Threesome (mmf or mfm) Romances

sunandshadow · Feb 16, 2010

I was sure there would already have been some good threads about threesome romances in this forum, but the search function didn't turn up anything for "threesome" or "menage", and mmf was too short to search. So maybe this topic actually hasn't been done before.

What I'm talking about specifically is the subgenre of romance where the heroine gets at least two heroes (and gets to keep them both, it's not a love triangle where one wins and the other loses). The book usually has one of three set-ups: A. there is a culture-wide shortage of women so men have to share, B. there is some sort of traditional or religious bond between the two men making them blood brothers (or they are literally brothers/twins), or C. the two men are lovers and want a female lover they can share. I've read maybe a dozen of these, mostly science fiction, a few fantasy, and one historical. Who likes these? Want to recommend a few favorites? Does anyone besides Ellora's Cave publish a lot of these?

I ask because I'm toying around with the idea of writing one. I wanted to do a bit of collaborative brainstorming and see what you all thought was the typical plot progression for a romance of this type. Also, any key ingredients to include to please the audience.

scarletpeaches · Feb 16, 2010

AH HA!

I've read quite a few recently. Let's see...

2 Hot 2 Handle - Kelly Jamieson (short story)
Make Mine Midnight - Annmarie McKenna (short story)
Going All In - Jess Dee (novella)

All published by Samhain, all MFM although there's some M/M in the Jamieson and Dee books; can't remember about the McKenna one.

Kate's Crew by Jane Rylon (short story, also Samhain) is a basic orgy short story - five guys, one woman.

I also have Unridden by Cat Johnson and Coming Full Circle by Liz Andrews sitting on my ereader waiting for me to read them - again, Samhain. Both full-length novels. Yep, I'm a Samhain menage junkie. So clearly they're a publisher to check out.

Oh, and note in case anyone's not familiar with the kinda book Samhain publishes: for 'romance' read 'erotic romance'. Like, graphic.

/fair warning off.

kaitie · Feb 17, 2010

Am I the only one who's kinda surprised TT42 hasn't popped into this thread yet?

jana13k · Feb 17, 2010

What you're describing is done and often, but under the erotic label (as scarlet indicated in her post). A *true* romance requires a happily ever after and *most* people view that as one man, one woman. Anything outside of that finish, and it's usually something else.

Also check out Ellora's Cave. They are probably the leading erotica publisher and have been for a long time - BEFORE New York decided it sells.

*RomanceWriter* · Feb 17, 2010

Check out Siren Publishing. They specialize in menage, menageamour, polyamage...you name it.
I contracted an erotic romance with them and chose to write a menage because they do so well at Siren. It was a fun trip and I'm writing another one now.
Check out their submission page, it has all the info.

veinglory · Feb 17, 2010

jana13k said:
What you're describing is done and often, but under the erotic label (as scarlet indicated in her post). A *true* romance requires a happily ever after and *most* people view that as one man, one woman.

I really hope this isn't true, but suspect it is.

Nevertheless there is an increasing move for the HEA to embrace any romantic unit you like, just like in real life. Permitting true romance even, um, gay people and and polyamory.

*RomanceWriter* · Feb 17, 2010

veinglory said:
I really hope this isn't true, but suspect it is.

Nevertheless there is an increasing move for the HEA to embrace any romantic unit you like, just like in real life. Permitting true romance even, um, gay people and and polyamory.

Agreed.
The menage books at Siren must have a HEA.
Even though I'm more comfortable with an ending with two people, it's not the only way. I'm drifting out of my comfort zone now and plan to have my WIP have a HEA for four. It can work. The key for me is capturing true emotion.

Darklite · Feb 17, 2010

jana13k said:
What you're describing is done and often, but under the erotic label (as scarlet indicated in her post). A *true* romance requires a happily ever after and *most* people view that as one man, one woman. Anything outside of that finish, and it's usually something else.

If this is true I'm so glad I'm not *most* people because how limiting is that? I write romance and it's not particularly erotic nor is it one man and one woman. I still think of it as a *true romance* though, if not a conventional one.

Brindle Chase · Feb 17, 2010

Its already been said, mostly m/f/m or /m/m/f romances are typically erotic or erotica... Just wanted to chime in that Loose Id also has a great line up of these in erotic romance and erotica.

veinglory · Feb 17, 2010

IMHO most at this point are erotic romance. And mine is non-erotic romance.

scarletpeaches · Feb 17, 2010

jana13k said:
What you're describing is done and often, but under the erotic label (as scarlet indicated in her post).

veinglory said:
IMHO most at this point are erotic romance.

Which is what I said in my post, not erotica.

IceCreamEmpress · Feb 17, 2010

Different publishers and different lines have different focuses. The Harlequin/Mills and Boon print lines focus on two-person heterosexual romance with HEA; they are the bulk of the romance market, but they're not the only "true" romance.

