Here's the thing---

Two I loved and not in a series

As long as I'm writing about someone else's romances, I thought of two more illustrating how very different romances can be for what's in them. These happen to also be two that I know exactly where I was when I bought them and although I have loved them, I don't own more by either author. Their other books just didn't register with me; but because of loving these two, I definitely did try their others.

For me, sex isn't a big thing in a book to have it or not have it. I do find that if the sex becomes too dominant, I get bored. I am not easily offended though and a little sex on the dark side doesn't horrify me unless it's glorifying rape. That is a total no-go. If that hero forces the heroine when she says no but she later likes it, I will toss that book into the garbage if I bought it. Abuse isn't sexy to me.

So two more book reviews of romances that I have loved for very different reasons-- one with a lot of sex and one with the implications of it but no descriptions. One written by a woman and the other by a man. Neither one currently on Kindle.

Years ago I read a book again in the Lake Oswego library that I loved. I had looked for it in various used bookstores through the years but never found it. Finally I decided I'd give an Internet search a try. Lo and behold there a used copy was and I ordered it. 

Vardy by John Harris is an historical novel that has a strong romantic relationship at the center of it. Set in France and beginning in 1870, it is the story of one of Napoleon's military leaders. Colonel Max Cary de Lily is small, ugly, missing one eye, scarred, but also full of the energy of war heroes or really any hero. Vardy is a young woman who at first is drawn to his power but then falls in love as she is pulled through the adventures of a volatile time in France's history. This story is well set in its time period but never loses the power of the two main characters. Vardy's growth as a character is part of its appeal. Even though these two people are lovers, there is only the suggestion of sex, no descriptions.

When it arrived, in beautiful condition I might add, I was delighted to find it was as pleasing to me as a novel as it had been when I first read it nearly 40 years earlier. It is also very different than the second book I will review.

In 1991, we had made a hurried drive across the United States right after our daughter's wedding. Farm Boss was involved in a project which involved using for the first time a laser. It was being built in Massachusetts and the company was in danger of going under before they could get the laser shipped. He needed to get the glitches out. It wasn't going to be something that could be done in a few days. I suggested we go back together, drive and spend the month it would take (company covered costs). It took us just 4 1/2 days to drive there from Oregon. It gave me a lot of time alone with one of those weeks at Rockport and two in Concord. It was a memorable trip on many levels as I could wander where I chose during the day and there were many delicious historical sites from which to choose.

It was while in Concord in a small bookstore that I found Shadow Play by Kathleen Sutcliffe. I took it back to the lovely old hotel where we were staying and didn't quit reading until I had finished it (it not being a short book). It remains one of my favorite romances; but when I went looking to see if it's still available, the professional review of it was scathing although other readers wrote reviews expressing the same love I felt for this story. Goes to show.

Shadow Play is a romantic fairy tale loosely set in an historic period but that's not the crux of the story. It has all the ingredients I love in a romance starting with a great hero and a heroine worthy of him. The hero has been through a lot of bad times but emerged as someone considered almost a god in the Amazon. Some of that is good marketing on his part but he's more the hero than he knows. The aristocratic heroine is out of his league or so they both think until enough time together changes their minds with lots of adventures, one right after another as they travel up the Amazon into forbidden territory. There is a villain worthy of any romance as he is beautiful physically, dangerous and presents a risk to the hero until the climax. So troubled past, dangerous present, uncertain future, and some lusty sex.

It always amazes me how when I love a book it doesn't mean I will like anything else by the same author. As authors we always hope we are creating books, whether in a series or not, that will make others want to read all we wrote. While it is true that when I find a book I love, I will check out others by that author, it doesn't automatically mean I'll even like them let alone love.

Also all the talk, of paper publishing having more value than eBooks, I think is disproven by how quickly books disappear from the shelves and even the ability to buy those put out by the big publishing houses. Some of these oldies are having their authors retrieve the rights and put them out as an ePub. I am all for that because any book I have loved I will want to read again.

Taking a break-- or not

Although I said with my ten contemporary romances now on Kindle that I would take a break from writing/editing fiction until the fall, I can't seem to leave it alone-- addiction apparently. I did resist taking my computer on a recent family outing, but my mind went to the writing whenever there wasn't something going on. My thinking is not on the ones out there. I'm happy with where they are right now, but those set in the 1800s where I am not yet decided whether to publish online.

