Not So Fast Steampunkers!

The buzz is that the newest, hottest, trendiest romance sub-genre is Steampunk romance, a blend of Victorian historical, steam technology, alternative history, with, sometimes, supernatural elements, such as zombies and timetravel, thrown in.  It's like you have to be a hell of a smart writer who could spout off science and Victorian tea mannerism, as well as give the romance reader her relationshipy goodness.  Not exactly an easy balance.

But.

Might I add that there is a subgenre doing super-well and growing in leaps and bounds among romance readers? What, you say? Yup. They're selling hundreds of thousands of copies a book and the bestseller is going at 1.3 million according to this WSJ article I was reading?  And. Nary a Scientific Fact or Monster in sight.  Oh, and no sex.

WHAT, YOU ASK?

They're called bonnet romances.  The women...they wear bonnets.  And the characters don't believe in technology, not much anyway.  And they kind of lead a pretty strict lifestyle, like handwashing your own towels and making bread from scratch, that sort of thing.  And did I mention the dudes all grow up into beardy brawny men?  It's like the Giant's favorite phrase: Fear The Beard.  Because it's here.

Bonnet romances, aka Amish romances, are sweet and as far from the scale of that other Hot Trend--erotic romances--as one could get.  I spent a number of years in Ohio and never knew they were allowed to read contemporary romances, but according to the newspaper articles, they're buying these books in bunches.  And reading them like giggly teens under their handsewn covers.

Wait, WAIT, you say.  there aren't THAT many Amish women buying up a million books.  You're right.  The Amish community is only about 233,000 strong (hey, google it!).  So, the main readers are non-Amish.  Yeah, you and you and me and you and YOU OVER THERE.  You're buying these romances with the sweet, fresh-faced, be-bonneted woman standing with wheat fields in the background, and loving them.

You tell me what's up here.  Are you tired of de Sexay?  Are you wanting some closed door romancing?  From perusing the blurbs and reading some chapters, the majority of the plots are Romeo and Juliet-ish, that is, dear sweet Rebecca is in love with an outsider, maybe from the English (don't ask me, that's what they call an American male), and it's about forbidden yearning and the sweet bloom of thinking naughty, but unnamed, unmentionable subjects that are hinted but left unsaid, with lots of lingering eye-exercises and deep thoughts.  Hey, I've been there; I grew up in a Third World religious country.

Maybe a number of us are growing tired of clean-shaven Alpha males and sword-wielding snarky heroines, and we're intrigued by beardy men who won't grow mustaches.  I don't know.  But of course, I have enjoyed an Amish forbidden romance during my time; the movie was called Witness and it starred a hot Harrison Ford, but that's kind of cheating because he was playing the role of the English.  But I remember the sexual tension was delicious. And, it was a suspense/thriller to boot!

So, have you been reading quietly under the covers and not letting us know your sweet little secret? Do give your thoughts, make some recommendations.  I used to read Dee Henderson's inspirational romantic suspenses back in the day when it was starting to be the hot new trend.  They were good, with very strong heroes.

So, the airships, the clockwork thingies, the funny masks, even the time-machine--MOVE OVER!  The washboards, homemade bread, self-chopped firewood, and aprons are here.

Fear the Beard (and the aprons).

Bear with me while I learn. The first button likes the POST. The second button likes the BLOG site. Please help me by "liking" me. Thanks!
NO NEED TO CLICK TILL I TELL YA: RESERVED FOR NOT SAFE FOR WORK STUFF

Mid-year Monologue

Oy. I spent the last few days on holiday--friends in town; 4th of July cookout; decompressing and catching up. All fun but now it's back to work. I hope all of you had a great weekend too, celebrating or just hanging out.

Ir's mid-2010, folks. I haven't accomplished much except lost some weight. I like being able to put on my favorite pair of jeans again, for sure, but I need to lose more to make it feel comfy like before ;-).

The last six months brought a few changes too. My Old Ladies's passing together was one of the sadder memories. But now, I have Pepe Le Pom, who has a personality the size of a whale, so the household is now lively again, what with his antics and determination to fit in with two obstinate furbabies who thought he was going to be a shy thang ;-). Puppies. They are fun but lots of work.

Best book of the year so far: Ilona Andrews' Magic Bleeds (Book 4). My Lord, great, great story--romance and big story arc coming together seamlessly, with lots of action and funny lines. That's what always wins me over--funny, witty dialogue.

