Got Yaoi?

For those of my readers unfamiliar with the term, yaoi is m/m fiction, but it's more than that. Originating in Japan, yaoi is gaining popularity with English readers, and now some have begun to write it, earning the classification of "Western Yaoi."

The two participants in a yaoi relationship are often referred to as seme ("attacker") and ukemartial arts, they have apparently been used in a sexual context for centuries and do not carry any degrading connotations. Seme derives from the Japanese verb semeru (“to attack”) and uke from the Japanese verb ukeru (“to receive”). Though gay males are often referred to in English as "tops" or "bottoms," seme and uke are more nearly analogous to "pitcher" and "catcher." ("receiver").

The seme is often depicted as the stereotypical male of anime and manga culture: restrained, physically powerful, and/or protective. The seme generally has a stronger chin, shorter hair, smaller eyes, and a more stereotypically masculine demeanor than the uke. The seme usually pursues the uke. The uke usually has softer, youthful features with bigger eyes and a smaller build.^[4] He is usually less experienced with romance or sex and his interactions with the seme often make for his first homosexual experience. The storyline where an uke is reluctant to have anal sex with a seme is considered to be similar to the reader's reluctance to have sex whilst still a virgin.

(taken from Wikipedia)

I've stated time and again that I am not a big fan of m/m erotica (yes, it's a fluid thing). But there is one new book that I have enjoyed parts of greatly, though I haven't yet read the entire thing: Katrina Strauss' Blue Ruin 1: Some Kind of Stranger, now available from Loose ID.

Derek Graves's desire for the perfect sexual "prisoner" has left him with a dark reputation and a string of jilted lovers. He needs a partner who wants the pleasure and the pain he can give. After his search lands him on the wrong end of the fantasy at the hands of ruthless predator, Derek returns to his accustomed hunting ground of Blue Ruin with one purpose in mind: revenge.

He gets it, but he also ends up rescuing the predator's next intended victim, a homeless blue-haired waif who is just Derek's type. He brings the incoherent young man home, needing to find out what he saw, and ensure he won't tell anyone. The scenario couldn't be more perfect to service Derek's dominant fantasies --

Shane "Blue" McGowan wakes up groggy, blindfolded, and chained to a stranger's bed. Upon finding himself in luxurious surroundings, the cunning Blue realizes two things: he has no desire to return to a life on the streets, and his handsome captor stirs strange and unfulfilled longings in him.

Manipulating the terms of his own "imprisonment," Blue swings a place to stay in exchange for his silence about a second stranger left beaten and unconscious behind Blue Ruin. To sweeten the deal, Blue agrees to become Derek's submissive. But as their relationship progresses, Derek finds himself wondering whether Blue is truly at Derek's mercy, or is Derek at his?