Other side of the coin this week, kidlings.
I've often said that writing Science Fiction Romance is like being the bastard child of two genres who never much liked each other in the first place. Traditionally (as noted last week), science fiction readers get the yips at any mention of romance. And romance readers get the ickies when the word science fiction is mentioned.
Now granted, romance readers--in my humble experience--are far more likely to at least give SF a chance. But there are still those--and they invariably end up at my table at a book signing--who state: "Science fiction in a romance? Oh, I could never read that! Because [pick one or more and yep, I've heard all these excuses]:
1 - I'm not smart enough
2 - It's too full of strange words
3 - I failed science in high school
4 - I only read about familiar places
5 - It's all about weapons and ships
and so on and so forth.
This baffles me, as much as I'm baffled by SF readers who balk at romance, never considering that romance is as much a part of our existence as gravity, never considering how--duh--they came to exisit in this world (you think what, Immaculate Conception?).
But let's take them one by one:
Not Smart Enough - Egads, what a horrible thing to say. "But you DO read books?" I ask (being we're in a book store, it's an obvious conclusion though they could be there for the coffee). "Oh, I love books!" Ima Dummy answers and rattles off a list of authors from the NYT and USA Today best seller lists. Aha, so you can wrap your mind around a who-dunnit set in London or follow a family saga with more players than the Super Bowl, but you're can't read SF.
Strange Words - And "reticule" isn't? (if you all read my parting comment on last week's post then you know this already). Surcoat? Are "gainsay" and "fortnight" words you routinely use (well, maybe Rowena does). When's the last time you had ratafia or orgeat?
Those are all terms routinely found in historical romances. If the reader can wrap her brain around them, what's so problematical about "transporter"?
Failed Science in School - Did you fail People 101 as well? SFR books are about people. Granted, some may be androids or have blue skin, but they're people: people striving for something, people getting into trouble, people falling in love, people facing danger.
Remember, to YOUR grandmother or great-grandmother, your current existence in 2006 is high-tech. Wouldn't your grandmother be interested in reading your life story?
Familiar Places - I often respond to that with: "Ever read or watch the tv movie, Shogun?" And follow it with, "And the last time you went to Japan was...?" Now, once in a while I get someone who goes there routinely. Like dear 747 Captain Susan Grant. But Sue reads and WRITES science fiction romance (damn good ones, too!). So she's excused.
But how about 16th century Scotland? That's certainly not familiar. Or present day Moscow, Sao Paulo, Oslo or Amsterdam? Point is, one of the reasons we read is to explore unfamiliar places. I'm sure if I went to the outbacks of Australia it would be as bizarre to me as the red deserts of Riln Marin.
And a space station? Try going to the Sawgrass Mills Outlet Mall (Ft Lauderdale FL), especially around the winter holidays. Talk about an enclosed CITY with every conceivable language! I did a book signing there last winter and, sitting in the entry way of Books-A-Million, between hearing Russian, Yiddish, Spanish, Haitian, French (Canadian and Continental), Portuguese (Brazilian and Continental) and at least four other languages I couldn't identitfy AND watching the teenagers lope by in their Goth outfits... my own space station of Cirrus One (An Accidental Goddess) seemed damned bland and normal by comparison.
Bang bang, Zoom zoom - All about weapons and ships? No, it's about people but yes, there could be weapons and ships. And those pirate romances you love to read are, what, set in a lounge chair with feather wands? Okay, so maybe you're never been in a starfreighter, but I've never been in a hansom cab or a coach-and-four or a chariot. And I'll bet dollars to doughnuts there are a lot more among us who haven't ridden a horse than have. Or a camel. Or a donkey.
Reading is all about expanding our experiences. Well, let me back up for a moment. Reading is about fun. But after the fun it's also about expanding our experiences, stepping into someone else's shoes (or gravity boots), tasting their fears, feeling their joys. Seeing life through a different set of eyes.
To me, there's no better palette to create with than science fiction romance where I'm immersed in a new world and everything comes to me fresh and untested. In the same way that 17th century England is new and unusual to me. I just don't know why some romance readers can't see that correllation.
So, what are your thoughts, your suggestions for bringing the wary romance reader to our books? I look forward to your input.
And now I think I'll down a quick ratafia, grab my reticule and head out for the nearest jumpgate in my huntership...
Hugs all, ~Linnea
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query shy romance reader. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query shy romance reader. Sort by date Show all posts
Monday, July 03, 2006
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Big Love Sci-Fi: Part III How Big Can Love Be in Science Fiction?
In this Big Love Sci-Fi series we've been talking about the place of sexual activity in Romance, Love, and science fiction.
Here's the first post in this series:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2011/06/big-love-sci-fi-part-i-sex-without.html
And here's Part II in this series:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2011/06/big-love-sci-fi-part-2-drama-of-illness.html
Last week we looked at the place of illness in fiction.
The general subject is all about carnality in life, where it fits, what it's for, and how various societies have handled it.
In the 1800's, carnality was hidden, out of sight, kept from children and even teens and unmarried girls.
Today it's in every TV ad. In order to make a point, I had to post a Bikini photo on the SIMEGEN Group on Facebook -- because the product that has just come on the market which will shape the next Sime~Gen novel worldbuilding I do is a Bikini!
http://www.gizmag.com/solar-bikini-goes-into-limited-production/18920/
Possibly that post won't be there any more when you read this. It's a bikini going on sale made of the new cloth that can use solar energy to power small personal devices (like an iPod or GPS).
So why do you suppose they chose to market this cloth as a bikini first?
And why are they marketing it with an illustration of a Swimsuit Issue perfect model in the bikini?
Wouldn't it be enough to show the bikini on a hangar? I mean men aren't going to buy it, at least not to wear themselves! Why show it on a model?
Carnality sells. Sex and violence never fail as a marketing tool, even (or maybe especially) in a society that keeps such things private.
Remember, from the first blog in this series, that the conflict, the Romance and the steam behind the Romance comes from the tension generated across the border between public and private.
That's rooted in the human adolescence, when awareness of the personal individuality as distinct from the parents first emerges. And at first, (which is why virginity was so protected and prized) the individual's inner, personal awareness is very tender, very sensitive.
That's why teens tell each other tales of how EMBARRASSED they were in this or that "awkward" situation.
Try to explain "embarrassment" as a major issue to a three year old. Even a shy three year old just has no awareness of anyone else's "embarrassment."
Embarrassment is sexual, or at least coupled to the new unfolding awareness in adolescence.
Now to the point of this post.
Science Fiction originated as a genre for adolescent males (NOT females!)
With the impact of STAR TREK (and the women's lib movement) on us, girls discovered the glories of Science Fiction.
Those original science fiction virgins discovered a private/public tension dimension that had escaped the notice of all the guys.
They discovered SPOCK!!! The most "private" creature on the Enterprise.
What was "fascinating" about this alien, what drove the sexual interest, was the huge realm of his life that was PRIVATE FROM US.
Like young virgins everywhere, they were so desperate to know all about Spock that they made up all kinds of stories.
What were those stories based on? The single episode done by Theodore Sturgeon, Amok Time, which established the Vulcan mating drive (just barely sketching it).
My article on Theodore Sturgeon is here:
http://www.simegen.com/sgfandom/welcommittee/TedSturg.html
And here's one connecting Sime~Gen to the magazine WORLDS OF IF, and Fred Pohl (all related, trust me).
http://www.simegen.com/jl/IFS~GConnection.html
Breaking through that privacy barrier, especially with the SF-premise of telepathic bonding as the root of Vulcan sexuality, fueled the first Science Fiction Romance, and gradually and tentatively (like virgins) explored the carnal issues of sex with an alien.
And since at that time homosexuality was a huge social issue in America, many of those human/alien romances ran permutations and combinations into same-sex relationships.
Why was that so fascinating? Because it broke a privacy barrier, a taboo if you will.
When you cross a privacy barrier, you enter into INTIMATE relationships.
And it's always emotional, always a loss of emotional virginity, when two people enter each others' private space for the first time.
You might want to read my articles on Intimate Adventure, here:
http://www.simegen.com/jl/intimateadventure.html
So how "big" can love be within SCIENCE FICTION and still stay in the science fiction genre?
How much science does it take to ruin a Romance?
Well, just look at that bikini picture in that advertisement I referred to above. If it's not available, close your eyes and imagine, then imagine that tiny scrap of cloth as the science.
No mere "amount" of science can ruin a Romance. And no "amount" of Romance can ruin a good science fiction story.
It isn't the "amount" (or number of words devoted to) either science or Romance that makes the story work or not work.
It's all in how the story elements are orchestrated (yes, it's an artform!).
The key to learning to "orchestrate" the science, carnality, love, Romance, and Relationship in such a complex genre as SFR lies in that concept of PRIVACY BARRIER.
How "big" the Love is in a story, how overpowering or commanding, how much the Love drives the plot to resolution depends on the author's awareness of the reader's sense of private-vs-public.
The Adventure in Intimate Adventure as I've defined it comes from crossing from that Public space adventuring into the strange territory of someone else's Private space.
SCIENCE FICTION ROMANCE where you deal with a human/alien couple caught up in a Romance is all about how very STRANGE that other person's private space is. How alien. How different. How unexpected.
How embarrassing to intrude into!
The measure of "how" big that Love, Romance, and Relationship is depends on how SENSITIVE the two characters are (how virginal), and how sensitive the readers are.
In our society where that bikini ad just had to include a model to sell the science product, you can see the reason why most Romance novels today include a series of increasingly carnal and explicit sex scenes that go on and on and hit and hit harder and harder on the reader's nerves.
As you become less sensitive, you feel those blows less.
To feel a response to a sex scene, you need more and more detail, private-space invading language, coarser language, hammering gyrations described visually -- or you don't think it's interesting.
So as with the classic tale of the Princess and the Pea -- how Big the Love in BIG LOVE SCI-FI is depends not on the carnality of the sex scenes but on the sensitivity of the intended audience.
The typical Romance reader who hasn't yet been properly introduced to SFR is extremely sensitive (i.e. virginal) with respect to SCIENCE. So any scientific jargon or explanation they must understand to decipher the plot is too much.
The typical SF reader who hasn't been properly introduced to Romance is extremely sensitive (i.e. virginal) with respect to LOVE. So any LOVE related jargon or explanation they must understand to decipher the plot is too much.
When something intrudes into your sensitive private place, you squirm with embarrassment like a teen. Is it good to become calloused there? Is it good to have no privacy?
So the most effective mix of Love and Science for SFR novels is entirely dependent on the previous reading (viewing) experience of the audience and the prevailing opinion on privacy barriers and the value of callousness.
In a harsh world, you might want to be sure your children become calloused. A violinist develops callouses on the finger tips for a reason. Our skin barrier has that callousing ability for a good reason. Callouses revealed to Sherlock Holmes a lot about a person's occupations. Our bodies and minds custom-make our callouses, and they are part of our individuality (hence a writer can use them to sketch a character in multiple dimensions.)
