Holiday Cheer, etc.: a Link Round-Up

Thanksgiving is this week. In fact, it's a mere four days away -- which means that everyone's favorite holiday, Christmas, is only 31 days from today.

Because corporate America told me to do so, I've already begun to formulate a Christmas list. And here's the first item on it.

The second? The Rancher's Family Thanksgiving, of course: Cathy Gillen Thacker's classic, possibly heartwarming, story of two long-time friends who fall in love over the gravy boat, or something along those lines. I'd like to imagine they come together over the process of making Thanksgiving dinner -- nothing's more romantic than a handful of offal.

A Randall Thanksgiving sounds promising, too. One commenter describes the plot as "so unbelievable that it was laughable." That's my kind of book. 

This is a bit outdated, but it's great nonetheless: a website documenting Walmart's ludicrous banning of a hijacking-themed romance novel. This spat between an angry e-mailer and Walmart/Dorchester Publishing's (probably automated) e-mailing system occurred about a year after the whole 9/11 debacle.

I've also found yet another blog dedicated to the ever-popular romance genre. Their mission statement says the blog's regular contributors consist of "readers, reviewers, aspiring authors, and bestsellers." I think I like the idea behind this one. Maybe this will shed some light on the qustionable mechanics of the romance novelist's writing process.

Appealing to an Audience: a Link Round-Up

I've been sick with what I'm assuming is just a minor case of polio, tuberculosis, or a fatal strain of influenza for a few days. Naturally, being solely focused on my task as a blogger, this crippling illness sparked a train of thought. As I sat in bed, nasal passages clogged, chest full of fluid but heart aflame, I wondered if any romance author had yet taken it upon herself to write a disease-related novel. Lo and behold, Patricia Cabot had.

Not only that, but I later discovered that GravityGirl had already saved me the effort of reviewing it, too. Lucky me.

The existence of the 19th-century-Scottish-countryside-riddled-with-disease romance is sort of unsurprising considering the amount of niche fiction that gets published under the guise of romantic literature.

You want questionably historically-accurate historical romance? You've got it.

Paranormal activity more your thing? Okay, there's a site for that, too.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any websites dedicated strictly to churning out bodice-rippers which center around medical anomalies. Why hasn't anyone written about two star-crossed lovers, separated only by debilitating IBS? I can almost guarantee that there's a market for that. I could see myself getting into leper love as well.

On a more exciting note, I stumbled across this site (to which Teresa made a reference last week) while on a wayward google search for "romance novel ebola" (fruitless -- I call dibs on this idea). Admittedly, the authors are a bit more generous in their appraisals of romantic fiction, but I can appreciate what they're doing.

The Ja(y)nes over at Dear Author,... are working on a somewhat similar project as well, albeit with an even more approving tone than the Smart Bitches. I wonder how long it will take for Nora Roberts to be officially  inducted into the literary canon.

All things considered, I'm not sure how to react to the large amount of positive attention these novels are receiving in the blogosphere. Is it good? Is it bad? Is it irrelevant? Does this bode well for the future of literature as a whole? I don't know, but it certainly makes me feel funny.

For Your Consideration: a Link Round-up

Joel Stickley, the William Strunk, Jr. of Walmart-level writers, has an entire blog dedicated to the art of alternative writing. In addition to this excellent style guide, Stickley has also written a book in which he's compiled and analyzed what he describes as "the poetry of the modern world."

Speaking of the modern world, the users over at b3ta have decided to take it upon themselves to modernize a few outdated movies, giving such classics as Casablanca and Nosferatu newer titles and making each movie more relevant to today's society.

Thank god for this list. Finally, someone has broken down the individual categories of romance novels and called into question their appeal. My personal favorite is number seven: paranormal romance.

Ah, and here we have a great product for anyone else who's a fan of the aforementioned category. And one for the ladies as well.

Underwear shoppers should proceed with caution -- one could end up like this girl. The note might've been a nice thought, but as one commenter pointed out, it appears as though the note-leaver referred to her as "George." I don't know about England, but in America that's grounds for being offended.