Calling cards with quotes on love and romance (by the Australian Poetry Centre)

A couple of months ago, The Wheeler Centre hosted an event called A Week of Love and Lust. One of the sessions featured best-selling Australian romance author Stephanie Laurens. Here are some highlights, thanks to Jen from Evening Hour.

I was really excited when I heard about The Wheeler Centre devoting a week to Love and Lust. As an avid romance reader, and as a staunch advocate of the kitschier side to popular culture (wait, isn’t all popular culture kitsch when you get down to it?), A Fine Romance was an opportunity I simply could not pass up. And with a subheading like ‘Beyond the Bodice Ripper’, you know it’s going to be enlightening, to say the least.

Alan Brough was a great presenter, bringing an inquisitive lightness and seriousness to an often sullied subject, humbly adding that ‘if I screw something up, speak up!’ Joined by Harlequin Mills & Boon writer, Marion Lennox, historical romance writer Stephanie Laurens and young adult fiction writer, Lili Wilkinson, the romance and popular fiction genre was well represented.

A bodice ripper does not romance make!

Alan started off by admitting he once aligned romances to ‘bodice rippers’ which he then conceded was ‘very, very wrong’. So what is a bodice ripper, then? Stephanie enlightened us: to describe a bodice ripper is to refer to a particular era between 1976 – 1980, with a very particular plot. Basically:

1. We find out who the hero and heroine are
2. They meet
3. They encounter the usual conflicts, and kiss and make up and all that (I can’t recall word for word now)
4. Happily ever after!

This seems to be the very formula that romance follows today, but the bodice ripper had specific attributes, that being the hero was always a man in power/authority, and the heroine was terribly young and naive, a ‘silly, little girl’. The term ‘TSTL’ (Too Stupid To Live—sad, but true) popped up; those more finely tuned to net-lingo would’ve picked up on it. Said heroine would inevitably be ‘grabbed’ or kidnapped, usually subjected to harsh conditions, and be raped by said hero, perhaps multiple times, and would occasionally even be passed around among other men. By some divine intervention, the girl would suddenly develop a backbone, transform into a plucky heroine and the hero would thus be miraculously in love with her.

It all sounds so silly now. But how to explain the prevalence of a ridiculous plot? Apparently there was no market for historical romance at that time (a stark contrast to the contemporary statistic of over 2,000 novels churning out per year in the USA alone, and no doubt rising). I shudder to imagine the scope of reading I could have had back then. I would have liked to have seen more discussion about this but by then the topic had moved on.

Musing on muses

Marion Lennox described immersing herself in the worlds of the historical writers Catherine Gaskin, Georgette Heyer, Victoria Holt and May Stuart. Stephanie also counts Heyer as a favourite, especially the humour: ‘it’s got everything’. Stephanie emphasised that romance should be fun—as should real life love, added Alan.

So what inspired these ladies to write romance? Marion wryly answered, ‘I did it for a bet’. (I have to say I’ve heard this one quite a lot among writers!) Marion describes writing her first book: ‘I sent it to London and they sent a cheque back’ and it became ‘addictive’. Stephanie was motivated simply because she ran out of books to read and was annoyed with the lack of historical romance at the time. Kind of funny to imagine that now; there’s simply too much choice today!

Give the people what they want

Marion spoke about establishing immediate empathy for the heroine, who has to be warm and empathic. If you’ve got those nailed then the romance and the story is yours in the first ten pages.

Alan asked, ‘Do the characters mirror their authors’ inner selves?’ Stephanie explained she once attempted to write a younger heroine, but the character drove her nuts. It was a disaster, and she now primarily sticks to heroines in their mid-20s. Lili, who writes stories about young people, highlighted that what teenagers want isn’t so different to what adults want in life, but she admits to listening to the language of teens today. Some Twilight jibes ensued. I can’t remember now, but you know it can’t be that flattering.

Alan moved on to the romance genre as a sign of empowered females, which was an interesting perspective. Stephanie discussed ‘genre fiction’ which is essentially written for entertainment. It is a matter of giving the people what they want. The audiences lead the authors along, paving the way for transitions between subject matter and writing styles within authors’ works. Marion highlighted the universal need in women for a good romance, quoting a Nora Roberts line about the reader identifying with the couple and their relationship, and the need for antagonism. Lili pointed out that we have to love both characters, but ultimately each character has to initiate change to reach a mutual respect and love for each other.

There’s a euphoria in letting the imagination go. Marian talked about creating characters that made her look back and think, Now where did that come from? Stephanie agreed, adding that it’s a process of organic writing. Romance is about the ‘promise’, that guaranteed happily ever after, which is pretty special. It’s not easy, though—it’s a ‘discipline’ and it’s often very tempting to ‘kill the characters’. The beauty of the story is in the journey and not so much the ending.

Fabio has a lot to answer for.

Now we couldn’t discuss romance novels and NOT have the infamous book covers and Fabio mentioned at some point. Alan joked, ‘I’ve never seen that many men in blouses!’

(I have a high tolerance when it comes to ‘bad taste’ but even I draw the line at Fabio.)

Look ma, sex!

Alan said he blushed reading a sex scene from one of Stephanie’s novels. ‘It was sexy and extraordinary!’ Giggles and snickers over ‘mighty throbbing parts’ inevitably ensued. Stephanie emphasised that the sex scene must have purpose, and it must be carried by the emotion. It’s a love scene, not a sex scene; it’s a scene of non-verbal communication, so its description has to be carefully considered. Stephanie aligns the construction of a love scene to choreography. You literally work out the movements (that way you can cancel the physically impossible positions!). Off-hand a Christina Dodd cover was mentioned for apparently including one too many limbs. Readers are very perceptive and aware of such mistakes.

