Race

Friday Film Review: Imitation of Life (1959)

Friday Film Review: Imitation of Life (1959)

Imitation of Life (1959) Genre: Melodrama Grade: B Our reviewer John is the one who urged me to see this film. A weepy with a wardrobe for the principal star that is to die for. Though I’m not a fan of melodrama, especially the grand 1950s ones, the clothes aspect drew me in, shallow creature [...]

Friday Film Review: Blazing Saddles

Friday Film Review: Blazing Saddles

Blazing Saddles (1974) Genre: Comedy/Spoof Grade: A- “He rode a blazing saddle, he wore a shining star. His job to offer battle to bad men near and far. He conquered fear and he conquered hate. He turned dark night into day. He made his blazing saddle a torch to light the way.” It’s been a [...]

Wednesday Midday Links: Kindle Fire, Kindle Touch, Nook Tablet All Ship Early Plus Deals from Avon

Wednesday Midday Links: Kindle Fire, Kindle Touch, Nook Tablet All Ship Early Plus Deals from Avon

First up are deals from Avon. These books are all priced at $4.99. Some retailers aren’t reflecting all the reduced prices but within the next week or so, this should be corrected. The deals are good for US and Canada and at Amazon, BN, and Kobo. Any Man of Mine by Rachel Gibson * $4.99 [...]

Inclusion and Mistakes v. Homogeny and Accuracy

Inclusion and Mistakes v. Homogeny and Accuracy

Sarah Wendell and I had a lively debate via email on the topic of inclusion or getting it right.  The Mahajara’s Mistress by Susan Stephens recently reviewed at Smart Bitches features a heroine who has an eye patch due to the loss of an eye and is scarred in her face.  She dresses like a [...]

Monday Midday Links: More RaceFail in Media

File this under “where have I been” but apparently Paramount is engaged in some egregious whitewashing in the Airbender movie. Aspiring author, Ellen Oh, writes about how whitewashing is racist. There is a site devoted to the Airbender casting fiasco (all the heroes are white and the bad guy and secondary characters are ethnic characters). [...]

Do authors have ethical responsibilities beyond the book?

Do authors have ethical responsibilities beyond the book?

see more Lolcats and funny pictures Straight off the top of your head, do you think that authors have any ethical or moral responsibilities beyond the book? I'm guessing that the vast majority of you answered this question the same way I did for a long time, with a fully articulated, deeply resounding NO. As [...]

Tuesday Midday Links: Dorchester’s Big Secret Sale

Tuesday Midday Links: Dorchester’s Big Secret Sale

Reader Karen brings this great deal to readers: I found this holiday code at Scooper Speaks blog. Today (and yesterday), all of the books on Dorchester’s site are 70% off. The promo code is Holiday70. (http://www.dorchesterpub.com/) There’s no indication on the site that the sale exists. I called their 800 number to confirm before creating [...]

A Special Guest Post on Cultural Appropriation By Handy Hunter

Cultural Appropriation in Romance Earlier in this year of 2009, there was a Great Cultural Appropriation Debate, dubbed racefail09, that centred mainly around the SF/F genres. If you clicked on that link, it leads to a set of many, many, many links about race, racism, cultural appropriation and white privilege. (If you’ve never heard of [...]

REVIEW: Scandal in Copper Lake by Marilyn Pappano

REVIEW: Scandal in Copper Lake by Marilyn Pappano

Dear Ms. Pappano, One thing I’m trying to do this year is expand my reading horizons.   I usually stay within my favorite genres of fantasy, paranormals, and young adult, but sometimes you need variety to keep things interesting.   So when I was glancing through the eHarlequin website earlier this month, your book caught my eye [...]

Solutions for Greater Equality in the Romance Market or We Can Haz Help?

more cat pictures During the past couple of weeks, the Smart Bitches and Karen Scott’s blog hosted heated debates regarding the state of African American romance fiction. For the most part and with few exceptions, romance books written by African Americans are shelved with African American books. To some authors, this is a regressive trait [...]

Literary Segregation or Market Specialization?

Borders, who financially might be on its last legs, is not going down without a fight. It opened a new store a few weeks ago and is now launching a new Latina book club (does the Latina instead Latino mean that the book club is just for women?) Does this mean that there will be [...]

Seattle Weekly Explores the Ethnic Divide in Romances

An article in Seattle Weekly today explores the lack of a multi cultural presence in the billion dollar romance industry. Author Edwina Martin-Arnold relates her experiences with Greater Seattle chapter of the Romance Writers of America, “I went to one [GSRWA] meeting, and it was extremely uncomfortable. It was a clique. Seattle’s local chapter is [...]

The Story of the Jena 6: A Miscarriage of Justice

The Story of the Jena 6: A Miscarriage of Justice

In a high school in Jena, Louisiana, a beautiful shady tree became a symbol of the racial tension. The high school allowed the school property to be coopted by the whites and it was known as a “whites only” place for students. A black freshman decided he would like to sit there and went to [...]

Intel Ad Exec Doesn’t Want Job Anymore

Intel Ad Exec Doesn’t Want Job Anymore

In a case of either monumental stupidity or poor judgment (or both), Intel choose to run an ad for its new Core Duo processor by showing six black men (who all look the same) in a crouched position with one Dockers clad white middle management wank in the middle. The black men are supposed to [...]

Are These Men Hot Enough for You?

Are These Men Hot Enough for You?

There is an infamous vampire romance series called the Black Dagger Brotherhood penned by author, JR Ward. This series propelled Ward to top spots on the New York Times bestseller list. The series is about a race of vampires struggling for power against soulless “lessors”. It’s a full of ridiculous names: Phury, Thorment, Vishous. It [...]