Janine: I’ve noticed that my reading habits change a little from year to year. Some years I read more or fewer books than usual. Some years I discover new favorite authors. At times a genre shifts in a direction that isn’t as likely to engage me while another becomes more ... more >
Recent conversation with a good friend about Faith Hunter’s Jane Yellowrock series led to this question: What do you think Jane values above everything else? My answer: independence. My friend’s: freedom. Not precisely the same, but certainly related, and the obvious connections elicited a brief but thought-provoking exchange about how Jane is consistently resisting ... more >
The idea for this essay started with a question: what is it about Twilight and its derivations, especially Fifty Shades of Grey and Transcendence, that allow these variations to represent “fresh” and “new” in the retelling? I’m not interested in whether these books are good or bad, nor am I ... more >
This past weekend I was involved in a great email discussion about the question of whether Romance fiction faced a unique challenge that other types of fiction, including other genres don’t. Namely, does Romance reflect contemporary issues and culture in a way that makes it easy to identify the genre’s most ... more >
Last week I linked to an essay by Remittance Girl for the DA news, in which she argued extensively against the Clean Reader application, which replaces so-called “dirty” words with “clean” versions. Remittance Girl’s post covers a great deal of terrain, from the moral rights of authors to her frustration with what she ... more >
As a genre celebrating love and largely written by and for women, I think it’s easy to view Romance as an inherently feminist genre. I have felt this way myself at times, and I’ve seen many other readers and authors make similar assertions. But what I’m going to propose today ... more >