Alan prompted that romance subverts preconceived ideas of female sexuality—the bodice ripper tag was an ‘appalling hiccup’. And why is it such a guilty pleasure? Stephanie essentially argued that surely we’ve moved on from patriarchal values (I don’t know where Stephanie’s been, but that’s highly arguable), but more convincingly Lili highlighted the binary stigma attached to women: you can either be labelled a prude or a slut. The current wave of obsession over vampirism further perpetuates this regressiveness. ‘Men who fly without wings are not to be trusted!’

Question time

So what’s it like at a dinner party? They either back away, or question you about earnings, Marion responded. Or worse yet, you get people telling you about their sex lives in vivid detail. Now that would be a good bar story to share.

On research. Stephanie quipped, ‘That’s why my husband has a smile on his face!’ She also mentioned travel agents enquiring after her fictional locales to take tourists on guided tours. Methinks someone didn’t do their own research.

For Marion preparation is from life, while Stephanie is more methodical in her process. She writes character studies and data sheets, since she knows how pedantic readers get about eye colours and whatnot.

On the lack of romances featuring older couples. Women prefer younger bodies (no shock there). Stephanie concedes that ideal heroes are repetitive. And so it would be, given how popularity and fads are cyclical.

On the love of violent alpha heroes. There’s just no judging taste? This was only lightly touched on. I got the inkling the panel didn’t particularly want to talk about it, but maybe it’s just me…

On the continued negative perception of Mills and Boon from a wider stance. (This was asked by a curious character; she reminded me of some well-off society figure straight out of the stereotype bible). The truth is, there is a very healthy readership in Australia, but unfortunately the statistics are unrecorded, ergo remain under the radar, which is sad. Marion touched on the ‘cultural cringe’ in Australia. Now here was what I was waiting for; I’d really hoped there’d be some discourse on the supposed vulgarity that is reading romance. I find myself asking the same questions in my Honours thesis. Why are love and sentimentality constantly ridiculed as dirty and shameful?

I am a graphic designer. For my third year portfolio I redesigned Rendezvous Books’s identity (hypothetically) but I was apprehensive about the reception I would get from peers and lecturers (I did notice snickers and incredulity when I presented my ideas). In a design context, and indeed a broader social and political context, there still seems to be a particular bias towards masculine views. Perhaps we are still slaves to the patriarchy, but romance is at least a proactive way for women to defy the existing framework—these are, after all, stories written by women for women. They are fun, escapist and promise a wonderful experience and provide pleasure to people.

Lili criticised literary prizes for privileging stories about men. I myself don’t pay too much attention to book awards and the like; I suppose personally they seem pretentious and contradictory on the one hand, but on the other they are powerful communicators—they send messages about the issues and people that contemporary society is concerned with. They may celebrate or denigrate. In my own research, I’ve noticed that literature tends to connote a male voice, the way popular/genre fiction does a woman’s. And whatever that is feminine is weak and superficial—domesticated, even. But that’s another argument.

Romance readership among men in the USA is roughly 20% male, Stephanie added. This was a startling (albeit also comforting) figure. Last I read/heard, it was merely a dismal 1% in Australia (please correct me if I am wrong but this figure sounds about right).

In a nutshell

This seminar was a great introduction into questions and curiosities about the romance genre today. I found my views echoed much of Lili’s (she won me over with her anti-Twilight stance). I would have liked to have seen more discussion about the preconceived notions of romance and romance as bad taste—mind you, I was thinking of my Honours project (shameless self-promotion). Granted, one hour of discussion barely touches the surface of a multi-faceted, typically vilified but dearly loved part of literature and popular culture, so at least all avenues were covered if only skirted over. I only hope there will be future events like this to further open up dialogue between the philistines and preachers, to put it crudely!

Jen is a graphic designer from Melbourne who is spending a year celebrating kitsch and excess for Honours. She’s also an artist, typophile, bookworm, writer and pop culture aficionado. You can read more of her writing at Evening Hour.

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• The Taste of Innocence by Stephanie Laurens

Blue Bloods Boxed Set (Books 1-3) by Melissa de la Cruz

Melissa de la Cruz is a very clever writer. In her Blue Bloods series, De la Cruz has combined the current paranormal romance trends of fallen angels with vampires and set them against the backdrop of New York glamour where she makes her living. The story is mainly told in the third person from the viewpoints of Schuyler Van Alen, an impoverished misfit with an old money ancestry, spoilt It-girl Mimi Force, and Mimi’s friend, fish out of water Texan transplant Bliss Llewellyn.

The story is an intriguing mix of secrets and illusion wrapped up in glamorous privilege and exclusivity. All three girls are students at the prestigious Duchesne college, but have different backgrounds. The only other thing they have in common is that they are becoming vampires. For various reasons, each girl experiences her transformation in a different way. This is actually a characteristic of De la Cruz’s tricky style. She imparts information in such a way that, based on what the reader knows at the time, they might infer a particular reason for a character’s behaviour, only to discover later on that there was a completely different reason that hadn’t been hinted at earlier.

The series explores three distinct layers or issues—the first being wealth, privilege and old money in New York’s upper echelons. The three girls attend a private school with truancy written into the school program, exclusive parties, and they do a bit of modelling on the side as a hobby. Mimi Force is the reigning It-girl, who is friends with Bliss Llewellyn because of their father’s networking. As queen bee, Mimi likes to ensure that she gets VIP treatment at all times and that her friends follow her advice so that they can be cool enough for her to be seen with without seeming to be superior to her in any way.

The second layer is of the beautiful, wealthy and powerful, all of whom are vampires—literally Blue Bloods, with unnatural metabolisms and magnetism. They have past lives as fallen angels and are reincarnated as vampires every so often. Part of a Blue Blood’s transformation is reconciling their old memories with their new lives. A Blue Blood will have a vampire twin or soul mate, whom they must find in each incarnation and renew their bond. Sometimes their other half may be a family member in this life, but as they are not really human and one’s lover in this life could be a twin in the next. It’s not quite inbreeding, although this is supposed to be where the human concept of intermarriage arises—to keep the wealth within the family.

