mug & books

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short life update First and foremost, recently I’ve been having a lot of medical test related to some pain in my right side. Nothing is conclusive yet. I suspect, though, I will probably end up having gallbladder surgery within the next month or so. Therefore I’m attempting to backlog some posts. Just in case. There may only be one or two posts a week occasionally in the near future if I’m not successful. I try to do three posts each week but, you know, sometimes life happens.  All things considered it’s a really good thing I decided to rerun the Ten Nights of Love seriesRead More →

Rendezvous by Amanda Quick, 1991 - this is the cover on the paperback I have, except it's supposed to have a stepback and doesn't

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originally posted on February 8, 2010 historical romances Once I’d started reading historical romance with Julie Garwood, I did sort of dive into that particular pool headfirst. I remember reading a lot of mostly medievals in those next few years of the early 1990s. All the while still reading some contemporaries. And searching for that elusive perfect fantasy/science fiction romance combination to appear on the horizon. There were occasional fits and starts in that direction with the new Leisure/Love Spell line. Not a lot of enthusiasm on my part for what they were producing, though. But back to reading historical romances. I slowly began toRead More →

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They are normally not to my taste. But I was in the mood recently to re-watch my set of Jason Bourne movies. And I suddenly realized that I basically like three kinds of action movies. (Possibly my definition of action movies there, not someone else’s.) Now, I’ve never been big on spy movies although I have enjoyed the random James Bond. Well, okay, kind of enjoyed them. Right up until I reached the point that I wanted to beat Bond over the head with something. I’m also really not crazy about the shoot-em up, blow’em up variety although I do have the Die-Hard collection somewhereRead More →

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Apparently bad covers are a problem that is as old as paperback publishing. I ran across an article that, um, beautifully illustrates that point. And it’s about the first US paperback covers for J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit of all things. Barbara Remington’s first cover is truly an exercise in interpreting the idea of The Hobbit, rather than its content, since she was not given a chance to read the book when she received the commission. The Bizarre Book Covers for the First U.S. Paperback Editions of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Books, Made By an Artist Who Had Never Read Them The cover in question: Um, o-kay. Well,Read More →

Journey to Love

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originally posted on February 6, 2010 bodice rippers? no, thank you One major misconception is that all romance readers took the bodice ripper route during the 1970s. I’m one of the ones who didn’t. I continued to read read books by Hill, Loring and eventually Glenna Finley. At the same time I mostly read mysteries with a light sprinkling of category romances mixed in. In fact, I’m pretty sure the late 70s all the way through the mid 80s was my Agatha Christie phase. I know I collected most of her books in paperback back then. Oh, I may have occasionally picked up that rare single title historical romance during that era. IRead More →

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I binged on the first season of The Orville TV series and fell in love with it. Which completely caught me off guard. I mean I thought I knew what was coming. But it wasn’t at all what I expected. To be honest, I actually thought of several different titles for this post.  never trust professional critics Particularly when it comes to science fiction. (And superheroes, too, to some extent.) Personally, I’ve never quite figured out why the “professionals” can be so far off from fan reactions. But there it is. And not just occasionally but they do it a lot. when something old isRead More →

The Solitary Horseman

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originally posted on February 5, 2010 next library recommendations The next romance author I remember getting handed routinely from librarians as a relatively young teen was Emilie Loring. I didn’t mind at all to tell the truth. Her books were actively published from the 1920s-1970s. That’s a tad misleading, however, since she died in 1951. She wrote and published 30 novels before her death. Then, after her death, her sons found a lot of unfinished manuscripts and notes. So they finished those into 20 more novels that were published under her name over the next 20 years. Considering she didn’t start writing until after sheRead More →

Ladybird by Grace Livingston Hill

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originally posted on February 4, 2010 first big book reading memories As far as I can remember, my big book reading started at around age eleven, circa 1970. The very first adult romance, I ever remember reading was a hardback copy of Ladybird by Grace Livingston Hill. If I remember correctly our pastor’s wife gave it to my mother. Calling it an adult book is probably a misnomer. I’m pretty sure young adult romances didn’t exist back then. I read and collected many of her books during that decade of my life. They were interesting in their own way. My biggest memory of them, though, are pagesRead More →

Superman

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I’ve been meaning to comment on this find for a long time and it keeps slipping through the cracks. Several years ago I ran across an article or link or something that led me to a site called the Fortress of Solitude Super Network. Bet ya can’t guess what it is all about about.  Anyway, one specific feature there blew… my… mind. I mean seriously blew me away. Apparently there is a lost comic from very early in the careers of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman. The Powers That Be would not let them publish it. Wonder why?   Well, theyRead More →

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The other night I was browsing Hulu. I found out they have 8 seasons of one of the Ancient Aliens series. I know what I’m going to be watching a lot now though. Yes, it’s a guilty pleasure. One that I’m still trying to figure out to be honest.  Do I believe everything “ancient alien” documentaries talk about? No, probably not even 10%. Eh, 5%? They are fun to watch though. Also occasionally very repetitive. Which is kind of where the guilty part comes in.  I keep asking myself why I’m wasting my time. Then do it again the next time I run across one.Read More →

Ten Nights of Love

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originally posted on February 3, 2010 the inspiration In the fall of 2009, Heather over at The Galaxy Express asked me what the dividing line between romance and erotic romance is. I almost laughed in her face – figuratively speaking. 😀 I mean, come on. One, much more eloquent people than me have tried to explain it. Most of them did great jobs, too. And still gotten lost in their own words. Two, sometimes, I’m not sure there is an answer. Then I stopped backing away and realized that what she was asking. Namely, the age old, ever popular question that comes up repeatedly on romance forumRead More →

Superman

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I recently re-watched these two animated features back to back. I realized I like them both. Which got me to thinking. a little background Both are inspired by the DC Comics crossover trilogy of story arcs from the 1990s: “The Death of Superman” is divided into a trilogy of story arcs; the first is known as “Doomsday!”, which leads to Superman’s death at the hands of Doomsday. The second story arc, “Funeral for a Friend”, which focuses on the immediate aftermath of Superman’s death, began with The Adventures of Superman #498 (January 1993). The final story arc, “Reign of the Supermen!”,  began with a prologue in The Adventures of Superman #500 andRead More →

Ten Nights of Love

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Ten years ago I wrote a series of posts called Ten Nights of Love. Wow! I honestly can’t believe it’s been 10 years. So I decided this is a very good time to take them down and refresh/re-edit/reformat the whole thing. Starting in one week one of those posts will go back online every Wednesday. Ten years ago I posted them daily to end on Valentine’s Day. This time I wanted to spread them out so I can post other things, too. Also this time, I’ll follow up with an addendum post (posts?) about my “reading” in the 2010s. Then end with an updated CoverRead More →