Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

Links and Random Data

Data and deals, we have! 

First: Rainbow Romance Writers are doing a survey of romance readers and asked me to pass along the link to you. I enquired what the survey data was going to used for, and they told me, "we're mostly just gathering intel. It's sort of piggybacking off of the survey that RWA did recently but with a few more specific questions, with some focus on LGBT romance, although we're looking for a pretty broad range of responses. Some of what we do with what we find will depend on what the data reveals, but we may use the findings in chapter literature and in public advocacy with vendors and the media. (And responses are anonymous.)" If you're interested in participating or looking at the questions, the survey is online.

Romantic Times from Different Perspectives

As I'm sure you already know, there's more to romance and more to Romantic Times than man titty. Much like a romance novel, there's a lot happening on the surface of the conference, and a lot more interesting things going on behind that surface.

For example, CNBC was broadcasting live from RT, and focusing lightly on the business numbers of romance as an industry while showcasing shirtless men, women gathered, sometimes in white boas, generally conveying a rather awkward party atmosphere.

And of course, erotica, and "mommy porn" was brought up.

Of note: one of the most hilarious visual compositions is the news reporter with a giant headless pectoral bouncing along next to the her in the near-background. Floating man titty!

#24. An Interview with Nalini Singh

Surprise, surprise, Nalini Singh was in our hotel room, so we tied her to a chair and interviewed her. She's live, not on Skype, and it's a really fun and casual conversation because we didn't plan to do this. We had the microphone and a half hour to chat. We did attempt to get real answers out of her, and were totally unsuccessful, despite threats and stares of doom.

You'll hear about how Nalini approaches her writing and her series, and we talk about heroines, reality television, reading romance, and Gwen Stefani, too.

Here are some of the books, foods, and songs we talked about in the podcast:

And, here is… read more »

GS vs STA: Romance Over 40

Today's Friday Video is all about sexually active senior citizens, but I had an email about it about a half hour ago that led to an interesting conversation. Meike wrote: 

The desire for more mature characters in erotic romance fiction is becoming more important to me as I become one of them. It gets a little tiring to always read about these beautiful young bodies having this amazing sex. I would love to hear about the amazing sex us softer oldies are having. Sure, I read to escape, but I also like to feel a part of a story, feel like I can fully relate to the character. Hopefully authors will realize the babyboomers are ready for mature erotica.

I wrote back and asked, "Here's a question: do you like mature erotica that features older protagonists, or do you also have some interest in older heroines and younger men? Ellora's Cave did a series recently that was termed "cougar" lit - all about older women and younger men. Would that interest you, or do you want older protagonists… read more »

Friday Videos Like Frisky Folks

Via Angela James and several email messages comes this PSA about sexually transmitted diseases among senior citizens:

Link! 

While the PSA is hilarious, the facts are that STD infections and HIV infections are on the rise among senior citizens in the US, particularly in Florida, where many retirees live or spend the winter. This is a group of people who grew up without safe sex counseling, and, as the article above states, were in their 20s in the 1960s. (My favorite part of that article: "As a result of the increase in infections, Medicare is considering providing coverage for STD screening and behavioral counseling for seniors." I wonder what the political fallout of that consideration might be! *headdesk*) 

I personally love when there are romance storylines for ancillary characters that are older than the romance norm, and wonder if there will be more romances featuring older couples as the primary protagonists. Do you know of any? Have you read some? 

Contemporary Romance Panel at RT: Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary

I was part of a panel on contemporary romance at RT, and took four pages of notes, because I thought the comments from the other panelists were so interesting. I think I've transcribed my own handwriting correctly - I hope so, anyway.

On the panel with me were Louisa Edwards, Christina Skye, who I learned has a PhD in classical Chinese literature, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and Jodi Thomas.  The session was called ' FINDING THE EXTRAORDINARY IN THE ORDINARY" and was moderated by Beth Ciotta.

I don't know if you've ever moderated a panel, or watched a moderator in action, but a good moderator is a wonderful thing, for both the panel and the audience. Beth is, hands down, a marvelous moderator - and it's something of an under-appreciated skill.  She had questions for us, took inquiries from the audience, then did a one-word-answer fast question segment at the end that was fun and silly and very revealing. Moderating is difficult sometimes, especially when trying to have a multi-part conversation with four or more panelists, and Beth did a fantastic job.

Among the highlights from the panel:

Lindsey Sale!

With the DoJ settlement for some publishing houses, the prices for ebooks will slip and slide in different directions, but for now, there's a big ol' sale on a huge portion of Johanna Lindsey's backlist, and Karina Cooper's books as well, plus a handful of historical and romantic suspense novels. 

If you're not sure which Lindsey to buy, you can take a look at the reading recommendation list we created for the Classic Romances: Which One First, or, you can read the entire comment thread on the original entry for more options.

Update: Results of the Romance Family Feud Survey!

Zoe Archer was kind enough to write up the survey results from the Romance Family Feud game at Romantic Times. I'd posted a link to the survey a few weeks ago, and the answers during the game itself were so funny, I asked if they'd be willing to share. Thank you!! 

