Category Archives: reading

Insta-Love

Posted on December 17, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

What are your feelings on Love At First Sight? Usually, I can’t believe in it. If it happens in a story, usually I don’t want to read any more. If the characters already know what they want, before I’ve seen … Continue reading →

Posted in erotica, reading, romance novels | 8 Comments

Grit Under My Boots

Posted on December 16, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

If I’m reading a historical novel, or for that matter, a science fiction or fantasy novel, or a romance, or any other genre, I want to feel the grit underneath my boots. Even in a shiny futuristic city where everyone … Continue reading →

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Three Takes on the Marriage of Convenience

Posted on November 23, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

I recently read, in succession, three new books by Mary Balogh, a perennial favorite of mine in historical romance. The three books about three sisters each featured a Marriage of Convenience plot, and each one approached that basic plot from … Continue reading →

Posted in genre, reading, romance novels | 4 Comments

My Top 16 Romance Novels

Posted on November 16, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

I’m exactly one month late posting my sixteen favorite romance novels, but, well…here they are anyway, in random order. And it was really hard and made me very sad, but I did it for you. I limited myself to books … Continue reading →

Posted in genre, historical fiction, reading, recommendations, romance novels | 8 Comments

Georgette Heyer Recommendations

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

Is anyone out there a Heyer Virgin? I suspect many of you aren’t, but just in case you’ve always been told you need to read some Georgette Heyer, but had no idea where to start, here’s a quick list to … Continue reading →

Posted in heyer, reading, recommendations, romance novels | 13 Comments

Louisa Edwards – Guest Post

Posted on November 6, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

Please welcome my guest, Louisa Edwards! # I’ve never considered myself a good researcher. In school, it took everything I had to cobble together enough sources and information to write a decent paper—and I freely admit that the exercise taught … Continue reading →

Posted in guest, reading, research | 3 Comments

Oral Tradition, Epithets, and J.D. Robb

Posted on November 4, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

In many romance novels, particularly those in series, the reader’s familiarity with the characters and setting can be reinforced by repeated use of the same descriptive phrases. I think this is similar to the technique of assigning epithets, often poetic, … Continue reading →

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Spooky Book Recommendations

Posted on October 30, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

In honor of Halloween, I offer recommendations of creepy, scary, horrifying fiction. The Bloody Chamber, a collection of short stories by Angela Carter, all explicitly based on fairy tales. Warning: these stories are not for the squeamish! Really, they’re not. … Continue reading →

Posted in links, reading | 2 Comments

Time Well Bent – ed. Connie Wilkins

Posted on October 29, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

I don’t have a story in this anthology, but a friend of mine edited it and others wrote stories for it, and I’m really looking forward to reading it! Time Well Bent: Queer Alternative Historiesed. by Connie Wilkins We have … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, reading, sf/f | Comments Off on Time Well Bent – ed. Connie Wilkins

Short Stories Versus Novels

Posted on October 13, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

1. Do you think that some writers are inherently “short story writers” and others are inherently “novel writers”? 2. If you believe that’s true, are the writers of one form incapable of writing the other to a base level of … Continue reading →

Posted in reading, writing craft | 9 Comments