Kate Bigel's Blog

Over the last two years, my reading choices have changed. I could blame the trauma of the Pandemic but, I suspect, it’s simply that everyone needs certain stories at different points in their lives. Currently, I lean toward stories that leave this planet behind. Anything but the contemporary-now! I used to be at my core a reader of romance and fantasy but I always had an interest in speculative fiction, science fiction and history and this year, those genres became dominant in my reading selections. I’m going to make a separate list for cool non-fiction I read. Coming soon.

This year, I have an impressive mountain of unfinished books. Moody? Traumatized? Cranky? One of those reasons.

This year’s total of books read is 65 – which is low for me. I usually hit 125+. This year I watched more movies and shows which cuts into the reading time and I started writing more.

Reading more Sci-fi and Speculative Fiction slows me down as they tend toward hefty word counts. Also, I read a bunch of history books which can never be read fast—I’m going to do a separate history non-fiction list. I swear I would be 20 books higher but for R.F. Kuang’s Babel (an ambitious and wild book) clocking in at a dense 600 pages long. Being an eBook reader, I don’t always look at book length and it was only half way thru, I realized something was up but it was too late! If this list went higher, I would have put it on there. In addition, I had to do some comfort re-reads because it’s better than drinking. I re-read all the Murderbot books for example. Still love them – read them!

I could make a different list if you talk to me next week. I am moody. Buy books, more than you need! It’s a good thing.

The Scholomance Series – Naomi Novik

A YA focus with a magic school set in hidden world but with a lot of murder. Crazy bloody like a Hunger Games and Harry Potter mashup. Fabulous characters. First person. I burned through this series. So good.

Temeraire Series (The Dragon books) – Naomi Novik

These books were published several years ago but she got the rights back and self pubbed them. OH I love so much. I have fondness Napoleonic era Navel books like Patrick O’Brien (Master and Commander) – it’s like that but with dragons. Loads of military strategy, fabulous characters, a little love thing going on and more. Awesome.

Warrior Witch Duology – Greta Kelly

I supposedly hate Duologies that end the first book in a cliff hanger but whatever, I loved this…High fantasy, great pacing, powerful women, kind of bloody but fun.

Hunt the Stars – Jessie Mihalik

Ex-military Octavia Zarola accepts a bounty hunting job from a sworn enemy. Set in space. Love and political intrigue. All my favorite things.

Tanked – Mia Hopkins

The third in a series of books about three brothers. One of the few books I read about the now…great romance, smoking sexy and really interesting character wrapped up in great writing.

The Grief of Stones – Katherine Addison

The third in a series that started with The Goblin Emperor. A rich fantasy world but it’s really a detective “who-dunnit” with heavy political schemes. Thara Celehar (Witness for the Dead) can speak to the recently departed. The world building is spectacular.

A Master of Djinn – P. Djèlí Clark

I mean Djinn, alternate history, the British Empire and a fabulous Egyptian women detective. A wild slightly messy plot which I loved – kept it fresh. What a tale!

Always Be My Duchess – Amalie Howard

Dukes, fake fiancée, smart and strong heroine with FABULOUS writing.  The heroine is perfection and really helps make this standard genre trope sparkle.

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy: A Monk and Robot Book (Monk & Robot 2)- Becky Chambers

I am nuts about Becky Chambers stories. The first book in this series came out last year (2022) but I read it this year when Tor Free Free ebook club sent me it (join this club!). I devoured it. You have to read the first book to understand the second. The complete opposite of many of the books on this list. Quiet, philosophical and optimistic – it is set in the far future. Sibling Dex is wonderful lead character – thoughtful, confused and questioning. The robot is perfection.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow – Gabrielle Zevin

Two childhood friends create a computer game together – fascinating relationships over a lifetime. Having worked in the game industry – I can be critical of settings like this but the author nails it. A unique story – I love the span of time it covers – feels epic while being intimate.

When Women Were Dragons – Kelly Barnhill

A great concept where women unexpectedly turn into dragons and its suppressed by the government. The story works because of the intimacy of the narration – poetic and beautiful while being interspersed with academic writings on dragons. Good stuff.

