(gotta love Zazzle)

I’m a geek.

Not one of those really well educated geeks, I admit, but a geek nonetheless.

And this geek is always fascinated by how science is catching up to fantasy (no wonder we call it science fiction now )

For example, when reading Nalini Singh’s Psy/Changeling series, I had some issues with Hostage to Pleasure because it posits that DNA manipulation would have effect within one generation. I’m all, “no way in hell, dammit!” and feeling pulled out of the story because, well, not possible.

(Yes, I know—I have trouble accepting that but I’m happily overlooking little impossibles such as, say, shapeshifting. So I’m inconsistent, sue me )

Anyway, the whole DNA manipulation part of the storyline bothered me—it seemed a bit like a cop out, frankly—and then I see this cool little article and wham! “Objection overruled, counselor.”

These little critters are a) stealing DNA and passing it on to their offspring, and b) stealing cellular structures into their own cells and using them successfully.

Looking at this, I’m suddenly much happier about Ashaya Aleine’s work

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Random PS: Who is your favorite geeky chick? Personally, I’m torn between Abby from NCIS and the amazing Kaylee from Firefly.

Some of you may have noticed that there haven’t been too many reviews posted to the blog recently. Yeah, the reading mojo has been on vacation for a while now. (more…)

AztecLady, confusing people since… well, pretty much since birth.

Here’s the thing that’s been going around and around in my head, not letting me sleep. (more…)

So, the other day on Twitter, I mentioned that I don’t see the point in MMF books. Interesting conversation ensued.

In the majority of MMF books that I’ve read, the women seem to be surplus to requirement.

If I’m honest, I don’t really get why a gay couple would decide that they need a female to complete them. I’m meant to believe that they aren’t into any other females, except that one special vagina, who helps make them whole? Really?

I think you can tell when an author has no interest in writing a book that includes female interaction, because all the emotional connection seems to be between the two males, yet the reader is expected to suspend disbelief, and buy that all three parties are in love? I struggle with that. I really do.

Every time I’ve read an MMF book, I’ve felt distinctly let down by the lack of connection with the female. I then go and check the author’s backlist, and lo and behold, they turn out to be predominantly MM writers.

I understand the need to branch out, but I’m a huge believer that authors shouldn’t write books that they don’t enjoy, and in my experience, some of these books have felt like more of an obligation than a labour of love, on the part of the author. Like they were trying to cater to the MF Reader dollar, if you like.

JMC mentioned a Lorelei James book that we’d both read. It was an MMF book, where the two penises had engaged in sexual activity, then one of the penises decided that he was in love with a vagina, and so then married the vagina. When the other penis eventually came back, he basically presented him to the vagina, and confessed to being in love with the penis.

Confused? Yeah, me too.

While the writing was fine, I’m afraid that I just didn’t buy the HEA for one minute. I know that we have to suspend disbelief in a lot in erotic romance, but for me, I couldn’t see anything but years of misery and heartache for all of the genitalia involved in that particular relationship.

Anyway, as it happens, LJ is one of the writers who doesn’t have a backlist full of MMs, but somehow – in my opinion – Rough, Raw and Ready managed to concentrate more on the emotional connection between the two penises, than the emotional connection between both the penises and the vagina. Actually, as I recall, I distinctly remember a lack of connection between Penis No. 2 and The Vagina.

For me, this seems to have been the story of my MMF reading life.

What say you?

Loose-ID-Watch: This week, 1 MMF, 2 MMs, 1 MF & 1 extra MM)

Must seriously chap one’s arse.

Sometimes it’s ok to say, yes I agree, or no, I don’t.

Why do some people find that so hard to do?

People who are reasonable all the times, sometimes make my teeth hurt as much as unreasonable people do.

Just sayin’.

Last weekend, on The Big Questions, Nicky Campbell and Co were discussing the subject of sex before marriage.

There were a couple of girls who were advocating waiting, on the show, and they made a lot of sense, but as a grown woman, there’s no way I would have wanted to do the deed on the night I got married. The nervous anticipation, and build-up, and ridiculously high expectations? Oh, no.

Losing my virginity was totally underwhelming anyway, so the thought of experiencing that same feeling on the happiest day of my life? I think not.

What say you? Would you guys have preferred to wait, if you could have a do-over?

If you could choose to be born with one of the following attributes, which one would you pick?

Beauty?
Brains?
Amazing athletic ability?

This is a conversation, that myself and my girlfriends had the other day.

It seems pretty straight cut, that most people would pick brains, and indeed, I picked brains initially, but then Friend No 1 asked what if I could stand being super-intelligent, but ugly as sin (yes, I know, beauty is in th eye of the beholder, but whatever), and this made me pause.

Friend no. 2 tried to quote a stat from somewhere that apparently proved that beautiful people were usually more successful than ugly intelligent people. (She couldn’t name her source, so I’m assuming it was something she read in OK! magazine.)

I think she may have had a point. No, seriously. Political correctness be damned.

Anyway, I changed my mind, and picked beauty. I know, I know, and me a bordeline feminist too.

The thing is, being born beautiful is a much more useful attribute, because instead of working hard for success, I could simply marry a successful man. Or sleep my way to the top. *g*

Shallow much? Unfortunately, not shallow enough, because I suddenly remembered how much dumb people piss me off, and went back to brains.

Which one would you choose? And don’t be afraid to be shallow, I certainly wont be judging you for it. *G*

I can’t tell you how much I disagree with this.

Microsoft officials have confirmed that the company is to introduce a way for users to surf the Web anonymously.

As part of the upcoming Internet Explorer 8 release, Microsoft is incorporating ‘inPrivate’ – a mode that will not record visits to the user’s history and will not allow sites to place cookies on the user’s system. Apple currently offers a similar service with its Safari browser.

Sure it would be great to access sites without leaving a trail, but what about the bigger picture?

What about the fucking paedophiles?

A poster left an interesting comment on one of the many NCP posts on the blog earlier today. It wasn’t the NCP related stuff that caught my interest, but this little gem:

I had a friend who told me once that I should write from my heart and everything else will come along on its own. I disagree. I believe you should write what people are interested in reading. Otherwise, you’re not going to make any money, which is pretty much the point of writing isn’t it?

Well, we know that a lot of authors have jumped on the various bandwagons out there, (Read: paranormals) but does this mean that they are likely to sell more books, just because they chose a popular sub-genre?

Is this poster correct? Does it really make more sense to write what is selling in the market, rather than what you’re passionate about?

As readers, do you prefer your fave authors to write from the heart, or would you be just as happy if they jumped on the bandwagons?

I ask, because all of our friends have similarly aged neighbours, who they can do fun stuff with.

Not us. We seem to always get stuck with the coffin-dodgers whose idea of fun is polishing up their classic ‘circa 1925′ Jaguar to within an inch of its life. What’s up with that? Urrggh.

For once, it would be lovely to have neighbours who are at least the same age as us, so that we can invite them over to look at our fabulously refurbed kitchen, so that they can participate in the whole obligatory, “I’m so jealous of your kitchen” thing that people do.

Is that asking too much? Sheesh.