Lucia Macro
Executive Editor Morrow/Avon
Have a look at the Proust Questionnaire, I thought it might also be more fun for me to tell you:
Six random things about myself
1) I can’t swim. I sink like a stone! However, I’m curiously unafraid of the water.
2) I didn’t get a driving license until I was over 30. I’m sure New York State regrets giving in to my tears the 4th time I took the road test.
3) However, I learned to read when I had just turned 4.
4) I once met George Hamilton. He is very tan.
5) Nine times out of ten I can identify a movie shown on TCM in less than five seconds.
6) No one in my family will talk on the phone during a thunderstorm. In fact, it’s legitimate to sign off by saying “Can’t talk now! I hear thunder.”
Here are some answers to that questionnaire:
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
To be stuck on an airplane next to someone unpleasant
What is your idea of earthly happiness?
A lifelong beachside vacation
Who are your favorite writers?
I prefer all Brontes over Austen. Dorothy Parker. I’ve read every Luanne Rice book there is.
Who are your favorite heroines of fiction?
I prefer Jane Eyre over all others.
Today’s questions of the day
I have a fairly broad list –historical romance, contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and general women’s fiction--but one thing I don’t gravitate towards is paranormal romance.
If I receive a vampire/time-travel/name it romance, I generally pass it along to one of the editors who I know loves them.
This sets me wondering, why are these books so popular? I have my theories, not the least of which is a belief that romance, in general, was becoming too politically correct. The sense of a woman being emotionally, and sometimes physically, overcome by her passion for the hero was becoming too dangerous for writers to touch. In paranormal, especially in vampire romance, the heroine has a built-in excuse, “Hey, I couldn’t help myself. After all, he’s a vampire!” (I also think the p.c. trend has contributed to the rise of erotica, but that’s for another post.)
What do you all think?
6 Comments:
I read to get away from normal every day life, so paranormals are the ultimate in escapist fiction for me. Stories of vampires, werewolves, time-travel, they all take me away to a place that is pure fantasy.
9:19 PM
Love your icon Lucia, it's so you! I'd love to see a revival of more classic paranormals- time travels and ghosts- a little Green Darkness action there (insider Anya Seton glip) Hey, regular romance is enough of a fantasy for me! LOL! They just don't MAKE guys like the ones we write!
12:27 PM
<,This sets me wondering, why are these books so popular? I have my theories, not the least of which is a belief that romance, in general, was becoming too politically correct. The sense of a woman being emotionally, and sometimes physically, overcome by her passion for the hero was becoming too dangerous for writers to touch. In paranormal, especially in vampire romance, the heroine has a built-in excuse, “Hey, I couldn’t help myself. After all, he’s a vampire!” (I also think the p.c. trend has contributed to the rise of erotica, but that’s for another post.)
What do you all think?>>
You hit the nail right on the head!!!! Everything is so PC now that I'm looking for writers I KNOW won't fall into that category. I want the hero to do guy stuff and act manly, and have inappropriate thoughts, for God's sake--because that's what real people do. What's wrong with that? Why is it so horrible to let men be men? I don't want to read a sterilized version of romance. I want surprises and emotion. And besides, men do some really weird things that I--as an intellectual woman--don't get, that are, at the very least, entertaining.
4:57 PM
Male behavior can indeed be very entertaining! I don't necessarily mind a little outre behavior from a hero. But the heroine needs to be a strong match and he definitely must be redeemed in the end.
And while I don't "get" vampires, Erika sure does.
I always loved time travel (TIME AND AGAIN is one of my favorite comfort reads.) But it's not making a huge comeback...yet!
5:43 PM
My middle son (of three) reads these vampire romances. Or at least he did. I tried to get through some of it and think I understand why it is so popular, among other reasons. It requires no thought. Deeply embroiled in the throes of adolescent angst through my sons, I have discovered that anything that challenges today's sensibilities is received with the fanfare of a black-and-white Irene Dunn movie. Some of my favorites. This is quite distressing as I tend to write more heady fiction which I hope to one day publish so amwaiting for the tides of literary taste to ebb. And waiting. And waiting...
5:56 PM
Hi Lucia,
I work in publishing and am appalled by some of the glaring errors in Avon Romance books, especially by Rachel Gibson. It almost seems as though the writer is unaware of the existence of Spellcheck, or generally doesn't take pride in her work. For instance, in "It Must Be Love", the spelling of "sandalwood" (p 328) is correct in one of three instances that I noticed. The other two (on pp 65 and 86) used "sandlewood". Page 150: "The holes where filled". Should have been "were". "Accidently" (p 333) and "accidentally" (p 360).
Even the age of the character, she gets it wrong. "Sex, Lies and Online Dating"... p 40: "thirty-seven years". Pages 250 and 279: "thirty-six"!! He lost a whole year?
Surely someone should have drawn such carelessness to her attention. I certainly don't expect perfection, but think it a pity they were missed. Mars the experience of what would otherwise have been an enjoyable read, don't you think?
2:28 AM
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