Now you might want to ponder last week's blog entry on depicting illness in fiction. When ill, we don't have the strength to hold up our barriers, and our emotional callouses might protect the tender inner parts for a while, but they too will fail. A person who is ill all the time develops different emotional callouses.
How sensitive you think "people" should (or should not) be, and how sensitive you think they are, and how to change what is to what you think OUGHT to be, may actually be the source material for the THEME of that illusive work we've been searching for -- the SFR story that hits the big screen and brings real respect to the genre.
The science fiction writer habitually thinks in these areas where ordinary people simply can't go on their own. It's the mark of the budding SF talent. Can you think the unthinkable thought and postulate a society where sensitivity is prized, fostered, admired and required? Can you go beyond that to depict a society (probably non-human) where such sensitivity is in fact the greatest strength and most effective survival characteristic? Once having built such a world, can you induce the calloused readers of today's Romance novels to visit you there?
So think hard about how BIG you think LOVE is and ought to be, in life. What has to change to make it the "right" size?
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com
Here's the first post in this series:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2011/06/big-love-sci-fi-part-i-sex-without.html
And here's Part II in this series:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2011/06/big-love-sci-fi-part-2-drama-of-illness.html
Last week we looked at the place of illness in fiction.
The general subject is all about carnality in life, where it fits, what it's for, and how various societies have handled it.
In the 1800's, carnality was hidden, out of sight, kept from children and even teens and unmarried girls.
Today it's in every TV ad. In order to make a point, I had to post a Bikini photo on the SIMEGEN Group on Facebook -- because the product that has just come on the market which will shape the next Sime~Gen novel worldbuilding I do is a Bikini!
http://www.gizmag.com/solar-bikini-goes-into-limited-production/18920/
Possibly that post won't be there any more when you read this. It's a bikini going on sale made of the new cloth that can use solar energy to power small personal devices (like an iPod or GPS).
So why do you suppose they chose to market this cloth as a bikini first?
And why are they marketing it with an illustration of a Swimsuit Issue perfect model in the bikini?
Wouldn't it be enough to show the bikini on a hangar? I mean men aren't going to buy it, at least not to wear themselves! Why show it on a model?
Carnality sells. Sex and violence never fail as a marketing tool, even (or maybe especially) in a society that keeps such things private.
Remember, from the first blog in this series, that the conflict, the Romance and the steam behind the Romance comes from the tension generated across the border between public and private.
That's rooted in the human adolescence, when awareness of the personal individuality as distinct from the parents first emerges. And at first, (which is why virginity was so protected and prized) the individual's inner, personal awareness is very tender, very sensitive.
That's why teens tell each other tales of how EMBARRASSED they were in this or that "awkward" situation.
Try to explain "embarrassment" as a major issue to a three year old. Even a shy three year old just has no awareness of anyone else's "embarrassment."
Embarrassment is sexual, or at least coupled to the new unfolding awareness in adolescence.
Now to the point of this post.
Science Fiction originated as a genre for adolescent males (NOT females!)
With the impact of STAR TREK (and the women's lib movement) on us, girls discovered the glories of Science Fiction.
Those original science fiction virgins discovered a private/public tension dimension that had escaped the notice of all the guys.
They discovered SPOCK!!! The most "private" creature on the Enterprise.
What was "fascinating" about this alien, what drove the sexual interest, was the huge realm of his life that was PRIVATE FROM US.
Like young virgins everywhere, they were so desperate to know all about Spock that they made up all kinds of stories.
What were those stories based on? The single episode done by Theodore Sturgeon, Amok Time, which established the Vulcan mating drive (just barely sketching it).
My article on Theodore Sturgeon is here:
http://www.simegen.com/sgfandom/welcommittee/TedSturg.html
And here's one connecting Sime~Gen to the magazine WORLDS OF IF, and Fred Pohl (all related, trust me).
http://www.simegen.com/jl/IFS~GConnection.html
Breaking through that privacy barrier, especially with the SF-premise of telepathic bonding as the root of Vulcan sexuality, fueled the first Science Fiction Romance, and gradually and tentatively (like virgins) explored the carnal issues of sex with an alien.
And since at that time homosexuality was a huge social issue in America, many of those human/alien romances ran permutations and combinations into same-sex relationships.
Why was that so fascinating? Because it broke a privacy barrier, a taboo if you will.
When you cross a privacy barrier, you enter into INTIMATE relationships.
And it's always emotional, always a loss of emotional virginity, when two people enter each others' private space for the first time.
You might want to read my articles on Intimate Adventure, here:
http://www.simegen.com/jl/intimateadventure.html
So how "big" can love be within SCIENCE FICTION and still stay in the science fiction genre?
How much science does it take to ruin a Romance?
Well, just look at that bikini picture in that advertisement I referred to above. If it's not available, close your eyes and imagine, then imagine that tiny scrap of cloth as the science.
No mere "amount" of science can ruin a Romance. And no "amount" of Romance can ruin a good science fiction story.
It isn't the "amount" (or number of words devoted to) either science or Romance that makes the story work or not work.
It's all in how the story elements are orchestrated (yes, it's an artform!).
The key to learning to "orchestrate" the science, carnality, love, Romance, and Relationship in such a complex genre as SFR lies in that concept of PRIVACY BARRIER.
How "big" the Love is in a story, how overpowering or commanding, how much the Love drives the plot to resolution depends on the author's awareness of the reader's sense of private-vs-public.
The Adventure in Intimate Adventure as I've defined it comes from crossing from that Public space adventuring into the strange territory of someone else's Private space.
SCIENCE FICTION ROMANCE where you deal with a human/alien couple caught up in a Romance is all about how very STRANGE that other person's private space is. How alien. How different. How unexpected.
How embarrassing to intrude into!
The measure of "how" big that Love, Romance, and Relationship is depends on how SENSITIVE the two characters are (how virginal), and how sensitive the readers are.
In our society where that bikini ad just had to include a model to sell the science product, you can see the reason why most Romance novels today include a series of increasingly carnal and explicit sex scenes that go on and on and hit and hit harder and harder on the reader's nerves.
As you become less sensitive, you feel those blows less.
To feel a response to a sex scene, you need more and more detail, private-space invading language, coarser language, hammering gyrations described visually -- or you don't think it's interesting.
So as with the classic tale of the Princess and the Pea -- how Big the Love in BIG LOVE SCI-FI is depends not on the carnality of the sex scenes but on the sensitivity of the intended audience.
The typical Romance reader who hasn't yet been properly introduced to SFR is extremely sensitive (i.e. virginal) with respect to SCIENCE. So any scientific jargon or explanation they must understand to decipher the plot is too much.
The typical SF reader who hasn't been properly introduced to Romance is extremely sensitive (i.e. virginal) with respect to LOVE. So any LOVE related jargon or explanation they must understand to decipher the plot is too much.
When something intrudes into your sensitive private place, you squirm with embarrassment like a teen. Is it good to become calloused there? Is it good to have no privacy?
So the most effective mix of Love and Science for SFR novels is entirely dependent on the previous reading (viewing) experience of the audience and the prevailing opinion on privacy barriers and the value of callousness.
In a harsh world, you might want to be sure your children become calloused. A violinist develops callouses on the finger tips for a reason. Our skin barrier has that callousing ability for a good reason. Callouses revealed to Sherlock Holmes a lot about a person's occupations. Our bodies and minds custom-make our callouses, and they are part of our individuality (hence a writer can use them to sketch a character in multiple dimensions.)
Now you might want to ponder last week's blog entry on depicting illness in fiction. When ill, we don't have the strength to hold up our barriers, and our emotional callouses might protect the tender inner parts for a while, but they too will fail. A person who is ill all the time develops different emotional callouses.
How sensitive you think "people" should (or should not) be, and how sensitive you think they are, and how to change what is to what you think OUGHT to be, may actually be the source material for the THEME of that illusive work we've been searching for -- the SFR story that hits the big screen and brings real respect to the genre.
The science fiction writer habitually thinks in these areas where ordinary people simply can't go on their own. It's the mark of the budding SF talent. Can you think the unthinkable thought and postulate a society where sensitivity is prized, fostered, admired and required? Can you go beyond that to depict a society (probably non-human) where such sensitivity is in fact the greatest strength and most effective survival characteristic? Once having built such a world, can you induce the calloused readers of today's Romance novels to visit you there?
So think hard about how BIG you think LOVE is and ought to be, in life. What has to change to make it the "right" size?
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Why We Love Romance
I found the following comment posted on Linnea Sinclair's Oct 20th post THE FUTURE IS NOW.
----------------
I found another reason why "alien" romances are good. It's the same reason fantasy/future worlds are such good settings for stories in general .
With books set in today's world, cultural/race/national differences immediately, trap and restrict the plot and the characters, eg, the cliched Nazi German "baddie" or the Arab "terrorist".
It is so refreshing to read books where the antagonists have no relation to today's world so there are no reflections or restrictions to limit them.
....
---------------
The comment goes on to detail why Linnea's books are so good. Read the entire comment (with which I agree) here:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2008/10/future-is-now.html
Since I posted that huge long Part 3 to Astrology Just For Writers about why people shy away from reading Romance genre, why people sneer at Romance Genre (and those who read it) at
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2008/10/astrology-just-for-writers-part-3-genre.html
I think I should point out what's so good about Romance -- only this comment nailed it first.
One of the uniquely gripping things about SF, Fantasy or genres in which the author has to build an entire world against which to tell a story is that ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, at any moment.
Romance falls into that category because of the mental and emotional state of the two people falling in love -- their perceptions of reality are altered consciousness. And as I noted in my post, miracles happen in the vicinity of true love.
The reader can be led on an exploration of our own world via questions posed with the composition of the fictional world.
For example, in our own world, science works, logical thinking yields results which, once proved, can be relied upon. We risk our lives on that every day -- flu shots come to mind. (BTW I highly recommend getting the current flu shot!)
But WHY does science work? Why did we practice superstition and magic for thousands of years and only change to science a couple hundred years ago? Why was the change to science so radical and so abrupt? (yeah, we all know the real history - but that's only what's written in history books. Do you really, really believe it?)
Of course, even today, there are cultural circles and places in the world where many of the results of science are scoffed at. Why is that?
Well, let's go on an adventure into a world where science doesn't work, but magic does. Find out why. Readers can be led to ask questions about belief systems, anthropology, psychology -- consensus science (after all, science proved conclusively that the Earth is stationary and the Sun revolves around it).
Politics drives what is accepted as science. So can Religion.
Once you've grasped that principle, you can begin to ask questions about how a person who doesn't know, who isn't educated or smart enough to understand a huge subject, can rely upon "expert opinion" for anything.
With "expert opinion" brought into doubt -- aha, now you are in a world where indeed anything can happen!
When the very assumptions about reality are in question, the writer has no problem keeping the reader in a state of suspense.