The Kaiju Preservation Society – John Scalzi

Completely nuts plot which I loved. A laid off tech worker get a job caring for animals – little does he know they are Kaiju in a different dimension. WHAT? I know – nuts but so entertaining.

Recently, I looked at all my streaming and subscription services and discovered that it was around $700 a year. Yikes. I stated turning things off and canceling things. Most services give a better price or a free month if you change your mind later. There is no incentive to maintain a subscription constantly except for some perception of instant access.

I kept Netflix because I don’t have cable tv but downgraded from HD. I kept Hulu because that I watch all the Network shows on there. I kept Pandora because it’s free and I listen to ads – no big deal for someone who grew up on broadcast tv. I got rid of everything else. Audible, Disney, Apple+, Amazon, Prime Music and Amazon Prime. Sure, I will sign up for a month to binge on some hot new show but I’m good with that.

I know the loss of Amazon prime is shocking. BUT KATE – how will you live with ordering shit from Amazon? But that’s the point, I order a lot of impulsive stuff or stuff that turns out not to be that good or I really didn’t need. I don’t want more stuff, I want less. The world is melting and do I really need that egg top slicer in 24 hours? The kicker is Amazon gives people free shipping anyway if you order more than $25 – I might not get 2-day delivery but I can survive. I probably order more than $25 80% of the time so why should I give them $125 (cost of Prime) for free shipping if they will ship for free anyway? Not to mention, that many things on Amazon increasingly have a higher price point than finding it in a store.

For audio books, I have a library card and they have a great audio book selection. And authors make good money from libraries so there is no guilt. I don’t listen to audio that match unless I have a bad case of digital eye fatigue and I need to rest. I like to buy ebooks because the selection at the libraries can be thin. My husband is trying to get me to buy less books because he is a crazy person. Alright, I’m dialing it back by 50% because I can’t read all the books I buy anyway.

In regards to social media, I have retreated from Facebook like many people. I took the apps off my mobile devices so I can interact on my laptop but not when I am out in the world doing stuff. I can’t delete my account because I have an author page which admittedly doesn’t have a huge following but hey, as an indie author, I need a presence there. I want to keep my connection to readers who are only on FB.

Unless I have a new book out, I’m not on Instagram. I might do some TikTok for the next book but otherwise no, I think I’m too old for that scene. Twitter is still fun but I block regularly and ruthlessly. Twitter Book-verse can be a bit high drama with scandals, gossip and dirt slinging in the world of reading and writing. In small doses, it’s amusing. Too much can be demoralizing.

The question is: what do I get from the Twitter-verse? I have been able to meet people from the book world that I would not know otherwise and that is a pleasure. I love hearing about various author’s writing process, or their suggestions about writing and all the book announcements. The same with agents, editors and bloggers. But it’s not healthy for me to do this for hours. I consider my day a success if I log on and am confused about the latest kerfuffle because that means I’m not spending too much time there. Even in the Twitter book world, I encounter misogyny and the overlords of coolness a regular basis.

Social media does not ease my social loneliness. It gives me the illusion of human interaction until you put your device down and you remember nothing has really changed. Social media is like a sugar high and I love candy but it must eaten in moderation. Seeing and interacting with real friends is like a complete and balanced meal that sustains one for day. It’s not about being alone—I like being alone but I do like people. I’m a social introvert.

So, social media and streaming media can have my sloppy seconds attention. I’m not a luddite—hell, I love technology but I don’t want to lose ALL my time and money to billionaires who are screwing everyone over. Yes, that is a super high drama statement but it’s my blog.

Yes, I will post this on my social media author accounts but this world is a silly place and I’m not in charge.

I’m trying to be social media quiet on my accounts because I’m trying to write and because social media fatigue is real. Over the last five years, social media became my place for both primal scream and “squee, I love this.” No doubt, a primal scream is healthy on occasion, but frequent and consistent use has not been beneficial for me. Giving a delighted shriek about something I love can also have unintended consequences if the response rate is low. It makes me doubt myself. My passions and joy should NOT be crowdsourced to see if they are valid. That’s a whole world of negative yuck.

