Laura Joh Rowland and the Sano Ichiro novels
Has anyone read the Sano Ichiro series by Laura Joh Rowland, in particular The Concubine's Tattoo? I saw it go past as a Yuletide fandom last year, and thought it looked interesting (it's about an Edo Period detective) and got this volume second-hand. It's historically fun, though it has lots of As You Know, Bob, and I like the main characters.
In Chapter 5, the person I assume will be the major villain of the series shows up. Chamberlain Yanagisawa is the lover of the "weak-minded" Shogun, a man from an ambitious family who has used his looks and brains for social and political climbing. He was "given" to a higher-ranking samurai at age 14, then has seduced his way to the top, and has a young actor for his concubine. While all of this is perfectly reasonable in a historical sense, and he is not identified as gay (also culturally appropriate - sex with men was considered a very manly thing to do) he is Evil So Evil, the Shogun is stupid and weak, and the young actor is effeminate (which could be okay - boys play female roles), pretty and giggly. These are the only male-attracted men in the book so far.
Now, I don't want to judge Rowland on five chapters. She hasn't made the mistake of identifying them as "homosexual" - Yanagisawa has a wife and daughter, who he keeps safely away from court - and yet if these are the only male-attracted men, that reads like a nasty, modern, homophobic imposition to me. If these are just a small part of a larger cast of male-attracted men in the series, that would be completely fine with me. I don't need my gay characters to be saints. But if it's good old straight Sano versus the nasty slimy political gays? I don't want to read or write in that fandom, thanks.
Can anyone give me further information on these books? I was really enjoying the setting and the assorted characters until I hit this roadblock.
In Chapter 5, the person I assume will be the major villain of the series shows up. Chamberlain Yanagisawa is the lover of the "weak-minded" Shogun, a man from an ambitious family who has used his looks and brains for social and political climbing. He was "given" to a higher-ranking samurai at age 14, then has seduced his way to the top, and has a young actor for his concubine. While all of this is perfectly reasonable in a historical sense, and he is not identified as gay (also culturally appropriate - sex with men was considered a very manly thing to do) he is Evil So Evil, the Shogun is stupid and weak, and the young actor is effeminate (which could be okay - boys play female roles), pretty and giggly. These are the only male-attracted men in the book so far.
Now, I don't want to judge Rowland on five chapters. She hasn't made the mistake of identifying them as "homosexual" - Yanagisawa has a wife and daughter, who he keeps safely away from court - and yet if these are the only male-attracted men, that reads like a nasty, modern, homophobic imposition to me. If these are just a small part of a larger cast of male-attracted men in the series, that would be completely fine with me. I don't need my gay characters to be saints. But if it's good old straight Sano versus the nasty slimy political gays? I don't want to read or write in that fandom, thanks.
Can anyone give me further information on these books? I was really enjoying the setting and the assorted characters until I hit this roadblock.