The only difficulty is directing the suspense in an artistically satisfying direction.
The writer has to make the reader suspect, hope, fear or expect certain developments, and then deliver something almost like that, but with a different twist.
It's easier and more effective to build that kind of suspense into the universe premise, the worldbuilding, than to try to force it into the plot.
People remember novels which pose questions they don't know the answer to -- and postulate answers that they have never considered.
It isn't so much Answers that produce that great AHA! moment we all love, but rather New Questions!
Romance genre -- especially with an SF or Fantasy element to the worldbuilding -- can bring out new questions better than any other genre because of the state of mind of the protagonists of a Romance, which I discussed at some length in last week's post.
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://www.simegen.com/jl/
http://www.slantedconcept.com
----------------
I found another reason why "alien" romances are good. It's the same reason fantasy/future worlds are such good settings for stories in general .
With books set in today's world, cultural/race/national differences immediately, trap and restrict the plot and the characters, eg, the cliched Nazi German "baddie" or the Arab "terrorist".
It is so refreshing to read books where the antagonists have no relation to today's world so there are no reflections or restrictions to limit them.
....
---------------
The comment goes on to detail why Linnea's books are so good. Read the entire comment (with which I agree) here:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2008/10/future-is-now.html
Since I posted that huge long Part 3 to Astrology Just For Writers about why people shy away from reading Romance genre, why people sneer at Romance Genre (and those who read it) at
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2008/10/astrology-just-for-writers-part-3-genre.html
I think I should point out what's so good about Romance -- only this comment nailed it first.
One of the uniquely gripping things about SF, Fantasy or genres in which the author has to build an entire world against which to tell a story is that ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, at any moment.
Romance falls into that category because of the mental and emotional state of the two people falling in love -- their perceptions of reality are altered consciousness. And as I noted in my post, miracles happen in the vicinity of true love.
The reader can be led on an exploration of our own world via questions posed with the composition of the fictional world.
For example, in our own world, science works, logical thinking yields results which, once proved, can be relied upon. We risk our lives on that every day -- flu shots come to mind. (BTW I highly recommend getting the current flu shot!)
But WHY does science work? Why did we practice superstition and magic for thousands of years and only change to science a couple hundred years ago? Why was the change to science so radical and so abrupt? (yeah, we all know the real history - but that's only what's written in history books. Do you really, really believe it?)
Of course, even today, there are cultural circles and places in the world where many of the results of science are scoffed at. Why is that?
Well, let's go on an adventure into a world where science doesn't work, but magic does. Find out why. Readers can be led to ask questions about belief systems, anthropology, psychology -- consensus science (after all, science proved conclusively that the Earth is stationary and the Sun revolves around it).
Politics drives what is accepted as science. So can Religion.
Once you've grasped that principle, you can begin to ask questions about how a person who doesn't know, who isn't educated or smart enough to understand a huge subject, can rely upon "expert opinion" for anything.
With "expert opinion" brought into doubt -- aha, now you are in a world where indeed anything can happen!
When the very assumptions about reality are in question, the writer has no problem keeping the reader in a state of suspense.
The only difficulty is directing the suspense in an artistically satisfying direction.
The writer has to make the reader suspect, hope, fear or expect certain developments, and then deliver something almost like that, but with a different twist.
It's easier and more effective to build that kind of suspense into the universe premise, the worldbuilding, than to try to force it into the plot.
People remember novels which pose questions they don't know the answer to -- and postulate answers that they have never considered.
It isn't so much Answers that produce that great AHA! moment we all love, but rather New Questions!
Romance genre -- especially with an SF or Fantasy element to the worldbuilding -- can bring out new questions better than any other genre because of the state of mind of the protagonists of a Romance, which I discussed at some length in last week's post.
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://www.simegen.com/jl/
http://www.slantedconcept.com
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Depiction Part 5 Depicting Dynastic Wealth by Jacqueline Lichtenberg
Depiction Part 5
Depicting Dynastic Wealth
by
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
Depicting Dynastic Wealth
by
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
There is an old saying, "If you want to understand what's really going on, follow the money."
This is true in real life, yes, but because your readers live in that "real" life, it is exceptionally true in fiction.
When you do worldbuilding to create the society, government, laws, geography, political in-fighting, social status, technology, weaponry, economy, and dynamic evolution of culture that led to the situation your main theme and conflict depict, you must include not just MONEY -- but WEALTH.
Money and Wealth (two different things) are the lifeblood of your world, not just of the economy but of the whole world.
We discussed "wealth distribution" and the 1% here:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/10/theme-worldbuilding-integration-part-7.html
And we've been in hot-pursuit of the secret to the mechanism behind a type of novel we all enjoy -- the HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE (King, Prince Charming, Lord something,), the Tall Dark Stranger who turns out to have power, connections, status, and sweep us away into a new life of prominence and privilege.
Yet our society today (in the USA) is adamantly averse to the entire concept that there should be such wealthy people (how much did you say that CEO made per year?).
We hold up the statistics about billionaires as examples of what's wrong with everything.
http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/#tab:overall
So how could there be any Romance in marrying a Billionaire (or King, or Prince, Mogul, Mob Kingpin, whatever)? Why would anyone think that such a marriage would improve life? You'd just be viciously hated. Where's the romance?
And where's the Science Fiction in marrying a 1%-er -- since on this blog we deal with the hybrid genres that combine the appeal of Romance with any and every other genre.
We are especially focused on blending Science Fiction and/or Urban Fantasy or Paranormal into Romance.
Once blended, once you "have an idea" for a science fiction romance novel, you have to frame that idea with a "world" that you build to show-don't-tell the idea. That's where the technical craft skill of "depiction" comes in.
Here are previous posts in the Depiction series and some hybrid topics:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2014/10/dialogue-part-9-depicting-culture-with.html
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2014/09/depiction-part-1-depicting-power-in.html
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2014/09/depiction-part-2-conflict-and-resolution.html
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2014/09/depiction-part-3-internal-conflict-by.html
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2014/12/depiction-part-4-depicting-power-in.html
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2014/10/theme-plot-integration-part-14-ruling.html
One of my favorite types of reading is Historical Romances about the Aristocracy.
I've always been enamored of hoop-skirts, and so one of my favorite movie scenes is the Polka sequence in THE KING AND I "Shall We Dance."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcWNhCdDkMQ
The classic rags-to-riches character arc is incessantly popular. Anna in THE KING AND I has inherent "values" that govern her behavior even in the presence of royalty (and she comes from a country with Royalty) and immense wealth (and the power of life-and-death that goes with it in Siam but not England.)
That immense wealth is (historically) viewed as "unearned" wealth and power that is bestowed by the "accident of birth" or somehow stolen, usurped (think Robin Hood and Maid Marian.) Historically, such wealth/power was bestowed by the King upon the valiant Knight who saved the Crown (or whatever service).
Given a Knighthood, a commoner might sally forth and win a Barony, marry well and beget sons who would marry up the hierarchy, and their sons might inherit a wife's inherited lands, and gradually over 6 generations or so, the family would be considered genuine Nobility -- and perhaps beget an heir to the throne. Dynastic Wealth Personified. Thus every Mother who raised a son could dream of being the (forgotten, and embarrassing) ancestress of a King.
The theme is: "Nobody could ever possibly earn such Royal wealth/power (1%-er Billionaire) in one lifetime." If they have such wealth, it means they stole it. That is a THEME.
Wealth like that can't belong to any one person because that is "impossible." Kings don't make their money, they steal it. Everyone knows that.
Remember, we're writing Science Fiction Romance. So we can use any science to form the foundation of the worldbuilding. We can postulate anything that violates the reader's current understanding of that science, then depict the world and portray the Characters and Conflict to argue the reader into believing the postulate (however impossible it might be.)
The core essence of Science Fiction is "We do the improbable immediately; the impossible takes a little longer." Think Scotty on STAR TREK.
Or think Spock.
The most scintillating line Spock delivers is "Unknown, Captain." -- when something is currently unknown to a scientist with 6 Ph.D.'s (like Spock) and it is now confronting the character, then we have a science fiction story.
The plot's main conflict must be resolved to doing the impossible, by exceeding design specifications, by learning something that has never been known by humanity, and applying that knowledge to human advantage.
Science Fiction is all about doing what you can't do.
In science fiction, the characters do not ever say, "I'm doing all I can." or "We'll do everything possible." NEVER!!!
In science fiction, the characters live in a universe where there are no limits on humanity, and the stories are about the individuals whose conflicts are caused by an impact with an apparent human limit that is simply unacceptable.
The conflict resolution is by transcendence of that apparent limit, proving it was never a limit at all. This pushes back the borders of human knowledge and capability -- which is what science is all about.
In Science, there is no such thing as, "Man Was Not Meant To Know." Today, a lot of research money is being spent on proving the Soul is not real, and everything humans experience can be explained by brain physics and chemistry.
In Romance, the exact same conflict works:
Right there stands MY MAN -- recognized at First Sight -- but he is unattainable. The resolution of that conflict is the wedding, the impossible is attained.
This, of course, works just as well, if not better, when it's "There is MY WOMAN" but she's unattainable.
That's why Science Fiction and Romance blend so well, and so easily. Both are always about doing the impossible and changing the course of human history by that deed.
Science's product is the Cell Phone. Romance's product is a child. The cell phone was invented by someone's child. Science Fiction and Romance are identical, at the core.
Today, the contemporary romance market consists of women who are the children and grandchildren of a USA culture shaped by many forces. Most prominent among thos forces is Taxes.
Politicians call shaping public behavior by Tax incentives or dis-incentives "social engineering."
"Social Engineering" is the idea that tax incentives can control the "masses" who live limited by the laws made by those who know better, who understand the world better, or who have a better idea of what correct behavior should be. That's how Aristocrats think. "Us vs. Them"
To tag a Character as one who thinks of himself as an Aristocrat, use the dialogue phrase, "Out There" -- but not "In Here."
A character who says, "There is a lot of fraud out there," tags himself as an Aristocrat and a perpetrator of various frauds he/she considers legitimate privileges his Class has but other Classes do not.
The "out there" phrase is modern American for the assumption of the existence of a Class Structure. The Constitution was framed with the assumption that there is no such thing as Class. But it was framed by Aristocrats.
The USA is founded on the principle that anyone can attain anything. It's often termed "upward mobility" -- but it really means upward and downward mobility -- and if you think about it, you see that if an "up" or a "down" can be defined at all, then the entire philosophy is founded on a Class Structure.
Some writers term the USA a Meritocracy -- where those of merit gain elevated status. About 40% of your readers subconsciously look at it that way.
The individual who refuses to accept barriers to achievement is a great subject for fiction -- especially romance, and these days doubly especially Fantasy or Paranormal Romance.
Those who refuse to accept limitations or barriers are called Heros.
All Romance that depicts an HEA is Heroic Literature because the HEA is so fundamentally impossible in our modern world.
