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

Bitchery reader Kathryn

I could use some Smart Bitch help trying to find a YA romance I read back when I was a teenager.  It was most likely published in the 1990’s or maybe late 1980’s.  The story involves cousins or a half-sisters (I can’t remember which) and for some reason one goes to live with the other’s family.  The one who is moving in is blonde and hawt and lets her boyfriend feel under her shirt, Sweet Valley-style.  The other cousin/sister is a shy brunette and fantasizes about some mysterious guy at her her school whom she secretly calls Johnny Blue or something like that.  Meanwhile, this sensitive football player named Greg secretly has a crush on Shy Girl, so blonde sister pretends to date him so he can get closer to Shy Girl. Why this is supposed to work, I have no idea. The story ends up with her going on a date with Greg, who turns out to be a dynamo kisser.  She also goes on a date with Johnny Blue, whom she ultimately rejects because he kisses like a cold fish.

I’m hoping the SB’s can help me with this one, because I’m drawing a complete blank!

Johnny Blue? BWAAHAHAHAH. 

From Noelle: Photobombers make me cry mascara.

From a source I can’t remember (sorry, cool person!) we have a site that does nothing but cover snark and does it so well: Judge a Book by its cover. I’m particularly fond of Phallus Phridays. Because, dude. Awesome.

And from Star Opal and Sasha, Green Porno a short feature in which Isabella Rossellini, according to Star Opal, “dresses up as insects and bugs and shows how they have sex, playing (when necessary) both female and male roles.”

How can you not love that?

Yesterday, a one-day auction of an author interview here at Bitchery HQ to benefit Brenda Novak’s Diabetes Auction netted a $788.00 winning bid. Holy smacking tuna. That’s just outstanding (and a little bit of pressure, I must say - what is a $788 dollar question?)!

But check out this other bit of awesome: so far for Dear Author’s one day auction of a one time adspace: with 9 hours to go, the high bid is $825.00. That is just breathtakingly awesomesauce. Way to go, y’all. 

Bitchery regular who wishes to remain somewhat anonymous is looking for syllabus assistance, as she was deeply impressed with your work shaping the syllabus for Dr. Frantz's syllabus last January. She writes:

The course I'm designing is primarily on the *rhetoric* of the romance (and just plain romance itself)--how it's talked about, portrayed in the media, presented in bookstores, used in advertisting, etc. However, in order to give my students a better sense of the genre as a whole, I'd like to give them reading assignments from the primary source material.

Which is where the Bitchery comes in. Are there anthologies of diverse short romance fiction out there? Anthologies that have samples from paranormal, suspense, regency, contemporary, even inpsirational? Are there anthologies that incorporate multi-ethnic, interracial, or basically anything other than all-white, all the time romances? If not, can the Bitchery recommend some short stories that I might build into a coursepack for my students? I'd like a diverse sampling from across the genres.

My own taste runs quite dramatically into novels (I have a rather deep-seated loathing of the short story as a genre), so I'm a little at a loss when it comes to romance short fiction, and I'd like to be able to give them *something* to work from. Even novellas would be fine.

So - what's your recommendation for anthologies. Is it possible to create a definitive romance anthology? I've never been one for the short story in the romance genre, but still - what's your opinion on this one?

I wish I were made of stronger stomach, but I have been forcing myself to read the accounts of the horrifically devastating earthquake in China which killed thousands of people, including hundreds of children. I was blog-hopping and found that I am not alone in that difficulty. Marjorie Liu is in China right now, and her blog from China documents the earthquake in brief snippets that communicated to me how truly, truly awful the situation is there. She also provides many links for further information, and ways to help.

Stay safe Marjorie.