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If you groaned when you saw the title of this blog, then the following isn’t for you. Seriously, leave. Now.

Gwyneth Bolton has a really interesting blog about the popularity of the Romance Novel Sheik. She posted a couple of excerpts from an essay written in BITCH magazine, which focused on the very subject of Middle Eastern men in romance.

The excerpts were interesting, but this comment from Gwyneth was what ultimately caught my eye:

She asks some interesting questions don’t you think?

A lot of the comments that were made during my Racism In Romance posts, seemed to hint that one of the reasons why white women seldom read AA romance was because they couldn’t relate to the characters, or the vernacular. (Or should I say, the assumed difference in vernacular)

Hmmm…

I never bought this at the time, and quite frankly, I still don’t, because if that were true, then J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series would have sunk big time.

Ward writes about vampires who are into hip hop, bling, and expensive threads, and call each other “My Brother”.
Sounds like the stereotypical black man to me, except of course, the Brothers aren’t black, are they? They’re white, and that I’m afraid, is the key to her success.

Had Ward made The Brothers black, how many books would she have sold? Would readers have rushed out to buy her books in their thousands? Would she have inspired the same kind of fangirly following that she has? Even with her gift of turning the written word into a thing of beauty?

I really don’t think so.

Why do I think this? Simple, I just don’t believe that Average Jane Reader finds the black man sexy, and she definitely doesn’t see him as a romantic hero. Now before y’all go and get all defensive, and twitchy, think about it. Seriously.

If you really, truly think about it, you’ll probably come to the uncomfortable conclusion that I’m more right than wrong.

So, considering the current social, and political climate that we exist in today, considering the repercussions from 9/11, considering the current unrest in the Middle East, considering the fact that the majority of men from this part of the world believe that women are ultimately inferior to males, why is it that the Middle Eastern Man, is so much more acceptable to The Romance Reader, as hero material, than The Black Man?

Anyone hazard a guess? Anyone totally disagree with my assertion? Would you have bought Ward’s Black Dagger series, if the Brothers had been black? Honestly?

What Is The Point…

Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Posted in: castration, Paedophilia

In trying to rehabilitate paedophiles? Seriously what is the point?

I woke up to the joyous news yesterday morning, that paedophiles in England would be subject to chemical castration. You can’t imagine the huge smile I had on my face. Until I got the full story.

This wasn’t mandatory. The paedophiles have a choice, as to whether they want the treatment or not. What. The. Fuck?

I was not a happy bunny.

What is the point in keeping these people alive at all?

Why can’t we just line them up and shoot them? Seriously?

I blame the bleeding heart, human rights tree huggers, who would very likely argue that we’d be infringing on their human rights. Big effing sigh.


I wrote this rambling Ode to Jaid Black back back in August 2005, when I obviously didn’t know any better. I considered deleting it, following her reaction to my EC posts, but then I thought, why the hell should I? It serves to remind me that I’m not always right about people.

It also serves to remind me that most authors will always be happy to be your friend, and laugh at you dissing other people, as long as it’s not them or their company that you’re taking the piss out of. Lesson learned.

“I’ve just realised how much I admire Tina Engler AKA Jaid Black, the legendary ‘Queen of Steam’.

How could anybody fail to admire a woman who has achieved as much as she has, when she had so little to begin with?

Here are some facts about Tina that some of you may, or may not have known.

1.Tina is the owner and founder of Elloras Cave, Cerridwen Press, and the newly launched Lady Jaided Magazine.

2.As well as having over twenty books with EC, she also has novels with Berkley/Jove and Pocketbooks.

3.In addition to her publishing background, Tina also has controlling shares in the following companies:

Jasmine-Jade Enterprises,
Gothic Grounds (a coffee store chain),
Brannon-Engler Properties
Awbridge, Hanwell, & Hartley books and curio shops

4.By the age of thirty, she was a self-made millionaire. Two years later, she was a multi-millionaire.

5.She was recently on the Montel Williams Show, talking about her rise to the top.

6.She also donated $10,000 to the Montel Williams Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, and EC are currently donating 15 cents to the charity for every book that is sold via their Ebay Store.

The reason that I admire Tina so much, is because she literally built her empire up from scratch.

She got pregnant at the age of seventeen, and was forced to raise her baby alone when the father of her child abandoned them both. She was on welfare for a number of years, but somehow managed to put herself through college, and worked towards a better life for herself and her child.

Not only was she on welfare, and let’s face it, there is a lot of snobbery towards single mothers who live off the state, but her children are bi-racial, and I recall reading a piece that she wrote, about the racism that her children had to endure, because of this very fact.

In my opinion, she has helped change the way that people look at the romance genre. She dared to push the envelope, and by doing so, opened up a brand new world to romance readers who were just a little bored by the same old, same old.

I admire the fact that she was forward-thinking enough to realise that as Millennium women, some of us are looking for more than virginal heroines with ‘perking nipples’ and dastardly heroes with ‘throbbing members’.

Never mind the romance v erotic romance catfights that seem to happen in blogland on a daily basis, the fact is, without Tina’s influence, we probably woudn’t even be having the debate in the first place.

Personally, I view Tina as a pioneer. She may not have invented electricity, or found the cure for the common cold, but she exemplifies the determination and the self-sacrifice that is necessary in order to reach beyond one’s wildest dreams, regardless of the obstacles that are placed in one’s path.

Tina’s lead a very interesting life so far, and I know that if she ever decided to detail her memoirs in the form of an autobiography, I would certainly go out and buy the book.”

Oh the irony. What can I say? I meant every word I wrote at the time. Every word. How things change eh? *g*