A big thanks to everyone who participated in the Romance Reader Family Feud survey we posted a few weeks ago.  We had over 575 responses!  The Family Feud game at RT turned out to be more fun than is possibly legal in several states, and we have you to thank (or blame) for it.  The hosts of the game were Tessa Dare, Vivian Arend, Nico Rosso, Louisa Edwards, and myself.  We laughed, we screamed, we made my husband Nico blush.  Pretty damn awesome.     I promised that I’d post the results, especially for those who weren’t able to make it to RT.  So, without further ado, here are the findings.  Because y’all were very, very creative, I’m only able to post the top five answers for each question, so if you notice that something’s missing, that doesn’t mean it didn’t show up on the survey, it just didn’t… read more »

Traveling to Oz for GenreCon!

It's been officially announced, so I can share the giddy: I'm going to be one of the featured guests at the first GenreCon in Australia!

The conference is being hosted by the Queensland Writers Centre as part of their Australian Writer's Marketplace program. Their description reads: "a weekend long party and networking opportunity for like-minded writers and publishing professionals united by their love of romance, fantasy, science fiction, crime, young adult, and other sub-genres that have been routinely segregated to their own corner of the bookshop. Genre fiction often gets overlooked at Australian literary festivals, but it’s the source of many of our most enduring stories and it bridges media such as film, games, and comic books in addition to fiction. We’ve started GenreCon to celebrate creators of genre works and the contributions they’ve made to the Australian literary landscape, and to foster the next generation of genre writers as they build their careers."

I'm one of four guests, along with fantasy author Joe Abercrombie, agent Ginger Clark, and Australian romance writer Anna Campbell. I'm also told there will be… read more »

Winners and Links!

First, I typed up the entry but it didn't go live - my apologies! I think the next technology I'm going to find is voice-activated blogging. "Post, go live, OK SUCCESS!"

Anyway, the winner of a free six-month subscription to Sourcebooks' new "Discover a New Love" community is Karen H Near Tampa.

Congrats Karen H, who is lucky to live near Tampa, since St. Pete Beach and the Tampa zoo are two very awesome reasons to live near Tampa!

And now, Links that are All About the Joy and the Beauty!

Sessions at RT: Reading!

I took a lot of notes at the RT sessions I was part of - and this might be the most I've written by hand in a long, long time. What follows is a general round up and highlights of the sessions and things I noticed at RT this year.

Reading!

I was part of four sessions. One was "Choosing the Right e-Reader for You," with Jane Litte and Angela James. That sessions was up against some very popular sessions, and was very intimate. We had some folks who were still unsure which reader they wanted, and some who were thinking about upgrading to the newest model or getting a new reader to replace a very, very old one.

Having a small group to discuss e-reader pros and cons meant that we could make specific recommendations for the people who were seeking their next digital reader, and we could talk about the major questions that each person must answer, namely: how much do you want to spend, where do you read, and where do you shop for books.

One point that I made: there are a lot of people who can tell you that you're… read more »

Burying A Romance

On the airport shuttle from the Hyatt Regency O'Hare yesterday, I met a young woman who was traveling home to North Carolina. I didn't get a chance to get her name and write it down (it was an airport hotel after all, and we were too busy talking about books during the 8 minute ride) but she told me a very lovely story.

She traveled to Romantic Times to meet friends she knew only online, and she came only for the Saturday Book Fair. Her home is in North Carolina, so she flew to Atlanta, then to Chicago, just for one day in the Hyatt Regency. She wanted to meet her favorite authors, and her parents thought she was insane to travel so far to go buy books. (I told her she was perfectly sane and also awesome.)

Then she told me her grandmother had gotten her hooked on romance novels, though her grandma liked historicals and my new friend preferred paranormal and urban fantasy. They both loved Nora Roberts, though, and JD Robb. When her grandmother died last year, this woman made sure to put several romances in the casket when she said goodbye.

GS vs STA: Fairy-Tale Romance Retellings

Billie Bloebaum wrote in with a rather interesting question: 

Has there ever been a GS vs. STA for fairy tale-inspired romance? Because I'm totally going through a phase with it right now and was hoping for some recommendations of things inspired by tales other than Cinderella or Beauty & the Beast. I can find a ton of stuff in YA and Fantasy and even Lit Fic (and if you haven't read 'The Snow Child' by Eowyn Ivey you should do so nownownow) ( A | BN | K | S ), but Romance seems to be stuck on those two stories, with the occasional foray into Princess & the Pea territory. There have to be Snow White or Sleeping Beauty or Rapunzel stories out there in the great wide world of Romance, so why am I not finding them? Some help, please? What am I missing? And, if anyone can direct me to an 'Alice in Wonderland'-inspired Romance, I might just expire from joy.

Some of my favorite romances are fairy-tale retellings, but they are Beauty and the Beast or Cinderella-based. Teresa Medeiros' Charming the… read more »

Caption That Cover: The Winners

Oh Geez. At RT, even, people came up to tell me how funny that comment thread was. You're ridiculous good, people. Choosing a winner is seriously difficult.

So, here, have a last look at Fire's Tender What Now: 

The Honorable Mentions go to: 

HaBO: From an Excerpt in a Magazine

Ann is looking for a book she read long ago that was from an excerpt in a magazine. She's been searching for it for awhile, and is hoping one of you might recognize the description. 

I have been trying to find this romance novel where a woman is given permission by her husband to cheat, after she finds out he has cheated on her. He wants her to see it's just physical. So she goes to this skanky sounding resort. She almost hooks up with this random guy but then she realizes random guy is married. Then this older but still handsome type, either the bartender or the owner of a bar, is obviously into her, though she remains oblivious. A excerpt of it was published in some women's magazine my friend randomly had. I tried to search for it via google but all I got was lots of hits for christian marriage advice sites, take from that what you will.