A poster on the All About Romance group list, commented that she’d recently read a book in which the author likened the heroine to Angelina Jolie. Apparently, this totally put her off the book.

Now lots of people love Angelina Jolie, but there’s a fair amount who think she’s nutty as a fruitcake. Somedays, I’m one of those people, other days I have girl-on-girl lesbian fantasies about her don’t think she’s too bad.

I don’t really get why authors liken their characters to popular culture figures in the first place. As well as possibly dating the book, surely the author takes a huge risk in assuming that the reader, firstly, knows who the hell they’re referring to, and B, actually likes the celebrity in question.

I’m sure no author in their right mind would liken any of their heroines to Britney Spears mother of the year, but I have read books where the author likened her characters to Meg Ryan (who I’m not keen on), and Ben Affleck (who I hate). Needless to say, I couldn’t finish either book.

This is one of the reasons why I’m so glad that J.D Robb’s, In Death books don’t have depictions of Roarke on the front cover. I much prefer to use my imagination, rather than have an image of Antonia Banderas forever imbedded in my skull. In my mind, Roarke is the most beautiful man in the world, and for the sake of my continued enjoyment of this series, I would like him to stay that way.

What do you guys think? Are there any universally admired celebrities out there, who you would hate a lead character to be likened to?

Author, Shiloh Walker has an interesting post up on Romancing The Blog, it’s all about Authors Behaving Badly. She has some relevant and useful advice for every author, who’s work has been criticised by a reader at one time or another.

My favourite paragraph was this one:

I think some of us would benefit from taking a big step back and asking ourselves…so what they didn’t like this this this or that… is it really worth it to get that upset over ?

For those who haven’t worked it out yet, the answer is no. Authors also need to remember that what goes on in Blogland doesn’t always stay in Blogland.

Apparently, Laura Lee Guhrke, MJD, and Adele Ashworth, have all had (dis)honourable mentions in this week’s Romantic Times. I wonder what the readership is these days…

Anybody seen the article yet?

I decided to pay a visit to the Common Kajira for the first time in over a year, to see if she’s come to her senses and dumped her Master yet.

Nope, she’s still asking for permission to fart.

Oh well, each to her own I guess.