Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 66

Maurice Baring, "Julian Grenfell"

Julian Grenfell

Because of you we will be glad and gay,

Remembering you, we will be brave and strong;

And hail the advent of each dangerous day,

And meet the last adventure with a song.

And, as you proudly gave your jewelled gift,

We'll give our lesser offering with a smile,

Nor falter on that path where, all too swift,

You led the way and leapt the golden stile.

Whether new paths, new heights to climb you find,
Or gallop through the unfooted asphodel,
We know you know we shall not lag behind,

Geoffrey Dearmer, "Nous Autres"

Nous Autres

We never feel the lust of steel

Or fury-woken blood,

We live and die and wonder why

In mud, and mud, and mud,

And horror first and horror last

And Phantom Terror riding past.

We hear and hear the hounds of Fear

Nearer and more near.

We feel their breath….

Only the nights befriend

And mitigate the hell;

Of those who ponder, see and hear,

Too well.

The nights, and Death –

The end.

We feel but never fear

His breath.

Day after weary day,
In vain, in vain, in vain,
We turn to Thee and...

Sporty Women in Romance

Where are all the sporty women in romance? The female professional athletes, or the ones who played basketball in college? Is there no Title IX for romance heroines?

For a romance with male athletes, I know to look up Susan Elizabeth Phillips or Kayla Perrin.

But women athletes? Aside from various equestrian skills (most common in historicals, but also not unusual in contemporaries), where are the professional female athlete heroines?

And when they are there, how often are they actually...

7 Pleasures of Writing

1. Games of Free Cell are much more satisfying when you're only allowed one game, and then you have to start writing.



2. When you're feeling the urge to be a hermit, writing is the perfect excuse.

3. When writing is going really well, and often even when it isn't, it can be like a little, cozy cave where it's just you and your imagination. I call it "the happy place."

4. Finishing something—a short story, a novel—is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world. It's even more satisfying ...

IASPR Workshops Announced

Workshop Summaries for this summer's International Association for the Study of Popular Romance conference are now available.

I'm attending, as an audience member–let me know if you'll be there, and we can say hi!

I'm particularly interested in these papers:

–Jonathan A. Allan (University of Toronto): The Fetish Commodity of Virginity in Popular Romance Novels

–Len Barot/Radclyffe (Author, editor, publisher, Bold Stroke Books): Queering the Alpha

–Sarah S. G. Frantz (Fayetteville State...

Centenary of International Women's Day

Today you can check out my post on "a romance for the ages, Kermit and Miss Piggy" over at Heroes and Heartbreakers.

2011 is the centenary of International Women's Day!



Joyce Stevens' history of IWD in words and images.

A brief history of the holiday at the United Nations' website.

A 1920 socialist proclamation: "But Women's Day did achieve something. It turned out above all to be an excellent method of agitation among the less political of our proletarian sisters. They could not help but...

New to my TBR

Alert! I should have a post going up at Heroes and Heartbreakers about one of my all-time favorite romantic couples some time today – will post a direct link once it's available.

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I've been more careful about buying fiction lately. My To Be Read piles are so frightening that I probably couldn't complete them all within the next decade unless I don't do anything but read.

However, that doesn't mean I've stopped buying books.

Here are a few of my recent choices, that I think deserve more...

Geoffrey Dearmer, "She To Him"

She To Him

The day you died, my Share of All

My soul was tossed

Hither and thither, like a leaf,

And lost, lost, lost,

From sounds and sight,

Beneath the night

Of gloom and grief.

But –

(Hush, for the wind may hear)

Soon, soon you came in solitude:

And we renewed

All happiness.

Now, who shall guess

How close we are, my dear?

(Hush, for the wind may hear.)

Yet –
Other women wait
Their doors ajar;
And listen, listen, listen,
For the gate,
And murmur, "Soon, the war
Will seem a far,
Dim agony of sleep."

Ma...

Geoffrey Dearmer, "From 'W' Beach"

From 'W' Beach

The Isle of Imbros, set in turquoise blue,

Lies to the westward; on the eastern side

The purple hills of Asia fade from view,

And rolling battleships at anchor ride.

White flocks of cloud float by, the sunset glows,

And dipping gulls fleck a slow-waking sea,

Where dim steel-shadowed forms with foaming bows

Wind up in the Narrows towards Gallipoli.

No colour breaks this tongue of barren land
Save where a group of huddled tents gleams white;
Before me ugly shapes like spectres stand,

Top 3 Reasons I Love Historical Romance

1. The outfits. Dukes have bigger…coronets of rank. Also, the hats. Men in hats. Women in hats. People these days…not enough hats. Or gloves. There's something about concealment beneath all those almost fetishistic garments…it makes you wonder what else they're hiding. There aren't enough calling cards in modern life, either. Or boots: tall, shiny men's boots. Women's boots with dozens of little hooks. Boots flecked with the mud of the road. Boots polished with champagne....