Re: [*FSFFU*] genres, etc.

From: Catherine Asaro (asaro@SFF.NET)
Date: Sat Dec 06 1997 - 12:01:28 PST


Lorry B. Bond wrote:
>
> Just a thought -- For any of you who think the written word is no longer a
> reflection of popular culture, exactly how much time have you spent reading
> the postings on this list???? BIG <G>

Lorry, hah! Good point. Even with all the graphics on the web, it is
still primarily a textual media. And if the web doesn't reflect popular
culture, I don't know what does!

I recently found some good essays about feminism and the genre of
romance, with comments by feminists, romance writers, and romance
readers (I even chimed in with my two cents). It's says a lot about
popular culture. It's also fascinating to read. Example about cover
art: apparently some romance authors feel the same way about the
hunk-and-heroine-in-an-anatomically-impossible-clinch as some science
fiction authors feel about the
babe-in-a-bronze-bra-being-carried-off-by-a-bugged-eyed-monster.

If anyone would like to take a look, check out:

http://www.sff.net/people/DebStover/clinch.htm, for a discussion of what
romance author Deb Stover thinks about those clinch covers.

http://www.likesbooks.com/covrtopc.html, for comments by romance author
Stef Ann Holm's on how the marketing of her books and the covers have
changed over the years. (reprinted from TheRomanceReader at
http://www.theromancereader.com/; see below for details about the
site). For more on covers, see http://www.likesbooks.com/covers.html

http://www.likesbooks.com/mussell.html, for an interview with Kay
Mussell of the American University on feminism and romance, given by
webmaster Laurie Gold.

http://www.likesbooks.com/mussell2.html, for comments by romance readers
about romance and feminism.

http://www.likesbooks.com/quick16.html, for the view from a science
fiction author (yeah, me <g>).

http://www.likesbooks.com/beam.html, for an article on romance and
feminism written by Alex Beam that appeared in the =Boston Globe.=

There are excellent discussions in the site TheRomanceReader, in
addition to the Stef Ann Holm article. Right now they are updating
their site, but if readers are interested I can post addresses when they
come back online. It's top-notch.

Best --Catherine Asaro
http://www.sff.net/people/asaro/



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