wedding danceand wondered which ones Martin would have gotten involved with ifHenry had never made use of him and allowed him his freedom instead.Would he and Tom...? Would he have the clap right now? Henry hadntseen a lot of slave boys with his own looks at the party, very talland dark; in the face of a lack of acceptable dark options, wouldMartin be more receptive to other types, like the Spanglers gingerfootman? He debated whether he should ask Martin or not. He thoughtnot; it seemed like it could easily lead to hurt feelings or a fight.It did seem obvious to him that someone who liked sex as much asMartin did would have eventually found a way to get it, sanctioned ornot.Pearlhad clearly enjoyed reading TheGhost of Hedgecombe Manor,and her new book, TheLady in Blue,seemed to be another ghost story, or at least a mystery. Henry wasimmediately suspicious that the lady in blue would turn out to besome sort of madwoman who was meant to be locked up, perhaps arelation of the mysterious gentleman whose estate was the setting forthe story. In Henrys experience, rich peoples lives were muchless interesting than novelists imagined. Even the Blackwellhousehold, boasting the drama of marital estrangement, a longillness, and a hopelessly queer son, didnt seem particularlynovelistic.Itoccurred to Henry rather suddenly: were there novels that cateredspecifically to the interests of slaves? Were they written by slavesor free people? What were the dominant themes? No novel Henry hadever read dared hint at a romance between master and slave, but mighta novel written for an audience of slaves cross this line? Even ifsuch taboo stories were told, though, they would surely only describeromances between males and females; slaves might do what they wishedwith other slaves, but it seemed unlikely that a book would bepublished that suggested a master might engage in queer behavior witha slave. There was DrakesProgress,of course, but it might only be Henry and Martin seeing the romancethere. Henry felt a deep longing to read a book about people likeMartin and himself, young men in the throes of a forbidden passion;he would have to ask Martin about slave novels.Afterthe reading, Henry kissed his mother goodnight and went down the hallin a distracted daze. Preoccupied, he kept quiet while Martinundressed him.Whatare you thinking about, Henry? Martin untied Henrys tie andslipped it from around his collar.Whatdo slaves read?Imsorry?Besidesregular books, obviously. Are there books meant just for slaves?About things that are particularly interesting to slaves?Martinconsidered this while he undid Henrys shirt studs and cufflinks.I...never thought about it. I suppose there might be. What do youthink theyd be about?Idlike to read a book about people like us, Henry told him. Peoplewho are doing what their hearts tell them, but its forbidden.He shrugged out of his shirt, catching it before it fell to the floorand putting it in Martins hands. You didnt have slave novelsat Ganymede? The more Henry thought about it, the more convincedhe became that whole genres of slave novels must exist.Idont think so, Martin said slowly. We had things likeregular boys would have, though not as many of them, and