President Obama made history twice over the past week: First, for declaring his support for gay marriage, and, second, for being the subject of a bestselling slash fiction novel entitled Barack Hard, a steamy romance between an African-American President of the United States, Barack O. Bama, and an Asian-American Secret Service Agent, Chuck E. Chan.
M/M fiction, a genre of fan fiction that tells stories about romantic and/or sexual relationships between male media characters. The majority of the readers, and the authors, are heterosexual women. Jill Favors, the author of Barack Hard, said she was first introduced to M/M fiction when she ran across a Canadian Star Trek novella entitled Beam Me Up the Bum, Scotty. “It was horribly written and edited, but the scenes between Kirk and Spock were so tender, yet so hot, that I couldn’t get them out of my mind. I started reading all the M/M fiction I could find, and eventually began writing my own.”
According to Favors, Her President Barak O. Bama is just a regular biracial guy who happened to graduate from Harvard Law School who wants world peace, the occasional pick-up game, and someone to watch HGTV with, after a long day in the Oval Office. Chuck E. Chan, is a Secret Service agent who likes to restore classic cars, cook French cuisine, and knows the words to every Barry Manilow song, who is assigned to protect the President on a trip to pay his respects to the Prince of Trikistan, who just came out as gay to his father, and accompany him to a Madonna concert in Dubai. At first, the President and Agent Chan hate each other, but things begin to heat up by the time they land in Dubai. However, before Madonna can return to the stage for an encore of “Holiday,” terrorists kidnap the President. It’s up to Chan to kick terrorist butt, save the President, and enter into a pick-up game for life with the man he loves.
“The reason that I chose to make my protagonist slightly different than President Obama is because I like the First Lady,” said Favors. “I mean, I couldn’t kill her off. I also didn’t want to send her off to visit her mother or go shopping in Italy, so I set my story in an alternate universe.”
Barack Hard had already been written, sold to Testerone Squared Publishing, and was being edited when President Obama voiced his support for gay marriage. The publisher rushed to make the title available as an e-book the next day and sales went through the roof. Up next for the Gay President is Barakback Mountain, which is due out before the end of the month.
