Monday Miscellany

First things first... we have a winner! Congratulations to Susan! Please email me (vivi@viviandrews.com) to collect your copy of A Cop & A Feel!

And in other news...

In the "Oh Lordy, not again" category, we have folks saying romance novels are bad for you. This time the cause is an article from a family planning group with what appears to be primarily anecdotal evidence stating that “Sometimes the kindest and wisest thing we can do for our clients is to encourage them to put down the books – and pick up reality.” They do give a nod to the studies done which argue the opposite, but the end result seems to be a concern that romance novels are not providing responsible sex education with regards to condom usage and sexual enjoyment. On some level I can agree with that, but see, I consider my job to entertain, not to provide a sex ed course. (And I would probably be much more receptive to their argument if they didn't have fuzzy math statements like: "some fans read up to 30 titles a month, one book every 2 days" followed by "exposure to ...romantic novels may be as much as a day every week")

Of course, reactions to the article abound, but one which I find rather entertaining is this one, entitled Are Romance Novels Hazardous to Your Sexual Health, which concludes with the question: "And if so, how can we change this genre to promote healthy sexual practices for both women and men?" To which I respond: Go buy the books that promote those healthy sexual practices. This is a business, people. You can't change it by vilifying it. Pitchforks don't change minds.


And in totally unrelated news, I'm over at the Ruby blog today talking about various publishing houses, of all things. Samhain is, of course, excellent beyond reason and I love them with all my fervent little heart, but there are other places out there and it's good for writerly sorts to know about them. So if you are a writerly sort and you want to head on over to take a look, here's the link: http://www.rubyslipperedsisterhood.com/tbd-6/