Mimi’s mate is her twin brother Jack, who loves her, yet is drawn to Schuyler Van Alen, his ‘cousin’. Mimi hates Schuyler because of Jack’s interest and because she is a poor relation with a shabby chic style that only she can get away with. Only expensive, exclusive chic has any value to Mimi.

Schuyler has a crush on Jack, but also a close relationship with her best friend, Oliver Perry-Hazard. Warning to Kat: there is a love polygon between Oliver, Schuyler, Jack, Mimi, and eventually someone else who will remain unnamed to prevent spoilers.

The third layer is of the largely unacknowledged threat against the Blue Bloods from the evil Silver Bloods. Many of the Blue Bloods are too arrogant to believe that they could be prey to anything or that their previous victory over the Silver Blood Caligula (reincarnation of Lucifer, the Morningstar) was anything less than complete and permanent.

The series as a whole works through its intriguing blend of secrets, deception of others, self-deception and a paranormal spin on the teenage rites of passage that still makes the characters relatable, despite their world being so different from ours.

Blue Bloods

Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz (Blue Bloods, Book 1)

Schuyler has a mini crush on the school hunk, Jack Force, who happens to be Mimi’s twin brother. He seems to be unaware of her existence until she sees him get hit by a cab outside a local nightclub. The only thing is, she’s the only one who seems to have seen Jack get hit, but he walks towards her like nothing happened. Even the cab continues on its merry way.

Showing interest in Schuyler for the first time, Jack has a quick conversation with her before heading to the exclusive club, next door to the run-of-the-mill dive where Schuyler, Oliver and their friend Dylan Ward are lined up. Jack meets Mimi, Bliss and Aggie, another Blue Blood. Later, Bliss, Aggie and Dylan go to the alley between the two clubs for a cigarette, and while Bliss and Dylan get to know each other, Aggie is killed and drained so that she cannot be reincarnated.

It can only be the Silver Bloods, but no one wants to acknowledge their existence. After all, there have been murders over the centuries, but they always stop on their own. Jack is convinced that they are under threat and shares his knowledge with Schuyler, who is strangely ignorant of the transformation she is going through.

Through Bliss’s modelling and her growing relationship with Dylan, she becomes friends with Schuyler and questions how much she really has in common with Mimi. She misses Texas and finds Dylan, Schuyler and Oliver more down to earth than snobby Mimi. Her transformation alarms her, but everyone around her assures her it’s normal.

Mimi Force has everything. The paparazzi follow her every move and girls want to be her. She knows she is powerful in both the human and the vampire worlds and has found her bondmate in her twin Jack. When Aggie dies, Mimi is relieved not to have to return the clothing she borrowed and is the centre of attention as the grieving best friend. But why does Jack talk to that nobody, Schuyler Van Alen?

AUSTRALIA: Booktopia | Fishpond | Galaxy | Infinitas | Click here for other independent romance bookshops
EBOOKS: Kindle
WORLDWIDE: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Book Depository

ISBN: 9781905654741 | Release date: March 2010 | Publisher: Orbit | Format: B format

Masquerade

Masquerade by Melissa de la Cruz (Blue Bloods, Book 2)

Schuyler and Oliver track down Schuyler’s grandfather Lawrence Van Alen in the hope of getting some help with the Silver Bloods. Her change isn’t going according to plan and she has to take a Red Blood (human) familiar to feed from, but emotionally doesn’t feel ready for the inherent intimacy, which might have something to do with Jack Force, even though he’s playing hot and cold. Even though, as her human Conduit, Oliver knows about Schuyler’s transformation, her vampire commitments help drive a wedge between them.

Mimi is upset over Jack’s attention to Schuyler and Bliss’s rise in popularity since appearing on a billboard for designer jeans with Schuyler, while Bliss is becoming disenchanted with being Mimi’s friend and misses Dylan.

Arguably the best part of the aptly named Masquerade (old souls masked in new incarnations) was the introduction of mysterious and charismatic Kingsley Martin, who is a little bit wicked and stirs the pot. He flirts with and challenges Schuyler, Mimi and Bliss and has his share of secrets, which is why I like him so much.

I received the series two books at a time, so I read Blue Bloods and Masquerade together and later, Revelations and The Van Alen Legacy. I wasn’t ready to write my review after The Van Alen Legacy but I didn’t want to move on and lose my impressions of the series by reading something else, so I returned to Masquerade simply because I like Kingsley, despite him being a minor character.

I have this feeling that there is only one first reading experience for every book. It’s like watching The Sixth Sense. There’s only one first time to note the little signs that something’s not quite right and maybe you guess at the twist or maybe you don’t. But by the end, everything has come together and any time you watch it after that first time, you already know what’s going on and everything you see is coloured by the knowledge you didn’t have the first time around. Maybe it makes you appreciate the story more or by going back you pick up on things that you missed the first time. I treat reading a book like watching The Sixth Sense, and when I write a review, it has so far always been from that perspective, because unless a reader absolutely loved a book, they are likely to only read it once, so that’s how I’ve reviewed.

Armed with a greater sense of the big picture, I found a greater appreciation for de la Cruz’s subtlety now that I could see how carefully she’d sown the seeds for this and later books. Call it forethought or sequel-baiting, but she drops little hints about the Silver Blood conspiracy throughout the story and intersperses the chapters with newspaper clippings and documents relating to the disappearance of Maggie Stanford, a transforming Blue Blood who disappeared about 100 years ago.

