I'm Not Afraid of Romance

I'm a contrary creature. Originally I got into reading romance novels because I felt an automatic urge to rebel against intellectual snobs who not only dismiss all romance novels as crap without ever actually bothering to read one but dismiss all romance readers as morons for liking the stuff. Some of these people are sci fi and fantasy fans who, after fighting exactly the same battle for years, frankly should know better. To these people I say, fuck off.

Yes, some romance novels are crap (indeed some are hilariously so -plagiarist and racist Cassie Edwards springs to mind) but as Theodore Sturgeon once said, 90% of everything is crap. Romance is a massive and diverse genre, with a ludicrous number of (sometimes alarmingly specific) subgenres. There are romance novels that are also murder mysteries (like J.D. Robb's In Death series, which is also kind of sci fi), or heist stories (like Jennifer Crusie's Agnes and the Hitman, which is sort of like what you might get if Elmore Leonard took up writing romance), historical fiction, you name it. And of course, the readers are a diverse bunch too, so it is unfair to assume anything about their intelligence from the fact that they enjoy a genre you don't personlly like (or haven't even tried), just as it would be unfair of me to think that all fans of Dan Brown have suet pudding between their ears instead of brains. Which I don't, honestly. I know some of you people even have degrees. I don't get it, but whatever.

So, in conclusion, do what you wanna do, read what you wanna read yeaaaah and leave other readers to enjoy their trashy books unsneered at. And if you haven't already, check out Smart Bitches Trashy Books where a couple of very smart ladies put what I was trying to say far more cleverly than I could.




Was this post purely an excuse to post the video below? Only I will ever know for certain.

Vajingo bingo

That's not the name of a game as far as I know, but it should be.

Lately I have been trying my hand at writing some historical erotic fiction and have encountered a small problem. While there is a certain amount of suspension of disbelief needed to accept that people in Ancient Rome or Medieaval Europe or wherever/whenever are speaking modern English, writers mostly get away with it, but certain words stand out more than others. You don't want to throw around 'shlong' and 'bearded taco' unless you're actually trying to be funny. Actually, you usaully don't want to do that in a contemporary story either, but I'm getting sidetracked...

When it comes to describing parts of the body, especially the naughty bits, I find that modern slang sounds very jarring, and clinical terms are too, well, clinical. Where possible I guess you can research and find out the actual words people used for these parts in the time of your setting, but if it's really far back that can be pretty difficult. I think I will set myself a project to read more historical erotica and pay special attention to how writers describe things- whether they use slang of the time or get around it with careful description (I don't want to slip into Harlequin territory with 'her sex' and 'his rod' etc. either). So, that's my project for the week.

Suggestions on description in historical erotica, or of good historical erotica to read would be very welcome.

Tata for now!

More Authors Helping Flood Victims

With one day to go until the final deadline I'm still not quite finished my submission for 100 Stories For Queensland. Flash is tricky to write! It's hard to bring a story to a satisfying conclusion in just 1000 words. I've written flash before of course, but it was mainly erotica, and I find that easier because, without wishing to sell my chosen genre short, there's a more obvious conclusion for events to come to (no pun intended), so it's just a matter of trimming away some of the preamble. Wow, that really is selling erotica short. I don't mean that it's easy to write, because it's not (well, no more so than any other genre), or that it's less worthwhile somehow (there are some seriously brilliant erotica flash stories out there). I suppose I just find it easier sticking within my comfort zone. This exercise has been good for me and I probably should practise this kind of thing more often.

Fellow Goodreads author Sean Williams is involved in another initiative by Aussie authors to help flood victims. Visit Writers on Rafts if you'd like to help out and go into the draw to win some pretty awesome prizes donated by various authors. These incluce author visits, book packs and the chance to have a character in an upcoming book named after you.

100 Stories for Queensland

A couple of writers are putting together an anthology called 100 Stories for Queensland to raise funds to help victims of the recent flooding in the area. They're calling for submissions of flash fiction, any genre as long as it's upbeat and not about death and destruction. It's not my usual genre but I will see if I can come up with something suitable.

In terms of loss of life the floods aren't on the same scale as other disasters like the earthquake in Haiti, but the damage to homes and businesses is in the billions and it is likely to take the state a couple of years to recover. There are people out there right now sweeping out their homes and emptying everything they own onto the footpath to be taken away in a garbage truck. Many of these people were insured for everything except flooding because they couldn't get flood insurance due to their proximity to the location of their homes. Click here for photos. So please, if you can help us out by submitting a story, buying the anthology when it's finished, or preferably both.

If you'd like to donate to the Premier's disaster relief fund directly you can do it here. Thanks in advance for your support.

Floods

Half of my city is under water at the moment, so I may not be online much for a while. Hopefully we won't lose water (it's ironic having none to drink when it's everywhere!) and the river will subside soon. In the meantime I have a roof over my head at least and plenty to read when I can't go anywhere due to all the road closures. My heart goes out to those who aren't so lucky.

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. I know I did, mostly just kicking back with my family. The wet weather we've been having here was a good excuse to to just stay holed up indoors with some wine and a few good books. Santa has brought me a few new additions to my TBR pile, including Divine By Mistake by P.C. Cast and Graceling by Kristin Cashore, both of which I'm itching to get into. I'm currently halfway through Grave Peril by Jim Butcher which is a cracking good read so far.

I haven't really made any resolutions this time. I'm tempted to could go with "try to read more", but that's not so much a resolution as just doing exactly what I wanted to do anyway. "Get more writing done" might be better. I'll certainly try. Happy holidays everyone!

Bargain E-books

Land of A Thousand Dances is being featured at the moment on Bargain E-books, a site that showcases E-books in any genre costing five dollars or less. It's worth checking out for anyone who's on a budget and wants something new to read.