Elizabeth Ellen Carter's Blog, page 15

Elizabeth’s Library Book Club: Lady Charlotte’s Marquess by Fiona Miers

Chesterfield couch, in royal purple – just perfect for our distinguished guest on tonight’s show.

The glamorous Fiona Miers

It’s been quite a while since the purple couch has seen a guest, so I’m delighted to welcome Fiona Miers, historical, contemporary and erotic romance author whose series on ‘heirs and spares’ is great fun.

I can see you’ve had so much fun with your ‘spares’ series. What is the appeal of the younger son?

I have had a lot of fun, thanks Elizabeth. The appeal wasn’t necessarily the younger son, but rather, a hero who doesn’t covet his father/brothers title and power, but through no fault of their own, they do inherit. Their journey while going through that change and meeting their heroin was what I loved.

What interesting things did you find out when you were researching Lady Charlotte’s Marquess?

Lots of little things, like the different ways of spelling Marquess, but mostly that several of the scenes I had written weren’t appropriate for the era- and yet I couldn’t bring myself to withdraw them. Especially those discussing ‘marital relations.’

It seems like it is Archibald who has struggled most to conform to his obligations. What has made it difficult for him?

Archie will be a perfect Marquess, but what he fears the most is what will happen when people discover his family’s secret. He believes he, and his new wife, will be shunned by all of society, and after spending his whole life trying to be the best gentleman he can be, Archie is terrified it will all fall down around his ears and the woman he loves will be hurt.

What is it about Archibald that attracts Charlotte when it seemed she could have any man lay at her feet?

Charlotte is spoilt for attention and I think she’s attracted to Archie because he doesn’t pander to her beauty or spirit. He challenges her, he’s a mystery, and when she learns that he’s in trouble, Charlotte enjoys stepping up to love and support him.

What are you working on next?

The third book – Rupert’s story, currently names Lizzie’s Earl is the next book in the series. My editor has the first half and I’m currently polishing the second half. Rupert is my most rakish Spare. He’s fun, charismatic and when he meets Lizzie, he falls in love for the very first time. 

Thank you so much for visiting, Fiona!

Blurb

Lady Charlotte is a Duke’s daughter to her very bones. She has everything her heart desires, except for the love that she secretly craves. A child of an ugly, planned marriage, she dreads the union that her parents have and swears never to marry for anything less that perfect love.

But that seems unlikely when she lives in a world of rogues, and callous gentleman. No-one is good enough for her and she will not give herself to anyone who is unworthy. Even if her brother’s friend Archie is mysterious and handsome, drawing her attention like no other.

Archibald Turner’s life took a swift turn at the tender age of eighteen when he learned a horrific fate had settled on his brother, and Archie himself would inherit his father’s title. One of the famed ‘Spares’- he did not want the responsibility of his father’s mantle. However, duty called and he turned himself into the most perfect version that he possibly could, dreading the day fate will deliver the ugly blow.

 

The one thing he can’t control is his love for the strong, audacious Lady Charlotte. She makes him yearn for a future that isn’t his for the taking; and yet, when she starts to show him favour, the impossible starts to become possible and the dreams the Archie has suppressed for so long, swim into his life in bold, vivid color.

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#MyWorkMyRights

Imagine you design and build a house, and live in it for 20 years. You hope to leave it as an asset to your children. Then the government says you don’t own it anymore and invites other people to move in.

Imagine you’ve built a successful business designing innovative products your customers love but, after 20 years, a government agency decides anyone can take your products for free. They can even sell them if they want and give you nothing for all the time and money you invested.

Incredibly, that’s the serious proposal of the Australian Productivity Commission which is conducting a review of Australia’s copyright and intellectual property law.

As the law currently stands, copyright on creative works such as books, music, movies and the creative arts lasts 70 years after the death of the creator. It allows a person to benefit from their work in their lifetime and leave an asset to benefit their children and heirs.

According to the draft Productivity Commission report issued on 29 April, an author’s, musician’s, filmmaker’s or artist’s right to their own work should last only 20 years from the date of creation then pass into the public domain.

The Commission might say patents already have a limited lifespan of 20 years. So why is it an issue when applied to books or films?

The answer is simple.

