Update: I’m now officially unweirded, and just plain grateful. The other Bettie Sharpe has kindly altered her screen name so it won’t show up on Google. Ms Sharpe, you are more than gracious, kinder than kind. I wouldn’t have asked it, but I truly appreciate it. ______________________ How weird. Since…
If you read genre fiction, you’ve probably heard the laundry-list of complaints about it from readers of “serious” literature: formulaic, cliche, tawdry, unoriginal, and–worst of all–popular. Genre Haters seem to think any novel shelved by plot or content is, by definition, a lesser species of fiction. But that’s a load…
When I try to recall the Romance novels I’ve read from the eighties they blur into this weird image of a hydra-headed chimera of asshole billionaires, white savages and pirates–all somehow depicted by Fabio–forcibly seducing a veritable secretarial pool full of foot-stamping, head-tossing, chin-lifting virginal heroines. And, I seem to…
Happy 4th of July! Having just vowed to write fewer posts about myself, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on the 4th of July, and what America means to me. (Hey, I never claimed to be consistent.) Friends and relatives are often surprised when, in the course of…
Don’t expect fairness and objectivity ’cause I haven’t got either. Descriptions are half-assed, my taste is mercurial, and ratings are assigned entirely by whim. Karma Girl by Jennifer Estep First things first, I saw the first chapter of this book on a critique group site quite a while ago. I…
Flowing tresses, silken locks – what is it with long-haired heroines in Romance novels? Maili‘s post on cutting her hair got me thinking about women and hair and standards of attractiveness. I’d like to think we are past the days when a woman’s hair was regarded as her crowning glory,…
…which gives me the right to complain. So don’t say I didn’t warn you. I don’t have any complaints just yet. I’m pleased as punch that Rummy’s gone, and I’m practically silly with schadenfreude that W will have to start actually reading the bills that come to his desk before…
Kimber had a great post on her blog a while back about use of brand names and well-known products in novels. I kind of went on a tear in the comments because I think using brand names instead of descriptions is a sign of Lazy Writing. Makes me mad every…
Oh no, I did it. I slipped up and used the “c” word in print. Specifically, I referred to fictional character Meredith Grey of Grey’s Anatomy as “a sandy little cunt” in my comments on Monica Jackson’s scattered, but thought-provoking Romancing the Blog post. The instant I hit “submit comment”…
Apparently, Chick Lit is Hurting America. D’oh! And here I was, acting like the dumb popular fiction reader I am, blaming W, Iraq, the National Debt and Haliburton for our current sorry state of affairs. But, no. According to a former editor who hasn’t even got the guts to sign…
