Romance Novel Covers, I See Now

I was reading The Dames, Dolls and Delinquents: A Collector’s Guide to Sexy Pulp Fiction Paperbacks by Gary Lovisi. Well, I couldn’t manage the whole thing. But I read the introduction and the chapter on “romance” and learned a few things.

I didn’t jot down the names but this is what I understood:

In the 1940s and 1950s, the art department for publishers of inexpensive fiction sent detailed instructions to artists who drew sleazy covers. The books were aimed at heterosexual men and were pretty smutty if the titles and blurbs were to be believed.

Many of them featured a disrobing or disrobed girl, sometimes at the mercy of a fully clothed man.  One cover amused me with its cover: a topless girl whose chest is delicately hidden by a tree branch.

Here’s where it gets interesting.  According to Lovisi’s research, many of the these same artists started working on the clinch covers for romance novels.  To my mind, it’s no wonder a lot of romance novels in the 1970s and later had partially undressed women and men in sleazy poses.  There’s no point in an old dog learning a new trick.

This may be old hat to romance fans but I feel that I’ve discovered why some romance novels used to have those appalling covers.

On the positive side, I did like many of these romance covers.  Link.  “Silent in the Sanctuary” and “Firefly Lane” were my favorites.

for kisses played

Image via Wikipedia

My love and I for kisses played:
She would keep stakes — I was content;
But when I won, she would be paid;
This made me ask her what she meant.

“Pray, since I see,” quoth she, “your wrangling vein,
Take your own kisses; give me mine again.”

William Strode

(1602-1644)

Sea Princess Azuri links

As I’ve mentioned before, I really like Erica Reis’ Sea Princess Azuri comic.  It’s super cute but it’s less popular than it should be.  (She’s now Erica Leigh Currey.)

Here’s her deviant art page (Solipherus).  Lots of color pictures of merfolk.

Her personal website.  Blog, portfolio, etc.  Much pretty Princess Azuri stuff.

Erica’s LiveJournal blog.

Wikipedia entry.

Madman – bit of info on both volumes.

Some less than favorable reviews from MangaLife and MangaPunk.  They didn’t like the narrative which is missing the point. Azuri and friends are just really, really adorable.

Three Brides No Groom by Debbie Macomber

Image by David Clow – Maryland via Flickr

A collection of three tales of women being dumped at the altar.

Gretchen’s story was my favorite.  She discovers that, during her engagement, her fiancee had impregnated another woman.  She throws her ring at him and takes off with Josh on his motorcycle, and they travel from Seattle to San Francisco. Liked this one.

Carol the cheerleader is dumped by her football boyfriend.  She starts subbing as a secretary to a genius programmer.  She thinks of him as nerd and therefore unworthy of her attention.  This one was pretty good too.

Maddie the bad girl has an affair with her math teacher.   I didn’t care much for her or her plight.

linkblogging Romance Novels 1

Image via Wikipedia

Since the fall of 2007, I’ve had a Google alert going for romance novels.  I was inspired by Robert Langford’s Ansible newsletter.  He often features a section named, ‘as others see us’ (example).

I thought that if science fiction and fantasy is denigrated by mainstream media then romance novels and their readers will definitely get all kinds of snide remarks.  I set up the Google alert out for “trashy romance” and my email overflowed with a bunch of nasty and repetitive comments from across the Internet.  Good thing I didn’t try “bodice ripper”.

I changed my alert to “romantic fiction” and sifted through the results which were more even handed.  I’m going to start linkblogging some of the more interesting ones.  I may throw in a few of the snide ones if they are witty, ’cause I know none of the complaints against the genre will be original.

These links are old but they still exist and are still pertinent.

How to Write a Trashy Romance. part 1. part 2. part 3.  Has most of the typical charges against romances (readers have no restraint, it’s all about sex, all romances are the same) but it’s very funny.  It’s a pity the author spent so much time blaming authors for the covers and the titles since, as I understand it, they seldom influence either one.

Writing in a new age of romance by Brendan O’Keefe. link.  Pleasant introduction to the genre for the novice.

Alyssa Goodnight ponders the causes behind the ‘trashy romance’ stereotype. link.

The Anchoress is comically dismayed by the gay romance novel. link.

A short biography by Jay Dixon on Georgette Heyer who is best known for her Regency romances and set the standard for later writers.

