Wednesday News: RIP Harlequin Blaze, WTF Hugo Awards, and Curtis Sittenfeld retells Austen
Publishing NewsAusten Project / Curtis Sittenfeld / Harlequin Historical / Harlequin Romance / Harlequin-Blaze / Harper Collins / Hugo Awards / Jane Austen12 Comments
Harlequin Blaze shutting down in 2017 – Although this news is still breaking on social media, we want to report the news that Harlequin (or should we say Harper Collins??) is shutting down the Blaze line completely in June 2017. Around the same time, it appears that Harlequin Historical and Harlequin Romance will both be going digital, ending print distribution in the U.S., at least. This is a sad, sad day for authors and fans of Harlequin and for the genre as a whole. Not only has Harlequin been a pioneer in the genre – both in content and direct distribution to readers – but they innovated many, many plot lines and genre tropes that are often touted as new and innovative when presented by other publishers and in other books. We will update this story as more information comes in.
Here Are the 2016 Hugo Award Finalists – If you haven’t seen the Hugo finalists, check out i09’s list, which includes works by Ann Leckie, N.K. Jemisin, Naomi Novik, Lois McMaster Bujold, and Stephen King, this article in Buzzfeed highlights the nomination of Chuck Tingle’s “Space Raptor Butt Invasion” for best short story. And apparently the Sad/Rabid Puppies are behind (heh) this nomination, along with two My Little Pony episodes. And then there’s the Best Related Work category. *sigh* So, has the award been effectively ruined? – i09 & Buzzfeed
That’s My Soul on the Page: The Millions Interviews Curtis Sittenfeld – Thanks to Sunita for linking to this interview with Curtis Sittenfeld, whose new novel Eligible is a much anticipated (by me, at least) “modern retelling” of Pride & Prejudice. Having read Sittenfeld’s Sisterland, a novel that managed to capture and hold on to all of the awkward, powerful ambivalences and attachments of a sibling relationship, I doubt Eligible will be a light, innocuous read. The novel is a part of the Austen Project, is set in Cincinnati, and features Bingley on a Bachelor-esque reality show. It’s a good interview, and among the exchanges is an interesting discussion about Sittenfeld’s covers. Notice how she changes the terms of the question (a “literary” quality to gender-neutrality):
TM: Does it bother you that your books are packaged in a female-friendly way? Do you feel like it makes them seem less literary?
CS: It bothers me a tiny bit. It doesn’t keep me up at night. In a perfect world, I wouldn’t mind if my book covers were more gender neutral. I’ve had the same publisher since Prep came out, which is Random House, and I think Random House works very hard to come up with covers that will appeal to a broad audience. Sometimes I make suggestions of covers that are a little quirkier or weirder, and those do not end up appearing on the book. But it’s a decision by committee, and the cover is a complicated issue. Somebody who picks up a book and looks at it and says, “I like it” or “I don’t like it” or “It makes it feel lightweight” probably isn’t considering the conversation that went into the choice of cover. I respect the thought that Random House puts into it, and I think that Random House and I are basically aligned in terms of our goals. We want the books to seem enticing. – The Millions
One author posted that Blaze will be replaced by an even sexier line. Maybe that level of sensuality can’t compete in today’s market, where things seem to be either very mild or super duper crazy hot, with little in between?
https://twitter.com/juanitamcritch/status/725092672663379969
Have heard (via this review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1592901104) that ELIGIBLE is racist, homophobic, and transphobic, so prepare yourself for that if you plan to read.
Nah, the Hugos will be fine. The rabid pups* are just pretty much guarantying that the proposed nominating changes will pass.**
*sad pups actually only did an actual recommendation list, instead of a slate, this year
**it takes two years to vote in changes
Yeah I agree with Lostshadows and as someone said those Rabid Pups who bought memberships last year were pretty much guaranteed to be back because you can nominate but not vote for the next Hugo with the memberships from the previous one. Changes cannot pass fast enough.
@Tez Miller: I am about 50 pages into it and it might be a rare DNF for me. What you said, plus the characters are unlikable, including Elizabeth. Will be interested to see what other DA readers/reviewers think.
Yes, as Lostshadows said above, there’s already a campaign in play to try to restructure the Hugo voting system to prevent these sorts of shenanigans in the future. It’s called E Pluribus Hugo, and this year’s Worldcon will be year 2 of voting on it. If this year’s Worldcon passes EPH, the Hugos for 2017 will hopefully be much saner.
My wife Dara has a whole series of posts about this over on her Crime and the Forces of Evil blog, for the interested. Her latest post is here.
@Tez Miller:
I returned my Audible purchase of ELIGIBLE last week due to the comments Sittenfeld made about romance novels and their writing quality. I was bummed to miss a modernization of P&P, but this absolutely cements that I made the right decision.
I remember my Grandma getting monthly deliveries of Harlequins. Those were the first romances I ever read, since she read the clean ones. Hearing that there will be no further print books is getting me right in the feels today.
I had a moment of panic re: the Blaze news because that’s the only HQ line I read, but looks like there will be a place for those books under a new banner perhaps, judging by the tweet referenced upstream here. I hope so, as I have a few authors there I love. And I can see where there could be issues with heat content because some of the Blaze books are downright erotic and others fairly tame by comparison. Maybe they’re just trying to sort that out a little better to suit readers.
Chuck Tingle has already managed to get a book out regarding his nomination.
Where did the news about Harlequin come from on social media? I can’t find anything about the announcement.
@Delia: Check out this tweet:
https://twitter.com/helenkaydimon/status/725047474021343233