Anyway, the Zeitgeist has spoken. Less of my friends are on social media on a daily basis, so why should I be? It’s a hard habit to break. I’m bored, waiting for my tea water – check the sites! I’m procrastinating on writing – check the sites. How does it make me feel? Usually not good. Like eating too much candy, it’s great while I am chewing, but later, I’m queasy.

It’s hard not to compare myself to others’ success anyway—being informed of all the great things that are happening to other people can mess with my zen. Everyone is publishing a book, announcing great news, or going on vacation. I like being in on what’s happening (who doesn’t?) but it keeps my focus on what’s outside of me and not on what I’m thinking about. The issue is the incessant constant nature of the feed. I read Publishers Weekly and it’s fine once a week. Seeing 50 posts a day across social media on book deals and announcements? Nope. It makes me anxious.

Okay, I love seeing your darling babies and pets. I admit it. Any random cute animal vid will make me smile. Big problem is that having been on social media for almost 15 years – the happy spike I get is less and less. I’m numb.

The other major plus is that I can always contact anyone I have ever known—no stress in not having their current email or phone number. I ping them on message and we connect.

Basically, it is my phone book, but why should I connect daily?

Yes, this has been a hard, lonely year. But social media did not make it better – it was like busywork. The illusion of social interaction is there but is it real? The sensation of being social engaged fades so quickly, like fast food or a bad sugar high. Nothing is really accomplished, no minds are changed, and no great epiphanies occur.

Many friends and colleagues with depression and anxiety have left because social made it difficult for them to stay emotionally healthy. Another reason to reduce time on the sites.

Will I retreat entirely? No. What are you crazy? I’m just spending more time daydreaming instead of seeing what’s trending.

My badness level after spending too much time on social media.

This has been a hell of a year.

And now the election.

[image error]The boat in San Diego

It has been disruptive from a creative standpoint and profoundly seismic in terms of what I’m writing and reading. I am without a doubt a very different person this year from last year. Who isn’t? And how can I be still the same? Answer: I’m not.

On the upside, we are busy planning the last great adventure of our lives.

I live on a sailboat with my husband. We moved on in 2000 and spent six years on a slow-paced exploration of the Pacific. We ended up in Australia and pondered what to do. We almost immigrated to New Zealand – one the bigger mistakes in my life that we decided not to do that. Leaving one’s country is very difficult particularly with parents still alive.

We returned to the US and lived in Marina del Rey, California for many years. Driven up by crazy high cost of living, we moved south to San Diego. Luckily when your home floats, moving is simple.

After 20 years, the boat needs major work and we are crunching thru the list. Think about how much work a 30-year-old house needs and basically double the costs. Sigh.  

We are retiring a little early and preparing to head south and then west to French Polynesia and Fiji.  Everything dependent on Covid – of course.

I’m looking forward to heading out. It’s beautiful being out on the ocean headed to a distant island. Last time we went, I had a four-year-old to care for and that was a lot of work. Sure, I’m nervous because I’m older and a little slower but I know my boat is kindly and solid.

For my writing, it will be great. There won’t be a lot to do but read and write in wonderful places.

Obviously, I will blog our adventures. I am not working on sailing fiction but who knows what the future will bring.

[image error]20 years ago leaving San Diego.



[image error]Tuaomotus Anchorage in French Polynesia

This year was a lot of something.

On January 2nd, I stumbled getting off our sailboat. As I
was going down, I thought I’m going to have a hell of a bruise. And then I heard
the bones break in my ankle.

I started screaming because of the pain. I don’t really remember the pain but I can feel the memory of it in my bones.

My husband didn’t hurry up from inside the boat because he
thought I dropped something in the water. This is fair because basically one
gives the same level of scream when one drops a phone in the water.

I glanced up and saw a marina person muttering into his radio.
Good! Help was coming. Back to screaming in pain. My husband appeared and
muttered, “Oh my god.” I decided to take a peak at my foot. It was completely
sideways. I almost vomited and the pain was so intense that I dug my nails into
the cement of the dock.

Time blurred and, suddenly, I was surrounded by firemen. Big,
lovely, sweet firemen. The paramedic gave me something strong for the pain – fentanyl.
Boy, that stuff worked fast. What foot? I kept thinking I hadn’t even
brushed my hair yet and I hope I didn’t vomit in front of them. Really.