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2015/01/if-hea-is-implausible-how-come-it.html
Nevertheless, the HEA is real and does happen (frequently).
Your job as a writer of Romance Novels is to make the Happily Ever After ending seem plausible to your readers, and attainable in real life, even if that requires writing in Historical times of Kings and arranged marriages for Dynastic reasons.
In the historical days of Kings and their horse-mounted tax collectors, taxes were used by Kings to do social engineering, controlling the peasants, and later the Merchant and Craftsman classes.
Tax Collectors would raid farming villages and steal the seed corn, then come back the next year and punish the people for not having enough for them to steal.
The Kings and the Aristocracy needed the money to support armies (to defend themselves against peasant revolts), and their lavish lifestyles of conspicuous waste. They needed money (and food) for Armies to conquer neighboring Kingdoms, gain more peasants and better land, and stop neighboring Kings from raiding their peasants.
It was all very raw, very brutal -- and very much in the current events News of today where the Kings are Drug Kingpins, Cartel bosses, one or another Terrorist cult, or Street Gang. All those groups are totalitarian. The law is what the strongest guy says it is, unless he changes his mind.
And yet, the ultimate rags-to-riches Romance in the Cinderella story is still very popular. It's a fantasy complete with fairy godmother and ravishing Prince Charming, and kids grow up on it.
There is an assumption behind that story, that is never questioned. Adding science fiction to Romance means incorporating such never-asked-questions into the worldbuilding and into the theme.
So ask yourself, "When Cinderella was identified by the Prince via the glass slipper, was it 'A GOOD THING' for Cinderella?"
If Aristocrats and Kings (and Billionaires) are such horrible, unprincipled, vicious, death-dealing, selfish, bullies, then why would what happened to Cinderella be A GOOD THING for Cinderella?
Why would anyone want to join with such people, have their children, raise their children to be selfish, horrible bullies in their turn? What sort of selfish-horrible-bully was Cinderella that she'd be willing to have anything to do with the scion of such a family?
If a person is a bully with their money, won't they bully their wives - and God Forbid, abuse their children? If Cinderella's Prince is not a selfish-bully when she meets him, inheriting wealth and power (the Crown) would turn him into something worse than Darth Vader -- wouldn't it? So why wouldn't she run for her life when he finds her?
Is she that stupid? If she wises up, what will she do as Queen? Become a worse bully than her Prince and put him in his place? Hire an Assassin? Stage her own death and run for the hills?
Those are the sort of questions that science fiction themes ask, but Romance themes shy away from because they require direct confrontation with emotional pain, and the pain of uncertainty, in a way that is softened by being in love.
When you combine science fiction and romance, you get an explosive combination that gives that softened world of love some hard edges.
We know that Cinderella was the step-daughter in an aristocratic House - a minor House that coveted an invitation to the royal Ball (Major Houses don't covet such invitations; they ponder whether to accept or not.)
Cinderella was "entitled" because she was a relative, but they enslaved her to do the work of a servant.
(Servants are slaves is a theme).
Note how THEME, CONFLICT, and DEPICTION dovetail into an artistic composition.
Here are some posts that are indexes to lists of posts on Theme and how it integrates with other components of a composition.
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2014/07/index-to-theme-character-integration.html
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2014/04/index-to-theme-worldbuilding.html
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/05/index-to-theme-plot-integration.html
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2012/08/how-to-use-theme-in-writing-romance.html
The theme behind the Cinderella type of Rags-to-Riches Historical Romance about the Aristocracy is Tax Collectors Are Thieves.
What has Cinderella, the abused step-child, to do with Taxes?
If you want to understand what's really happening, follow the money.
Why was the family mean to Cinderella? Because they hated her? Well, why did they hate her? None of the versions show her as a person of bad character in a family of solidly good characters.
This was a family which, to Cinderella the child, seemed rich and privileged, but she didn't understand the Situation because she didn't know how to "follow the money."
The step-mother's objective was to marry her own daughters off to RICH MEN (Billionaires, the 1%). To do that, she had to appear to be still as rich as her husband would have let her be. Her only hope for her own existence was to bag a 1%-er for at least one, if not all, her daughters.
To do that, she had to have A SERVANT -- and no "servant" could aspire to marry a 1%-er, or A Billionaire. A CEO.
So the Step-mother made a servant out of her step-daughter, whereupon said step-daughter no longer owed her any loyalty.
That started a downward spiral in the relationship with Cinderella, and it became not only OK but REQUIRED that she be abused so she wouldn't get uppity. She had to learn her place (which was difficult because it was in fact not her place, and step-mother and step-sisters knew it.)
Meanwhile, the step-mother is required to PAY TAXES as if she still commanded a fortune. When the King gets taxes from his aristocracy, he sees those tax-payers as his supporters (think Campaign Donations), and supporters get access (Ball Invitations.) What Cinderella does not know is that the step-mother has no money left because of the taxes. This Ball is her last chance, and Prince Charming is her only hope.
Remember, Tax Collectors also have wives and children. But who dreams of being a tax collector's wife or husband?
What if your true Soul Mate is a tax collector (or today, an accountant, bookkeeper, or IRS Bureaucrat). They make a good living, but aren't "rich" by the 1% rule, not on the Forbes Billionaire List.
And tax collectors don't make the tax laws. In fact, the tax collectors and IRS auditors don't even get to make the IRS "regulations" which are enforced by the IRS as if they were actual Law. "Bureaucrats" that you, as a tax-payer, never get to talk to, make those Regulations.
You can go to jail for violating a regulation made by people you did not elect, but who were appointed by your enemies.
Is your reader's situation fundamentally different from Cinderella's step-mother's situation? Or Cinderella's for that matter -- underpaid working-stiff.
Is today any different from the days of Aristocrats and Kings?
Is there something less "romantic" about contemporary Romance novels than Historical or Regency Romance novels?
In a realm of Kings and Aristocrats, the tax collectors siphoned off the "profit" made by "peasants" (usually farmers, but merchants and craftsmen too), and accumulated that wealth in "storehouses." The King had a treasury, would buy gold, jewels, etc as a means of storing wealth, and as an investment.
When it came time for a war, the King would sell gems and whatever to buy Mercenaries, and conscript, train and arm young men from his peasantry. Merchants and craftsmen could buy their children out of the army with -- yep, taxes.
In the historical days of Kings and Aristocrats, even at the top, lives were short. A 40 year old man was elderly.
So marriages were early, especially for girls, and children were the main agenda item for any marriage into wealth. The production of the Heir was paramount.
Study History all the way back to, say 2,000 BCE, maybe 3,000 BCE. Look for the beginning of Civilization.
OK, "history" actually begins (according to historians) at the year 1,000 CE when we have some documentation.
But I consider History stretches at least back to the Biblical accounts of Kings and Prophets.
If you read the books of Kings and Prophets, it is clear that cities existed and were taken for granted even then. Egypt had cities.
Archeology has dug up cities farther back -- Persia, Babylon, etc.
Anthropology dates "civilization" (the transition from hunter-gatherer, tribal nomads) from the discovery of agriculture -- and that's around 9,000 years ago, or more in some places.
The ability to domesticate animals and grow food creates the ability to live in one place, year round.
And then structures are built, crafts are invented, bridges installed and things are made.
Economics is the study of how transforming human time, effort, energy, and cleverness into THINGS which increase lifespan and lifestyle stability, creates WEALTH. THINGS are "wealth." When those things change ownership, you begin to have "money."
Kings coin "money." A medium of exchange of wealth -- to transfer wealth from one person to another by a symbolic intermediary (coin). So money becomes a proxy for wealth. And in some minds, money becomes wealth itself. Pointing out the fallacy behind such thinking is what writers do, in every genre, by formulating themes that expose the fallacy.
Here are some posts on the ways writers can use Fallacy:
"Fallacies and Endorphins"
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/01/theme-plot-integration-part-4-fallacies.html
"The Fallacy of Safety"
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/01/theme-plot-integration-part-6-fallacy.html
"The Fallacy of Trust"
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/03/theme-plot-integration-part-7-fallacy.html
Kings get their wealth by stealing it (calling that taxes.) This can be considered a Misnomer or a Fallacy, depending on the point of view.
Here are some posts on Misnomers -- a powerful dramatic technique:
"The Use Of Media Headlines"
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/02/theme-worldbuilding-integration-part-6.html
"The Gigolo and the Lounge Lizard"
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2014/05/dialogue-part-7-gigolo-and-lounge.html
If they are clever Kings, they steal it a little at a time so as not to kill off the peasants who did the work to make the profit which working-stiffs can't be allowed to keep because then they'd have POWER.
The King's profession is keeping power out of the control of peasants.
To do that, the Kings have to convince most of the peasants (and merchants and craftsmen) that peasants can't manage wealth. There's something unique and special about a King that bestows the wisdom to manage vast wealth or power to make lives miserable.
This knack of wealth-management is inherited by the Heir.
Some use the theory of "Divine Right" -- others admit it's just being the best swordsman or the most ruthless killer.
But in either case, the populace needs the legitimate Heir to inherit and manage that Power.
So look back all the way to the beginning of civilization, living in cities with people who are not related to you by blood or marriage.
Scientific advancements (such as domesticating animals and agriculture) allowed peasants to make a profit (enough to buy food, clothing, shelter) and pay taxes. Kings slowly accumulated into enough wealth to wield real POWER.
Follow the money.
Wealth, turned into money, flowed to a central point, came under the control of individuals (who hadn't worked to earn it), and became POWER which was used to control the peasants as if they were slaves or possessions. Their freedom was only an illusion.
Over thousands of years, we have records of good kings and bad kings, kings who delivered prosperity, and kings who delivered poverty.
If you haven't reviewed the Book of Kings lately, you should do a quick read-through.
Yes, it is a book of The Bible, but those are accounts of real people who really lived, and struggled to do their best (edited to show a specific theme, but still facts about what people did). A lot of those Kings were really bad Kings.
The heirs of Good Kings turned out to be Bad Kings -- leading their kingdoms into war, or ill-fated alliances. But their heirs were good Kings, returning to the values and principles that had produced prosperity some generations ago.
The trend, though, was downhill.
The succession of Kings shows increasing ineptitude, culminating in Exile(s).
Some essential skill at Wealth Management did not transmit across generations. It would be established, last maybe two or three generations, and fizzle away. That pattern seems to repeat throughout all human history, all over the world.
Science Fiction looks at accounts of this kind and asks questions such as, "What did they do right when skills did transmit to the next generation?" "What did they do wrong when skills were lost?"
The spiritual answer is the simple and obvious one made by the Books of Kings and Prophets -- follow God's Commandments, you do just fine; stray away after the gods of other cultures, you crash-and-burn.
Romance novelists ask the question, "Why does a next generation ever -- EVER -- absorb the parents' values? How can it be that skills of wealth-management ever transmit properly to the next generation?"