AUSTRALIA: Booktopia | Fishpond | Galaxy | Infinitas | Click here for other independent romance bookshops
EBOOKS: Kindle
WORLDWIDE: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Book Depository

ISBN: 9781905654772 | Release date: March 2010 | Publisher: Orbit | Format: B format

Revelations

Revelations by Melissa de la Cruz (Blue Bloods, Book 3)

Tensions rise between Schuyler and Mimi as they are forced to spend more time together. Bliss finally learns the truth about Dylan and which angel she is.

Oliver wants more from Schuyler than she is able to give him and Jack’s behaviour towards her is more hot and cold than ever, especially when Mimi brings forward their bonding date. The bond is taken so seriously by the Blue Bloods that a vampire who breaks the bond must be hunted down and destroyed by their former bondmate, both of whom are weakened by the breach.

Aggie Carondolet’s murderer is finally revealed.

The writing has developed beyond the sequential layering of the first two books and is more evenly woven together throughout the story. Instead of having the Silver Blood threat only dealt with later in the book, de la Cruz makes better use of pacing and starts pulling these threads together earlier in the book and laying more threads so that the reader has a better sense of what has been brewing. Revelations lives up to its name and feels like less of a world building exercise than the earlier books, having appropriately developed beyond the author’s previous efforts. No stranger to sequel baiting, she leaves some questions unanswered and I’m sure these will be revisited in later books.

To compensate for the lag between reading Masquerade and Revelations each for the first time, I followed up my Masquerade reread with a Revelations reread. This gave me a better appreciation for de la Cruz’s technique of showing one thing to distract from what she’s keeping under wraps. But even if I learn her little tricks, de la Cruz still manages to pull out surprises completely out of the blue.

While the love triangle between Oliver, Schuyler and Jack isn’t as anywhere near as extreme and destructive as a better known relationship between a girl, her friend and her vampire lover, Schuyler’s denial and thoughtlessness at times left a bad taste in my mouth (fuck you very much, Stephenie Meyer!) Despite its occasional and uncomfortable similarities with that other relationship that shall not be named, the saving grace of this love triangle is that Schuyler actually has a life and destiny outside the relationship and her men don’t manipulate her to get their own way.

AUSTRALIA: Booktopia | Fishpond | Galaxy | Infinitas | Click here for other independent romance bookshops
EBOOKS: Kindle
WORLDWIDE: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Book Depository

ISBN: 9781905654789 | Release date: April 2010 | Publisher: Orbit | Format: B format

The Van Alen Legacy

The Van Alen Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz (Blue Bloods, Book 4)

I should almost do a separate review for The Van Alen Legacy because it is a world away from the earlier three books in the series. While it shares the soap opera quality of the others, the surface layer of the privileged life plays a much smaller role and the characters have developed in leaps and bounds since Revelations, particularly Mimi, whose character was the most in need of development.

The story picks up over a year after the events of Revelations and has largely progressed beyond the superficial first layer. We still have the soap operatic romantic entanglements but they are now played out against a more urban fantasy backdrop of hunting and fighting a known enemy.

Schuyler is on the run with her trusted Conduit, Oliver, Mimi comes into her own as the dark angel Azrael, and Bliss struggles with regaining her life after discovering that a year had passed while she was unconscious and is determined not to follow a prescribed path. The Blue Blood world is finally forced to acknowledge that the Silver Bloods are back and still very much a threat to them.

Although this makes the writing less subtle, de la Cruz is still able to pull off enough surprises to keep the story interesting. New revelations are made and the world expands exponentially from the earlier books. It also becomes clearer how much more this series promises, as the world and the characters grow up.

Keys to the Repository by Melissa de la Cruz (Blue Bloods, Companion Novel)

The back of the book contains a deleted scene between Jack and Schuyler and one where Kingsley comes clean. The last page promises more secrets will be revealed in the companion Keys to the Repository, compiled as the series really starts coming into its own.

Told you de la Cruz was clever.

AUSTRALIA: Booktopia | Fishpond | Galaxy | Infinitas | Click here for other independent romance bookshops
EBOOKS: Kindle
WORLDWIDE: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Book Depository

ISBN: 9781905654796 | Release date: April 2010 | Publisher: Orbit | Format: B format

Yay or nay?

There are qualities in this series that aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. But if you can accept multi-book plot arcs and love triangles, the subtlety in the layering and dropping of hints, as well as the compelling nature of the characters, will make it worth your while. And the series deserves a reread.

Review copies of all four books were generously provided by Hachette Australia. These books were first released in the USA. The next book in the series, Misguided Angel, will be released on October 26, 2010.

Other books in the Blue Bloods series

Release date: 26/10/2010

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More at Book Thingo:

• Mixed Bag: June 2010
• Mixed Bag: March 2010
• Mixed Bag: July 2010
• Blue Noise by Debra Oswald
• Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre

Yesterday I was so excited; today not so much.

Update: Some lovely Sony people on Twitter followed this up for me. The Sony store in World Square (Sydney) should have the Reader on sale on September 8. Maybe.

Further to yesterday’s news that Sony has launched the Reader in Australia, according to CNET Australia the Readers will be priced from $229 to $299. The Readers will have touch screen and the ability for users to take notes and annotate ebooks using a stylus—a key selling point for me.

By coincidence I had emailed Sony on Wednesday to ask them about the Reader and they replied that I can check it out at a Sony store. I was all excited, until the cynical consumer in me kicked in. So I called my nearest Sony store and was told that, in fact, they had no display stock of the product and that it hasn’t been officially released yet.

Yes, folks, yesterday’s launch wasn’t a real launch it seems—just an announcement of a launch. *head desk*

The real launch will be next week, and the Sony employee I spoke to said that they don’t expect stock to come in until later this month.

Let me repeat: the product launch was announced yesterday, the product will really launch next week, but there will be no stock for sale or display until later this month.

Talk about an anticlimax.

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• Sony Reader launched in Australia

The Reader—it boggles my mind how Sony could possibly have trademarked such a common word—features the E-Ink Pearl display, which I believe is the same type of screen that the newest Kindles have.

