Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

I rock a massive crush on Dan Savage. If I met him, I’d stutter like a bad rap song from the early 80’s played on a record player bouncing in the back of a pickup truck on a dirt road. Srsly.

So Dan’s latest efforts to fundraise on behalf of those campaigning against anti-gay-marriage amendments to the state constitutions of California and Florida just rock my socks. (Also, as a related note: GO CONNECTICUT GO. You’re cooler than Jersey. I had no idea. BOOYAH!) Savage’s efforts include personal replies to any questions from donors who give more than $25. Plus: 

The six biggest Savage Love donors to either www.noonprop8.com or www.sayno2.com will see their letters in print, and everyone who makes a donation of at least $25 to either group—send me your donation confirmation e-mail along with your question—gets a personal reply from yours truly. The cutoff date for eligible letters is October 16. And if my readers in Canada want to play along, too, you’re invited to send proof of a donation to someone, anyone, running against Stephen Harper.

[Thanks to Jane from DA for the linkage.]

Here’s a cool charitable opportunity, should you have a serious hankering to tell the world about your favorite pair of shoes. I have to ask what my favorite pair might be… probably Danskos. I’d give up a lot of things, including breakfast and that magic yogurt I love, to spend every day in Danskos. But then, my feet are lesbians. They only tolerate comfortable shoes.

However, I can totally write a review that will fund a charity.

So, how does reviewing shoes translate to charitable work? Read on.

Thanks to Tammy for forwarding this announcement: FictionWise is offering a 50% rebate on every book they sell. Buy a book, and get 50% of the purchase price as a credit toward a future purchase.

When are they going to stop the rebate program? Check the announcement:

The Feds bailed out Wall Street last week to the tune of $700 Billion, and here at Fictionwise we say: why let the fat cat CEO’s have all the fun? So starting now, every single title in our store sports a massive 50% Micropay Rebate when paying by credit or PayPal! But hurry: we will run this insane eBook Bailout Package either through Sunday October 12, or until we give away $700 Billion worth of Rebates, whichever comes first!

I laughed so hard - way to spin horror into humor, Fictionwise. $700 billion worth of rebates? Bring it on!

Over at the LA Times book blog, Carolyn Kellogg examines the dilemma of cover art, and making sure that literary fiction novels sell ... perhaps at the expense of being taken seriously from a visual perspective.

Citing evidence such as GalleyCat’s side by side comparison of Sue Hepworth’s Zuzu’s Petals, and Bookninja’s contest to recast classic novels to appeal to popular markets like “romance, chick lit, thriller, scifi, fantasy, celebrity kids, etc”, Kellogg’s entry follows a 7 October article in The Independent that questions whether authors are being asked to “dumb down” their work to appeal to a larger readership.

I try to make sweet monkey love to my treadmill in the afternoons when I can, and while doing so I am usually reading and half-listening to whatever music I find on the upteen-thirty music video channels on my cable lineup.

And what to the corner of my eye should appear but a video directed by...Stephenie Meyer? From a genre I call “whine-rock” comes Jack’s Mannequin, and a host of rather obvious images that are the visual equivalent over overly-sweet candy. Hearts! Lots of them! Oy, says I. People’s article has a quote from the band’s singer-keyboardist stating that the video has a whimsical, other-worldliness to it.” Oy, again, says I.

I don’t have a lot of time at the ‘puter to do the full on Google-Fu, but I’m pretty sure that the floating pale corpse-like person near the end is the actress from Twilight.

Wanna see? Have a look & listen:

Now - the real question: what romance authors ought to be directing music videos? I mean, come on now. Five minutes with the Author Talk ladies and Aerosmith would have a KICKIN’ video.