Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 111

Father Christmas, 1914

Christmas, 1914: Father Christmas putting presents in soldiers' boots.

Be Like a Bug

"All that energy we expend to keep things running right is not what's keeping things running right. We're bugs struggling in the river, brightly visible to the trout below. With that fact in mind, people like to make up all these rules to give us the illusion that we are in charge. I need to say to myself, they're not needed, hon. Just take in the buggy pleasures. Be kind to the others, grab the

Alas, Poor Wallis

I'm on vacation until the new year, but I set up some blog posts anyway. There will be a slight lack of introspective musings on writing and genre in them, but hopefully some entertainment value.Behold one of the most amusing examples of dialogue I have ever read.#"Wallis," said Maturin. "I am happy to find you here. How is your penis?" At their last meeting he had carried out an operation on

Excerpt from a War Nurse's Diary: The Retreat

In The Moonlight Mistress, it's mentioned in passing that Antwerp fell to the Germans. Here's a first-person account about that event which I didn't get to use in my novel (yet!).###Excerpt from A War Nurse's Diary: Sketches From A Belgian Field Hospital (1918):"We felt in taking these buses that we were no longer robbing the Marines. Many of them were with us; many more were dead and had no

The Pronoun Problem

If you haven't read it yet, check out this article in the LA Weekly: Man on Man: The New Gay Romance. Some of the arguments will be familiar to slash fans, but I was impressed that they interviewed Constance Penley, among others.One of the problems unique to writing homosexual erotica is pronouns. How do you distinguish he from he or she from she without repeating names or resorting to "the

Robert Frost, "War Thoughts At Home"

War Thoughts at HomeOn the back side of the houseWhere it wears no paint to the weatherAnd so shows most its age,Suddenly blue jays rageAnd flash in blue feather.It is late in an afternoonMore grey with snow to fallThan white with fallen snowWhen it is blue jay and crowOr no bird at all.So someone heeds from withinThis flurry of bird war,And rising from her chairA little bent over with careNot to

Robert Frost, "Not To Keep"

Not to Keep They sent him back to her. The letter cameSaying... And she could have him. And beforeShe could be sure there was no hidden illUnder the formal writing, he was in her sight,Living. They gave him back to her aliveHow else? They are not known to send the deadAnd not disfigured visibly. His face?His hands? She had to look, and ask,"What was it, dear?" And she had given allAnd still she

Nifty Werewolf Books

If you have a chance, check out Werewolves At Home, a webcomic tie-in to The Moonlight Mistress.This is a list of werewolf books that I've liked a lot or had recommended to me. Suggestions welcome!Benighted (alternate title: Bareback) by Kit Whitfield is one of the most original werewolf novels I've ever read. There's a romance, but this isn't a romance novel (so don't expect a happy ending).

Insta-Love

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 anything of their characters, what's the point? Why should I care?I don't need to know a lot about the characters to find them interesting. Even one tasty fact can give me a handle, such

Grit Under My Boots

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 wears white because nothing is dirty, I want to see the dirt. Because the dirt has to be there somewhere. Someone has to be cleaning up that shiny city. Maybe it's robots. But