Welcome to The Bears Den

“How does it work for gay people?”  “In straight relationships, it’s clear who ‘the man’ is and who ‘the woman’ is.  How does that work in gay relationships?”  “Gays are just all about sex, right?”  These are just a few questions and observations that many gay people find themselves being asked by friends and family that are trying to understand what being gay is all about.  There are hundreds and hundreds of “Gay Romance” novels that look at all kinds of aspects of gay life.    But, as with any “romance” story - straight or gay - the intimate interactions between characters that result in a “gay relationship” are spelled out often in fairly graphic ways, and often become the dominant theme of the book.  While this can be great entertainment for those who are comfortable with how the sexual side of gay relationships work, sometimes the deeper aspects of what it means to be gay and in love get lost in the action between the sheets.  

Author K G Follett decided to focus his stories on these other aspects of being gay and in love.  While he does not deny or ignore the sexual side of the relationships he writes about, he focuses more on other the other aspect of their lives.  He hopes to help our potential “straight allies” understand that gay relationships are really no different than any other kind of relationship.  His stories are also designed to honor the gay men and couples that struggle every day with ups and downs, misunderstandings, tragedies and successes - just like anyone else - proving we are more that what happens in the bedroom. 

In his first series of books, A Different Kind of Family:  The Trilogy, Follett explores the life of a man (Brad Kelly) from his teen age years until retirement and beyond.   Those books inspired a related series of stories called The Bears’ Den, that further explore the lives and loves of other characters in and related to the first books.   Before leaving The Bears' Den crew, Follett followed the the overall story line up with an historical fiction account of the early AIDS crisis, Never Too Late, that also deals with falling in love as older gay men.  He then decided to try his hand at SciFi.  The result is Ganymede: Time for Love, an exploration of human emotions from the viewpoint of an 23rd century android accidentally sent back in time to the late 1990s.  Follett's next book, Hello Again, is a story where love conquers all between a 40-something straight widower and a 20-something bisexual barista.  Hint:  they have a little help from the great beyond!  Then came Unforbidden Love, a story that has been described as a "modern-day fairy tale - a Cinderfella story" - complete with a prince!  Follett's newest effort is titled For Old Times' Sake, and it follows two best friends from high school, who discover they have more in common than they thought at their 25th class reunion.   Hopefully you will enjoy getting to know these characters and reading their stories as much as K G Follett enjoyed writing them.  Stay tuned for more to come - including a 3-book series called Second Chances!