Book Bee has all the details, the most important being that the Reader will integrate with REDgroup’s online bookshops, which includes Borders Australia. The device will be sold at Borders (online and bricks and mortar shops), Angus and Robertson, Myer, Sony Style stores and Sony centres.

Update: CNET reports that Readers will start from $229.

Personally, it’s been very difficult to keep myself from buying the latest Kindle. It’s just so cheap and there’s the convenience of shopping for books straight from the device. But the Sony has it’s selling points for me—I’ve given up on the BeBook because of the price—so here’s my very rough, quite unscientific comparison of the two devices (green is good; red is not).

Amazon Kindle

• Cheap (without 3G it’s US$139 + shipping)
  
• Wireless capability
• Synchronises with multiple devices (iPad, Android phone)
• Closed ecosystem — it’s hackable, but that decreases convenience
  
• Proprietary format
• Stupid micro fees — meaning I’ll probably use wireless only when I’m desperate
  

Sony Reader

• Touchscreen — I can’t stress enough how important this is for me
• Supports Adobe Digital Editions — required if and when my library starts an ebook lending program
• Comes in girlie colours (pink for the 5″ model; red for the 6″ model)
  
• Based on US prices, I expect the 6″ model will be about twice as much as the cheapest Kindle
  
• No wireless capability at all
• No synchronisation
  

Yes, the Reader comes in pink. That almost tips the balance for me.

Do you own the Kindle, the Reader or both? What are the pros and cons? (And I’m most interested in the negative aspects so I can determine if I can live with them!)

Thanks to Jacq and Book Bee for the heads up on the Sony launch. The image above shows the pink PRS-350 Reader from Sony Australia.

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More at Book Thingo:

• Sony Reader – Pricing and availability
• Amazon Kindle will ship to Australia from October 19

Blameless by Gail Carriger (Parasol Protectorate, Book 3)

After the cliffhanger that was Changeless, the latest instalment in the Parasol Protectorate series brings us back to romance territory.

After Changeless, I was very frustrated. It was a total cliffhanger, and I went as far as DMing Gail Carriger on Twitter to ask what was going to happen next. She very nicely replied, I’m very sorry but I can’t tell you. Fortunately, Kat got a review copy of Blameless last Friday, which coincided with Carriger’s visit to Galaxy to randomly sign things. She assured us that, as a believer of happy endings, she always makes sure everything ends with a HEA.

Alexia Tarrabotti is back at her mother’s house following her separation from her husband, Lord Maccon, after he accuses her of cheating on him when she tells him of her pregnancy. (Werewolves can’t breed.) Alexia wants to prove him wrong, but Lord Akeldama, her gay BFF who possibly has the answers, has left town. She decides that the answers are in Italy, with the order of Templars, so off she goes with her trusty assistant/butler Floote and Madame Lefoux, the mysterious hat-maker cum inventor, who incidentally likes to cross dress.

In the meantime, Professor Lyall, the Woolsey pack Beta, is desperately trying to keep the pack together while her husband is off getting drunk off his face on an unknown source of alcohol. Of course, people—I should say vampires—keep trying to kill her, which adds to the mystery. How did she get knocked up, and why does everyone want to kill them?

I’ve always loved Alexia as a character. She never lets anyone knock her down and has the kind of stubborn tenacity that’s enough to kick butt without being annoying. I like how despite her circumstances—she left her husband, and that alone is enough to make someone a pariah in Victorian England—she kept trying to make the most of her situation and hold her head up high. Her husband was the only person who was able to bring her down to her knees (and even then he had to do it first!) and now his betrayal of her has left her reeling, even though she tries to pretend it doesn’t. I think that part was well done.

Despite everything, Lord Maccon manages to redeem himself in the end. I loved him in the first book and then he fell out of favour, so to speak. He’s begun to worm himself back into my good graces with his actions in this one. His actions and behavior, especially his interactions with his second, Professor Lyall, lead to some of the best comedic moments in the book.

I felt that the tone and language, as before, was in line with the era and the steampunk elements fit in very well. The dialogue was sharp and witty and the descriptions, while giving a vivid picture of the situation, left just enough to re-create the wonders of steampunk in my own imagination.

The storyline was wrapped up well—if their marital issues hadn’t been resolved I would have hurled the book across the room—while more details were dropped to make you wonder what would happen next. I, for one, am excited at the prospect of their coming progeny and its implications, and would like more details on Alexia’s father and the mysteriously evil cultish Templars. (Carriger is really good at dropping these hints that leave you wanting more.)

Yay or Nay?

A definite YAY! But only if you’ve read the rest of the series. If you start here you’ll be coming right in the middle of the story, and while it could work, you’ll be missing out on a lot. Fortunately, there are two more books in the series due next year. Can’t wait for those!

This book was released on September 1, 2010 by Orbit. Gail Carriger will be at the World Science Fiction Convention in Melbourne, Sept 2-6.

Title: Blameless
Series: Parasol Protectorate (Book 3)
Author: Gail Carriger
ISBN: 9780316074155
Release date: September 1, 2010
Publisher: Orbit (Hachette Australia)
Format: A format

Where you can buy this book

AUSTRALIA: Booktopia | Borders | Ever After | Fishpond | Rendezvous | Romance Direct | More
EBOOKS: Books On Board | Diesel
WORLDWIDE: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Book Depository

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• Soulless by Gail Carriger

Hirsi Ali talks about the evolution of her ideas and the experiences that influenced her. Here’s the excerpt from the transcript, in which Hirsi Ali talks about the empowering ideas she found in romance books (any emphasis is mine):

JENNIFER BYRNE: But you did have exposure to European things, your father had been educated there.

