Tee Hee

With the rash of media attention to the rising popularity of extra super-duper steamy romance novels (a/k/a erotica), I have a Google news alert set up on the keyword. I feel the need to keep my finger on the pulse of a shift that is responsible for my entry into the ranks of the published, y'know?

This morning, a gem of a newspaper article landed in my inbox. I'm still chuckling about it. Apparently, a candidate for public office (whose name, if you can believe it, is Fred Head -- I kid you not) can find no more substantial mud to sling than the fact that his opponent wrote a "pornographic" romance novel. Gasp!

This article is amusing on so many levels. First, his rant is a pathetic commentary on our times. (I'm quite ashamed to note that the man is a Democrat. Uptight assholery is, if you buy the stereotypes, supposed to be reserved for the fundy neocons.) One of his campaign ads reads:

Would you vote for a candidate who wrote a trashy, pornographic romance novel that glorifies premarital sex and seeks to arouse sexual interest as your State Comptroller of Public Accounts?

If she was qualified to do the job? You betcha! In fact, Mr. Head, if you were equally qualified, I'd vote for her because you are a narrow-minded twat who apparently cannot focus on the issues related to Comptrolling. Granted, comptrolling issues probably don't make good press. Sex does garner a bit more attention.

Mr. Head told reporters, "I don't know of anyone who has the gall to put their name on the ballot when they've written that kind of trashy pornographic thing." *snicker* Guess I know what to expect should ever get a wild hare up my ass and decide to run for public office.

Leaving Mr. Head alone for a bit, I turn my amusement toward the trashy pornographic thing, which was published by a now-defunct house and is long out of print. The article quotes one sentence from the book:

Their mouths had fused hotly, desperately, a feverish urgency in his touch.

How shocking! My sensibilities are offended. The adverbs ... they burn us, precioussssssssss. I'd love to see Bam or the Smart Bitches or the two Ja(y)nes tear this baby apart. (Wonder what the cover looks like?)

The article goes on to compare and contrast "smut" and "romance," with quotes from RWA's publicity director sprinkled with some publishing industry stats. All in all, a most entertaining way to start my day.

You can read the entire article HERE. Tee hee.