PNR and SFR with special characters

If you like paranormal romance and the world of possibilities that it offers, read author Heather Massey's article at her great blog, The Galaxy Express, on SciFi romance and Paranormal romance with characters with that "something extra."

http://www.thegalaxyexpress.net/2014/05/sci-fi-romances-with-extranormal.html#more

We has arrived! 'Cuz TIME magazine said so!

Oh my! "Colored'' folk have arrived in romance novels! In interracial love matches! Someone alert the media! Oh my bad. Someone did. And the medium of choice was TIME magazine. So, I guess it's official. And it must be true. But you are about 20 years late and a dollar short, TIME. As usual the message was relayed to the masses by a rep of the default persuasion by using the graphic of her novel. Translation: An article heralding the inclusion of interracial love in romance books employed a book by a WHITE author to represent the genre. As usual the default messenger was used to relay a message revolving around a topic speaking about OTHER ethnicities! No, I am NOT saying this writer, or any other non-POC writer, should not write multicultural angles into their work. They should write what they want. I'm just saying that when authors who look like her do include these angles, do not trumpet the inclusion as "groundbreaking" and a "first." It's not groundbreaking. It's been around a long while. So when this "trend" catches the eye of major media, it telegraphs to me that this "new trend" in romance books is only sanctioned, legit and accepted when an example of it is written by the default author. Yeah, I said it. It's friggin' amazing. This "new trend" has been around since the NINETIES and was inaugurated by BLACK female writers because there were NO depictions of people of color as major characters in romance books. Be they in same race, or interracial, relationships. NONE. NADA. ZILCH. Publishers believed that love came in only one color and readers only wanted to read about that one color falling in love. Those BLACK women created the niche. Carved it out on their own. Fought tooth and nail to bring it to light. Yes, the article did mention the Black female biggies in the genre, even SPOKE with a few of the women for the article. But, alas, TIME Magazine did not find it germane to the article to post the COVERS to THEIR books. Major fail!

http://time.com/43710/interracial-romance-novels/

My guest post at the Multicultural Blog-A-Thon hosted by Yolanda Ashton

Today marks the debut of my guest post on the blog of Yolanda Ashton, owner of the blog, "The Darker the Romance...The Sweeter the Love." Yum. Gives me chills. In a good way. She is an author of paranormal romance with lots of twists and POC characters. Anyway, check out her blog and my contribution.

http://www.yolandaashton.wordpress.com.

Death to piracy. Now!

The page below from fellow author, Shiloh Walker's website says it all about book piracy. It sucks when one's hard work is taken for free and for granted. It's not flattering to an author when he/she discovers their book on a "sharing site" or a torrent site. IT"S STEALING. From the publisher. from the author and eventually YOU. You see when you download stuff that's not free, you lower the sales of that book. The publisher will probably alert the author that they are going to kill the series in question, if that's the case, or NOT taking on the next book period, because of low sales. So no more books for you to STEAL in a series or a standalone because that writer will not be offered a contract. They will have been CANCELLED. GET IT? GO READ FANFIC FOR FREE. STOP BEING CHEAP. If you cannot afford to buy books, there are tons of FREE reads available on the net. STOP STEALING. Whatever you call it or how ever you do it..

http://www.shilohwalker.com/website/readers-piracy/

Power to the Writer!

I am riding a promo streak this month and am very happy and serious. Please peruse author Heather Massey's brave blog entry about diversity in Sci-Fi and paranormal romance writing. It features and examines writers and/or characters who are PoC or not cisgendered or not able-bodied. You know, the real world. My stuff is spotlighted. SQUEEEEEEE! Check it out.

http://www.thegalaxyexpress.net/2014/05/we-need-diverse-books-in-science.html

Another promo link highlights my work too. In the APR/MAY issue of Book Trailer Showcase eMagazine on pg 137. Click on the interactive magazine to the left.

Disney's First Black princess does not bite her tongue!

I have admired actress, Anika Noni Rose since I first saw her performance in the HBO TV series, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. She and Jill Scott made my Sunday nights. Now, her outspokenness on how writers of color are ignored, if not shut out, of publishing on all fronts unless they are willing to pen stereotypical garbage and be lectured on how to make a story "relatable" (and that's if their work is considered at all), has won her a permanent seat at my table. Read her enlightening, no-holds-barred interview in the April issue of VANITY FAIR at this link

  http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2014/04/anika-noni-rose-a-raisin-in-the-sun-segregated-literature