But also, you started reading English books. Things like Enid Blyton and Barbara Cartland, which I just found hysterical to think were considered completely challenging to authority. How could Barbara Cartland be challenging to authority?

AYAAN HIRSI ALI: Well, it depends whose authority. That’s why she was challenging to authority. And this is much later in Kenya, after we had lived in Saudi Arabia and in Ethiopia. And Barbara Cartland’s books, Danielle Steel’s books, The Mills & Boon and the Harlequin.

JENNIFER BYRNE: The bodice rippers.

AYAAN HIRSI ALI: Yeah.

They challenged the authority that women should not be thinking about or indulging in any form of erotic or, um, you know, trying to imagine what it would be like to have a relationship with a male.

Descriptions, page after page, about getting aroused and meeting a man and defying his authority, of which I think Barbara Cartland also allows women to defy the authority of the bad guy.

JENNIFER BYRNE: Well, as long as she marries him in the end. What about Enid Blyton? How can that be rebelling?

AYAAN HIRSI ALI: Also because Enid Blyton – Secret Seven, Famous Five and some of the other Enid Blytons – what they do is, they encourage you as an individual to imagine that you’re a part of the Secret Seven. You’re solving mysteries, you’re a part of the Famous Five.

So that’s very different from the world I grew up in, where you are told, “Stay inside the house. Do not mingle with boys.” And there’s no such thing as solving mysteries or imagining yourself in…

You know, one day, you might want to become a policeman or a prosecutor. That’s just not done.

I haven’t seen this aspect of reading romance books (and, on a broader level, genre  fiction and books aimed at younger readers) explored that much.

Hirsi Ali’s comments are particularly interesting to me because until my family moved to Australia I lived in a society in which there were still some very strong social expectations around female roles and behaviour. Obviously, my childhood was nowhere near as restrictive as hers had been, but I can’t help but feel some affinity with Hirsi Ali’s early literary journey—I bought every Nancy Drew book I could, borrowed every Famous Five book in the library and, in high school, wrote my first cheque to start a Mills & Boon subscription.

If you missed the show, the entire interview is well worth watching. Jennifer Byrne Presents: Ayaan Hirsi Ali should be repeated on ABC2 on Sunday, or you can watch the vodcast here. (If the video is geo-restricted, you may still be able to see the transcript at the bottom of the page.)

Do you find aspects of romance books empowering as well as entertaining? What did you think about Jennifer Byrne’s rather dismissive attitude towards romance? Finally—and this is the one I’m most curious about—were bodices actually ripped in Barbara Cartland’s books?

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• Book Bizzo #21 Housekeeping and Aussie book news

Tracey O'Hara (Winner, R*BY Award -- Romantic Elements)

There was no shortage of glamour in last night’s Romance Book of the Year (R*BY) awards where Sophia James took out the top prize in Australian romance fiction, winning the Long Romance category for Mistletoe Magic (in Christmas Betrothals, Mills & Boon/Quills), beating Christine Wells and romance veteran Stephanie Laurens, who was nominated twice in the category.

Tracey O’Hara received the R*BY in the Romantic Elements category, which goes to novels of any length  or genre in which romance plays a significant—though not necessarily a central—-role in the story. Her book, Night’s Cold Kiss (HarperCollins/Eos), was the only speculative fiction work shortlisted for the R*BY.

The prizes for short romances went to Amy Andrews and Sharon Archer. Andrews won the Short Sexy R*BY for A Doctor, A Nurse: A Christmas Baby (Mills and Boon/Medical), and Archer, who was nominated twice in her category, won the Short Sweet R*BY for Marriage Reunited: Baby On The Way (Mills & Boon/Medical).

The Emerald Awards, which recognise the best unpublished manuscripts, went to Allison Withers for The Border Laird’s Bride in the Single Title section and to Coleen Yan in the Category section. Withers also won the Anna Campbell prize for the highest placed historical in the Emeralds.

As well as these major awards, the Romance Writers of Australia recognised various achievements both in and outside of the organisation. The Romance Media Award (ROMA) for the best media coverage of romance writing in Australia went to Robert Hayward for his profile of author Alison Stuart in My Secret Art Life: Romance Writer on the ABC’s Art Nation. The full clip of the winning entry was shown to a very appreciative crowd.

The Valerie Parv Award for unpublished writers, which gives the winner a year of mentorship and a manuscript reading by an editor from a romance publisher, went to Anna Cowan for The Three Loves of Miss Beatrice Sutherland. The Lynne Wilding Meritorious Service Award went to Serena Tatti. This award is in honour of Wilding, the first RWA president, and was presented by her partner, John Gumbley, who gave a stirring speech.

In the minor prizes, the Little Gems Anthology prize was a tie between Jennifer Kay for ‘The Unfinished Poem’ and Dorothy Martin for ‘If Only’. Helen Katsinis won for her cover. The Single Title and Loving It (STALI) prize went to Robyn Enlund, who was also a finalist for the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Golden Heart Award.  Cristien Hickey won the Harlequin Mills & Boon High Five competition. The Selling Synopsis prize, for the best synopsis, went to Dayle White, and the First Kiss prize went to Leah Clapton.

The night ended with a rousing address by historical romance author Anne Gracie in which she acknowledged the hard work that writers put into their craft and the success of members who have reached new milestones in their careers.

The R*BY Award is the most prestigious award in the Australian romance book industry. The judging is based on reader evaluations, and it is open to all Australian and New Zealand authors. The Emerald Award recognises the best unpublished manuscripts submitted by members of the Romance Writers of Australia.

The accompanying photo was taken by Kat Mayo. Click here for more photos of the event.

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• 2009 Romantic Book of the Year (R*BY) Awards
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Ann Gracie as Dame Barbara Cartland (RWAus 2010 Cocktail Party)

Last night I attended my first ever  Romance Writers of Australia conference event: the Harlequin-sponsored cocktail party. What? You thought I was going there to work? No, no, I signed up for all the parties!