Anyone wishing to take advantage of an extinguished industrial patent faces tooling up costs of hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars. They also need to spend an equal amount of money in operating costs and marketing to distinguish their product in the marketplace.

In the case of creative works in the internet age, there is no tooling up and few operating costs. All it takes is a single digital copy which is inexpensively obtained.

That means countless people taking your work for nothing or trading on the value of your name and investment – and you do not receive one red cent.

I am an author. My first novel, Moonstone Obsession, was published in 2013.

To an author, the value of their current work is predicated on the exclusivity of their ‘back catalogue’ – their pre-existing works.

Since the release of my second and third novels, I have sold more copies of Moonstone Obsession than I did in that book’s first year.

Each of my stories cost me many hundreds of hours toil and are assets as tangible as bricks and mortar houses.

Each novel’s on-going earning capacity is essential to support me financially for the rest of my life. They are also a legacy to my heirs.

Here is how ridiculous the Productivity Commission’s proposal is:

Under their changes, The Rolling Stones would only hold copyright in this country on two studio albums – everything prior to Bridges to Babylon (1997) would be in the public domain. I can imagine what Mick Jagger would have to say about that.

Next year, JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997) would fall to the public domain for anyone in Australia to republish, reprint and make money from.Can you imagine any self-respecting artist allowing their work to be published in this country if they could not hold the rights to it for at least their lifetime?

The APC’s proposal truly beggars belief.

The Productivity Commission’s excuse is that $8.8 billion dollars annually is paid to overseas copyright holders.

Big deal. No, seriously, I mean it. Who cares?

Each and every day Australians spend their hard earned money on arts and entertainment they enjoy and the artists who create that entertainment are quite rightly paid for it.

While it can be argued that arts grant seekers do owe a debt to the taxpayers who fund their grants, the vast majority of commercial fiction authors and musicians self-fund their creative endeavours. I know I do.

And in the genre I write in – romantic fiction – few authors ask for grants and even fewer receive them.

Beyond taxes, such authors, composers, filmmakers and artists owe a debt only to fans who voluntarily purchase their books and music.

Australia’s Productivity Commission needs to hear in no uncertain terms that its proposal will do untold harm to the creative industries in this country. Any Australian politician who supports such proposals should, frankly, be hounded from office.

The government has no right to steal a citizen’s asset and give it to someone else.

That is theft.

What a sad turn of events that in little more than 100 years, Australia has gone from a country built on free and fair trade principles to becoming a regime where (intellectual) property is theft.

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Prizes and Giveaways!

Who loves prizes and giveaways – particularly free books?

Imagine having your e-reader full of wonderful romance novels to read and an Amazon gift card with which to buy  even more books!

Sounds like heaven right?

Well take a look at this! (Click the image for the full details)

By entering you’ll have a chance to win a copy of Moonstone Conspiracy as well as some of the wonderful books on offer.

But wait! There’s more!

If you can’t wait until June, another promotion starts from now until the 14th of May. A $185 Amazon gift card is up for grabs and a chance to win 29 ebooks!

For details of that promotion, head to my Elizabeth’s Library Book Club here. There’s lot of fun to be had with upcoming Facebook author parties so be sure to sign up for the library to get all the details.

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Outlander Alternatives – Part 3: Danger UXB (1979)

Hey Baby… Outlander is back.

It’s a very good time to be a fan of historical romance – with two huge television series, Outlander and Poldark, capturing the imagination (and the hearts!) of viewers around the world.

The second season of Outlander is about to start now screening for lucky people with access to pay television, while the second season of Poldark will be a second half of the year treat.

So I thought now would be a good time to take a look at other television historical romances – some of which have been long forgotten or miscategorised as adventure or children’s stories.

Some episodes of the series I’ll review are in the public domain and are available to legitimately and freely download from the likes of Archive.org, others will have an episode or two loaded onto YouTube.

We’ve looked at Smuggler and The Adventures of Robin Hood.

This time we’ll flash forward to the early to mid-20th century to another romance.

 This week it is: Danger UXB.



Story below the break












Nominated for two awards

Liberty! Fraternity!… Conspiracy

Moonstone Conspiracy

Finalist 2015 Australian Romance Readers Awards (Historical Romance)
Nominee 2016 RONE Awards

buy now





The Series – Danger UXB


This series is an example of the type of drama that the British used to do so well. It is very much a narrative driven story, relying on the underlying tension of the times for dramatic impetus, rather than being a star/personality driven story.

