As famous as Mel Keegan is for gay books set in science fiction worlds, and sea stories exploring the vasts of the ocean, there's another whole group of readers whose preference is for the historicals ... specifically, gay historicals! ... and MK's historical works have been recognized both with fine reviews and a Stonewall Society award. As gay books, as fiction, as fiction in general, and as historicals in particular, they succeed on many levels.

FORTUNES OF WAR is a gay romantic adventure set between 1588 and 1595, in England and the Caribbean, involving the Spanish Armada and buccaneers on the Main. If you like your gay heroes macho, sensitive, muscular, sensual and intelligent (gee, we don't ask for much, do we?!) then FORTUNES OF WAR is the place to begin. There is a wide vein of the deeply exotic, the technicolor daydream. Little wonder, this has long been our Reader's Choice gay historical. FORTUNES is currently in its third edition, and available as both hard- and softcover. Browse the book, read 10% online, and choose between the paper and ebook versions (First published by GMP in 1995.)

Or does your taste in gay books run to the vast, epic-sized novel? Try DANGEROUS MOONLIGHT, which pivots on the themes of highwaymen, pistol duels, horse racing and family fortunes, set on the south coast of England in 1727. The book is as superbly researched as you've come to expect of Mel Keegan, and the story is so massive, the reader is contentedly lost among its pages and left wanting more. Gay heroes, you ask? In this volume, they're Harry Trevellion and Nick Gray — and DANGEROUS MOONLIGHT is no fantasy. With great realism, it tackles the subject of being gay in this era. Suffice to say, it was tricky. You could get yourself into a lot of trouble. But once again, like FORTUNES OF WAR's unforgettable gay heroes, Harry and Nick are as intelligent as they're tough and sensual. Browse the book, read 10% online, and choose between the paper and ebook versions (First published by DreamCraft in 2006.)

In a vastly different scenario, WHITE ROSE OF NIGHT is a tale of crusader knights, Saracens, great battles dark sorcery, and a couple of the most unlikely gay heroes. Saxon knight and half-Hispanic orphan, both are carried like leaves before the winds of change, in an age, and a place, where being gay would literally be the death of you. WHITE ROSE is a massive historical with a delicious vein of fantasy. The historical aspect is as deeply researched and as keenly drawn as you'll find in every gay book from Mel Keegan; but WHITE ROSE also offers a dusky eroticism, an underpinning of blood-rich sensuality. Magic, pain, bondage, fear, death, all are explored in a novel you won't quickly forget. Browse the book, read 10% online, and choose between the paper and ebook versions (First published by GMP in 1996.)

Another historical with a fantasy twist is NOCTURNE, a mystery and romance set in the 1890s ... in the 'glittering, midnight world of the vampyre.' If you've a taste for the vampyre, look also at the sequel to NOCTURNE, which is set in 1905 — TWILIGHT. Set in 1862 is THE DECEIVERS, a meticulously-researched novel about the transitional days when steam power was bringing the age of sail to an end, and the shipwreckers were a scourge on the English coast.

Lastly, AN EAST WIND BLOWING is an adventure romance set in the fifth century, when Saxons and Angles are raiding into the Britons' country shortly after the Roman Legions departed, which puts it at something like the middle of the fifth century. In fact, the same era as the 'historical' King Arthur. Of all the gay historicals, only AN EAST WIND BLOWING is not yet available from Dreamcraft, but you can almost certainly pick with one up as a used book via Amazon, eBay or Alibris. (Don't pay silly prices, though, because this novel will be available from Dreamcraft in 2008 or 09.)

Click the covers, above, to go to the browser pages. From those pages you can read around 10% of each book online, get inside MK's head with the 'Research Tales,' link through to the Reviews and see what other readers are saying ... and order the books!

See also: The Sea Stories The Science Fiction list

White Rose of Night and An East Wind Blowing will join the DreamCraft list soon...