British author Sarah Luddington’s Knights of Camelot series may be burning up the Amazon Kindle charts, but this historical fiction collection has also caused a firestorm of controversy.
After the first book in the series, Lancelot and the Wolf, was re-released on Amazon Kindle in June, the novel was bombarded by one-star reviews affixed with messages of hate.
Luddington’s alternate history suggests that not only were Lancelot and King Arthur both involved with Guinevere, but they also engaged in a sexual relationship with each other.
Comments posted on Amazon Kindle’s site called the books “disgusting” and “perverted.” Soon after similar anti-gay messages began to pour into the publisher’s office and to Luddington herself.
“People seemed outraged that I could suggest that King Arthur and Lancelot were in a gay relationship,” said Luddington, who is also a medieval historian, in a press release dated Aug 13. “Yet when one looks more deeply into the original legends, the undercurrent is clearly there. There had to be more to that love triangle than the simple infidelity of Guinevere.”
In response to the homophobia, Luddington has released a special edition of Lancelot and the Wolf. Royalties from sales of the special edition will benefit Stonewall, a gay UK charity.
Purchase the Stonewall Kindle edition of Lancelot and the Wolf for $3.
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