Based on the memoir of Major AB Hartley, the series was always intended to be a self-contained. This in itself raises tension because the viewer never knows which characters will make it through to the end – not even the hero himself, Lieutenant Brian Ash (Anthony Andrews) is guaranteed a happy ending.

The Plot

Danger UXB tells the story of 97 Tunnelling Company in London, part of a squadron whose mission is to defuse the UneXploded Bombs (UXB) that the Germans have dropped in the Blitz. We see a city under seige and the good, the bad and the ugly of human nature as cilivians try to get on with their lives as well as they possibly can defended by men at home as well as abroad.

Lieutenant Brian Ash (Anthony Andrews) is a young officer assigned to the unit as an engineer but he’s been given no training as a bomb disposal officer – as you can imagine, the role is dangerous and HQ scrambles to come up with new procedures to safely defuse every new iteration of bomb that Germany develops. The series presents a series of vignettes of those men from all backgrounds gentry and working folk – career officers and draftees – rubbing along together.

We’ll fall in love with some and detest others. Over the course of the series we’ll mourn some and never forget their bravery. This may be a work of fiction but the human story is all too real.

The Hero
In terms of period drama Anthony Andrews owned the late 1970s and 1980s – best known for playing Sebastian in Brideshead Revisited and arguably the best portrayal of the Scarlet Pimpernel – Andrews’ depiction of Ash is superb. He walks between two worlds, that of an upper class gentleman, debonair and educated but also mixes easily with the men under this command.

As a romantic hero, Brian Ash would be described as a beta hero – a Mr Nice Guy. He’s brave, dependable and thoughtful – just the type of guy you’d take home to mum. He also has a sense of honour and is severely conflicted when he falls in love with Susan a married woman emotionally and physically estranged from her husband.


The Heroine
Susan is played by Judy Geeson (who played Caroline Penvenen in the 1970s adaptation of Poldark). Susan is the daughter of Dr Gillespie, a somewhat eccentric character who is convinced that he has developed a safe way of diffusing a new type of bomb with a lethal anti-tampering device. She assists her father in his work. She is married but not happily so. Her husband is at Bletchley Park working on what we know now would have been top secret decoding work. Her affair with Brian Ash is inevitable, natural and tender, the circumstances of war suspending certain proprieties.

What makes it a romance

This is an adult romance where the nature of Brian and Susan’s relationship is not straight forward and destined for heartbreak. They love each other, but they have greater responsibilities – he to the deadly nature of his work and the care of his men, and she to her estranged husband, who needs her even more as a result of his nervous breakdown.

Is there a HEA?
There is, but considering the complications of their relationship and the dangerous nature of Brian’s work, it was never going to be easy or inevitable. One thing is for certain, you will never know until you get right to the last minute – when things go with a bang.

Conclusion
As good fortune would have it Danger UXB – the entire series – appears to be available on YouTube. Here’s the first episode.

Rating
Romance: 3 Hearts
Adventure: 5 Hearts

Next week: North and South (1985-1994) – yes, I know I said that last week, but I got distracted.


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Outlander Alternatives – Part 2: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955-60)

Hey Baby… Outlander is back.

It’s a very good time to be a fan of historical romance – with two huge television series, Outlander and Poldark, capturing the imagination (and the hearts!) of viewers around the world.

The second season of Outlander is about to start screening for lucky people with access to pay television, while the second season of Poldark will be a second half of the year treat.

So I thought now would be a good time to take a look at other television historical romances – some of which have been long forgotten or miscategorised as adventure or children’s stories.

Some episodes of the series I’ll review are in the public domain and are available to legitimately and freely download from the likes of Archive.org, others will have an episode or two loaded onto YouTube.

Last week, we looked at Smuggler.

We go back more than 60 years for this week’s Outlander Alternative.

(I was asked last week, why it should be an Outlander ‘alternative’ and when people would enjoy both. My only defense is that my sleepy Saturday morning brain latched on to the alliteration and wouldn’t let go).

 This week it is: The Adventures of Robin Hood.



