recommended reading

The classic examples of poly literature are in my experience The Ethical Slut and Stranger in a Strange Land.

Are there other good books to read about being poly?

Er, Wendy O Matik's Redefining Our Relationships isn't specifically about polyamory, but it does have a lot of relevance to it.

I also really like Kate Bornstein's Nearly Roadkill as a fun, hot read about online/realworld poly relationships. But don't read it while you're babysitting. Hmm.

TMA ;)

Well, if you liked Stranger in a Strange Land, check out another Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. In this book he introduces the concept of Line Marriages. Many of Heinlein's works featured some form of Line or Group Marriage, including The Number of the Beast, Time Enough For Love, and To Sail Beyond The Sunset.
Someone once told me the Heinlein coined the term "Polyamory", but I am not sure of that.

"Love does not subtract, it multiplies."

Many moons ago I was first introduced to the idea of Polyamory by Melissa Scott in the Roads of Heaven. The three protagonists are involved in a three way marriage, initially of convenience, but which deepens and becomes real over time.

I still re-read the book every so often, and my partners are not un-fond either.

Continuing the SF theme, the first short story in Ursula K. le Guin's Birthday of the World revisits the planet Gethen from Left Hand of Darkness, only with very hot polyamorous queer sex. Two other stories in the book concern quadruple marriages (two men and two women, who form four marriages between them: an Evening man and Morning woman, Morning man and Evening woman, the two women, and the two men). Le Guin is brilliant on the non-naturalness of heterosexual monogamy, and also on the rich complexities of polyamory.

Interesting....most decent books on polyamory seem to be science fiction...or non-fiction.

My favorite is Courtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury but there is also:

Dhalgren by Samuel R Delany
Barbary and Starfarers by Vonda McIntyre
Heaven Chronicles and The Outcasts of Heaven Belt by Joan D. Vinge
The Fifth Sacred Thing and Walking to Mercury by Starhawk

i can't believe i'm in my middle fifties and never knew of this polyamory concept. a chuckle. it'd be like all of the sudden, candy is health food!

well, thanks for the smile. it's good to learn new things.

cool beans.