At the hospital, I’m given morphine. I have a trimalleolar fracture
with an interior dislocation and all the cartilage has shattered. Basically,
all the bones in the ankle were broken and my foot was shoved sideways.  They can’t set the foot. They need to operate
and, high on morphine, I make a decision. Do it. My husband wants to talk to
other doctors but I don’t want to lose my foot by waiting.

They put pins and plates to put my bones together. They remove
the shattered cartilage and drill holes in my bones so that scar tissue will
form and act as lubrication which is what the cartilage used to do.

I spend three days in the hospital. The meds give me
constant and violent migraines. I don’t eat for three days and throw up stomach
bile. They want me to go to a rehab place but I’ve seen those places and I refuse.

My husband finds a hotel with a wheelchair accessible shower
which somehow is really difficult. Many hotels claim they are handicap
accessible but are not wheelchair accessible. I am obsessed with getting clean
because it’s been four days since I showered. We stay there a week which I frankly
don’t remember because pain meds! We went to my brother-in-law’s apartment in
LA as he was out of town for week and back to another hotel in San Diego for my
checkup. I finally decide since all I do is lie on the couch — I can do that at
home.

I need to explain. We have lived on a 50-foot sailing ketch for twenty years. To get on the boat, one has to step on the side deck, then step over a high cockpit coming and into the cockpit. To get inside the boat, there are six steep steps into the interior. Luckily, there are handholds everywhere because she’s a bluewater boat and handholds are key in rough water.

[image error]Our home out at Catalina Island in 2018

I am wheeled up to the boat and I pull myself on the side
deck, backwards on my butt, while keeping my injured leg in the air. I drag
myself into the cockpit. Getting down the stairs, I slide down on my butt and
my husband catches me.

I collapse on my couch and basically live there until March.
Okay, I can leave by reversing how I got on the boat but it’s so exhausting. I can’t
sleep in our bed because it’s too tricky to get in and out with the cast. The
foot swells and turns purple if I don’t keep it elevated above my heart. After
a few weeks, I get a knee scooter because crutches are brutally hard. I gain a
lot of weight because lying on the couch for months will do that.

[image error]A fellow swimmer brought me a jar of pool water when I came home from the hospital.

By April, I can walk with cane. Pain is constant. It’s tough to be positive. I get to the pool for my master’s swim team and I almost cry in relief. I can swim if I don’t kick my foot (that hurts still). I have swum with athletes with limb deficiency so I know it’s possible to swim hard. It saves my brain. I can’t swim the full hour but I work hard and improve slowly.

[image error]

I’m able to abandon the cane by the end of July but I still have pain. I swim and I work on walking. It’s tough and depressing. I develop hip tendonitis because of my limp. I go back to PT in December and improve rapidly. They pinpoint the weak areas – my legs and my butt. I join a gym and do my exercises. It’s hard. But I can walk now without a limp. I actually practiced hopping the other day. I can hop!

This year was not the best. BUT there were many good things! I released a book (somehow!) and worked on three other stories. My husband and I created a free book tracking app for the genre reader. It’s called madReader (available now on iTunes!). I visited my sister and used wheelchairs in the airports. I am still in awe of the tiny woman who pushed my wheelchair a mile at the transfer in Detroit. My husband and I celebrated our 25th anniversary in Hawaii. Me with a cane on the beach! It was funny and hard because sand is not stable. He rented a condo right on the beach so all I had to do is get to the elevator and boom—collapse in a beach chair.

[image error]Reading while recovering.

My husband cooked, cleaned and did laundry for four months.
He was amazing. Anything I wanted, he got. Tea, that book over there, I wanted
chicken soup or whatever. He did it. Rockstar nurse.

Anyway, so I punted on blogging because something had to go.
I read 140 books. Yeah. I spent WAY too much time on Twitter but I spent less
time on Facebook.

This year. Done with it.

Follow @madreaderapp on Twitter. We recommend books on there
all the time.

“Her lips took his breath away. To receive only some of her kisses made him want all of them.”

IN STARLIGHT comes out April 30. Please pre-order your Kindle e-book now, and it will automagically appear on your Kindle. But the paperback is available now for people who love real books.

