Over the past year, man-on-man romantic fiction - books featuring two male protagonists engaged in a sexual or emotional relationship with each other - has taken a significant bite out of one of publishing's biggest markets. Yet today's newest publishing trend is as out in left field as Potter and Gaga once were. Nobody expected, for instance, that the gloomy, bespectacled Harry Potter would help resuscitate the ailing book industry any more than Lady Gaga's bizarre looks would help motivate retail sales. Trends in contemporary popular fiction can be as unpredictable as fashion fads.