And the Romance Novelist will come up with the best answer I've ever encountered. It works because of the Wife - it works because of the Soul Mate - it works because of the WOMEN!!!
The right woman is the flywheel stabilizing a man's power-management judgement calls.
The theory behind the "arranged marriage" (which is another type of romance novel I adore) is that the adults (remember, historically marriage had to happen in early-teens because life-expectancy was short) had a better chance of mating a pair who were in fact Soul Mates than there would be if the children just chose. Children are still growing into themselves and make choices they out-grow in a few years. A Mother can foresee what the child will grow to be.
Remember High School? How many boys did you date? How many heart-throbs did you fall for? How many crushes did you have? How many boys did you yearn after, hoping they'd notice you and now you're glad they didn't?
Do you now have confidence that you had enough wisdom to choose a life-partner during those years? Yet those are the years in which marriages had to be consummated in order for civilization to continue, because life spans were so short. You had to have your children in your teens in order to live long enough to transmit any values to them by the time they were teens. (Romeo and Juliet were kids, remember?)
Of course, when we are in our early teens, we have no clue that our choices aren't wise, and no idea what information adults have that we don't. Adults are really stupid.
There's another consideration about teen-marriages. The following 10 years, maybe all the way through age 28, produce enormous changes in an individual's agenda, coping strategies, and operating premises. The basic personality doesn't change, but the implementation of that basic personality's main attributes does change. So a marriage appropriate for a 16 year old girl to an 18 year old (or 25 year old) guy has a high probability of going bad within a decade.
Arranged Marriage is not anti-feminist, but it's not focused on romance.
When an arranged-marriage couple hits it lucky, they grow together, toward each other, rather than away during the first decade or two, and after that they are comfortable.
Now, here's the question. What sort of marriage process results in transmission of wealth-management skills on the level a King requires? What heir apparent upbringing is necessary to produce a future King who won't destroy the Kingdom?
Or phrase it for a contemporary romance novel: What sort of marriage does the protagonist require to grow to understand he/she is a King, the decision-making boss whose will shapes the behavior of Elected Officials. Remember, the US Constitution was written in revolt against a King, and put The People in charge instead of a King.
The People were to interview and hire a President to manage administration, and others to make laws - and those two would hire Judges to make sure laws were consistent. Today Voters are the Kings, and government workers the peasants. Or employees are the Kings and Corporations the peasants who work for the employees. This is all POINT OF VIEW SHIFTING - a skill writers must practice.
In Depiction Part 6, February 3, 2015) we'll look at what it takes to learn and then transmit the difference between money and wealth.
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com
Tuesday, December 02, 2014
Marketing Fiction In A Changing World Part 11: Terminology in Romance by Jacqueline Lichtenberg
Marketing Fiction In A Changing World
Part 11
Terminology in Romance
by
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
Part 11
Terminology in Romance
by
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
Last week we looked again at Marketing Fiction, and at what sells besides Sex & Violence.
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2014/11/marketing-fiction-in-changing-world.html
So today we're going to discuss the part terminology plays in marketing and propose a new term to replace the term "fanfic." We need to replace the term "fanfic" because of the Changing World in the title of this series of blog posts.
Fanfic has been the driving force behind much of the change, but fanfic itself came from something and has now leaped up to something that makes it require a new label. That label will open vistas of potential only some of you have seen coming.
So publishing terminology has its roots inside the fiction that's being marketed, which in turn is rooted in the writer's subconscious, in choice of objectives, in motivation for writing at all.
That's very abstract stuff, but language itself tries to make it concrete.
The classic question, "Why do you write?" is based on the assumption that there is A reason (not a plethora, not a whole personality profile).
Marketing fiction is all about finding fiction that is "aimed at" a specific "audience." That assumes that a whole bunch of people all share ONE motive for reading (i.e. buying) fiction.
That assumption of a writer and reader sharing just one motivation is the reason that the question, "Why do you writer?" stymies writers.
There is a why in there somewhere -- but it is not composed of anything you can articulate in a single word or sentence.
Yet all fiction is about that why.
You write a story that is about something (even if you don't consciously know what at the time). The point of the exercise is not the "something" that the story is "about" -- but rather the "about" itself. Being ABOUT is what Art is.
As I've discussed in these blog posts on writing craft, stories are Art.
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2009/03/communicating-in-symbols.html
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2009/06/writers-eye-finds-symmetry.html
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/05/theme-plot-integration-part-9-use-of-co.html
Art depicts reality - it is not reality, itself.
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2014/09/depiction-part-1-depicting-power-in.html
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2014/09/depiction-part-2-conflict-and-resolution.html
And marketing Art shifts and changes, more rapidly now than ever.
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-important-book-what-makes-novel.html
Now consider that language, any language, also "depicts" -- the map is not the territory. Language itself is symbolism.
We've discussed symbolism at some length:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2009/03/communicating-in-symbols.html
The essential ingredient in fiction is conflict. Therefore, the writer must depict both sides of a philosophical argument (a thematic statement) in order for the fiction to be 'about.' The two sides of an argument must conflict, and ultimately resolve (even if there are issues left over for a sequel.)
The "both sides" structure of a story conflict is artificial. That division into just two sides is symbolism, not reality.
Sifting two clear, opposing points of view out of the pea-soup morass of human experience so that each side can be clearly depicted is Art.
The process of sifting and defining the two sides is the same as the process of paining a picture. The graphic artist "selects" certain lines, composition, arrangement, colors, sharp/fuzzy focus, perspective, to "lead the eye" just as a story-writer "leads the mind" via composition.
Having laid out a clean, clear, two-sided conflict, the writer must aim the narrative (a narrative is a beginning, middle, end set of points that are given connection by the writer's composition of the picture extracted from reality).
The narrative must be structured to aim at a particular audience.
If that audience is large enough, the economics of "publishing" (traditional publishing) takes over. The widely-aimed story becomes commercially viable at a certain break point. That break point is constantly changing. It used to be the volume of cardboard consumed by China dictated that break point by dictating the price of newsprint paper used to print paperbacks.
China at that time was just beginning to become a manufacturing powerhouse, and needed boxes made from cardboard to ship finished product.
So trade treaties with China (politically controversial because of China's Communism) governed the subject matter and narrative structure, the composition, of mass market paperbacks, and thus of hardcovers that could be re-published as paperbacks reaching a larger readership.
Then came our "changing world" that I've been writing about here since 2007.
With the advent of usable e-reading screens, the e-book market which had grown via PDF download, dedicated reading devices of dubious worth, html websites posting fanfic, just plain exploded.
It pretty much caught traditional publishers by surprise.
They hadn't followed the growth of hits on fanfic websites.
And for various reasons, traditional publishers had always been way out of touch with what "readers want" -- and more in touch with what a reader will buy based on a cover, or cover-blurb, or based on what books are placed in a bookstore window or "dump" carton in an aisle.
Book sales are all that matter to a publisher. And book sales don't matter at all to a reader, as long as the reader gets satisfaction, or can find the next book in a series they're following.
Book sales matter to a writer only insofar as their income stream is satisfactory. When income is satisfactory, the matter of sales fades from the writer's consciousness. The writer is concerned only with ABOUT, with the urge to DEPICT the world in a revealing light that makes sense out of chaos.
To a writer, only the story matters, only the narrative matters.
That's why writers are so hurt and bewildered when a traditional publisher turns down the next book in a series. The writer is about finishing the story. The reader is about finding out the ending of the story. The publisher is about efficient use of resources to make a profit.
So with the advent of usable reading screens, the readers who wanted to finish reading the story, and the writers who wanted to finish publishing the story, and some entrepreneurs who saw that connection, founded small publishing via e-books.
The first commercial level explosion of e-book sales for such small publishers was in the Vampire Romance.
Traditional Publishing started this trend -- some might say, Anne Rice's Interview With A Vampire started the trend, but I think it appeared first in YA novels about a Vampire who turns up in a High School, either as a student, a teacher, or on the periphery. 13 year old readers become adult readers in about 5 years.
And it was about 5 years after the popularity of YA vampires that we saw the Vampire Romance emerge onto bookstore shelves, buried inside the Romance genre paperbacks.
A couple years later, Vampire Romance got a label on the spine, different labels from different publishers.
Sales peaked, then started to fall off as other sorts of Paranormal Romance appeared sporadically. How do I know sales peaked and fell? Because I was marketing my own material via an agent at that time, and Manhattan lunches gleaned proprietary stats and reports on how the purchasing editors were thinking.
I found that by the time I wanted into that Vampire Romance market, the publishers were saying they were over-bought on Vampire Romance, had more than a year's worth in stock or under contract, and would not even consider another submission.
They ran out of Vampire Romances, and by then other sub-genres were selling better.
There's a perverse logic in the publishing business model, rooted in the disconnect between the objectives of a writer and the objectives of a publisher.
So when Vampire Romance readers suddenly could not find any more paperbacks to suit them, they quickly learned on the grapevine that Vampire Romance was alive and well, thriving and growing in the e-book market.
That demand for Vampire Romance, in part, drove the demand for readers that drove the technological improvements in screens. Improved screens increased demand for e-books, and other varieties of novels, and now even non-fiction, are all e-book.
And of course, you've all heard of the contretemps between Amazon and Hatchet and other publishers over the price of e-books. Readers have been saying for a long time that e-book prices are about double what they should be.
Small publishers are consolidating (buying each other), and refining the business model. Many, many publishers that started up in the nascent e-book market have closed. And now the traditional publishers used their marketing strength (and Amazon & B&N) to yank the e-book market away from small publishers.
http://www.booksandsuch.com/blog/amazon-hachette-battle-matters/
So writers who wanted to reach their own readers self-published.
Many self-publishing writers are New York Times Bestselling writers, taking back the rights to their NYT best sellers, re-publishing them by themselves or through small e-book publishers, and then finishing their series. Sometimes they bring out new books in new series.
Meanwhile, a lot of writers who could not sell to traditional publishing went with self-publishing.
Some of these had honed their craft on fanfic websites, getting feedback from readers, learning to use beta-readers, and grow into a skill set that works to produce good novels that hit their readers nerves squarely.
Other self-publishing writers learned as they went.
There's an organization for e-book publishers and writers something like SFWA or RWA, complete with genre book awards and cover art awards which I joined years ago when I had my first e-book out, Molt Brother. Now it's in paper, e-book, and also audiobook, along with the sequel, City of a Million Legends.
http://www.epicorg.com/ is the website of the e-book professionals organization and it also has an active forum where people exchange a lot of information, writers find publishers, and so on.
These are the people generating the change in the world of publishing.
So we are seeing an increasing level of quality in self-published books.
Historically, Science Fiction Fandom invented fanfic -- fiction written by fans for fans. For the most part, science fiction fanzines never published fiction, but rather discussed conventions and novels. But fan fiction thrived in smaller circulation, often on carbon paper, though usually not using established characters of a professional writer.
