Bitchin' Blog Posts
: Wtf
September 09, 2011 | Friday | 30 Comments
When I got married, someone forwarded me a huge master to-do list of everything that Hubby and I needed to complete before our wedding. Some of it applied to us, and some of it didn’t, but the list was mostly applicable to everyone. There were things on there like scheduling pre-cana appointments (we didn’t do that) to going to pick out the ketubah in time to have it personalized (we did do that!) (Also: I love our ketubah. It’s beautiful). There are many such lists online now, but back then, this was the most forwarded email ever, with couples adding…
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July 10, 2011 | Sunday | 28 Comments
I received an interesting email and photo from Jean, who says she found a heretofore unknown paperback book size. It’s not the tall and thin “venti sized” paperbacks I saw a few years ago. This is a short and wider paperback. As Jean wrote, I came across a beast that does not exist on the internet. A mass market paperback in a new format size for $9.99. But… Instead of being the same width as a MM, just taller, this one is a smidge taller but an inch wider…. Specifically, 5.125 x 7.125 Harper/Simon & Schuster/Pocket/Avon… It has a different…
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March 16, 2011 | Wednesday | 38 Comments
Katie has a different spin on the HaBO but I figured this was SO insane I’d post it to see if anyone knew where she could find a copy. So, this HaBO comes by way of my aunt, who recently got hooked on a series of novels (and when I say series, I mean there are 40 books) called the Saga of the Phenwick women. These are paperbacks, billed as Gothic Romance. After a little Googling, I determined they were actually written by a man (John Kimbro) who adopted a nom de plume for the Phenwick books (Kathryn Kimbrough). They…
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March 09, 2011 | Wednesday | 64 Comments
This book came to my attention based on a reader recommendation. I’ve been trying to figure out how to approach this review since I finished the book this weekend and immediately said out loud and on Twitter, “You have got to be fucking kidding me.” When I look at a small press book, I think about whether I’d buy another book from them, if the book I read is indicative of the quality of the books the press plans to produce in the future. Based upon this book, I am not impressed with the quality of the editing or the…
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February 07, 2011 | Monday | 53 Comments
Seriously, my inbox asplode. Let’s get started with the a-to-the-href, shall we? First: hear that sound? That’s the sound of champagne vendors wailing at the news that Nora Roberts will not be attending the RWA National Conference in New York this year, as I learned this morning. I’m a little bummed about this info, as her Q&A is awesome and who doesn’t love bumping into Nora Roberts in the bar? Alas, not this year. Maybe next year, I hope. * Benjamin Alsup in Esquire takes a look at sex in fiction, saying: Writing about sex is hard. Some writers claim…
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February 02, 2011 | Wednesday | 122 Comments
So here’s something I never expected from Bitch Magazine. Really. I’m sort of horrified and appalled and wondering if someone over there fell and hit their heads. Bitch posted their 100 YA books for the Feminist Reader list, and of course, like any thing that is (a) a list (b) adorned with the word “feminist” and (c) on the internet, there was lots of discussion. And disagreement. And expressions of disappointment. Some didn’t like that certain books were left off, and some didn’t like the books that were selected, particularly those that were sexually violent or challenging to the reader’s…
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December 16, 2010 | Thursday | 81 Comments
RedHeadedGirl is back, this time with a book reviewed by request: Bertrice Small’s 1981 book, Adora. Small is one of my absolute favorite old-skool authors. I have a soft spot for “Blaze Wyndham” like you wouldn’t believe. But I’ve never read this one. I tried, you guys. I really tried. It doesn’t help that the copy I got smells to high heaven (It must have been owned by a smoker and it is moldy) and I have an aversion to bad smells, especially in books. (Seriously, the first time I read Watchmen, the copy I borrowed was ever so slightly…
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November 11, 2010 | Thursday | 140 Comments