The cocktail party is a themed event and this year it was ‘Fantasy Island’. Never say that writers aren’t a creative bunch because some of the costumes were pretty amazing. Anne Gracie was awarded the best costume prize for her fabulous Barbara Cartland.

I’m not sure what I can say about the cocktail party without sounding like a name dropper. It was an interesting experience for me because I knew so very few people by face and even fewer people whose faces I could match to names. Even for writers whose names and faces I knew, my brain just couldn’t cope with the overload and I had a minimum 3-second lag in eye-brain coordination.

I do remember the costumes, though. Some of the more memorable ones include:

• Paula Roe in full Darth Vader regalia and her roommate (who I only know as Shaz) as Princess Leia
• Kitty Bucholtz as the Contract Fairy
• Maggie Nash in a wig that caused at least a 5-second lag in putting a name to her face even though I’ve seen her many times at ARRA events
• Tracey O’Hara who rocked her Egyptian goddess costume
• Keri Arthur as a dark angel (I loved her wings!)
• Bronwyn Parry who sported headlines of romance authors winning various top literary prizes
• 2010 Golden Heart finalist Robyn Enlund as Elizabeth Bennet and who I believe made her entire costume
• A very pregnant Kate Cuthbert as the Epilogue
• Jennifer Brassel as Medusa
• Linley Maroney and her friend dressed as warriors (at one point they were brandishing swords but I was too far away to take a photo)
• The Harlequin team as the Harlequin Harlots

You can see all the photos I took on Flickr.

With Keri Arthur. Because I can. :-)

I came as the Vampire’s Deflowered Virgin. I didn’t get a good shot of my costume, but it basically consisted of: bed head, smudged mascara, love bites on my neck (courtesy of Kate’s artistic skills), a large man shirt with buttons done up wrong and lipstick on the collar, a red dressing gown, red suspenders and black stockings with red love hearts on it.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to drop by in the afternoon to help man the ARRA stall, and then I’m back for the R*BY Awards Dinner. I’m planning to tweet the winners live and maybe a few more photos than I was able to at the cocktail party.

If you were at the event, feel free to pimp any posts or photos related to the cocktail party by posting the link in the comments below. Also … what was your favourite costume?

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• RWA 2009 Conference Day 1

Keri Arthur (left) and Tracey O'Hara

For the first time that I can remember, Galaxy had TWO paranormal authors in to sign books. And they brought a New York agent. And a soon-to-be-published debut author. And a partridge in a pear tree. OK, maybe not that last one.

The gathering at Galaxy was nice and informal, so we got to spend some time chatting with Keri Arthur and Tracey O’Hara while they signed our books.

The cover for the second book in Tracey’s Dark Brethren series, Death’s Sweet Embrace, has been redone and I think it looks better this way. Its style is more like the Night’s Cold Kiss cover, so I think the new cover ties the books together as a series better than two differently styled covers.

She was also happy to see her name on someone else’s book. She was asked to read Merrie Destefano’s Afterlife (release date September 28) and gave it a raving endorsement, which just happens to appear at the bottom of the front cover. (Kat knows first-hand how cool that is.) Afterlife may be that rarest of commodities: a stand alone paranormal.

Since I got my copy of Night’s Cold Kiss signed last time Tracey came to Galaxy, I handed her the hard copy of her short story Dante Rising – The Birth of a Venator that she passed around to us that night. After she signed it for me, she showed it off to Keri and Jen, her agent.

Dante Rising was originally the prologue for Night’s Cold Kiss, but Jen felt that the book was more powerful without it and Tracey agreed. She is planning to do another 2000-or-so-word short story prologue for Death’s Sweet Embrace, which will also be available on her website. If you’re on Twitter, follow @traceyohara and she’ll tweet when it’s ready.

We at Book Thingo are involved in an ongoing bling-off with Tracey and Nalini Singh and anyone else who gets in on the action. Last time I wore understated gold, but decided to step it up for the RWA awards dinner on Saturday and tonight I gave Tracey a sneak preview of one piece of bling I’ll be wearing. Nothing much, just a ring with a little bling encrusted rose wide enough to cover three fingers. I always think less is more.

Tracey really, really likes dragons and has about four of them inked on her. Near her left collarbone, she has the yin-yang dragon symbol that she wrote into Night’s Cold Kiss, with a fuzzy, faded dragon on her shoulder and two colour dragons on her leg. I’m hoping the series takes off in the US because readers there are more likely to get double-bow-and-arrow or lightning bolts a la Dark-Hunter, or Black Daggers or words in the Old Language. Tracey would be happy to start a trend.

I remember from a panel session she was in during ARRC09, that a scene from Keri Arthur’s Riley Jensen series came to her in a dream. Tonight she told me that it was the opening scene from the second book in the series, Kissing Sin.

The decision of which book to read next from my TBR is usually a hard one, but tonight’s signing was the perfect excuse to finally get into Full Moon Rising, which I actually finished before Keri signed it for me, along with my new copy of Kissing Sin. I’m glad the Riley Jensen series is finished so that I can read them at my own pace without having to wait for the next one.

Sofia from Galaxy asked Keri to sign a book for a customer who wasn’t able to make it to the signing but had ordered her book. She also signed and endorsed a book by James Herbert, who she thinks is ‘absolutely brilliant’. Keri asked Sofia, ‘What do you want me to say? You have great taste?’

‘Say anything you want. Draw a picture. A cat’s bum, a panda, anything you want.’ Yep, Keri Arthur signed a book written by another author with her artistic impression of a feline’s back view! My books just had the smiley fang face.