Romance tropes: Rock star, fated mates, Love at a wedding, and a flipped meet-cute because he dreams about her before he meets her.

The small family wedding where half the book takes place changes their meeting and interactions. They fall in love on their own, they screw it up on their own and find their way back, but the people around them are them are vital to the story.

At her best friend’s wedding, Vi Golden meets Liam Macklin, a rock star with a sweet smile. He wrote his hit song after he dreamed of a woman who looks just like her. In Starlight began as a continuation of a short story, Sorcha in Snowflakes, in which Sorcha meets a man who bought her self-portrait painting and it sort of saved him. Vi is a friend in that story, and Sorcha falls in love with Alexander Macklin, Liam’s brother.

I know everyone will hear the song ‘In Starlight’ differently. Tell me if you hear a melody while you read the story of these star-crossed lovers.

I have a new contemporary romance coming out called IN STARLIGHT, a full-length novel and part the Artist’s Hearts Series. One of my first published books is a short story called Sorcha in Snowflakes which featuring a brilliant painter as heroine and a handsome tech geek as her love interest. It was a sweet deeply romantic fated love story. I was in the middle of finishing my paranormal series involving Daimon Soldiers, but the characters from Sorcha kept popping back in my head. When I finished the last Daimon Soldier book, I started writing some ideas down.

As an exercise, I started with a meet-cute because I wanted
to figure out who these characters were. Somehow, a rock star strolled down the
stairs to meet Vi while she was unloading stuff from her car. IN STARLIGHT has
a rom-com DNA – family, friends, and wedding serve as the backdrop to the
novel. My rock star? He is defiantly an artist, and the woman he meets is a
visual artist. Art is a demanding profession requiring focus and dedication
which creates tension for the main characters as they both pursue their
passion.

I used some of my personal experience working in the PC and console computer games as a resource for Vi. The more I thought about her obsession with drawing Fairies, I realized that they reminded me of concept art for a game. So, a game company producer sees her art and asks her to visualize the characters for a computer game.

I envisioned the computer game that Vi is working on as having winged Fairy warriors. Their clothes would be more like warrior clothes with leathers and tunics, but they have huge attitude more like cute little Valkyrie. They live in a hyper green, vibrant natural world—maybe on a lost island in the mists of a distant world.

IN STARLIGHT combines some of my favorite tropes in romance, rockstar, wedding, brother of a friend, fated mates, damaged hero and strong, smart heroine.  I wanted a mad romance with fated ambiance to it.

Liam Macklin is lean, smiling and handsome in a poetic
singer-songwriter way. This year, I needed to write a gentle, sweet hero. Okay,
he lapses into rock star arrogance but works his way out of it. His failure
makes him more interesting as he learns he can’t control everything.

Vi Golden. Some people have a glow about them and it makes
them beautiful. If you look at Vi Golden, the parts seem ordinary, but her eyes
and her smile make her special. She is strong-willed and optimistic. An only
child with only a father, she has been informally adopted by her best friend’s
family, the Rosenbloom’s. She and Sorcha Rosenbloom have been friends from
college. Vi is successful in real estate and on the brink of massive success
with her artwork. Liam might be a complication, or he might be her fate? How
did he draw a woman who looked like her before they met?

Enjoy reading IN STARLIGHT. On pre-order now. It will be a Kindle Unlimited selection.

I am very excited to announce that all three books in the Daimon Soldier series are going to be available in one book called ‘The Daimon Soldier Trilogy’ available as an eBook only on April 9, 2019. It is a digital box set extravaganza. In addition, it will be part of Kindle Unlimited.

I write a little background for the characters. Usually, I
do it halfway through a book when I get to know the characters and I need to
clarify motivation.

Here is the backstory of Naberius:

General Naberius Vasteras was the lead field General in a
long and brutal war against the Ice Daimons. He was known for personal leading
his men into battle, his enemies called him the Mad General. He was feared and
mythologized. After the peace, he became depressed, withdrawn and prone to
drunken rages.