Story below the break












Award-winning medieval romance…

A secret from their past could destroy their future

Warrior’s Surrender

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The Series – The Adventures of Robin Hood


This series is delightful on so many levels from its production values, scripting and ensemble cast of players including many names who would become significant stars in the 1960s and beyond including a dashing Paul Eddington, Edward Mulhare, Patrick Troughton, Donald Pleasance, Leslie Phillips, Leo McKern, Gordon Jackson.



Because of the age of the series, it has now fallen into the public domain which means it is free to download and watch, which you can do from Archive.org and it only when you binge watch instead of watching it as a weekly series as it was originally intended, you get to see a strong cast of supporting players in multiple roles – a villain in one episode, a peasant in other, and there he is again as a nobleman.


The Plot

We’re all familiar with the plot of Robin Hood, so I won’t repeat it here but I will point out that this series is no paint by numbers affair.

Like Smuggler before it, The Adventures of Robin Hood was billed as a ‘family’ series but don’t make the mistake of thinking of cardboard cut out characters.

Friar Tuck (Alexander Gauge) may love his food but he’s not a rolly poly clown. He is respected as a clergyman and is truly wily when it matters, but never at the expense of his principles.

Little John uses his brains as well as his brawn. also played Lestrade in the mid 1950s Sherlock Holmes TV series starring Ronald Howard, the son of the late (and boy is the man the spitting image of his father!).

Now we get to the main characters Robin Hood and Maid Marion.


The Hero
Played by with Errol Flynn like panache, Robin of Loxley owns Sherwood Forest along with his band of Merry Men. He’s a dashing hero, one with a ready smile and a quick wit, but under-estimate him at your peril. He is driven by a strong sense of justice, not only towards his rag tag band of miscreants but also to the villagers around Nottingham.


The Heroine
Played by two actresses Bernadette O’Farrell and Patricia Driscoll during the five run, Maid Marion is no passive participant in Robin’s adventures. She is a skilled rider and an archer in her own right. She is the only person other than Friar Tuck who can move between the world of the law and the ‘lawless’ with impugnity and the two often work in concert on the ‘outside’.

What makes it a romance

Two lovers separated by circumstances have a clandestine affair aware that danger lurks if they’re uncovered. That’s a trope I’m looking forward to exploring in one of my stories one day, but back to Robin and Marion.

Their relationship is friendly and familiar. This is not the flush of new romance but one which simmers.

Is there a HEA?
We don’t get to see a HEA for these two – at least not in the conventional sense. They are ‘together’ even when they’re apart and there is no doubting the devotion these two have for each other.

Conclusion
Don’t wait, download the series now and get your kids to binge watch this over the school holidays.

Rating
Romance: 3 Hearts
Adventure: 4 Hearts

Next week: North and South (1985-1994)


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Outlander Alternatives – Part 1: Smuggler (1982)

Hey Baby… Outlander is back.

It’s a very good time to be a fan of historical romance – with two huge television series, Outlander and Poldark, capturing the imagination (and the hearts!) of viewers around the world.

The second season of Outlander is about to start screening for lucky people with access to pay television, while the second season of Poldark will be a second half of the year treat.

So I thought now would be a good time to take a look at other television historical romances – some of which have been long forgotten or miscategorised as adventure or children’s stories.

Some episodes of the series I’ll review are in the public domain and are available to legitimately and freely download from the likes of Archive.org, others will have an episode or two loaded onto YouTube.

Scroll down to take a look at the first episode of our “Outlander Alternatives”.

This week it is: Smuggler.

The DVD cover of Smuggler

Story below the break












Wreckers, romance, obsession and danger…

Discover Cornwall’s hidden secrets in

Moonstone Obsession

buy now





The Series – Smuggler


Billed as a children’s story, this 13 episode series first screened in 1982 as a TV vehicle for who had already become a heart throb as Joan Collins’ leading man in the 1979 screen adaptation of sister Jackie Collins novel The Stud.


The Plot
In 1802, former navy lieutenant Jack Vincent (Tobias) turns his back on a naval career after an incident and sets up as a Smuggler on the English Coast.

He becomes the unwilling guardian of a Welsh lad, the misnamed Honesty (Hywel Williams-Ellis), evades the Revenuers and starts a romance with Sarah Morton (), the feisty and independent granddaughter of local gentry.