Vampire Diaries on TV

Cover via Amazon

I’m excited!  I just learned that L. J. Smith’s Vampire Diaries might coming to CW.  Smith’s series has been compared to Stephenie Meyer’s but I think her series are more fun.  They are just as romantic but a little more grounded.

Vampire Diaries is the story told in 4 books of Elena who is pursued by two vampire brothers.

Rachel Thomas quotes Variety on the casting:

Variety reports that former Lost star Ian Somerhalder has snagged the role of Damon. Nina Dobrev (Degrassi: The Next Generation) has been cast to play Elena and Paul Wesley (Everwood) joins the cast as the 200-year-old Stefan. Dawson’s Creek mastermind Kevin Williamson will be the executive producer for the series.

Nina Dobrev to be Elena.

Ian Somerhalder to be Damon

Paul Wesley to be Stefan.

I’ve read several of her series but the Night World series is my favorite, especially Spellbinder (scroll down a bit).

A snazzy fan blog for the TV version of Vampire Diaries .

Forget Prince Charming

Forget Prince Charming by Natalie Stenzel

This was a Harlequin Flipside (humorous romance) that I found on my sister’s bookshelf.  She doesn’t generally read romance novels – she prefers fantasy.

Haley is tired of dating faithless hunks.  She decides, therefore, to look for an honest geek.  Unfortunately, her new neighbor Ricky is gorgeous and apparently a playboy.  She vows to fight her inclination to flirt desperately with him each time they meet.

The funniest bit was when she refuses Rick’s invitation to date.  He asks why; she claims it’s because he’s too beautiful.  Naturally, he does not see this as a serious barrier to their relationship.

Overall it was cute but nothing special.

Miss Potter (2006)

The life story of the creator of the Tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter.

Miss Potter

This is a perfect biopic.  It gives you a sense of why she was important and how she approached her work and still included the human element.  I don’t think I’ve liked Renée  Zellweger better in any other movie.

Potter’s illustrations are animated in the movie to give a sense of how real they were to her.  The animation also adds humor and whimsy to the story. It makes sense that she should feel so close to her creations since she and her family have rather cold relations.

She attempts to publish her tales but gets little encourage from publishers or her family. One publishing house agrees to publish Peter Rabbit and fortunately, she is put into the care of  untried editor, Norman Warne (Ewan McGregor).  He does all he can to make her vision for the book come to pass. He likes Potter but he also believes in her work which I enjoyed.

I found out that she was an admirable woman in many ways, and the world is better for her living in it.

The movie is simply a delight to watch, for the Lake District scenery, the costumes, the charming actors, and the sweet story.

P.S.  My favorite of the Potter tales was Jemima Puddle-Duck.

History in the Movies goes over what is historically accurate and what is not.

Wikipedia lists a few more.

Romantic Movie Poll

Which do you like best of these films?

Bend it Like Beckham (2002) stars Parminder Nagra as Jess, a young British Sikh.  She wants to play soccer like her hero David Beckham despite her family’s wishes.

Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001) stars Renée Zellweger.  She plays a single woman in her 30s who reccounts her mostly unsuccessful attempts to lose weight and find love.

Jane Austen Book Club (2007) is about 5 women and 1 man who form a book club in which they only read Jane Austen’s novels.  They find that their lives mirror the lives of Austen’s characters.

Return to Me (2000) stars Minnie Driver as Grace.  Grace receives a heart transplant and then falls in love with the man whose wife was the donor.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) stars Nia Vardalos who wrote the play on which it was based.  A young Greek American woman who is trying to get her family to accept her non-Greek fiance.

The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes

Jennifer Crusie discussed the process of developing the cover art of this book which enticed me to read it.  You should really take a look.

The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes written by Anne Stuart, Jennifer Crusie, Eileen Dreyer.  Three sisters, Mare, Lizzie, and Dee,  have magical powers but they’ve turned their back on their magical heritage.  Since their magical powers are fueled through sexual expression, they’ve given up romance too.  But a powerful enemy will force them to call upon their dormant magic. As luck (A.K.A. matchmaking Aunt Xan) would have it, several suitors appear in town at the same time.

My favorite male character was the biker guy, Crash Duncan, who seemed delightfully ordinary.  My least favorite was Elric the wizard guy because he was insufferably smug.  It was also very reminiscent of Charmed which is noticed by the characters.  The movie Corpse Bride becomes part of the story.  The characters made it seem like the most romantic movie which made me finally watch it.

This was fun, if lightweight read.