Square Pegs

Continuing her self-outing, Mary Bly (publishing as Eloisa James) hits the New York Times op-ed section with what we hope is the opening of a real conversation about genre fiction’s place in the fiction spectrum. Yes, we mean all genre fiction. One would have to be sleeping to ignore the fact that other genres are viewed with some derision. This morning, we’re sort of feeling it’s genre fiction’s hewing to archetypes that makes them seem anti-intellectual. Bly has her take: Intellectuals never seem to believe that a strong story and an interest in relationships could explain the popularity of romance. […]

Now we’re not going to be all disingenuous and pretend we didn’t know that Eloisa James was a pseudonym. We knew she (the real person) was a highly regarded scholar, etc, etc. In fact, the only surprise we felt upon reading this article was…hmm, no surprise at all. How peculiar. Actually, it’s refreshing when a romance author addresses the realities of writing in the genre — especially when those realities butt up against academia and, shall we say, fear of the unknown. James makes an interesting point: denying what she writes shames her readers. And, of course, we wouldn’t be

As it turned out, we barely had time to do more than look at the pictures in yesterday’s newspaper. Figures…the day we skip our avid cover-to-cover consumption of all things newsworthy, there’d actually be a story that makes us laugh. And cry. But mostly laugh. Thankfully, the husband caught this gem and, in his subtle way of communicating with us, left the folded newspaper on our desk. Such is our brilliance that we realized, this morning, that we were supposed to pick up the section and read it (exhaustion had us thinking he’d accidentally left the paper there for reasons

Here’s to the man who made us understand live theater… Playwright Arthur Miller Dies at 89

Before we begin, let us describe our day. Lots of cars, and we worried about bridges collapsing due to the weight of potholes. We arrived for our ten o’clock meeting at 9:59, only to discover racing down seven flights of stairs and into the building was wasted calories. Meeting cancelled. Oh, we didn’t tell you? Really, you should check your email while driving. Also, applying mascara at 70 MPH wouldn’t hurt. At one point, we walked by an open office door. Inside, there were three people. The topic of conversation, as only appropriate for a day like today, was the

While we continue to wrap our pathetic little mind around the idea of televised literary awards, someone else has gone and put thought into the whole enterprise. We’re guessing coffee addict. Don’t get us wrong, if it weren’t for Awards Season, we’d live in a place of endless summer. Dull, dull, dull, and now we’re beyond intrigued by the idea of Thomas Pynchon laying down props to his favorite designer. Seriously, we hope as the Quill Awards move from grand idea to televised spectacle, the buzz will build until the audience share exceeds that of Lost. Is Quill award more

Jill, apparently too lazy to login and post this herself (but, oddly, not too lazy to email us about fifty times this morning), sent us this link as a continuation of yesterday’s romance novel cover discussion. For what it’s worth, we might be tempted by the Lord of the Tube Socks… Longmire Does Romance Novels

Sure, we should be getting a foot massage and sympathy after being on the road all day (please, those of you who have seen Sideways and feel compelled to relive your favorite scenes…there are people trying to speed through that region. If you must gawk, please pull to the side of the road. Also, drinking and driving = bad.), but when Kate Rothwell grovels, we listen. Plus she’s having fun with reviews, and we just can’t get us enough of that (though we simply cannot understand her desire to avoid ad hominem attacks — where is the fun in life)?

Oh, right, because he’s a big, fat hypocrital scumbag with no moral compass. C’mon, big boy, tell us who you really are — you’re man (or not, we shouldn’t be hasty in our anger). Surely you can take a little face-to-face criticism. If what you’re doing is just fine and dandy, there’s no reason to hide. You should be proud of your work. Actually, we would also like your name so we can find your address to send you a bill for all the time and effort we put into keeping our site free of your trash, not to mention

We often feel like we should set up shop as an all-purpose adviser to our species. It would work something like this: you have an idea, all of your friends agree the idea is great, their friends agree the idea is great, you decide to proceed. But…something says wait, call it a little voice. It whispers, “Maybe you should ask someone else. Someone who didn’t give birth to you.” And then you contact us, and we say yes or no to the idea. As a plan, it is elegant and simple. Our advice would stop all sorts of insanity, such