The Hero
Jack Vincent is a classic alpha male hero – tall, dark, handsome and brooding. Aged in his early 30s, he is a man of the world. He has seen a lot of life and death and has been haunted by it. His full back story is hinted at but only fully revealed at the end of the series. He is quick tempered but has a deep sense of justice and is not afraid to put his own life on the line for the welfare of others.


The Heroine
Sarah Morton is a young woman who knows her own mind. Aged between 18-21, she is devoted to her only living relative, her grandfather who is the local gentry. Like Vincent, Sarah too is quick tempered but she is also quick witted. She dislikes Vincent at first but the attraction on their first meeting is undeniable. Her attitude to him begins to soften as she sees him care for Honesty and she too takes the young lad under her wing.

Honesty and Sarah plead for the life of Jack Vincent when his true identity is revealed.

What makes it a romance

In many respects Smuggler is a lot like Poldark in the sense that the adventure and the characters drive the story. The beautiful rugged coastline is also lovingly filmed.

The kiss.

We see the relationship between Vincent and Sarah develop across the series from initial distrust, sometimes exasperation to a deep sense of longing.

As befitting a show of this type, Smuggler thrives of unresolved sexual tension between the hero and the heroine and what is left unsaid through lingering glances is worth a thousand words.

Is there a HEA?
There is a ‘happy for now’ with an acknowledgement of feelings between Vincent and Sarah but there is one more adventure in Vincent’s future, so we are left to imagine a ‘happily ever after’ off screen.

Conclusion
This is a delightful TV series, with plenty of action and adventure as well as romance. The chemistry between Tobias and Dunlop is undeniable.

Just watch this clip below from the 4:55 mark



Rating
Romance: 4 Hearts
Adventure: 5 Hearts

Next week: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955)


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Going, Going, Gone With The Wind

Well, they don’t call it Hollyweird for nothing, I suppose.

In the era of endless comic book movies, children’s stories and an almost endless run of films celebrating pathological stunted emotional development, it seems Hollywood had long given up on creating great original movies for adults.

The great spiral downward of lowered expectations and low brow tastes continues with endless cycle of remakes hoping for the box office dollar based on nothing more artistic than resurrecting the corpse of classic films of time gone by.

Quentin Tarrantino is the best known of the cinematic necrophiliacs but vying for the title are Tom McCarthy (fresh off Oscar-winning Spotlight) and screen writer Phillip Adams (not be be confused with the Australian media personality) but who oddly enough for a tinsel town player does not have an IMDB bio.

The film in their sights: Gone with the Wind.

Let’s listen to the articulate and erudite Adam’s talking about remaking arguably one of the greatest Hollywood classics of all time:

The script I wrote was pretty wild. Like, all the same things happen in this script as it did in the first movie, but there’s just some amazing, off the wall great things thrown in. We were worried we’d get no funding or have no stars interested in acting in the film. We couldn’t have been more wrong. People really liked it. I think people appreciated the idea that I was adding something new and not just rehashing the exact same film. We can’t wait to start. We’re already in pre-production mode. We start shooting in a July.

“just some amazing, off the wall great things thrown in” – like what? Zombies? Been there, done that. Vampires? That’s soooo yesterday. Sticking to Mitchell’s original book? Well Selznick did a pretty good job at that despite quibbles I have about romanticising what was really a nasty bitch of a character.

But perhaps I’m being too hasty. Perhaps a remake could work if we examine the film from a different character’s point of view – how fascinating if we could see the world of Tara, Seven Oaks and Atlanta from the perspective of Ashley Wilkes or Melanie Wilkes (still my favourite character) or Rhett Butler or Mammy.

Join Elizabeth’s Library Book Club today!
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Or perhaps we have an unvarnished take on the real Scarlett O’Hara:

She abandons two of her four children
She marries a man she does not love for revenge
She relentlessly pursues a married man
She steals her sister’s beau and ends up getting the man killed
She is motivated by jealousy, hate  and fear
She’s reckless
She’s an alcoholic

But what concerns me more than the things Adams may throw into the mix, but what things may be taken out or sanitised for today’s historically ignorant, moral busybody, hypersensitive safe-space seeking, trigger-warning demanding audiences.

I’ve written about this before.

We already have prominent mainstream media outlets seriously spouting the notion that Gone With The Wind should be deep sixed into the memory hole of problematic pieces of art.