His mother, Lady Hannah Vasteras, was the leader of the
Jotun Government and the de facto head of the country. She leads the peace
effort and the interim government of the formally divided realm of Daimons. He
was “exiled to earth” to remove from the political pressures of being the
eldest son during this time. Although she is seen as unifying leader, her son
is still considered by many to be “the mad general”. The earth realm had been
closed to Daimons during the war, and Hannah wanted to remove her son from the
pressure of his position and have a trusted ally renew Daimon understanding of
the earth realm.

His personal guard (a group of the best Daimon fighters) volunteered
to accompany Naberius into exile. His closest men are also suffering from the
aftereffects of a long and brutal war.

They arrive through the Scandinavian Gates which are portals
between realms. An ancient trust in the Vasteras name is held by Swedish banks.
Naberius and his men obtain money and official identifications for his men.
They work for the Danish Special forces teaching combat fighting in the
wilderness but eventually leave to set up their own business as military
trainers in Extreme Wilderness skills. They set up a base in Greenland but add
a headquarters on the West Coast when they work for the US military teaching Wilderness
survival skills.

When Naberius opens an office in the US, his closest
friends, Maelcom, and Gusion accompanies him. Maelcom is Naberius point man in
security and intelligence—a sort of fixer. Gusion is bored and opens a bar in a
building where Naberius established his offices.

He recovers slowly from effects of his post-war breakdown, initially
spending a great deal of time in the wilds of Greenland. He finds purpose in
building a business to employ his men. Nothing is expected of him in the earth
realm and he is able to relax.

While on earth, he maintains his human form although in the
wilds of Greenland, he and his men can shift and be themselves. Occasionally he
suffers from difficulty of maintaining his form as a manifestation of his post
war breakdown. He believes himself flawed and damaged.

And now, Naberius: Her Daimon Soldier begins.

Every February, websites, and magazines gleefully produce articles on Romance novels because they looked at their calendar and realized Valentine’s Day is coming up. Romanclandia dreads this to the point where we have made it a game. The picture above is a great Romance novel and not on the list. The list did contain some great books but starting any list with Gone with the Wind is a sure way to lose me.

Let’s start at ground zero. A Romance novel is DEFINED by having a HEA (a happily ever after) or even a Happy for Now. JUST like a murder mystery novel is defined by having a murder solved or a spy thriller as having a damn spy.

[image error]

Okay, I promise to calm down soon (as she beats her head against a wall.) but this my therapy after reading a dreadful article on the best romance books. So, having someone fall in love in the book DOES not make it a romance. Just because someone dies in the book, it doesn’t make it a murder mystery, what makes it a murder mystery is that the crime is solved and justice is achieved.  And, if one of the people love dies, it is most definitely NOT a romance. So, Romeo and Juliet is not a romance; it’s a fucking tragedy. Nicholas Sparks books are NOT Romance, they are tragedies or, as I call that particular genre, “Weepies.” Other popular books that fall under this are Me Before You and It Ends with Us.  I have read both. Nothing wrong with tragedies UNLESS you try to call them romances.

Since February is Black History month, I need all the white ladies who grew up watching Gone with the Wind to understand that:

A.    Gone with the Wind is a slavery apologist and “lost cause” bullshit. “Lost Cause” is the same philosophy that put up Confederate statues all over the United States.

B.    Scarlett was an
unapologetic slave owner and abuser of people of color. Rhett was an arms
dealer. These people were shit. Don’t read about them.

C.    Just because you watched it as a little girl and loved the pretty dresses, doesn’t mean you can’t wake up. In schools, we were all spoon fed these “oh the grand old south, so genteel and they treated their slaves so well” bullshit as part of our education, but it was propaganda spread by white supremacists who also were putting up statues to Confederate soldiers.

Read books by diverse authors. Currently, you are being purposeful if you are only reading books about white people by white authors. In romance, so many great diverse authors. Try Alyssa Cole or Beverly Johnson or Priscilla Oliveras. I could write a list of 50 authors from diverse backgrounds, but you gotta start somewhere.

