Jane Litte's Blog, page 977

Fan Fiction: A Personal Perspective

Sunita talked a bit about why some people write fan fiction. I'd like to talk a bit about my perspective.

A little background: I've been a reader in many fandoms for about ten years, but I primarily write in one. I also run a fandom community. Legality of fan fics doesn't really come into it for my fandom. It's manga-based, and manga creators and their publishers know that a large excited fan base sells books.  They go out of their way to include characters that will draw the attention of...

DABWAHA Voting Is Set to Begin

The Round 1 Voting schedule has been posted, and voting will be intense for the next two days. The polls stay up for 12 hours each, and the trash talking and vote mongering has already begun. Then, just after the dust settles – Round 2! Voting will begin at midnight Central Time, on March 15th (which is just an hour from now)

Darlene Marshall and Susanna Kearsley's elderly dogs have been trashtalking one another, and they're not up against each other (yet?). Kearsley is not messing around...

REVIEW: A Promise of Spring by Mary Balogh

The following review contains SPOILERS. The spoilers from late in the book are hidden, but others are visible. If you have never read A Promise of Spring and prefer to avoid spoilers, read this review at your own risk.

Dear Ms. Balogh,

A Promise of Spring, now being reprinted in a 2-in-1 volume with The Temporary Wife, has a gripping opening. The residents of Abbotsford, a village in Hampshire, are trying to decide what is to be done about Grace Howard. Grace is the spinster older sister of...

GUEST REVIEW: Requiem for Ashes by David Crossman

Dear Mr. Crossman:

You had me at "Your head's on fire."

The first time I read Requiem for Ashes was under its original 1994 title, Murder in a Minor Key. I was working at the now-closed and much mourned Scotland Yard Books in Winnetka, Illinois, where I'd earned a reputation for liking books with quirky characters, or maybe it was for characters with quirky books. Either way, Albert, the most unlikely sleuth to grace any detective novel, stumbled and chain-smoked his way into my heart and...

REVIEW: Taking a Shot by Jaci Burton

Dear Ms. Burton:

I didn't love Changing the Game  but enjoyed The Perfect Play and I was excited to read about the youngest Riley, Jenna. Jenna is the only girl of the Riley family and despite (or maybe because of) being around sports all of her life, she has sworn of all athletes. Not dating athletes is difficult as Jenna's two older brothers are professional athletes and she runs the family sports bar that is populated by local professional athletes including members of city's the pro...

Wednesday News & Deals: Paypal Reverses Stance

News

Yesterday, Paypal announced that it would be reversing its stance on bans on fiction.  According to the Chicago Tribune, Paypal will look at books on an individual basis:

PayPal's new policy will focus only on e-books that contain potentially illegal images, not e-books that are limited to just text, spokesman Anuj Nayar said on Tuesday. The service will still refuse, however, to process payments for text-only e-books containing child pornography themes.

The revised policy will also focus...

How I Came to Appreciate Fan Fiction

I've been reading genre fiction (romance, mystery, SFF) for a very long time, but I didn't become aware of fan fiction as a category of writing, much less its role in creating community, until I found internet blogs about fiction writing. Back when I was reading mystery blogs regularly, I ran across a ranting post on the illegitimacy of writing stories using other authors' characters and worlds. Many commenters in the very long thread attempted to explain what attracted them, and to a person ...

REVIEW: Teach Me by Cassandra Dean

Dear Ms. Dean—

When you sent Dear Author a teaser for your novel Teach Me, you described it as an historical novel set in the early Victorian period. In describing the book, you wrote "romance will be the focus of the story with erotic elements. Sex and language will be hot, graphic and plentiful." You weren't joking about the sex. In fact, I wouldn't describe your book as an historical romance; I'd call it erotica set in a very imaginary Victorian London.

Your heroine, Elizabeth, the...

REVIEW of Teach Me by Cassandra Dean

Dear Ms. Dean—

When you sent Dear Author a teaser for your novel Teach Me, you described it as an historical novel set in the early Victorian period. In describing the book, you wrote "romance will be the focus of the story with erotic elements. Sex and language will be hot, graphic and plentiful." You weren't joking about the sex. In fact, I wouldn't describe your book as an historical romance; I'd call it erotica set in a very imaginary Victorian London.

Your heroine, Elizabeth, the...

REVIEW: Safeword: Matte by Candace Blevins

Dear Ms. Blevins,

I read this book because the concept intrigued me: a female fighter who is also submissive and wants her dominant to be able to fight her for her submission and win. I'm always looking for maledom BDSM romance I can stomach, and this seemed like it might work. I did indeed enjoy the concept but I doubt I'll read anything else of yours because your writing is so clunky. This is a huge shame, because I loved the accuracy of your portrayal of a BDSM relationship.

Sam is a...