Romance book covers: The trends, the politics

Gotta bring this up again. I confess even my books' covers have shirtless guys but at least they have HEADS! But I think the tide is turning. I've seen a number of new m/m, erotic and billionaire/BDSM (God, when are they going away?) releases with guys in SUITS with HEADS! Hey, could it be that the gay community is demanding better covers because it's known for sartorial elegance and art departments want to reflect it in the new covers. Right? Sounds good. Think "Will and Grace." Slim, impeccably dressed  guy who loves opera and interior decor. Yeah. That's the ticket. Or, I'm completely wrong and art departments are sick and tired of trying to pose the same ripped, tatted, headless, naked, White guy across beds, motorcycles, doorways, rugs, deck chairs and other ripped, tatted, headless, naked, White guys. Just me thinkin' out loud. But mark my words, clothes seem to be makin' a comeback for male romance cover models no matter the genre.

Covers in regular contemporary romances (if a guy is even on the cover) have guys who tend to run toward Dockers, khakis, boat shoes and polos. Very boy-next-door. But that can be deceiving because the boy-next-door today is usually the Dom-next-door. So his closet probably has scads of leather too.

The women. Well...the trend for every freakin' historical romance cover I've seen has been a ball-gowned female draped across a set of stairs, a divan, a window, a balcony. a desk or slumped against a bare-chested man. And the dress is always hanging off her. And this is the trend no matter the historical era.

Contemporary romance cover heroines tend to be the messy haired, angst-y, tank top, jeans slung low wearing, broken girls of New Adult. The paranormal/urban fantasy wardrobe is set in stone. Hero: leather. Heroine: leather. Oh and sharp weapons and tattoos. Even the angels. No exceptions.

But what's not makin' a comeback (or if it ever was present in the first place) are truthful depictions of race on romance book covers. Another uncomfortable truth at work here is, come closer kiddies, "Books depicting non-White characters and that announce it by their covers, do not sell well." And to be able to make a blip on the public's radar, one must make sales and appeal to the "mainstream public." Oh my, what's a non-White writer of multicultural and interracial romance to do?

At the smaller pub I get published through, the art department has always depicted the AA heroine in my paranormal series as the African-American she is. Yeah, yeah, I know. I know We come in all shades but the artist has never "whitewashed" her. Tina is clearly NOT Caucasian. I love the art department for that. But...if one publishes with a major publisher (and you get big props for that if you are non-White. We mostly get rejected) and your non-White character carries the story, that book cover will show "color-neutral" characters. Who the Hell invented that friggin' insulting out? Some bean counter for sure. And why? Because the sales of books released by the bigger houses with covers showing non-White characters are quite low. Unless said house has a division for multicultural works. And publishers do not like losing moolah. Another way out of depicting the character is to NOT show them at all. Just paste a pretty picture of some items associated with the theme of the story. Let's call it what it is people: ERASURE. Plain and simple. To preserve a bottom line and appease an audience that mostly doesn't like what the cover implies: a story not written to the default ethnicity of romance by a writer of that default ethnicity. Shudder! Shudder!

This is where Sci-fi romance and paranormal romance get my vote. At smaller pubs, they don't care! They want a good story. Straight, gay, fluid, multicultural, alien. Come one. Come all.

There, I said it. One more thing. I recently saw a cover reveal for a romance coming out in August. The cover showed a nude, from the waist up, muscular, BLACK man (no head) with the arm of a clearly Caucasian female draped across his neck from behind. I could hear the squeeing through my PC. Romancelandia and Harper Collins will be patting themselves on the back when this appears. Can't wait to hear if this will be touted as "ground breaking." To me, if it sells, that'll be ground breaking. Then again the author is White. It could do well if she fulfills her fans' fantasy. Folks do crave dependable agency. I could say soooooo much more but let me shut it down.

PS. Just had a flash of horror! My latest will be a historical set in Colonial America. The main characters are a free African-American female and an indigenous Oneida male. Oh God! Visions of a cascading headdress (I believe only the Plains tribes wore them and not all the friggin' time, people!), feathers, loincloths. Oh man. No. Just no. I want them in Colonial attire. I can see the emails flying back and forth now. Not gonna be easy because the "Indian romance" has mostly always been set in the American West with a male from some Plains tribe and a white female captive. Covers have forever shown a half-naked, noble savage clutching a, at first, unwilling blond/brunette/redhead who warms up quick and never wants to return to CIVILIZATION after getting to know him, or is that getting known by him, in the biblical sense? A certain, prolific, popular, romance writer comes to mind. Her ENTIRE career has been this tired plot device. And has made her monster cash. All I can say is, my story is different and calls for a totally different cover. I know my art department will come through.

That's all I have for this installment. Meanwhile, I'll keep checking the virtual shelves for any new cover stuff.