NEXT UP, Romance books have evolved just like everything in media. So yes, 40 fucking years ago romance books did not have consensual sex. Neither did movies, TV shows or any other books. Hell, the literary world (run by old white men) is a bastion of non-consensual sex and misogyny. A dramatic shift occurred in the ’90s that moved away from rapey approach to sex but frankly, existed occasionally until the early 2000’s. In fact, I would argue that romance novels were the first place women saw consensual sex being depicted and saw it a possibility for them in real life. Women authors were writing this because they were living it – seeing friends raped or abused or themselves being abused. Women romance authors made their hero’s ASK if the heroine really wanted sex as the hands-down most romantic gesture. Totally depressing if you think about it. The female characters in romance books often FLED abusive relationships to find true love with the hero and not because the hero saved her but because she chose it. EMPOWERMENT. This type of book educated a generation of women. Authors who wrote on these themes became deluged with fans saying “you gave me the courage to leave” and they included addendums with hotlines and information on how to leave abusive relationships. Themes of women triumphing over abuse started occurring in Romance books twenty years ago so yeah, romance helped lay the foundation for the “me too” movement.

I never forget receiving feedback from a man in writing class because my hero reached for a condom. He sneered that birth control wasn’t sexy. I had to explain that yes, in fact, that action underscores who the hero is and his character. That action shows the hero to be caring and thoughtful while being strong. A man stopping to get birth control is freaking the sexiest thing evah. The man giving the feedback looked confused at the idea. Sigh.

Erotica and light erotica are not necessarily romance as it
might not have a HEA although it can. Erotica exists to engage the sensual
senses of the reader. This is different from porn which exists to get the
viewer or reader off. Erotica exists somewhere between porn and romance, there
are character arch’s and plots, but the story centers on the act of sex. Sex in
a romance exists to show the nature of the relationship of the main characters.
In Erotica, sex is the plot. YES, these are mad generalizations and there are
lots of authors writing surprising books that play with the gray areas between
erotic and romance. And yes, pun intended.

Next up, the ol’ chestnut that romance is for “bored housewives” or is “mommy porn”. These phrases are used to belittle the women readers of romance books. And, really what kind of fantasy world are you living in where there bored housewives wander around reading while their husbands work? I mean I’m sure there are several women like this but MILLIONS OF WOMEN read romance, and these women are working hard at jobs, sometimes multiple jobs while taking care of their families. And “mommy porn” implies that it is disgusting for women to be interested in sex which is messed up on many levels. News flash: Being a woman (and a mother!) and liking sex is called being human.

Of course, in the US, 70% of all men consume porn online, but they are just men, so they get a pass from any condemnation, I guess. By the way, in 2016 Pornhub received 28.5 billion visits. Yes, that’s BILLIONS. Women do make up a percentage of that billions, but it’s mostly men. And, the misogynistic press wants to get judgey about a woman reading about two people falling in love and having great sex. Piss off.

“Guilty pleasure” is a trigger word for me. Apparently, us women are supposed to not enjoy things or something and deems what we like to be trash. Some women try to reappropriate the word in a hell-yes-its-a-guilty pleasure proud way but I still don’t like it but I appreciate the effort to reclaim that phrase.  On Superbowl weekend, do not freaking try to belittle my interests. Roughly 50% of all men watch football, and 98% of these men aren’t athletic. SO—take your judgey bullshit and shove a buffalo wing in your mouth.

Romance laid the foundation for all literature. Romance is
one of the essential stories that humans crave. Love, justice, tragedy, and
triumph over evil/adversity. These are the essential focus of all stories
because they are the core of what drives us and reinforces our core humanist
values. BUT somehow, Romance is the genre that is derided. Sort of makes sense
in a world run by men although it wasn’t always this way and is somewhat
culturally specific. Romance novels show a path not only for women but also for
men. What does it take to be a heroic man nowadays? Not much—just ask the woman
if she really wants sex and if she doesn’t, don’t have sex.

One of my favorite authors, Daimon Suede, always says to authors “go make that magic. The world needs that shit. Stat.” And it’s a light-hearted statement, but we do need romance because stories of positivity and hope help us endure. We need to see the possibility of love and that we deserve that storyline in our own lives. And as the great John Lennon says, “Love is the answer.”

The image in the header of this blog is from Beverly Jenkins’s Forbidden. Go read it.