Gone with the Wind falls foul of today’s political correctness:

Its prejudicial stereotype of African Americans (hands up, who didn’t want to strangle lazy and whiny Prissy?)
The KKK is not condemned but applauded for its actions
The Confederate flag
Presenting those evil slave-holding southerners as heroes of the piece
Rhett Butler gets a little ‘rapey’ with Scarlett

A remake of Gone with the Wind that remained true to its source material would not be green lit by Hollywood today, which leave one to ponder exactly how they will treat Margaret Mitchell’s book.

One way or another, it ain’t going to be pretty and I don’t care if Hugh Jackman is going to star.

P.S. The featured image is a satirical take on the classic Gone With The Wind poster from a 1985 advertisement from The Socialist Worker. I’m assuming there’s no copyright on this because as socialists, they would agree, as Karl Marx did, that property is theft.

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Sweet Dreams Are Made Of These

Last year I attended an interesting panel session at the Romance Writers of Australia which featured some wonderful best-selling historical romance authors.

In the Q&A panel the question of historical accuracy came up and every one admitted that they fudged historical accuracy for the sake of the story.

One admitted putting buttons on her heroes’ shirts for the pleasure of ripping said garment open in a moment of passion – who could argue with that?

In the world of historical fiction, there a fine line authors tread – woe betide if you waltz too early (although I’ll stand by mine), drink whisky or fudge the date of birth of a real historical character! – and the line is balanced by painstaking academic historical accuracy and creating a rollicking good story that readers thoroughly enjoy.

Which brings me to this post.

Much of Captive of the Corsairs takes place on a schooner called the Calliope. It’s a decent sized ship, crewed by 12-15 men but nowhere near as large as a clipper.

In every seafaring and piratical historical romance I’ve read, the captain has had an enormous bed on which to seduce the heroine – swoon!

The reality is, space onboard ship is at a premium and every bit of furniture and storage has to be carefully considered and designed to maximise a confined space.

Nothing has changed – boats, caravans and ‘tiny houses‘ are designed on the some principles.

So a large lump of real estate devoted to merely the comfort and pleasure of the captain stretches historical accuracy.

In fact period captain’s beds look more like these:

 

More comfy than a hammock, and a useful daybed for meeting with the crew officers but not exactly a four poster.

Can there be a compromise? I think so. Captain Kit Hardacre’s bed will be something in between – luxurious enough for nocturnal activity and practical enough for a working ship.

Can Kit capture Sophia’s… heart with this bed?

What do you think? Are the any lines of historical accuracy you think an author should not cross?

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Dear Alanis, There Is Something ‘You Oughta Know’

Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette writes in Time magazine.

Alanis!

It’s lovely to hear from you after all this time.

You don’t think about someone for years and then it’s like bumping into someone you knew from high school.

Ah yes, it’s good to reminisce, loved You Oughta Know, the angry girl anthem of what – twenty-one years ago? And I can almost forgive you ruining the English language by mangling the definition of Ironic.

My, time flies.

But that’s in the past. What are you doing now?

We need a revolution to the feminist revolution. And it needs to be brought to the fore of our awareness in order to heal what ails our times on this planet.

Feminism needs a revolution, you say?

Well yes, I can agree with you there. Today’s third wave-intersectional feminists are like Alexander who wept because there were no more worlds left to conquer.

But not content to weep, wail, invent nonsense words and nonsense grievances, they ignore the plight of the sisterhood who aren’t as fortunate to live in prosperous democratic countries.

So tell me, how do you see this revolution taking shape? What are the objectives?

This patriarchal acting-out is ultimately an indication of our collective spiritual and emotional immaturity. And if we are to heal our way out of this disconnected way of living, we would have to heal by growing our undeveloped aspects of ourselves, and take that healing process very seriously.

Ah, you’ve lost me there with that made-up boogie man, ‘patriarchy’.

I’m surprised that a wealthy successful artist such as yourself need the external validation of a daddy figure to forge your own career, you know:

When I was producing on my own, I was doing it in order to – in a very patriarchal entertainment industry, let alone planet – very much hell-bent on trying to prove to myself, if nothing else, that I could do it as a woman.

Oooh, what’s this? ‘Empowered masculine’?

