I was tempted to buy a few items from that site. They have a great selection.
I couldn’t get past the opening page.
Jaye
Maybe you need to try again ‘cos they have fabulous stuff – some of the best I’ve seen so far.
Even I was able to navigate the site and I’m no tech expert.
I meant I couldn’t get past the first page because the picture on it was so scorching hot.
I should have guessed. Stupid me. You’re such a perv.
Hi Kel
I think it was wonderful for that store to make men feel comfortable buying lingerie for themselves. Now, with the Internet there’s not much need for that kind of personalized service. I always wondered in the past where the lingerie ended up. lol
Do I want to read stories with gender bending heroes? Hell yeah. That’s like a total kink. If the guy wears make up (even just eyeliner) even better. Unfortunately there aren’t many stories, so I reread the ones that I have… often.
Hi Luci
That’s the reason I wrote the post – to encourage more authors to write these stories so that those readers who love gender bending stories that are done well will have a good selection. I don’t read these books ALL the time but they’re great as a change in pace.
Two other books that were recommended are Ruby Slippers by Alexi Silversimth and Slow Bloom by Anah Crow and Dianne Fox. They are both reviewed on the site.
Great post Wave and Jaye! I love cross-dressing men
I think it’s the costuming aspect that appeals. I mean I am quite lazy when it comes to getting ready to go out but when a guy cross-dresses there’s little rituals and the make-up and styling the hair and choosing the right outfit, and there’s just something about the whole thing that I find hot. Or maybe I just have a clothing fetish? 
Plus growing up in the early 80s with the New Romantics, there were so many androgynous and downright pretty singers back then!
Coincidentally the book I reviewed for next week has a cross-dressing scene in it
Hi Leslie
What a surprise. I never knew that you love gender benders.
I love androgynous looking men – no beefy hunks for me. I wonder what it’s like to go out with a guy who wears more makeup than his woman or man? lol.
I’m looking forward to your review. I didn’t realize that there was a bit of cross-dressing in the book.
When I started reading m/m I steered clear of cross-dressing characters since my only point of reference were over the top drag type characters from movies and other fiction. Than I came across several recommendations for an online fiction work The Girl For Me. So I read it and was surprised by how much I enjoyed the story.
I guess I’ll be reading the recommendations from this post.
Hi Eva
I read The Girl For Me – actually Cole recommended it for Thorny and I really liked the story.
I hope you do read the books recommended in the post.
OMG Wave and Jaye, thank you so much for that lovely post! Since my early teens a.k.a. the early 80ies I had the hots for androgynous cross-dressing guys. The fascination never went away and only got ‘worse’ over the years.
In the 80ies there was always an abundance of guys with lots of make-up and girly clothes, in the 90ies we had at least visual kei, neo-goth and Placebo (I actually squealed when I saw the Brian Molko pic) and today we can drool over androgynous beauties like Andrej Pejic. Ever since I discovered m/m romance I have been on the look-out for stories with cross-dressing characters and there are wonderful books out there but just not enough, IMO. I am greedy, I know. I just wish more writers would feel the same fascination and understand what it is all about. I will forever worship Jaye Valentin/Axer Adamson and Kimberly Gardner for understanding and showing in their stories that there is a difference between cross-dressers, transvestites and transsexuals by creating wonderful characters that need no excuse for dressing in women’s wear. Skyler will forever be my all-time-favorite cross-dressing character and there isn’t any other book that has me as excited as the promised up-coming Skyler-novel. I adore Jaye for quoting his friend ‘Mike’ and pointing out that no explanation is necessary for guys to where dresses. The reason that they look good in it and feel good about themselves is enough. Making other people think about the existence of gender stereotypes in our so-called modern society is just a nice side effect. I wish more people would understand that and I wish journalists would stop asking our real-life cross-dressing heros when they will finally get their sex-change and that authors would stop excusing the cross-dressing of their characters with the ”my parents always wanted a girl instead of a boy”-line. Like Wave I desperately hope that more authors would create more ‘real’ cross-dressing characters that actually act like guys and not like some walking female cliché of the damsel in distress. I want more of the wonderful ass-kicking cross-dressing characters like Jaye and Reno have in their books. But Jaye and Reno can’t do all that hard work alone, right?
Thank you so much for all your kind words, Anja. I’m determined to have that Max and Skyler novel finished this summer. I miss playing with them.
Reno and I spent a lovely day together browsing antique shops on Cape Cod and running errands, and it was wonderful to return home to find so many nice comments.
