Nicely done article

on the progressive possibilities in writing romance - www.huffingtonpost.com/hillary-rettig/the-eroticization-of-equa_b_201059.html
It includes a nice plug for the new Rainbow chapter of Romance Writers of America, of which I am a proud new member. The only significant downside to the piece is that it also includes an inexplicable plug for Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander, which is described as "witty and entertaining, think Jane Austen." This would be the point at which one says to the author, "You, Madam, are no Jane Austen."

In defense of my ability to read a great many dull and rather pointless sex scenes, regardless of orientation, I shall point to the fact that I have read one of Laurell Hamilton's Merry Gentry books and several of the "new" Anita Blake variety. I could not get through Phyllida.  Among other things, the author apparently thinks that marital rape and domestic violence are fodder for humor (example: isn't it hilarious that after our plucky heroine acquires some bruises in some manner I don't recall, people assume that she's been beaten by her husband, only she hasn't? Gosh, yes. Jane Austen would have loooooved that.). At which point Catherine closed the book, went *blink* and took it gingerly by one corner to deposit it in the big bag of BOOKS THAT GO AWAY ASAP.
Just because it's set in roughly the right time period does not invite comparisons with Jane. Really.

But the article is worth reading if you skip that part. :-)