In fact, if I were to add anything to my personal exuberant sense of being a feminist, it would be that feminism is incomplete without its dualistic brother, its complement, and, ideally, its greatest supporter: the empowered masculine.

I like the sound of that.

Sadly, in the attempt to promote equality, the pendulum has swing too far in the other direction with the feminisation of culture. High male joblessness, suicide rates, low rates of academic attainment and men suffer more after after a relationship breakdown, all mean we are letting down a generation of y…

Wait, what?

In areas of the newly empowered masculine, things like competition, and the divisive mindset that competition requires would quell. The sublimation of emotions and the rewarding for that would wane, and men and women alike would be less resistant to the natural flow of emotions that course through their bodies every day, serving as intuitive indications to be investigated, versus sensations to be obliterated through stoicism or medicating. Aggression would be used when appropriate (during a workout, or while climbing a mountain, or while lifting something heavy while serving the whole), and the propensity to serve and protect would be geared toward those who warrant this provision and protection: the feminine within and without, and the more vulnerable…

Oh Alanis, don’t you know? Men thrive on competition, it has what has made our civilisation prosperous. Competition is in the male DNA – it is part of the questing nature that we real ’empowered women’ love.

To quote the great feminist thinker, Camille Paglia:

If civilization had been left in female hands we would still be living in grass huts.

As a romance writer I love all those things in men that you claim to be a problem. Men are born to be heroes, women are born to be heroines of their own life’s adventure. And here’s something, they go further in their quest, do better in life and are more satisfied when they do it together.

I love nothing more than bringing two characters together, a man and a woman who despite their differences and their weaknesses, have the bravery to take a risk that a love and a life together will make them happier, stronger, successful and more fulfilled.

It may have escaped your notice, but men and women are fundamentally different. And vive le difference, I say.

Competition? Bring it on. We human beings love to compete – against one another, against the clock – and, even more importantly against ourselves to end each day striving towards our own personal best.

You see this is the difference between high school and the real world Alanis –  men and women actually like one another. The best of us aren’t trying to keep the other down. We work together using our innate differences and strengths to build a happier and prosperous future.

You can’t ’empower males’ to make them exactly like women. They wouldn’t be men if you did.

Empowered men aren’t threatened by women, they welcome them working by their side (as long as they pulling their weight and aren’t demanding privilege).

Empowered men are impressed by women who roll up their sleeves and get on with the job and don’t demand a gold star for it.

Empowered women recognise that the differences between the sexes isn’t a threat. They know something of the male psyche and appreciate that there is no more a loyal life’s companion than a man who knows that his wife (yes, I’m old fashioned like that) has his back.

Well, it’s good to see you again and we’ll probably catch up in another 20 years time. The high school bell finished tolling years ago. I hope you discover the real world before you’re too old to enjoy it.

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The Joy & The Sadness

This weekend I spent some quality time with wonderful author friends – Susanne Bellamy, Noelle Clark, Demelza Carlton and TP Hogan, as well as partying with favourites Suzi Love, Hazel Gower, Tamara Gill and Khloe Wren (okay, okay, enough name dropping).

Noelle pointed out that authors are a strange mix of introverts and extroverts. We spend so much time in our own heads, bringing stories and characters to life. And in many respects it is a solo journey that, if we’re lucky, we’ll have a spouse, a friend, a fellow author that we can share some of the road with.

It is a painstaking and sometimes slow process.

Then there is another side to us. The extrovert side. Perhaps it comes from being too confined in our imaginations for so many months that when we’re finally let loose among real living, breathing, walking-around people we go a little crazy. And moreover, these people we meet get us in a way very few others do – they’re writers, bloggers, reviewers and readers.

They don’t think it at all strange to want to talk about fictional characters as if they are real – because in that space and time, those characters are real.

That is the joy.

The sadness is two-fold.

First, like all good things, it has to come to an end. People have to go home, back to their day jobs, their families and back to the ‘writing cave’, having had the wellspring of imagination replenished.

Secondly, in the case of Readers Writers Down Under, we were told at last night’s gala dinner, that the event just past would be the last. We were saddened but we understood. Jodie O’Brien has driven this project for three years – each time improving the experience for everyone, but the physical, emotional and financial toll were too much.

Hopefully, someone else might pick up the baton, but we authors owe a debt of gratitude for Jodie’s dedication in bringing authors and readers together.

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