Hello, Wednesday! Have I told you that I hate the summer? I hate it. On the bright side, I’ve been seeing a lot of movies because it lets me sit in the dark with some A/C. I recently saw Ant-Man and the Wasp. Not a bad summer movie and such a great portrayal of positive co-parenting. Anyway, here are some links!
…
RWA has a new series for authors on their YouTube channel called “Two-Minute Tips.” So far, they’ve had Priscilla Oliveras and Avery Flynn. I believe the videos also have closed captioning included. New videos are scheduled to release every Tuesday!
…
You may have seen this New York Times article on “The Changing Face of Romance Novels,” but if not, give this a read. It makes me happy.
The landscape is slowly starting to change, as more diverse writers break into the genre, and publishers take chances on love stories that reflect a broader range of experiences and don’t always fit the stereotypical girl-meets-boy mold. Forever Yours, an imprint at Grand Central, publishes Karelia Stetz-Waters, who writes romances about lesbian couples. Uzma Jalaluddin’s debut novel, “Ayesha at Last,” takes place in a close-knit immigrant Muslim community in Canada, and features an outspoken Muslim heroine who falls for a more conservative Muslim man, a Darcy to her Lizzie Bennett.
Another added benefit is finding more books to add to my TBR pile!
…
Author Talia Hibbert is over at Frolic.Media reveling in the music video for Janelle Monáe’s “Dirty Computer.” It’s a romance lover’s dream. Give it a read and then watch the music video!
…
Want to support more women in film this year? Here is a short list of 2018 movies directed by women! I’ve maybe heard of less than half of these. How many have you seen?
…
A little fact about me: I love Korean pop music. I’ve been jamming to AOA’s “Like a Cat” lately and I’m in love with the video. There are so many plot bunnies and I would totally buy a romance series featuring a group of cat burglars. Oh and the dude in the video is Daniel Snoeks, a.k.a my future ex-husband.
…
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!
Nice playlist for summer romance novels over on NPR.
https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2018/07/11/627698991/bed-of-roses-24-steamy-songs-for-that-summer-romance-novel-tryst
Oh man, a few weeks ago I fell down a K-Pop rabbit hole and I cannot get out. Thought I’d casually check out a few groups I’d heard about. Hah. What an innocent fool, three-weeks-ago-me was. That stuff is addictive, it just sticks in your head.
Thanks for giving me a new group to listen to 🙂
@Heather M: If you need more recs: Big Bang and 2NE1 were huge faves of mine for a long time. They did a collab called “Lollipop” that I played nonstop for a solid month.
I saw The New York Times article earlier today, but haven’t gotten a chance to read it yet. I do know that I looked up the RITA finalists yesterday – I hadn’t really been thinking about them because SBTB didn’t have the RITA Reader Challenge this year and so they werent on my radar. Next to each finalist is a photo of the author and I was sad to see that there were maybe (at least as they appeared to me) 3 AOC. All I could think was “RITAs So White.” I had been hoping after hearing good things from Helenkay Dimon that maybe the RITAs would be more inclusive this year. I do have hope based on the article about WOC writing, editing and marketing romance in Buzzfeed in May and this NYT article that the ship is turning, but it seems to be happening sooooooo slowly.
@Katie C: I feel like the RITAs are a separate beast and after putting together the RITA Challenges for a few years now, they rarely represent the romance landscape. When I cross reference the books nominated with what we review for the sign-up sheets, the typical overlap is in the historical romance category. Not much else in the other categories.
Please, someone correct me if I’m wrong, but the books in the RITAs have to be nominated. Not that I’m saying AOC aren’t being nominated, but it’s possible that these authors don’t want to be part of an organization that doesn’t really serve them or help them.
There was also some hubbub from “big name” authors making a fuss at RWA’s decision to increase their efforts for inclusivity.
RITA books are self-nominated and pay-to-play. Non-members can enter, but there are only 2,000 slots and member entries get priority. I can’t speak to whether AOC are joining/entering, but I perused the forums today, and the overall complexion looks very much the same as it did 10 years ago — not at all reflective of real-world demographics.
I’ve definitely been spending this year falling deeper into K-Pop. My absolute favorite is Nillili Mambo by Block B (its like the K-Pop version of a Fall Out Boy song!) Vox did an episode on K-Pop in their Netflix series “Explainer”.
@Amanda: RITA books are self-nominated. No one nominates a book on behalf of an author. Writers submit their own work.
Thanks, Sarah! I swear, every year I’m still no closer to understanding how the RITAs actually work.
There’s five days remaining in the Chuck Tingle Humble Bundle for those of you who want more butt poundings in your life.
It’s so funny. I just, this last week, fell down the kpop rabbit hole too. For me it was through Pentagon. It started with Organic Song, but oh does the song and MV of Shine make me so happy. So happy. And depressed that I’m really too old to completely crush on the members, lol. Especially E’dawn. I love it.
Now I have a better appreciation of the kdrama Reply 1997.
Oh, and if you are a fan of G Dragon and need a shot of cute you have watch:
https://youtu.be/DTjwYlBYfaU
That’s been my cute and then my happy:
https://youtu.be/Nu2yQ1zYDYU
I was reading through L Penelope’s e-newsletter today and she linked to an Publisher’s Weekly article about diversity in romance in which she was quoted. I found it to be very interesting and a good addition on the topic.
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20180611/77209-rallying-cry-romance-publishing-2018.html
I’ve now officially fallen down the Kpop rabbit hole. Don’t save me, I’m having a great time down here!
@bev: So “Shine” has been on repeat since you mentioned it. All the members of Pentagon are little beautiful porcelain dolls!
Amanda, that makes me so happy, lol. They are so beautiful and talented. Besides new summer songs it has been interesting to have a glimpse of these kpop fandom and also how much product each group puts out for them. Relay dances might be my favorite.