Healing from a broken ankle with pins and plates requires lying down with the foot up on a pillow. One would think this would mean lots of time to write, but I need an escape from the suckage of my life right now. Yes, I hit Netflix hard, but I’m reading a lot of books, too.

Someone mentioned “Muderbot Diaries” on some damn Twitter thread, and it was an instant brainworm because I downloaded the first book “All Systems Red” and then downloaded the next three books and stayed up late reading. I don’t know what to say, but these four books were the most compelling reading I have experienced in months. A sentient android with anxiety disorders and a sweet tendency to be very emotional. Oh yeah, they happen to be a muderbot. The scary thing is that their life feels sooooo familiar while being totally science-fiction. It’s wonderful how one gradually realizes that the true murdering bastards are most of the humans. The neutral gender of the murderbot is surprisingly fresh considering how most sci-fi writers enforces genders on cyborgs and robots. It is so brilliant that reading this series has rendered me inarticulately bossy. Read this book. Not a romance, definitely sci-fi. Martha Wells is a brilliant author.

Tasha Suri’s ‘Empire of Sand’. It took me a while to get into this, but it hooked me hard. By the middle of the book, I was staying up late to read more. I would call this Fantasy because it focuses on the heroine’s personal story arch although there is a strong romance. Super cool world-building, lots of powerful women, thoughts on religion and belief and magic. So yeah, it checked all the boxes for me. I think this is one of the books being soft-pedaled as YA because the author is young and a woman, but it is not YA appropriate. ‘Empire of Sand’ is a dark, violent and compelling read.

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‘Verity’ by Collen Hoover. I have read one other Collen Hoover. She writes suspense (with a surprise twist) and a little bit of romance mixed in. Well done but I can never connect with her women. They seem distant and strange to me — nevertheless, excellent pacing and a page-turner plot.

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The brilliant Sarah Maclean and Jen Prokop started a podcast called “Fated Mates” which is a “read-a-long” to the brilliant Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series. This series is so personally important to me, I don’t even know where to begin. It was my gateway drug back into romance after many years away, my inspiration to write paranormal and some of my favorite books EVAH.  When I attended my first romance convention, Kresley Cole walked up to me and introduced herself. Yes, I did the fan stammer of “but I love your books.” She was lovely. Back to the podcast, Jen and Sarah spend each of the books per episode, and in-between podcasts are discussing other stuff. There are 18 books, so we hope to be listening to this podcast for the next year or more. Naturally, I am re-reading all the books so I can really enjoy the discussion. All I can say that while I was enduring a severely broken ankle, surgery and constant pain, this podcast and reading all the IAD books AGAIN keeps me smiling. I finished book 6 or book 7 last night, depending on what camp you fall into regarding the numbering of the books. See https://fatedmates.net/ for more info.

[image error]Me and Kresley Cole.

NK Jemsin is a name that has been haunting me in
recommendations. I bought The Inheritance Trilogy because it was on sale and
read the first book ‘The Hundred Thousands Kingdom.’  A huge book but WOW. Intense, epic, almost
operatic in its sweep of story. Mythic while being weird and surprising. Like did
she just have sex with a god? The writing is beautiful. Highly recommended.

Jeanine Frost’s ‘Shades of Wicked’. She is a fav fantasy author of mine. The Night Huntress series is brilliant fun, and this is set in that universe. I have to say I had drifted away from her books, but this book brought me back hard. Great story, great characters, and super bonkers plots. When Veritas meets a troll she knows from her past and he gives her all his gold in Central Park? Hell yes. And oh, it opens with Ian at an orgy. Lols.

I have a secret obsession with Hockey Romance. I adore Sarina Bowen, so I snapped up her latest book ‘Overnight Sensation.’  It’s like romance crack. I can’t explain it except it is a lot of fun. He is a swoon-worthy hero who tucks the drunk heroine into bed and he sleeps on the couch.

Christi Caldwell’s A Lady’s Guide to a Gentlemen’s Heart’. Super fun historical romance with amazing characters. An introvert and emotionally stifled hero and an independent spinster heroine. COME ON. I love that so much. It is highly recommended if you need a good historical romance.

I am furiously writing and editing when I am focused and pain-free. I have a lot of things coming. It will be fabulous.

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