This is the first time I’ve spent any amount of time with Keri and she has a very cheeky, Aussie sense of humour. Being a Melbournian, she had a gratuitous dig at Sydney. I can’t remember what she says Melbourne has that we don’t (it couldn’t have been important), but I’ll tell you what she meant to say: Cold winter mornings followed by summer heat with a chance of rain, forcing everyone to carry around more layers than they’ll need.

Jen has a few Australian clients and is impressed with the writing we produce. She used to be a psychotherapist before she became an agent and has experience with schizophrenics. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions. She sometimes has to help her clients deal with combinations of anxiety and obsessiveness.

I heard about almost-debut author MJ Scott from a tweet before the signing. Her book Shadow Kin, the first in a gaslight (not-quite-steampunk) urban fantasy trilogy, will be published in June 2011 by Ace/Roc.

We all hung around talking about chocolate, wine, dingoes, kangaroos, hair removal, flying business class and other sophisticated, adult topics until Galaxy closed. All in all, I think everyone had a good time.

The book signing was held at Galaxy Bookshop on Wednesday. Keri Arthur and Tracey O’Hara will also be at the ARRA Book Signing Event this evening at Coogee. The book signing is open to the public (free for ARRA members and $5 for non-members). Click here for details. All the regular Book Thingo bloggers will be there, so come and say hello!

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• Tracey O’Hara book signing at Galaxy
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Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Chronicles of Nick, Book 1)

If you’ve read (or are planning to read) the Chronicles of Nick, these are cheat sheets you won’t want to miss. Decadence summarises what we know about Nick Gautier from the Dark-Hunter series. You can read the first two parts here and here.

The Mavromino, Noir

Noir is a first generation offspring of the Source, making him the closest thing to the source of creation short of the source itself. For some as yet unknown reason (maybe just because he is the source god of darkness?), he turned against the Source and tried to take over as the major power.

The source gods had the Sephirii as their security, so Noir created the Malachai as their natural enemy to wipe them out. Despite setting traps that reduced Sephirii numbers, they were poised to decimate all the Malachai, until they were betrayed by their leader, Jared. A truce was made between both parties and the Malachai and Sephirii were both made extinct, except for the Sephiroth Jared and the Malachai Adarian.

At some point, Adarian and Noir had a falling out, resulting in a huge loss of Noir’s powers. Without anyone to worship or give him power by thinking of him, Noir lay dormant.

Nick’s powers being unlocked was also a huge power boost for his creator, who becomes even stronger the more Nick uses his powers. Old habits die hard, so Noir wants to destroy the world again—not to mention that the chaos caused by attacking other gods is believed to be likely to draw the Malachai to him, making him invincible.

Noir is joined by his sister Azura (the source god of air), but their other sister Braith (I don’t know what source god she is), who is a valuable counterpoint in the war, is missing.

He drugged the skoti (renegade Dream-Hunters who have become outlaws through their addiction to the rush of emotion they feel by immersing themselves in a human’s dreams and draining their energy through that dream) to keep them pliant and having them onside strengthens him even more. For that reason he has also brought over some of the Dolophoni (children of the Fates) and the oneroi (Dream-Hunters who hunt the skoti). Another advantage is that his skotos/oneroi army can hunt his enemies through their dreams and kill them as they sleep. He enticed another source god Cratus (now Jericho) but betrayed him, which led to his present defeat and the restoration of the Dolophoni, oneroi and skoti to our side. He’s down but not out as long as he is able to draw power from the Malachai, whom he must either kill or convert to his cause in order to win.

As the original gods of darkness and air, Noir and Azura could be defeated by the original gods of sun and fire, Cam and Rezar, but his enemies have to find them. After the first war with the Source, Cam and Azura withdrew in disgust and no one knows their whereabouts now.

Noir and Azura have an unknown ally that the Greek pantheon would never suspect. He declared war on the Dark-Hunters and Dream-Hunters, promising to make their existence hell unless they surrender the Malachai.

The Sephiroth Jared

The Sephirii, who have been compared to fallen angels, had ten warriors called the Mimoroux and Jared was one of them. They were chosen by a sentient sword to ‘guide’ that sword, and Takara, the most powerful sword, chose Jared as her Shiori (guide). Wielding Takara made Jared the leader of the Mimoroux. But he betrayed them all in the war against Noir and his army of Malachai, resulting in the deaths of his brethren, so he believes he deserves his fate.

Jared is owned by Stryker’s wife and new Daimon queen, Zephyra, and his weakness is Nim, an adolescent demon who adopted him after Jared saved his life and sleeps as a tattoo on Jared’s skin (like Simi chooses to do with Ash, only Nim is not a Charonte and is actually scared of them).

As the balance to the Malachai, Jared’s form is black with red marks, the reverse of Nick. He’s trying to kill the Malachai to end his own life.

Jaden bargained for a green amulet which he then gave to Jericho (formerly Cratus) to buy Jared’s freedom from Zephyra. As Jared’s new master, Jericho told him to live as he chooses. Jericho has no room for a slave but will always welcome a friend and ally. Although Jericho refuses to be Jared’s new master, Jared will always be a slave until the Source releases him. He wears a collar that will kill him if anyone but the Source tries to remove it.

The Broker, Jaden

Jaden is the go-between for demons and the source gods and would be powerful enough to destroy Noir and Azura, but is owned by Azura and therefore forbidden to attack them. He is also able to identify and find Cam and Rezar, who could imprison Noir and Azura.

He bargained with Xypher (the skotos hero of Dream Chaser) for a green medallion that renders a god powerless when placed over their heart. He then passed the amulet to Jericho to trade to Zephyra for Jared’s freedom, to which Jericho added the condition that it never be used against Acheron or Apollymi. When asked why it was so important that Jared go free, Jaden confessed that Jared was damned because of him. We don’t have any more detail than that at this stage, but there seems to be a close bond between them.

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• Introduction to the Chronicles of Nick (Part 2)
• Introduction to the Chronicles of Nick (Part 1)
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