With the advent of Spockanalia and T-Negative, Star Trek fans discovered the joys of fanfic written to expand and expound on the TV characters. And gradually, fan writers created original characters to interact with the established characters, revealing new depths to the shallow TV depictions.
That evolution of fan fiction is the main subject of my Bantam Paperback STAR TREK LIVES!
STAR TREK was the first TV Series to engage the fertile imagination of organized science fiction fandom. Yes, organized. There were (and are) clubs with constitutions, slates of officers, and annual elections, plus dues and publications. The World Science Fiction Society holds the annual World Science Fiction Convention (worldcon) and awards the Hugo, as well as other Awards.
Science Fiction fandom was (and is) organized and connected. Today it's connected via Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. Then it was snailmail and telephone.
From STAR TREK LIVES! and the New York Star Trek Conventions, the media picked up on the term fanfic (especially slash), and popularized the term FAN, fanzine, fan fiction, and eventually the term FANFIC.
In that term, FANFIC, may lie the barricade between self-published Romance novels and the prestige they deserve. It may also give us a clue as to where the resistance against Romance comes from in the general population, even though they flock to films with a tear-jerking Romance, and give awards to the RomCom (the romantic comedy) -- yet shy from Romance per se.
Terminology is key to changing people's assumptions, or prejudices. We changed from the term "nigger" to the term Black to indicate elevating the prestige, the potential value of a person.
The terms Liberal and Progressive, Communist and Socialist, Independent, etc etc are continuously redefined, and then changed.
So let's examine the origin of the term "fan" to see what it is telling the world about us.
The media, and now dictionaries and major sources, keep insisting on a misconception about the origin and meaning of the term "fan."
They insist that the science fiction fan is a FANATIC (i.e. not sane but obsessed.)
That is the label that was slapped on science fiction fandom way back before it was organized, and even afterward for decades.
A fanatic is a person who is not in their "right mind." And usually, being a mild conditiion, the fanatic "out-grows it" or "gets over it."
Can you imagine out-growing or getting over Romance? Come on!
But they are saying that science fiction is a "phase" that some teens go through and therefore it is negligible, and can safely be tolerated and disregarded. There is nothing in it (they said in the 1930's) that has any bearing on reality or the future.
30 years later, that generation sent men to the Moon.
The next generation of science fiction fanatics invented the internet and the web.
The next twenty years saw the advent of the cell phone, then the smartphone.
Fanaticism is a mental disorder suffered by teens, like measles was considered a childhood disease you just had to suffer through.
Fanaticism is a disease.
Today they say of the same age-group that Videogaming is "addictive." That's it's unhealthy for teens to communicate with each other via social media.
In the 1940's they said the same thing of that generation's teens who were communicating with each other via telephone. The picture of the teen monopolizing the ONLY phone-line in a household, holding long conversations with fellow teens (often of opposite gender) was a feature of life in the 1950's, tolerated and scorned by adults.
If you're a writer intending to grab a market-share for your work, watch what teens are doing now. It takes about 5 years to write a novel, from Idea to published, and in 5 years today's teens will be at peak entertainment consumer years.
But they may pick up the scorn associated with terminology used when talking about Romance Genre novels, and never explore the rich, complex, and satisfying worlds Romance writers build.
Or, if they do browse mass market paperbacks, they may never discover the worlds being created by writers using small publishers or self-publishing in e-books.
I get a couple of newsletters pitching free and 0.99cent e-books, Romance genre, Mysteries, etc.
https://www.bookbub.com/home/
I often see books pitched as having many hundreds of 5-star reviews on Amazon.
The star-review has become the self-publisher's marketing tool, and yes, there is some fraud associated with this statistic, even though Amazon tries to prevent that.
Still, read some of those reviews. Even if you would scorn the book because of typos or need for editing out inconsistencies and filling plot-holes, look at the comments by readers who focus entirely on the payload, the way the STORY made them feel, not the technical flaws in the writing craft.
Those 5-star reviews are typical of fanzine reader responses to fanfic based on a TV-show.
Get that free newsletter, click through to Amazon on a title with lots of 5-star reviews and read carefully. And while reading, think about this.
Self-publishing is hard (writing the novel is easy by comparison). The odds are against you selling a single copy to anyone you don't know personally.
But there are associations of self-publishing writers who can teach you how to connect with cheap promotional strategies that might work.
There is very likely an audience hungry for what you want to sell them. You finding them, them finding you, or "going viral" is a long-shot. Finding and serving a market is what publishers do -- their business model is suited to that process. Writing uses a different business model.
But because of the adequate e-reader screens now available fairly cheap, there is a readership starving for what you write. They just won't recognize it when starting right at it.
What do we need to get that instant recognition?
We need a label, a symbol, a TERM which describes what this kind of fiction is, where it comes from, why it deserves their attention, and most important what it actually delivers.
The term self-published has gathered scorn because of the missing editorial steps people have become used to.
The term fanfic has gathered scorn because of the old (and inaccurate) term fanatic.
What other artform besides writing has, historically, been a source of pure satisfaction and meaningful entertainment (and information)?
Think about the music industry.
Commercially available music has its origins in the Bards taking news, information, and historical Events and gossip from town to town, presenting it all as song.
Isolated towns had their own youngsters who sang and played music.
Think about the old West. Whoever in town could saw on a fiddle played for the square dancing.
Along with all this, came one of the oldest artforms, which became known as Folk Music.
Here's a wikipedia article on 1940's folk music.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_folk_music_revival
In the 1960's, people like Pete Seeger, Theodore Bikel, Woodie Guthrie, Johnny Cash, and people you've never heard of because they only played and sang at weddings and birthday parties. Yesteryear's Garage Bands.
You can get this old music on Amazon, iTunes, and other websites.
http://www.last.fm/music/Peter,+Paul+&+Mary/+similar
http://tropicalglen.com/Jukebox/Genre/FolkMusic/NewChannel.html
Yes, politics grabbed the folk song and ran with it. Theodore Bikel's concert records have patter that reveals all that.
But folk music reflects the life and times of those who perform and those who foster it. It's folk, not professional.
In the 1960's it became big time professional, and highly respected -- because it made money for the music industry in records and concerts (and movies).
Country Music is the professional development of old, folk music by people who farmed and lived too far away from cities to associate with city folks. Country was isolated because transit was slow, and internet didn't exist. Today, many places only have satellite service if that.
A lot of money has been made from Country Music -- and don't forget Elvis Presley came from that venue.
Today the term folk music doesn't carry the opprobrium that fanfic does.
But, if you examine folk music down to the roots, you will see that folk music and self-published novels (from people who were nerve traditionally published and actively do not want to be traditionally published) share a similar kind of popularity.
And if you juxtapose real folk music (by folks not getting paid to do it) with professional music (by people who do it for profit), you will see an artistic similarity between folk and professional music that exactly parallels the similarity between fanfic and traditionally published fic.
Trace origins and development, find the driving force behind music, and trace how that force generated the Music Industry, and then do the same for novels.
Go back into the 1800's and study women's Gothic novels, circulating as hand-written copies among housewives. That was fanfic.
I expect you can do the same study with Art. There are Great Artists who are "Great" because we've heard of them. And we've heard of them because they had Patrons and got commissions to decorate famous places (like the Cysteine Chapel, for example). And there are folk artists whose work is left to us only as fragmentary remains on pottery sherds dug up by archeologists.
There's commercial art -- advertisements, book covers -- and there's fine art shown in galleries. And then there's folk art, which you find in people's homes, done for the pleasure of their families. Think about quilting, and going out to "the Country" to buy handmade quilts to hang on the wall as art. Those quilts are folk art, and they are respected.
Today, we also have Fan Art published in fanzines.
All of these art-forms have a folk version, and a professional version.
Why shouldn't fan fiction and self-published fan fiction be the FOLKFIC of our world?
Self-publishing is so closely parallel, and often related to, fanfic devoted to underlying works and published on websites for free reading, that the only difference is the homage paid to the underlying work.
Fanfic writers introduce original characters, and re-interpret existing characters, sometimes take them to new worlds, tell parts of a story not treated in the professionally published novels, but it is original writing.
You all know how much fanfic my Sime~Gen Universe novels have generated. There are millions of words posted on simegen.com alone.
http://www.simegen.com/sgfandom/
Also, on simegen.com we have posted some classic Trek fanzine material.
http://www.simegen.com/fandom/startrek/
You might note on that /startrek/ index page that we have a new addition, the Scholastic Voice Magazine Star Trek Story Contest Winner from 1980. It was written by a High School boy, Thomas Vinciguerra, who went on to become a nationally published journalist, and who wrote many articles about Star Trek. You can find links and the story at:
http://www.simegen.com/fandom/startrek/contestwinner/
Here's a 2014 contest on marketing on the internet.
http://www.geekwire.com/2014/seattle-public-library-internet/
-------quote---------
As part of its ongoing Seattle Writes initiative, the library has partnered with self-publishing and distribution platform Smashwords to encourage local writers to package their writing for an audience. The eyeball icing on the finger-typing cake? A contest, open until midnight on October 15, in which up to three entrants who publish via Smashwords will have their eBooks included for circulation in the SPL eBook collection.
The fine print is hardly daunting. Have an SPL library card. Be 18 or older. Publish your eBook (for free) with Smashwords on its website. Enter the contest.
Oh. And write the eBook.
....
-------end quote------
Also a new addition to the simegen.com/fandom/ section is a short novel by a Sime~Gen fanfic writer, Mary Lou Mendum, done in Catherine Asaro's Skolian Empire universe, using some of Catherine's characters, and a whole cast of original characters.
http://www.simegen.com/fandom/skolianempire/
Mary Lou is an example of a writer who specifically does not want to write professionally. It's a hobby, and she does it to please specific people. In the case of the Skolian Universe novel, it was done to entertain someone while ill.
She's an example of a folk-writer, writing folk-fic.
Or perhaps it should be called filkfic as akin to Filk Singing.
The term Filk to describe the original lyrics sung to popular tunes done at Science Fiction Conventions dates back to a typo in a con program book. The term was immediately adopted as a badge of honor, though what they did with music was one of the oldest traditions in folk music (new words to old songs, variations on old tunes to adapt to new lyrics).
Folk Art is the baseline creativity of humanity singing the song of the universe.
Commercial Art (mass market paperbacks) is Folk Art leveled to the lowest common denominator, made accessible to all.
Fanfic and self-publishing are both types of folk art, folk-storytelling.
The material is popular not because an insane person created it, a fanatic, but because perfectly sane people with experiences in common resonate to it, enjoy it, and elevate the performers of it to local celebrity status.
The folk of the town admire and reward the local bard, the story-teller who teaches morality to children, the shaman who teaches history to children in rhyme, and the artist who draws pictures of local events.
Fanfic and Self-published works resemble Folk Music both in content, and appeal and business model.