The one with which I am most emotionally involved right now was set in Arizona 1883 between Tucson and Tombstone. I wrote it probably twenty years ago (although I am guessing as I would have to do for the beginnings of most of these stories). As I have begun looking at it actually it's in good shape without seemingly any big editing job ahead.

Although I just said that, it seems no matter how many times I do these books, I always miss something, but it's usually minor these days. In the case of this book, it looks as though it will mean tweaking the way a sentence is put together more than its meaning.

What I also have been doing is beginning to create a trailer, a process which I already admitted has proven to be addictive. When I was in Arizona last trip I  collected quite a few images I knew I'd need; so I have most background stills. Now it's been looking through the photos I have purchased for ones I can change to meet the need of the heroine and her transitions as well as finding new ones for the hero.

As I visualize several secondary characters I am trying to decide if any should be in a trailer.  It's pretty unusual for me to use them in trailers that are 60 seconds. Then it's looking for main characters, their primary motivations and the setting of the story as 12 or 13 images are about all I can use. Doing the longer trailers are more rewarding in terms of story-telling but also evidently far less popular  when the project is aimed at selling the book to potential readers.

It's surprising me how much help doing a trailer can be to the writing especially for something like this where I am beginning the trailer before I get into serious editing. It gives me a visual reality to the characters and story; and in this case getting me back in sync with what was happening. I think this will help me be sure the plot and people hold together when I do begin the serious editing.

I should wait for the fall. If the weather continues as good as it is, I might because plein air painting will be more appealing. To add to it, I still haven't decided whether I even want to publish it online. This is one story that never saw a publishing house. I wrote it simply because I loved the story and characters, loved the setting and that was enough. Now, I am not sure...

Incidentally-- summer seems to be going way too fast. Of course, in my neck of the woods, it just began.

Sexuality and Fiction

Recently I had an articulate reader comment on my books in the Amazon Forums. She said she had not bought any, even though they looked interesting, because of her dislike of sexuality in books. She felt my covers indicated they might have that sort of thing inside (she was right). She thought a rating for sexuality would be helpful in my product descriptions.

I wrote back that I'd have a problem deciding how I could rate mine even if I could think of a rating system. One of my books got a review in a book review blog. I only stumbled across it by doing a name search to see what was out there in mine. She gave that book a 2 star in passion. Since a 5 star is tops where it comes to rating a book, I am guessing she was saying that while there was some passion, it wasn't that much. I am not sure if that was her meaning-- other than if someone wants zero sex, they don't want my books. On the other hand, if they are looking for erotica, they don't either.

If I used the ratings like for films, it wouldn't get much easier. I would definitely not say my books are PG but then would they be PG-13? When my granddaughter asked if she would be able to read them, I said not for some years. It wasn't just about the sex though. It's about grown-up attitudes toward romance. I don't really want her thinking soul-mates at her age.

When I think about an R rating, I am not sure my books are sexy enough for an R. I have read a lot of romance books where a sexual encounter can go on for pages, sometimes 20 or more. Mine are more about the leading up than the actual doing as I am not into reading or writing blow by blow descriptions. But on the other hand, they don't fade out before the big event either (and there will be at least one big event somewhere along the way). 

I am still thinking how sexuality can be handled in the blurbs for the books. I am comfortable with the level I use in the actual books-- and I did think about it. My belief is that healthy sexuality is good for adults. I think it's fun to write and seems rewarding for the characters and me. And I am about a full experience for those characters as well as the person who will pick up the book.

In my own reading, I don't mind sex in a book, but I wouldn't buy one for it either. One writer I've read over the years used the term blush for the level of sex in her books. Well I agree she has sex and it's described, sometimes step by step, but blushing? I don't know what it would take to get me to blush regarding sex in a book.

If a writer puts in more sex than interests me (and for me it's not about offensive, it's about boring), I skip over it. In some books I have read, that can mean I get a short story rather than a full novel.

IF I make a mistake and get a book with what I feel is a perversion of sex, I throw that one out rather than trade it back in. I wouldn't put a nasty review on that author's page, but I sure wouldn't buy another book by them either. The only kind of sexuality I am interested in reading or writing is healthy relationships between two people.