Well. That was…unpleasant. I’m done with the 1970s-early 1980s OG Old School. That was one of the most unpleasant reading experiences I’ve ever had, and I read The Phantom of Manhattan. I finished it because I was kind of interested in where this story would end (and how much shit can be heaped upon the head of the heroine), and I have a finely developed case of trainwreck syndrome. (Also, my copy didn’t stink, so that helped.) I’m having a really hard time coming up with a Letter Grade, because I’ve read worse, and I’ve read better. I had a…
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October 20, 2010 | Wednesday | 47 Comments
>RedHeadedGirl is back, this time with a review of a romance from so far back, and so far gone in the WTF department, she calls it “Love’s Passion’s Flaming Bag of Poo.” It was an epic adventure. In pain. Most of the time, reviews are written after you have finished the book. I admit for Season of the SunI started it before I even got the book delivered, but I’d read it so many times before, I could do that, and the hook wasn’t really that relevant to the specific book anyway. This is not one of those reviews. It’s…
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September 29, 2010 | Wednesday | 93 Comments
This was in my inbox. I laughed so hard I couldn’t breathe. Enjoy. I’ve recently started to pick up on some rather….er…...interesting turns of phrase by certain authors and thought I’d share one with The Bitchery. So after checking out both Smart Bitches and Dear Author for some new reading material, I thought I’d try some Lisa Marie Rice. So far ok. Not great, but a good way to distract myself while laying in the physio’s office with a bajillion acupuncture needles stuck in my ass and lower back. I guess that would be ass-upuncture. Anyhow, I’m reading Woman on…
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August 06, 2010 | Friday | 71 Comments
Sitting on my countertop right now are a number of printed bound galleys for books coming out in November. Publishing as a rule works so far in advance, editors are now plotting out winter 2011, or even spring 2012, and thinking little about what’s going on in a month or two. That’s marketing and publicity’s department. And, of course, the author’s concern as well. But if you’re a Dorchester author with a mass market release scheduled for this fall, you are thinking a lot about right now - and from my understanding, thinking you are totally lost, up a creek,…
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June 21, 2010 | Monday | 35 Comments
Thursday 17 June I attended The Big Money’s “Untethered” conference, all about publishing in the tablet era (0_o). As predicted, it was high in unintentional comedy, with some sessions that I hope are made available online for their unparalleled awesomeness. Be warned: this entry is HELLA LONG but the sections about NPR (awesome) and the device panel where folks were dismissive of the consumer who asked a question about ebook pricing (me) are probably the juicy parts if you want to skip ahead. Don Graham, CEO of Washington Post, began the sessions by speaking from the perspective of a reader…
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June 06, 2010 | Sunday | 22 Comments
Dusk writes a very sad tale, with bonus shapeshifting WTFery: Horror of horrors my computer gets a HUGE fucking virus, causing me to have to re configure my computer. and in the process lose ALL of my Ebooks. I was reading this one and i had only gotten a little into it but what i had read should be enough for SOMEONE to identify it (having spent the last five hours trying to find this books name I’m desperate) I can’t remember all the characters names but here is what i know - It’s a M/M/F Erotic romance number where…
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May 18, 2010 | Tuesday | 59 Comments
Since I’m reading on a Kindle I have no idea what page I’m on, but I’m estimating that I’m 1/10th of the way through this book, and I don’t want to continue. The WTFery is piled so high, I can’t see my way to the end. Jillian Brightman purchased a big ol’ house with her sisters, and they’ve teamed up to turn it into an inn. Jillian, according to the cover synopsis, has a secret fantasy that comes to life when she meets Ian, who isn’t who he says he is. I was curious about this book from the synopsis,…
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May 03, 2010 | Monday | 161 Comments
On the Contact Us page, we have a pretty obvious disclaimer about hate mail. To quote ourselves: If we choose to, any hate mail we receive can be mercilessly mocked in public. In Smart Bitch legalese, this translates to: “We hereby reserve the right to publish your ranty asshattery as an example of fine ranty asshattery and protect therein our opportunity to mock the ever livin’ shit out of your ass.” We will mock you for an email that says, “u suck and ur ugly i bet ur bad in bed so why dont u just get laid and stfu.”…
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