It's better to be specific than to make large categories about what "is" and "isn't" romance, or "true" romance, or "romance, strictly speaking."

So, sunandshadow, some publishers you might want to look at in addition to the aforementioned Loose Id, Siren, Samhain, and Ellora's Cave are Circlet Press and Tease Publishing.

Also, I think that Dear Author has a "threesome" tag so you can search the reviews there by that.

ChaosTitan · Feb 17, 2010

Megan Hart's Tempted (Harlequin Spice) is a thoughtful look at a mmf relationship.

KathleenD · Feb 17, 2010

Carina Press bought my MMF, although to be fair, the female lead only temporarily had two husbands because of a hole between parallel universes.

Right.

Anyway, you could throw Carina onto the list of possible markets, I think.

sunandshadow · Feb 17, 2010

Thanks for all the recommendations.

If anyone else is interested in recommendations of this subgenre, Kaitlyn O'Connor and Jory Strong have both written some great mmfs. Madelaine Montague wrote a decent one too.

I'm kind of puzzled why people are putting emphasis on the erotic aspect - erotic romances are romances. Although maybe since I don't read sweet romances, IME romances are always at least mildly erotic. Similarly I'm not really interested in erotica that isn't romantic, so IME good erotica is romantic and has a HEA. I guess I just don't see much of a difference between good romance and good erotica, or between the two genres.

Dee Carney · Feb 17, 2010

I have m/f/m with Cobblestone Press, Phaze Books and Noble Romance Publishing. My debut book coming in June to Loose Id is also a m/f/m. I also have a m/m/f with Cobblestone. (Rosemary Gunn has a great f/f/m at Liquid Silver Books; Violet Summers did a wonderful m/m/f with Liquid Silver as well.)

I point this out to say that most (if not all) epubs sell menages. Siren-Bookstrand, as pointed out previously, has a huge market for menage and more books. A search on Amazon or B&N will bring up a listing of books, with corresponding reader reviews.

veinglory · Feb 17, 2010

mmf and mfm are both amazon tags too.

Cathy C · Feb 18, 2010

Yasmine Galenorn's Dragon Wytch is published by Berkley and is MMF---with an HEA! It was also nominated for the RITA last year. So it's definitely possible. It's all about the story.

mlhernandez · Feb 18, 2010

Barbara Elsborg writes some really good menage romances for EC. Susie's Choice was a book I really enjoyed.

Selah March · Feb 19, 2010

I've got an m/f/m at Red Sage as part of a whole "threesome" paranormal series.

Ambri · Feb 19, 2010

Hmm, this is not something I've read (well, maybe one fantasy that had a menage). It sounds intriguing. Excuse my ignorance, but what's the diff between m/f/m and m/m/f? Is the first two straight men who share a woman, and the second two bi men who share each other and the woman?

Also, do Ellora's Cave, et al, also do f/f/m and other polyamourous relationships? I've been thinking of checking out their stuff, even though I don't have an ebook reader yet.

Dee Carney · Feb 19, 2010

Ambri said:
Hmm, this is not something I've read (well, maybe one fantasy that had a menage). It sounds intriguing. Excuse my ignorance, but what's the diff between m/f/m and m/m/f? Is the first two straight men who share a woman, and the second two bi men who share each other and the woman?

Also, do Ellora's Cave, et al, also do f/f/m and other polyamourous relationships? I've been thinking of checking out their stuff, even though I don't have an ebook reader yet.

m/f/m denotes two men sharing a woman. m/m/f denotes a man and a woman sharing a (bisexual) man.

I just did a Google search for "Ellora's Cave f/f/m" and returned some hits, so I'd say yes to your next question.

And as an aside, you don't need an ebook reader. You can download the Kindle for PC, Sony reader for PC or just read a .pdf file on your computer. In other words, you don't need an ebook reader to enjoy ebooks.

sunandshadow · Feb 19, 2010

Ambri said:
Hmm, this is not something I've read (well, maybe one fantasy that had a menage). It sounds intriguing. Excuse my ignorance, but what's the diff between m/f/m and m/m/f? Is the first two straight men who share a woman, and the second two bi men who share each other and the woman?

Also, do Ellora's Cave, et al, also do f/f/m and other polyamourous relationships? I've been thinking of checking out their stuff, even though I don't have an ebook reader yet.

Yep you pretty much guessed right, although m/m/f can also mean one bi man shared by a gay man and a straight woman - this isn't common in romance because it requires a male main character, but you see it in erotica. And yes there are places that do f/f/m, and I've also seen m/m/m, so I assume there's f/f/f around somewhere.

veinglory · Feb 19, 2010

The main thing, IMHO, is that mfm generally has no substantial amount of mm material. Many woman seem to like the fantasy of having two men, but they are focussed on her.

KathleenD · Feb 19, 2010

I'm so new to erotica that I didn't realize order mattered

Carina bought my m/f/m.

Today wasn't a total waste of clean socks, I learned something!

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