In my case that means male and female, not because I consider the other unhealthy but because I don't know much about it. I try to stick to what I do know something about from my own experiences. I have had gay characters, but they are always secondary-- i.e. friend of hero or heroine.

An idea for a book has rolled around in my head for awhile. It came to me in a set of two of my movie type dreams that came a couple of weeks apart. In the first dream the hero has been in a long time relationship with another man-- basically his life mate. He and the heroine are forced to go on the run from a criminal element and in spending so much time together, they fall in love.

In the dream, he might have known he was bisexual before this, but she was totally surprised as she may have been attracted to him but didn't let herself imagine it could be anything. In the first of the dreams, they didn't pursue it once they escaped from whatever they were trying to flee. Although it appeared that his partner was sick and when he died, maybe as much as five years later, they would seek each other out.

In the second dream about these same people, his primary relationship turned out to be with a crime boss-- meaning he had been betrayed by his long-time partner thereby not only proving dangerous, but also giving him a legitimate reason to go to her. If I had ever tried to fully develop this idea, I would not have written about his same sex experiences but only the new one with the woman. (The dream didn't reveal either as I have to admit here, I don't dream about sex. I am more of a dream right up to it and fade to black kind of dreamer.)

Usually when you do see a movie or read a book about three people in this kind of triangle, it's from the other end where the man and woman have been in a long time relationship and then one of them recognizes their true sexuality is to be gay.

 I haven't tried to develop this idea not because I think readers would not go for it (who knows on that).  I don't write based on whether I think an idea would be popular with readers. Instead my hesitation was because I thought it might be offensive to gay people where I have read that many don't think there is such a thing as bi-sexuality. Gays are fighting for respect on so many levels now that I would hate to write something offensive or implying people can change their gender at will. I don't believe that but what I do think is some are gay, some are straight, and some can go between, but what do I know about it. Hence it has seemed wiser to leave this idea on the discard pile where a lot of other ideas for books end up.

Well, that was kind of a distraction to my main topic which was to try and figure out some kind of sexuality rating for my own books that alerts readers to avoid them if they are opposed to sex in a book-- married/committed or not. I know one thing-- they aren't sweet and they aren't Christian. But what they aren't doesn't say what they are.

Dillon Thomas Delaney

Dillon Thomas Delaney, hero of Dark Angel, is one of those heroes often described as bad-boy types. Except he is not a bad boy. He's just a man in a bad situation where he didn't get into it by himself, but he has to play it out. He was one of the rare heroes where I actually saw his face before I began writing the book, before I saw an image that fit him. It happened in a dream.

In my other blog I have mentioned how I dream movies sometimes. When I do, they sometimes are complete plots and I get to see how the stories turn out. I might be in them but generally I feel I am not. It's like watching a technicolor film (or whatever they call color technology these days).

This time it was just a small scene taking place in an office and he was facing guns held by two other men. I knew he was trying to protect someone else. He was shot. I woke up knowing this vignette had given me a hero and put my mind to thinking what else was there about this man that would fit into a good story. What I came up with led to Dark Angel.

Dill is a reluctant hero. He grew up in communes across the West, raised by a single father, who meant well but was often distracted or on drugs. He pulled himself out of that world only to end up in an even more troubling one as he goes undercover through pressure by a federal government agency.

The Dark Angel title comes because that is what the heroine calls him when she first sees him and knows he's the bad boy she's always been warned about. She is suspicious of him, but then becomes his salvation-- but it's not an easy salvation because Dill is a man with things he needs to forget and forgive. He's still caught in the dilemma that nearly kills him but it's more what is inside Dill that makes him both a hero and a man at the center of his own story.

Dark Angel is a bit of a fairy tale story, and when I was editing it, I realized it was Beauty and the Beast, a good man caught in a bad situation with only one way out. Dill doesn't know that it's love though. He's more busy trying to figure out physical survival until he reaches a point where he's not sure he can survive.

When I saw him for who he was, I incorporated the love theme from Beauty and the Beast into his story. Dill has been living as the beast, his wits and strength are what have enabled him to survive in a virtual jungle.  He's a rough but handsome man; so this is not a beast of the flesh but one of the soul, darkened by experiences and needing light to survive and be what he was always meant to be-- a hero.