But "Folk" carries a much higher prestige than "Fanatic."
The most powerful force in civilization is the folks, not insanity or teen phases.
You don't tolerate the folks. You admire them. Discount the power of the folks at your peril (or so the rulers of France discovered to their tribulation. England had a problem with those pesky colonists and their Boston Tea Party, too.)
So I propose replacing the term fanfic with the term folkfic or Folk-fic, or some variant so it includes self-published original universe fiction. Here you find the stories the folk (the largest market there is) really want.
The More Things Change; The More They Stay The Same.
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Pirates Plagiarize Amazon Readers' Reviews (For Profit)
Here --for what I believe are the Fair Use purposes of education, scholarship, reportage, critique, commentary and so forth-- are some very small excerpts lifted (without permission) from the Amazon Conditions Of Use Page. http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=footer_cou?ie=UTF8&nodeId=508088
Note: Please see my first Comment on this piece for Amazon's position on pirates who rip off Amazon reviewers' work.
(Amazon on their own) COPYRIGHT
...All content included on this site, such as text, graphics, logos, button icons, images, audio clips, digital downloads, data compilations, and software, is the property of Amazon or its content suppliers and protected by United States and international copyright laws....
(Amazon on their own) LICENSE AND SITE ACCESS
......This site or any portion of this site may not be reproduced, duplicated, copied, sold, resold, visited, or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose without express written consent of Amazon.....
************************
On February 11th 2011, I wrote to Amazon. (Links are deleted). This is the text of an email I sent, and which was acknowledged with thanks.
Dear Mr Bezos,
I thought Amazon claims to own the copyright of reviews posted on Amazon. If that is the case, why does Amazon tolerate paid (redacted name of File-Hosting-Site) affiliates using Amazon-owned reviews to promote e-book piracy? How does it help your business if you assist those who would illegally divert business away from you by using your own tools?
http://latestgiveawaysXXXredactedsitenameXXX.com/
These people have 82 collections of e-books, usually between 50 to 150 e-books per collection being illegally shared when the e-books are legally sold on Amazon.If you look at the "complimentary" e-books, you will see that each comes with a review snip. There is no attribution. However, if you then look at Amazon-owned reviews on the Amazon page selling that particular book, you will very soon locate the Amazon review that has been plagiarized.
Maybe Amazon can do something about this abuse.
(I cited some examples from Nora Roberts' books, but the formatting got so messed up that I believe it was a distraction. What you are supposed to see is Rowena Cherry's prose in grey, pirated stuff in light blue, and genuine Amazon reviewers' work in gold.)
And there were more.... I believe that for one day, it looked like this clipping without attribution of Amazon reviews might cease, but it started up again, and three or four times a week, every week, ever since, the same pirate has continued to "sell" subscription-based access to links to where he has "found" e-books on his favorite file-hosting sites. Those sites, incidentally, pay monetary rewards to the uploaders of files that get thousands of downloads (usually around $25 per 1,000 downloads), and/or they pay referral commissions when freeloading members of the public purchase paid services to enable them to download "freebies" faster.
Yesterday, I wrote again. The pirate is --again-- asking "Club Members" to donate via PayPal to help keep the club going, and as an incentive, he is giving "donors" access to links to more illegally hosted ebooks.
One of the many things that arouses my anger about this particular pirate is that he will give away large chunks of an author's or publisher's entire body of work in the same "book mix" for instance 10 Mammoth Books Of....
This is what I wrote:
Dear Beth and Jeff,
It has been over a year (since February 2011) since I first reported to you that the (redactedname) was lifting reviews from Amazon, and publishing them as his own in order to induce readers worldwide to infringe copyrights and avoid purchasing e-books. He is still at it three and four times a week, every week.
http://freebie(redactedsitename).preview.htmlPIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION
The Mammoth Book of DraculaI do not consider myself to be a big Horror fan. I have read all of Lovecraft's works, and recently have been enjoying Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series. A comment that Newman posted on this site led me to get this book for his story, "Coppola's Dracula." That was definitely my favorite story in the book, but I was pleasantly surprised that most of the other stories were decent as well. Like almost all anthologies, there are some stories that were not so hot, but there were no absolute clunkers, in my view. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys horror fiction, whether they are a long-time fan, or a relative new-comer like I am.
I do not consider myself to be a big Horror fan. I have read all of Lovecraft's works, and recently have been enjoying Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series. A comment that Newman posted on this site led me to get this book for his story, "Coppola's Dracula." That was definitely my favorite story in the book, but I was pleasantly surprised that most of the other stories were decent as well. Like almost all anthologies, there are some stories that were not so hot, but there were no absolute clunkers, in my view. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys horror fiction, whether they are a long-time fan, or a relative new-comer like I am.
PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION
The Mammoth Book of Historical Crime FictionEver since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle delighted readers with the fictional genius detective, Sherlock Holmes, crime fiction has been plumbed by mystery writers everywhere. This volume of 12 stories spans crime from the Bronze Age to World War II, and will appeal to the current readers of The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures and Best British Mysteries.
GENUINE book description POSTED ON AMAZON
Ever since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle delighted readers with the fictional genius detective, Sherlock Holmes, crime fiction has been plumbed by mystery writers everywhere. This volume of 12 stories spans crime from the Bronze Age to World War II, and will appeal to the current readers of The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures and Best British Mysteries.
PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION
The Mammoth Book of Locked-Room Mysteries and Impossible CrimesI admire the authors who must have racked their brains to come up with ingenious, incredible, seemingly impossible yet logical solutions to their stories. The reader is challenged to solve it but amateurs like me just dont bother. I prefer to sit back and enjoy the ride.
Format:PaperbackA great collection of 'howdunnit' mysteries. Murder most foul (the fictional kind of course) is made more fun for the reader when the crime was committed in an impossible manner. How did a fresh corpse end up in a coffin which has laid undisturbed for two decades? How did the murderer-thief escape from a 10th floor showroom that was constantly under observation (and with only one exit...guarded, naturally)?
Most of the short stories here were written specifically for this book but there are some great classics as well like "The Silver Curtain", "The Adventure of the Jacobean House" and my personal favourite, "Off the Face of the Earth" by Clayton Rawson.I admire the authors who must have racked their brains to come up with ingenious, incredible, seemingly impossible yet logical solutions to their stories. The reader is challenged to solve it but amateurs like me just dont bother. I prefer to sit back and enjoy the ride.As I write this, amazon.com has does not have ready copies of this anthology. Since its a UK published book, I advise potential sleuths to log onto amazon.co.uk. They have more copies of this book than they know what to do with!!
PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION
The Mammoth Book of Vampire RomanceYes, the Mammoth Book of Vampire Romances is truly MAMMOTH containing 25 short stories. You'll recognize the names of the most of the 23 well known authors as the writers of your favorite paranormal romance and popular urban fantasy series. Despite the title, only about half of the stories in the book are `romances' though most have some sex, but they do all have vampires and most all have a key element of the story associated with the vampire's bite: bringing a transformation, granting immortality, unlocking or stealing memories, sealing a bond or, with the refusal of the acceptance of its offer, breaking a heart. Together the stories pretty much cover most of the niches of the PNR and UF genres, one little tidbit at a time.
GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON
Yes, the Mammoth Book of Vampire Romances is truly MAMMOTH containing 25 short stories. You'll recognize the names of the most of the 23 well known authors as the writers of your favorite paranormal romance and popular urban fantasy series. Despite the title, only about half of the stories in the book are `romances' though most have some sex, but they do all have vampires and most all have a key element of the story associated with the vampire's bite: bringing a transformation, granting immortality, unlocking or stealing memories, sealing a bond or, with the refusal of the acceptance of its offer, breaking a heart. Together the stories pretty much cover most of the niches of the PNR and UF genres, one little tidbit at a time.
PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION
The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2I read the first Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance and Parnormal Romance. Loved both of them, when the Vampire Romance 2 came out I figured it would be the same level as the previous two. I was somewhat disapointed in several of the stories. In a short story book I rate each story with a Bad, Soso, Ok or Great. This anathology had fewer greats than the previous ones. I am glad I purchased it due to Carole Nelson Douglas's of Midnight Louie series entry and Larissa Ione of a Gaurdian series. There are several other authors that were great reads but not part of any series that I am reading or know of at this time. This is a good airplane travel book, but so is the series of The Mammoth Book Collection.
GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON
ByC. Campbell
I read the first Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance and Parnormal Romance. Loved both of them, when the Vampire Romance 2 came out I figured it would be the same level as the previous two. I was somewhat disapointed in several of the stories. In a short story book I rate each story with a Bad, Soso, Ok or Great. This anathology had fewer greats than the previous ones. I am glad I purchased it due to Carole Nelson Douglas's of Midnight Louie series entry and Larissa Ione of a Gaurdian series. There are several other authors that were great reads but not part of any series that I am reading or know of at this time. This is a good airplane travel book, but so is the series of The Mammoth Book Collection.
PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION
The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica, Volume 3How surprised...and delighted...I was to see my favorite writer of erotica in this book.....Mike Kimera....his story is Deserving Ruth....the first story I ever read by him... He creates wonderful images with his words...This book presents a wide range of story selection and a variety of topics.Well done !
GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON
Pleasant surprise !!!!
Format:Paperback
How surprised...and delighted...I was to see my favorite writer of erotica in this book.....Mike Kimera....his story is Deserving Ruth....the first story I ever read by him... He creates wonderful images with his words...This book presents a wide range of story selection and a variety of topics.Well done !
PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION
The Mammoth Book of International EroticaMost of the stories in this volume are clever, well-written, and fashionably postmodern. But that doesn't make them sexy! Story after story, I kept feeling that many of these authors just plain don't like sex. A few stories are fun and sexy, but these are very rare. The book has sex galore, but very little of it is what I'd call erotic.
GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:PaperbackMost of the stories in this volume are clever, well-written, and fashionably postmodern. But that doesn't make them sexy! Story after story, I kept feeling that many of these authors just plain don't like sex. A few stories are fun and sexy, but these are very rare. The book has sex galore, but very little of it is what I'd call erotic.
PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION
The Mammoth Book of Short Erotic NovelsIf you're a fan of kinky sex, bathroom fun, S & M, and humiliating sex, this is YOUR book. Not my idea of "erotic" stories. Little romance offered for my wife, and not much for me either. Found 2 stories interesting, most was not to our liking. Mostly leans toward S & M activities, so if thats ur bag, this is your book.
GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON
put your seat belt onFormat:PaperbackIf you're a fan of kinky sex, bathroom fun, S & M, and humiliating sex, this is YOUR book. Not my idea of "erotic" stories. Little romance offered for my wife, and not much for me either. Found 2 stories interesting, most was not to our liking. Mostly leans toward S & M activities, so if thats ur bag, this is your book.
PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION
The Mammoth Book of Hot RomanceThese 25 unashamedly modern short romances don’t shy away at the bedroom door, from the creme de la creme of contemporary romance writers, including Lilith Saintcrow, Louisa Burton, Susan Sizemore, and more.
GENUINE blurb POSTED ON AMAZON
Book Description
These 25 unashamedly modern short romances don't shy away at the bedroom door, from the crème de la crème of contemporary romance writers, including Lilith Saintcrow, Louisa Burton, Anna Windsor, Susan Sizemore, Michelle M. Pillow, Rebecca York, Charlotte Stein, Shiloh Walker, Victoria Janssen, Saskia Walker and Cathy Clamp. This is writing which is more direct, less euphemistic, and frankly accepting of sexuality - fiercely hot stories of flesh and blood and feelings which will entrance and beguile romance readers.
PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION
This Mammoth Book includes stories by a number of modern writers who use Verne's stories as a starting point for extrapolations of the future as the Victorians might have expected it to happen. I recommend it highly.
GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON
A great read for steampunk and alternative history fans
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified PurchaseThis Mammoth Book includes stories by a number of modern writers who use Verne's stories as a starting point for extrapolations of the future as the Victorians might have expected it to happen. I recommend it highly.
PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION
The Mammoth Book of Scottish RomanceGood pick up and put down book for when life is a little busy. Great selection of authors. Will buy others in this series.
GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON
Good collection February 5, 2011Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified PurchaseGood pick up and put down book for when life is a little busy. Great selection of authors. Will buy others in this series.
PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION
The Mammoth Book of Time Travel RomanceThis book provided some very frustrating times for me while reading. It had some great stories in it & some not so great stories. I felt like as soon as the story started getting good it was over and I wanted more...on some of them not all of them! A few were very far fetched and I couldnt get a grasp of what they were talking about. Then some of them were very cute and left me looking up those authors for more books by them. It is an easy time passing read if you dont have the time to get into a long book then I suggest this for easy reading.
GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON
Easy Reading February 27, 2010Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified PurchaseThis book provided some very frustrating times for me while reading. It had some great stories in it & some not so great stories. I felt like as soon as the story started getting good it was over and I wanted more...on some of them not all of them! A few were very far fetched and I couldnt get a grasp of what they were talking about. Then some of them were very cute and left me looking up those authors for more books by them. It is an easy time passing read if you dont have the time to get into a long book then I suggest this for easy reading.
PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION
The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes and Impossible MysteriesSometimes the reader knows the killer, watching to see whether he can beat the investigators sometimes the story is a whodunit, where everyone is a suspect and sometimes the crime is such a head-scratcher that one can only turn the pages hoping to figure out what in the world happened. Along the way, the editor calls on such familiar authors as Edward D. Hoch, Bill Pronzini, and J.A. Konrath, while also digging up a healthy assortment of lost classics.
Locked rooms, impossible crimes, and perfect murders September 22, 2008Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified PurchaseEditor Mike Ashley has assembled more than 500 pages' worth of short mystery fiction focusing on locked room murders, impossible crimes, and even perfect murders -- ranging from one story originally published as early as 1910 to several that were previously unpublished when the book came out in 2007. Included are 30 audacious murder scenarios: A man alone in a phone booth is somehow stabbed in the back with an icepick; a man alone in a room is shot by a bullet fired over 200 years ago; a man enters a cable-car alone and is dead when it reaches the bottom; a man receives mail in response to letters apparently written by him--after his death; a lion tamer is found strangled in a locked train car; an Indian rope trick performer vanishes at the end of the trick only to be found dead in a nearby lake; three women are found murdered, their bodies seemingly untouched yet with their internal organs removed.
Sometimes the reader knows the killer, watching to see whether he can beat the investigators; sometimes the story is a whodunit, where everyone is a suspect; and sometimes the crime is such a head-scratcher that one can only turn the pages hoping to figure out what in the world happened. Along the way, the editor calls on such familiar authors as Edward D. Hoch, Bill Pronzini, and J.A. Konrath, while also digging up a healthy assortment of lost classics. (Ashley avoids any examples from John Dickson Carr and G.K. Chesterton, two masters of the form, because those authors' stories are often so readily available.)
Some of the stories are great, some are okay, and one or two make you slap your forehead in amazement. Overall, a fine collection for any fan of puzzle mysteries.
PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 21The introduction was filled with useful information about what was written in 2009 in horror and some dark fantasy. Loved that. The stories were more uneven in quality than I'm used to in this series. The obits were unfortunately informative as well. Always sad to see more people involved in this, or any other, genre go. Overall I found it a worthwhile buy and would recommend it to others.
GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON
ByAlexandria Bracanovich (FAYETTEVILLE, NT
The introduction was filled with useful information about what was written in 2009 in horror and some dark fantasy. Loved that. The stories were more uneven in quality than I'm used to in this series. The obits were unfortunately informative as well. Always sad to see more people involved in this, or any other, genre go. Overall I found it a worthwhile buy and would recommend it to others
From another "collection" of so-called freebies which are claimed to be "freely available" on the internet. They are only "freely" available, because they have been illegally "shared" in violation of copyright law and in violation of the rights of the authors.
Moreover, auction site Sellers should be aware that just because an e-book is being illegally published and distributed on the internet does not put it "in the public domain".
Crystal GardensEvangeline Ames has rented a country cottage far from the London streets where she was recently attacked. Fascinated by the paranormal energy of nearby Crystal
Gardens, she finds pleasure in sneaking past the wall to explore the grounds. And when her life is threatened again, she instinctively goes to the gardens for safety.
Lucas Sebastian has never been one to ignore a lady in danger, even if she is trespassing on his property. Quickly disposing of her would-be assassin, he insists they keep the matter private. There are rumors enough already, about treasure buried under his garden, and occult botanical experiments performed by his uncle—who died of mysterious causes. With Evangeline’s skill for detection, and Lucas’s sense of the criminal mind, they soon discover that they have a common enemy. And as the energy emanating from Crystal Gardens intensifies, they realize that to survive they must unearth what has been buried for too long.
GENUINE REVIEW
Book Description
Evangeline Ames has rented a country cottage far from the London streets where she was recently attacked. Fascinated by the paranormal energy of nearby Crystal
Gardens, she finds pleasure in sneaking past the wall to explore the grounds. And when her life is threatened again, she instinctively goes to the gardens for safety.
Lucas Sebastian has never been one to ignore a lady in danger, even if she is trespassing on his property. Quickly disposing of her would-be assassin, he insists they keep the matter private. There are rumors enough already, about treasure buried under his garden, and occult botanical experiments performed by his uncle—who died of mysterious causes. With Evangeline’s skill for detection, and Lucas’s sense of the criminal mind, they soon discover that they have a common enemy. And as the energy emanating from Crystal Gardens intensifies, they realize that to survive they must unearth what has been buried for too long.
Also, it's not just the anthologies and superstars who are being ripped off. This pirate and his "Club Members" rip off entire series by mid-list authors. There is something very wrong with the DOJ, the mindset on the internet, the protections for authors offered by the DMCA, and the entire discussion about copyright in which the media almost never mentions ebooks.
If you would like to purchase the following books, please check the author's own website, not Amazon.
Mischief in Mudbug
This is an engaging sequel, but the TROUBLE IN MUDBUG is that several key support characters (especially Helena) cannot stand alone without having read the previous book. Still Sabine's search for blood relatives takes a serious health turn that makes for a serious story line while her mutually shared feelings with Beau adds a naked romantic element to the recipe. The suspense subplot adds tension, but also takes a back seat to the health crisis and the attraction as Jana DeLeon cooks an interesting spin in Mudbug.
GENUINE REVIEW
engaging sequel October 3, 2009
PS
GENUINE REVIEW
engaging sequel October 3, 2009
Format:Mass Market Paperback
After Helena the ghost makes a disturbing appearance during a client's visit, Mudbug psychic Sabine LeVeche learns from Dr. Breaux that her biopsy test affirms she suffers from acute myeloid leukemia; a type that with treatment most people go into remission especially if the person receives a bone marrow transplant from a close relative.
However, Sabine has a minor problem with the bone marrow therapy; she needs a relative, but knows of none in spite of her efforts to find kin. Private investigator Beau Villeneuve, her BFF Maryse and Helena help the stunned twenty-eight years old woman. However, their efforts are sidetracked by someone trying to kill Sabine and her attraction to Beau who feels the same way about her.
This is an engaging sequel, but the TROUBLE IN MUDBUG is that several key support characters (especially Helena) cannot stand alone without having read the previous book. Still Sabine's search for blood relatives takes a serious health turn that makes for a serious story line while her mutually shared feelings with Beau adds a naked romantic element to the recipe. The suspense subplot adds tension, but also takes a back seat to the health crisis and the attraction as Jana DeLeon cooks an interesting spin in Mudbug.
Harriet Klausner
However, Sabine has a minor problem with the bone marrow therapy; she needs a relative, but knows of none in spite of her efforts to find kin. Private investigator Beau Villeneuve, her BFF Maryse and Helena help the stunned twenty-eight years old woman. However, their efforts are sidetracked by someone trying to kill Sabine and her attraction to Beau who feels the same way about her.
This is an engaging sequel, but the TROUBLE IN MUDBUG is that several key support characters (especially Helena) cannot stand alone without having read the previous book. Still Sabine's search for blood relatives takes a serious health turn that makes for a serious story line while her mutually shared feelings with Beau adds a naked romantic element to the recipe. The suspense subplot adds tension, but also takes a back seat to the health crisis and the attraction as Jana DeLeon cooks an interesting spin in Mudbug.
Harriet Klausner
Trouble in Mudbug
I really liked this little book. It has a neat idea for the characters - the dead mother in law (Ghost-in-Law) is a riot and her relationship with Maryse is not only funny, but the interaction between the two is real. Conversations you can believe and dialogue that real people would use everyday. Gotta love Luc, the love interest here, he's hot, romantic and still sensible and the kind of guy you can picture meeting in real life. The storyline was more interesting than the romance (which was pretty decent too) and I will definately keep an eye out for the next book in this series.
GENUINE REVIEW
Fun Book with Great idea,
GENUINE REVIEW
Fun Book with Great idea,
By
Dogs & Horses "Spanish Norman Horses"
This review is from: Trouble in Mudbug (Mass Market Paperback)
I really liked this little book. It has a neat idea for the characters - the dead mother in law (Ghost-in-Law) is a riot and her relationship with Maryse is not only funny, but the interaction between the two is real. Conversations you can believe and dialogue that real people would use everyday. Gotta love Luc, the love interest here, he's hot, romantic and still sensible and the kind of guy you can picture meeting in real life. The storyline was more interesting than the romance (which was pretty decent too) and I will definately keep an eye out for the next book in this series.
PS
The copyrighted images were not lifted from Amazon... at least, not by me. They are being shared on Picasa which is a site owned by Google, and are also reproduced on the websites run by the pirates.
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