Embarrased by Romance... What?

Over at SF Novelists, there's a really interesting blog by Jackie Kessler about what happens when you discover that cool novel everyone is talking about is shelved in the (*gasp*) romance section called You Shelved it... Where?

I wrote a comment (actually my alter ego did) amounting to the fact that I understand why someone might have felt embarrassed to go into the romance section years ago, but I don't get it any more. I was just at my hometown B&N last weekend standing in the romance section looking at books. There was a surprising amount of erotica with some fairly racy covers, but they're not the kinds of covers that used to make me cringe -- you know the ones with, well, Fabio looking down some babe's cleavage. Now there's a lot more photographic covers (some that still make me blush, but in a TOTALLY different way, see the cover for VAMPIRE QUEEN'S SERVANT I posted here... yowch! HOT!!!) and the cartoonish, stylized ones like the ones I've got.

Plus, I think that a lot of what she's talking about comes from the fact that people like to have someone to look down on, and for a lot of my SF/F friends, that's romance. It's peer pressure based on misinformation. Romance gets the big dis because people still think writers are writing to a formula and that all the heroines are wall-flowers in pink sundresses waiting for a man to make it all right. Anyone whose read romance in the last decade knows better than that.

Romance is where some of the best writing is happening right now. I say, go to that section with pride, sister!

Another Review for Many Bloody Returns

I'm not mentioned in this one from Amy's Book Nook, but it's still fun to see:

Birthdays mean another year is behind you, that you are another year older. But what if you were an immortal creature, such as a vampire? How would a birthday’s significance affect you? That is the issue several best-selling authors tackle in "Many Bloody Returns" edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner, who also contributed a tale for the anthology.

New York Times best-selling authors Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher and Kelley Armstrong all bring back well-known characters from their series to mark another year older — regardless of whether they age.

Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse attends the vampire holiday of Dracula’s birthday — the party is held on my birthday, which is a fun coincidence. But as all vampires gather around the world to hope the presumed dead Dracula will show up at one of the festivities — what would happen if he actually did? Hilarity and chaos, of course!

Armstrong’s Cassandra also must tackle her vampire birthday, a time at which all vampires must feed or start the process of dying. Cassandra is finding it hard to maintain interest in her immortal lifestyle — is it a sign of ennui or something more deadly? Armstrong proves what a talented writer she is in this short, heart-wrenching piece.

Butcher’s wizard detective Harry Dresden is looking to celebrate his vampire half-brother’s birthday. But when delivering his gift he stumbles upon a group of humans playing vampires - to the deadly delight of some real vampires. It is up to Harry to save the day again, in typical Harry fashion, by practically destroying the place!

"Many Bloody Returns" also invites readers to try stories from Christopher Golden, Bill Crider, P.N. Elrod, Rachel Caine, Jeanne C. Stein, Tanya Huff, Carolyn Haines, Tate Hallaway and Elaine Viets.

"Many Bloody Returns" is published by Berkley, a division of Penguin. It is $24.95 and 355 pages long.

New Review for Dead Sexy

Rambles.net has posted a new review of Dead Sexy. Here are the best parts:

I wasn't that crazy about the zombie portion of this story, as it seemed a little far-fetched to me (yeah, I know this is a vampire book!) and I had a really hard time buying into it. Otherwise, I think Hallaway really wrote a tale with a lot of feeling this time around. There is so much going on between Garnet, Sebastian, Parrish and Dominguez, emotionally, and she writes it beautifully on each page. Garnet must come to terms with and say goodbye to her past and there are several heartfelt moments that made me a little weepy.

This was an excellent followup to the first book. I really enjoyed Dead Sexy and it was a hard book to set down. The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger, leaving me hoping Hallaway is a fast writer and will be coming out with the third book -- soon

Oh, and P.S. today is the first official day MANY BLOODY RETURNS is out.