Tis the Season...

Well, hopefully it’s the tail end of the season, but I know I’m one of many laid-up with the flu/bronchial muck that won’t go away, so here’s what I was reading during my convalescence.

I bought some more eBooks. And some cookbooks. Let’s talk about the cookbooks first, because I know y’all really want to see some sexy vegan cupcakes:

Nom nom nom! The Sithling helped me decorate them, which is why the pattern on some of them is a bit eclectic. He’s an artist, my boy…These were fab and delicious, and (shh!) lo-fat. In fact, I’ll post the recipe, once I get a little more up to speed, since I’m trying to spread the Joy of Vegan Sex, er cooking. The cupcake recipe is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I also ordered the Veganomicon! It is every bit as fab as the hype suggests. Every recipe I’ve tried thus far has been fab. It’s got “nom” right in the middle of its name, and don’t you want a cookbook that references the Evil Dead movies?? Of course you do!

Oh yeah, other reading materials. I bought eBooks. I totally succumbed to the FluffSide and bought Mindy Klasky’s Girls’ Guide to Witchcraft. I know, I know, just buy a friggin’ MJD book and be done w/it, right? But really, when you’re drinking herbal tea and pondering ’hey, i think i know now why Anakin went all batshit…’, fluff is good. I also bought Gina Showalter’s The Nymph King because Candice Gilmer has recommended her and being that she’s a woman of good taste, I figured it was time to give Gina a try.

Hmm, anything else? Not that I can really think of right now. I’m gonna go back to my herbal tea and fluff. Take care, darlings.

-H

Romance Meta for you!

This Smart Bitches review made me laugh so hard I coughed...ok, all laughing makes me cough, but it was worth it.

For the authors and feminists on the f-list, here's a deep thought for you: http://jezebel.com/369256/is-a-female+only-literature-prize-sexist

From the article:

Still Life scribe A.S. Byatt bitched about the prize to the Times of London,saying, "Such a prize was never needed" because it ghettoizes women's literature...[However] In the past ten years, three women have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction (for those counting at home, that's 30%).

Idon't know how I feel about this, honestly. I write romance, which is the red-headed stepchild of the publishing industry, and the most poo-ed on of all genres. Like it or not, if your work is oriented toward women's issues, you are ghettoized. (Romance sells more than half the paperbacks in the USA, btw) I had my MIL tell me that she didn't consider my work romance, and she meant it as a compliment,because in her words, "It has a plot."

I'd also like to add that when I met Susan Sizemore at a convention she straight up told us that if you're a woman and you want to write something other than romance,it's not bad to write the romance first, because it's much easier to get your foot in the door there, and then branch out into other genres.

There are actually a lot of romances that have plots now, that don't center on sheiks or sekrit babies. But that's a rant for another day. I guess this is like my feelings on the Romance Writers of America, where I agree with the goal, but I'm not so thrilled by the execution. So what do you think, gentle readers? Does having our own award put us in our own lipstick ghetto? Or are we liberating ourselves from sexism?