What does it mean to be a “good” reader?
Last weekend delivered a hat trick of essays on critical reading, two on KJ Charles’s m/m novel Think of England, and one on Deborah Fletcher Mello’s The Sweetest Thing, in which Liz McCausland also...
View ArticleRomance is not a feminist genre – and that’s okay
As a genre celebrating love and largely written by and for women, I think it’s easy to view Romance as an inherently feminist genre. I have felt this way myself at times, and I’ve seen many other...
View ArticleGenre Exploitation or Unreasonable Reader Expectations?
Last week I linked to an essay by Remittance Girl for the DA news, in which she argued extensively against the Clean Reader application, which replaces so-called “dirty” words with “clean” versions....
View ArticleWhen classic Romance novels don’t remain relevant to readers
This past weekend I was involved in a great email discussion about the question of whether Romance fiction faced a unique challenge that other types of fiction, including other genres don’t. Namely,...
View ArticleRepetition and novelty in Twilight and its fan fictions
The idea for this essay started with a question: what is it about Twilight and its derivations, especially Fifty Shades of Grey and Transcendence, that allow these variations to represent “fresh” and...
View ArticleLove and freedom in the Jane Yellowrock series
Recent conversation with a good friend about Faith Hunter’s Jane Yellowrock series led to this question: What do you think Jane values above everything else? My answer: independence. My friend’s:...
View ArticleBeing crazy: An insider’s view on ableist language
[themify_box style=”light-yellow rounded ” ]Kris used to review and blog on book related things before RL intervened in big, scary ways. Now she tends to somewhat vaguely hang out on Twitter, comment...
View ArticleRomance and Emotional Justice
So I recently saw the movie version of Gone Girl, which had some provocative differences from the book, even though both were written by Gillian Flynn. Those differences, which include a reversal in...
View ArticleDeserving love and our own genre expectations
One of my favorite things about blogging here is that I can write about a germ of an idea and see it grow and blossom in many different directions and to places I had not even anticipated. Last week’s...
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CONVERSATION: 2021 in Review
Janine: I’ve noticed that my reading habits change a little from year to year. Some years I read more or fewer books than usual. Some years I discover new favorite authors. At times a genre shifts in a...
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