Worst fear: My air conditioner, being 14 years old, might be on its last legs. Air conditioners are expensive here and the expense of replacing mine is going to break my wallet. Wah. So I have to start saving $$$ and hope the old thing can lasts another year. Living in the hot south, an air conditioner is a must.

What good book have you read lately and why? I'm going to the RWA conference at the end of the month and am compiling a list of books to buy/get from my favorite authors. It's always fun to go crazy and pick up a bunch of books with a group of friends who are as crazy about reading romances as I am!

I'm also excited about Virtually Hers coming out in print form. Some of my friends who don't read e-books have been waiting for this for a long, long time, and I'm very humbled that they're just as excited as I am. They're all planning to take a day trip to Orlando during the RWA Literacy Signing to get the book. It's a mid-week event (Weds evening) and some of them are literally taking off work early so they could go together. For me, rooferauthor. It makes me feel so blessed to have such great friends and readers.

Share your mid-year news!

Bear with me while I learn. The first button likes the POST. The second button likes the BLOG site. Please help me by "liking" me. Thanks!
NO NEED TO CLICK TILL I TELL YA: RESERVED FOR NOT SAFE FOR WORK STUFF

Blame The Good Book!

I'm in D.C. with my sisters. Four sisters and one brother in one house. With spouses and kids. Snow outside. Oh boy. I think I'd better start buiding my secret stash of snowballs.

I almost didn't make it out of Daytona today! There I was, with an hour fifteen minutes to kill, so I pulled out Ava Gray's SKIN GAME and started reading. The story is about a grifter heroine and an assassin sent to kill her. You're damn right that's a Big Conflict right there.

So there I was, happily reading the beginning of a long con, enjoying the sexual tension between the two newly-met characters, and...and...a tap on the shoulder. I looked up, dazed.

"Excuse me, Miss, are you going on Flight ****?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"Umm. Everyone's boarded and we're closing the plane door in one minute, Miss."

WHAT?

WWWWWWWHHHHAT?

But I just started reading! I looked at the book and realized that I had absorbed quite a number of pages already. I mumbled some apolog, picked up my carry-on, and rushed into the plane. So much for congratulating myself about being early and having plenty of time.

So, anyway, I arrived safe and sound. My sister is already threatening to bury me in that mount of snow in her backyard. Everyone's talking all at once. Me, I'm going curl up in the corner and read a few more pages of Skin Game.

What good book have you read lately? Do you get as lost in it as I do?

Bear with me while I learn. The first button likes the POST. The second button likes the BLOG site. Please help me by "liking" me. Thanks!
NO NEED TO CLICK TILL I TELL YA: RESERVED FOR NOT SAFE FOR WORK STUFF

Half Year Mark Already!

Holy cowabunga, what happened to the time?! Did you accomplish your half-year mark goal(s)?

So far, I haven't done too badly:

1) I released a book, albeit through myself
2) I found a publisher who loves Virtually Hers and Virtually One
3) Virtually Hers is coming out THIS YEAR, e-book format in early Oct.

I didn't read as many books as I wanted to, but I reread a bunch of goodies.

The best book, for me, at this mid-point is Illona Andrews' MAGIC STRIKES, hands down. I just love Curran and the growing relationship between Kate and him. And the fabulous worldbuilding!

I also highly recommend Patricia Briggs' BONE CROSSED, fourth in the Mercedes series. These stories are getting soooo good, but this book is in hard cover and I can't afford any this year. Fortunately, I received this for Valentine's Day ;-).

On my first day after VHERS edits, I went to the bookstore to reward myself. I was sooo happy to find Marjorie Liu's Darkness Calls, the second book in her Maxine Kiss urban fantasy series. I've been waiting for this book because I wanted to read more about Maxine and Grant. For those who want to read an urban fantasy without werewolves and shapeshifting animals, I recommend this series. It features a demon huntress with very unusual tattoos/protectors. Book One wasn't heavy on the relationship stuff, but I trust Marjorie to give me more ;-).

What about your recommended Midyear Best Book? What are you reading right now?

Bear with me while I learn. The first button likes the POST. The second button likes the BLOG site. Please help me by "liking" me. Thanks!
NO NEED TO CLICK TILL I TELL YA: RESERVED FOR NOT SAFE FOR WORK STUFF

Writer's Blues

I'm struggling. I've never written a proposal for an urban fantasy/fantasy before. Talk about info-dumping from hell. It's like the never-ending back-to-the-past stuck-in-the-future story, but I don't think that description is going to be "the hook." Argh.