Here are the photographs of Atsushi Sakurai and Yoshiki Hayashi that respectively inspired us to write David and Kiyoshi in “Soft Focus.” In fact, the first link is to the photograph that’s described in detail in the first chapter of the book, while Ethan is perving on the magazine.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34761274@N08/5866282799/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34761274@N08/5866836898/
Nothing at all suggestive there at all, right?
Jaye
Those pictures are simply delightful. I might steal them for my private collection.
Those flickr photographs are amazing! I also love the picture of Brian Molko from Placebo in the post. He is very cute and talented to boot.
Brian is a hot man no matter what he’s wearing, but I particularly loved when he used to dress in butchy femme (how’s that for an oxymoron?) like in that picture. Rawr.
I’ve enjoyed all the books mentioned. Cross dressing plays an interesting role in OOP and IP by Kyell Gold. Sometimes it’s sexy, and sometimes it’s a sad comment about pressures from others. Anyway, they’re great books.
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
Since so many of you are willing to try the world of cross dressing here are a few recs. to start off your reading pleasure:
Only Words by Acer Adamson
Any Excuse by Acer Adamson
Taking You Home & Boys of Summer by Cooper Davis. Boys of Summer is the prequel to TYH and you should read it even though there is no cross-dressing in the book.
Soft Focus by Jaye Valentine & Reno MacLeod
Firecracker by Jaye Valentine
Secrets, Skin & Leather by Sean Michael
Secret Skin (short sequel to S, S & L) ) by Sean Michael
The Girl for Me by Failte (free online)- here’s the link http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2281014/1/The_Girl_for_Me
Windows in Time by M. Jules Aedin
Matchmen Ltd. by T.C. Blue (sort of an anthology) – there is a funny cross dressing character, Melody, who stars in the second story.
Ruby Slippers by Alexi Silversmith
Bravo! Brava! and Encore! Encore! anthologies from MLR Press (some of these stories are about drag queens so please read the reviews)
A Season in Hell by Syd McGinley
Slow Bloom by Anah Crow and Dianne Fox (one of the protags in this book is considerably older than the other so be warned)
Please read the reviews if you can, before purchasing some of these books.
Woot! There are still a couple of books I do not have!
There’s someone else who has an online site and has published a couple of series of short stories and I know for sure one series is based on a cross dresser and his boyfriend. I’ll see if I can’t find it and come back.
This is the link sent to me: http://krisngoodbooks.blogspot.com/2009/12/firsts-series-cross-dressing.html?zx=1d14451f2d007b5e
And it was Jet Mykles’ Skirt that caught my attention.
Thanks so much Merith. I’ll check out Kris’s list.
Oh, thanks for the tips! Acer Adamson, Jaye, and Failte were already on my TBR list, but I’m definitely adding Sean Michael.
If you happen to be on Goodreads, check out my transgender shelf for some good recommendations (way too many to include here):
http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/4061109-sally?shelf=transgender
WOW! That is a huge list! It’s going to take me weeks to just look through the list, let alone read them all.
If my failing geriatric memory serves, I think you reviewed my Alice in Wonderland White Queen gender-bender story a while back. I distinctly recall admiring the cleverness of the word “Bibrary.”
Wow, good memory! That was back in December, and it was a delightul read . . . so much fun.
http://bibrary.blogspot.com/2010/12/review-happily-ever-before-by-jaye.html
Hi Sally
Thanks for the link. While some of your recommendations are M/M, many are transgender, drag queen and transsexual stories which are not part of this post. However I appreciate the list.
Yeah, I do need to take the time to break the list down into its elements . . . one of my summer projects.
If you ever do break the list down perhaps you could post a link to the M/M cross-dressing books for those other readers who love them. That would be great.
Late to the party.
Men in stockings and make-up and just slightly femme. Is it any wonder I fell hard for Jamie Campbell Bower the minute I saw him andmy first reaction to Camelot was “he really is a boy”? (Adam Lambert is definitely male, with the eyeliner only making him MORE butch, and very much a top if the flogger was any indication)
I love crossdressing men so much I married one who wears my size. “Erica” and I used to date more. Now a days, Mudd gripes that he looks “Middle aged and frumpy” and refuses to shave his beard very often.
I did a Robin Hood novel that walks the line between crossdressing and transgender.
What story is that?
Heart of a Forest from Ellora’s Cave. It’s not bad, good characters, great voice, but we made the usual hash of our endgame, according to reviewers.
I think I need to hire someone to write the last 20 pages of my books.
Mmm… Brian Molko…
My favorite pretty boy. What a voice!
Great post, Wave and Jaye. Some of the recommended books I’ve read or are on my to read pile, the rest I put on my to buy list now, thank you very much
Anything we can do to help you spend your money is a good thing Slyvia.