Links: Reading Recs and All Things Romance

Workspace with computer, journal, books, coffee, and glasses.Helloooooo! Happy Wednesday! It’s my birthday and I’ve officially started the last year of my twenties. I’m celebrating by eating at my favorite pizza place and seeing A Quiet Place. The links below are all book related, so RIP to your TBR!

We announced the launch of Frolic Media in a previous Links post and so far, I’m really into the things they’ve been posting. Sil of The Book Voyagers is killing it lately, especially with this Men of Color in Romance Fiction list!

Just a reminder! Our Movie Matinee discussion is this Sunday at 8pm ET! We’ll be discussing Ladyhawke, which is a favorite for many of you. We hope you can make it! The chat room will be posted Sunday afternoon and then will open up and go live at the designated start time.

Romance author and reader, Elizabeth Kingston attended the Researching the Romance conference last weekend. While there, she did a presentation titled “History’s Been Hijacked: How To Combat White Supremacy Through Popular Literature.” She’s graciously made it available online:

So now that we know what we’re looking for, let’s see where we can find it in Historical Romance.

The first that come to mind, because they are the most obvious, are the old Native American Romances. These depict the noble savage, present manifest destiny as a good thing, and nearly always feature a white woman being abducted by a Native American man. (He very often turns out to be a white man who was kidnapped as a child and raised by a Native American tribe – and that’s why he’s allowed to be the hero, because he’s really white.)

Historical Western Romances also tend to feature racist depictions of Native Americans, just less noble and more savage in this iteration. There is also a lot of erasure – for example, historically it’s estimated about 20% of cowboys were black and 40% were Mexican, but in historical westerns cowboys tended to be overwhelmingly white.

The presentation is incredibly well-researched. I would have loved to see it live!

Looking for some great royal romance recommendations? Author Alyssa Cole has some great suggestions for royal romances with main characters of color!

In Canada? Well then you better get your mitts on these Harlequin cover stamps! As an aside, I really need to up my stamp game. I just have a book of a bunch of birds from forever ago because I rarely mail things.

Big thank you to reader E.C. Spurlock for this link! Looking for science fiction and fantasy written by and featuring kickass women? Tor is presenting a “Year of Fearless Women.” There are hashtags you can follow on social media, plus this handy list to help jumpstart your reading.

Don’t forget to share what super cool things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!

Comments are Closed

  1. Deborah says:

    I am so jealous of Canada right now. (Maybe a little less so since it appears to be only one stamp image, rather than a booklet of 5 or more images by the artist, but I am feeling the lack of classic clinch covers on U.S. stamps.)

  2. ReneeG says:

    Happy Birthday, Amanda! Enjoy your day!

  3. PamG says:

    Happy birthday & many happy returns?

  4. DonnaMarie says:

    Happy birthday, Amanda. Bring a security blanket with you tonight. You’ll need something (one) to hold on to. GREAT movie.

  5. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    Really enjoyed this article about the Broken Earth trilogy—although it won’t be news to N.K. Jemisin’s fans amongst the Bitchery:

    https://nylon.com/articles/broken-earth-nk-jemisin-fantasy-series-science-fiction

  6. Kareni says:

    Wishing you a very happy birthday, Amanda!

  7. Gigi says:

    Happy Birthday! My youngest turns six today and she also decided to celebrate with pizza and a movie. Though her movie choice has less chills and more talking animals.

  8. Rose says:

    Happy birthday, Amanda! I hope you had a wonderful day!!

  9. Mai Ka says:

    Happy Birthday, Amanda! May you read a great many satisfying books, eat scrumptious food, drink delightful concoctions, and take some excellent naps as you enjoy being 29.

  10. kkw says:

    Happy birthday Amanda!

    The Elizabeth Kingston piece is fantastic. I immediately checked to see if my library has any of her books, and then (since they don’t) to demand that they get some.

  11. Susan says:

    Happy Birthday!

    I doubt I’ll remember to join the Movie Matinee discussion, but Ladyhawke is a great choice. I saw it in the theater (more than once) when it was first released. (LOL–so long ago.)

  12. Crystal F. says:

    Happy Birthday! : )

  13. Deborah says:

    Happy birthday, Amanda!

  14. LF says:

    Haberday! 😀

  15. RidiInOz says:

    Happy Birthday! Hope you have a fab day 🙂

  16. Claudia says:

    Happy birthday Amanda! I’m turning 28 next Wednesday and had not yet decided what to do for the day. Pizza and a movie sounds like a GREAT idea!

  17. DearReader says:

    Happy birthday Amanda! Sounds like you’re set for the day – have a wonderful time!

  18. EC Spurlock says:

    Happy B-Day! Enjoy!

  19. Hazel says:

    Happy Birthday, Amanda and thanks so much for these links. That piece by Elizabeth Kingston, entitled Romanticizing White Supremacy is eye-opening and should lead both readers and authors to change. I wish one of you who is IT-literate would post a direct link to it.

  20. Billy says:

    Happy Birthday Amanda!
    I hope that you had a very special Birthday! Thank you very, very, very, very much for each fantastic Smart Bitches Newsletter and for your stupendous website! You are causing me to be smarter! You are smarter than me, of course!

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