Why can't I just say, "Here is Viking Dude and he's stuck in the future, hiding from bad guys from the past"? No, I have to explain the past, the world-building part, and that's where everything gets convoluted. Usually, in a proposal for a romantic suspense, I don't need to explain the world of spies too much, since everyone understands what black ops. mean and the time-line is usually in the present. But with fantasy, I have to explain the world I built, and with a time-traveling element that goes back to way, way in the past, to Greek mythology even, I get tied up in details that have nothing to do with the plot. Argh.

I hate writing proposals. I actually prefer to talk about it one-on-one with the editor. For some reason I don't feel lost when I'm explaining my vision in person.

******************

Been trying to set up Big Bad Wolf for Amazon's Kindle. It doesn't take PDF files! It wants the files to be set up in HTML. I suck at HTML. So...another week without BBW for Kindle people, so sorry.

******************

My book count this month is pathetic. Here's what I read:

The Host by Faith Hunter (Engrossing; I loved it. Read it twice. Just cannot believe there's no fourth book!)

Dark Matter by Cameron Cruise (evil twin story with a psychic twist that turns into full-blown mind-sucking out-of-body visit to Atlantis for the ultimate power. Lost me a bit in the middle. Not enough romance for me.)

Dark of Night by Suzanne Brockmann (Totally heartbroken. Just imagine if Alex Diamond and T end up with other people in one book. Yes, I'm bitter, heartbrokenly bitter.)

Eternal Seduction by Jennifer Turner (Interesting beginning; strong first three chapters. A bit of an odd vampire book that can't decide whether it's dark or funny (a ten thousand year-old vampire calling a thirty thousand year-old vampire "dad" cracked me up) with very little happening in the middle chapters while the heroine goes through her "change," but the characters kept my interest.)

So, what's your book count?

Bear with me while I learn. The first button likes the POST. The second button likes the BLOG site. Please help me by "liking" me. Thanks!
NO NEED TO CLICK TILL I TELL YA: RESERVED FOR NOT SAFE FOR WORK STUFF

Post #2: I Break For Chubby Puppies

Don't worry. I made the PUPPY CAM a sticky post at the bottom. You can come back and check on them here any time you want. I do, every freaking hour. They're growing so fat and chubby, aren't they? Even Bad Puppy's getting jealous after I showed him the screen.

Right now, in the middle of rewriting some Grace chapters, I decided to take a break and read a book. Picked up from the TBR: Richelle Mead's Storm Born, urban fantasy. So far, she kills supernatural things with a wand. Interesting. Any of you read this book?

In fact, what are you reading now? Share with each other.

Bear with me while I learn. The first button likes the POST. The second button likes the BLOG site. Please help me by "liking" me. Thanks!
NO NEED TO CLICK TILL I TELL YA: RESERVED FOR NOT SAFE FOR WORK STUFF

Uber Books That People Make Fun Of

I finally found a hotel in NYC midtown that didn't cost me an arm and a leg. Just an arm, but seeing my leg is lost to my car insurance deductible, I'm going to be quite noticeable in NYC ;-).

Technology is so helpful these days. Not. Do you know it takes approximately 4-6 weeks for a copy of a Police Report to be sent from Charleston, SC. to Macon, GA., where my Geico office is? I guess they are using the turtle express instead of a fax machine. So anyway, my car's repair is in limbo waiting for this phantom report of a crime that no one cares to solve. Paper pushers. Now you know where Rick Harden's hate come from ;-).

We all hate the power of the paper pushers, don't we? Damn bullies. ;-P

Which gives me the perfect segue to a discussion I was having:

After I admitted to a certain liking of the Harlequin Presents tycoon "brutes," a forum-buddy posted a question about my guilty pleasure in reading these books. Some of my favorite authors from that line are Helen Bianchin, Michele Reid, Robyn Donald, and Susan Napiers. They have been around for decades, so I'm very familiar with their works, some of which I reread and consider keepers. Anyway, she commented that she didn't understand about the love for these tycoon stories, especially since they are just like school playground bullies to her.

Here is my reply to her (and I give myself permission to post my own words, ahem):

I understand. It's, perhaps, the wrong word to use; there's a difference between the tycoon brute and the playground bully. Whereas there is a super-protective streak in the former, the latter is just basically into power and gain over the weak.
This isn't a defense of the tycoon brute of the 80s at all, since some of them were rather high-handed, to say the least, where their women's freedom was concerned. When I was reading them during my teens, I was caught up by the emotional charge in every scene--the sexual power struggle between the female and the male. It was all very exciting and mysterious, this thing called sexual tension ;-).

Today, in spite of being bashed in the head repeatedly that women are powerful creatures ;-), I'm still fascinated by the depiction of power in an unequal romance. Because to me, the emotional highs and lows of this type of story can't be found anywhere else because of political correctness in today's romances, be it historical or contemporary.

Some readers can suspend their disbelief about vampires being walking corpses (heh). Some push away the analytical awareness of bestiality in a werewolf/animal romance. These two examples are given the subgenre title PARANORMAL, so that seems to be a silent okay to cross the line in using certain romance genre taboos.

Being a fan of paranormal books, from sci-fi romance to urban fantasy, I totally get it. I lose myself in those stories precisely because of the crossing the line stuff--the power struggles, the sexual exploration (besides the magic hooha as the savior of the universe stuff), the three or four potential heros, the near-rapes and dark seductions.

However, use the same elements minus the blood-sucking and "we are mates" talk in a very urbane setting, such as gabillionaires (power being) and model/secretary/simple working girl (human/normal), and disdain and phrases like "why do these books even exist?" are tossed like rotten tomatoes.

I think, the readers who love these books read them because they have emotional power. It's a different world, just as a sci-fi/fantasy is, but with elements that aren't techy or complicated or metaphysical. It's a world of glamor and bitchy women, or super-snobbish in-laws (the evil stepmother syndrome), or just very basic emotions--jealousy and possessive love--stripped of all sophistication in a "sophisticated" world.

Admittedly, they are still mind-candy. It all has to do with my mindset when I read them. I'm not looking for complication here; I just want my "greek-god" tycoon (ignore all current googled photos of shipping magnates, please) to notice my ice-cold socialite (secretaries are actually quite rare these days)/executive assistant and then the chase is ON! And there will be no side-stories or jumping around from thread-to-thread, it's straight chocolate, munch-munch-munch, till the tycoon goes down on his knees, baby! And requisite with diamonds and mention of exotic cities and oh, a villa, of course. Cannot not have the villa.

I know quite a few of you still enjoy the old-school romance, the so-called "bodice rippers" that are keepers on your shelves. Many are discussed under topics such as "Ugh, horrible brutal hero" or "Die, scum, die!" A notable author often brought up is Christine Monson, whose pirate historicals are, to say the very least, very, VERY politically incorrect. There are always very strong reactions to her books. Another author's works often being cited is Johanna Lindsey's older historicals, which consisted of a lot of kidnapping and rapes/near-rapes/virginal seductions.

Most readers who've been reading romances since the 70s have enjoyed this kind of books at one time or another. Some of us may even cringe that we did; some of us still actually enjoy them when the mood strikes us.

It is an inexplicable thing, this feeling evoked by a romance we enjoy. We can make fun of the elements separately when we discuss about them--the kidnapping by the prince, the matyrdom while being humiliated, the long, long flowing hair that never gets tangled in spite of being tossed about by callous men and waves and whatnot, the heroine with the sharp tongue who seems to just melt with one kiss. However, when the package is put right, some of us old-schoolers can still delve into those scenes and get sucked into the story just as badly as those who cannot resist JR Ward's rapping vampires, even though they hate the brothuh-language, the leather, the inequality between the sexes.

Technology enriching and speeding lives? So not, judging from all the phone-chasing I do and the inability of the storegirl to tabulate without her machine when it's down. Old-school romance vs newer edgier romance? Those old school romance sometimes seem to have been edgier, taking more risks than today's Lord of Sluts Who Are Really Spies in Love with the Bluestocking Heroine starting some School for Bluestocking Heroines.

My point is, the more things change, the more they remain the same, not so?

What is your guilty pleasure book that you just know everyone is going to make a face at, and wonder at your IQ and female sensibilities if you admit that you love it now still? You can tell me! I'm, after all, outing myself as one of those readers who don't mind propping up The Tycoon's Virgin Bride's Secret Baby for a couple hours of happy munching.

Bear with me while I learn. The first button likes the POST. The second button likes the BLOG site. Please help me by "liking" me. Thanks!
NO NEED TO CLICK TILL I TELL YA: RESERVED FOR NOT SAFE FOR WORK STUFF