Ranty McRant
Reviewed by SB Sarah on February 18, 2010
Grab a flask and play along: it’s time to get head-weaving drunk with “Someone Without A Clue Reviews Romance: the Drinking Game!” While multiple-mullet salutes…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on February 04, 2010
This is a quick rant because I’ve got little to say beyond HOLY HELL am I tired of this. ENOUGH WITH THE EMOTIONS IN THE…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on February 01, 2010
After a full weekend of ZOMG on Twitter about the Macmillan/Amazon showdown, where Amazon did the hokey pokey with the buy links for Macmillan authors,…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on January 27, 2010
I am underwhelmed. Here’s my initial thoughts on Apple’s big announcement, culled from Notepad and Twitter. - iPad?! Really?! REALLY? Gosh, I’m sorry I no…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on January 21, 2010
I have been monster busy and therefore craving Harlequins for reading - but this one I couldn’t get through, no matter how many times I…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on December 11, 2009
As reported at Dear Author from articles in the Charlotte Observer and the Wall Street Journal, Simon and Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy, Brian Murray, chief…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on December 08, 2009
Huffington Post invited me to submit a rebuttal to the article by Alan Elsner that I mentioned in passing late last week. Mr. Elsner took…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on December 04, 2009
What a pity. I had higher hopes for HuffPo’s book section but wow, they were dashed against the rocky shores of sweeping generalization and people…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on October 14, 2009
Since the FTC released it’s guidelines for blog reviewers, I’ve been trying to coalesce my reaction and explain why I’m so irritated. The reaction to…
Reviewed by Candy on October 13, 2009
I’ve read some truly hilarious “Science fiction has become nothing more than romance novels in outer space!” arguments in my time, but I don’t think…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on October 02, 2009
If some guy said to you, “A Jewish guy cut me off while driving on the highway, so I hate Jews,” you’d think he was…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on September 30, 2009
Smart Bitch Test Driver Liz has a major beef with St. Martin’s Macmillan. Have a look. How To Lose Sales And Really Enrage Readers, St.…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on August 21, 2009
There’s a great deal of “If you liked…” recommendations for romance readers. And most of the time those recommendations are much appreciated - especially when…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on July 30, 2009
Randi has some problems with the page lag on the Sony 505. It’s an eInk thing, I think - they all do it: Kindle, Sony.…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on July 28, 2009
Thanks to Lee for the heads up: Barnes and Noble invites you to download their Free ereader software to your iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry, PC…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on July 13, 2009
I’ve been so pleased with so many of your decisions at Sourcebooks, like releasing Georgette Hayer backlist with spiffy covers and such high quality bindings…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on June 26, 2009
A special message to all those writing, editing, and publishing in the field of erotica and erotic romance: I understand there’s a limited lexicon when…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on June 24, 2009
Plagiarism is still newsworthy, especially when it comes time to take a look at the side by side comparisons. Seeing comparisons side by side isn’t…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on June 18, 2009
I linked earlier to this news report about the new owner of Britain’s Erotic Review moving away from female erotic writing to “almost exclusively male…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on June 01, 2009
Every night before bed this week I’ve read a few pages of Lora Leigh’s Maverick. I picked it up partly because I know for many…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on May 28, 2009
First, there was this Tweet from Ron Hogan: Planning to blog at #BEA09? The New Media Zone will have about 10 electrical outlets; you’re responsible…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on May 14, 2009
If I didn’t already know about many of the little things Amazon has done to completely decimate any interest I had in them as a…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on May 06, 2009
The collective WTF? on Twitter in response to the debut of the KindleDX was hi-larious, and I’m cranky enough to admit I’m enjoying seeing Amazon…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on April 28, 2009
At the RT booksigning on Saturday, someone came up to meet me. I absolutely love putting faces to names that I read online. When this…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on April 10, 2009
We’d had a few romance-positive articles in the news the last few weeks, including a New York Times article quoting Jane from Dear Author, but…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on February 27, 2009
Alert Bitchery reader Bonnie has forwarded me a gripe about her Kindle, and wow, it’s an irritant. I think in ebook mishigas this is somewhere…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on February 26, 2009
There’s a lot of talk online about what the hard stop price is for ebooks, with people like yours truly saying that my limit is…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on February 22, 2009
Seems over in the UK, Virgin has banned kissing in UK train stations saying it causes inefficiency in the crowd movement. Mills & Boon has…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on February 15, 2009
Since the Tools of Change conference, I’ve been thinking a lot about women, technology, eBooks, and most of all, complacency. While I have some specific…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on February 10, 2009
Nikki Lomax-Larson of Military Spouse Magazine has a bit of a problem. She’s a big reader. That’s not the actual problem. Well, there’s multiple problems…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on February 09, 2009
Every now and again, readers will interact with authors online and kerfuffles ensue. I know, it’s so rare, but it happens. No, really. And sometimes…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on February 09, 2009
A nice person over on my Twitter feed asked my why I call my Kindle “Sir Kindle the Fusspot.” Well, the short answer is, Sir…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on February 01, 2009
If you’re watching the Super Bowl, you saw this utter shitcake of a commercial from Teleflora mocking women who read romance novels. Ok, Teleflora. Eat…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on January 27, 2009
Today on the Consumerist, there is an article detailing that 30% of books sold for the Kindle are now more than $9.99. As a Kindle…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on January 13, 2009
Isn’t it enough that you people set out to destroy her career and almost caused her death? In case you don’t know, which I know…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on January 07, 2009
From the “You’ve Got to be Fucking Kidding Me” department comes this story via GalleyCat: spiritual author Neale Donald Walsch admitted to plagiarizing a story…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on December 31, 2008
Want to get drunk really fast this evening? Here: read this article about male Mills & Boon romance author Gill Sanderson. Every time the reporter…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on December 29, 2008
I can’t even measure the size of the dent my head left on my countertop (ow) upon reading this story. The small saving grace is…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on December 17, 2008
There have been a few reviews published this week on The Jewel of Medina. USA Today was hardly complimentary, and the New York Times was…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on December 11, 2008
I’ve had these links open on my Firefox browser for a couple of days now, since Caitlyn sent them to me. Honestly, I’m not sure…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on December 04, 2008
Want to turn your paperback into a hot pink (or red, or blue, or green) hardcover? Check out Hardbacker, a product with a somewhat buggy…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on November 10, 2008
Should you be looking to become a full-time writer of romance, I have the one web site on the internet with all the answers to…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on November 05, 2008
In early October, Gennita Low started an online campaign to ask folks to write to Wal Mart’s headquarters and ask them to stock her book.…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on September 19, 2008
What’s this? You need an excuse to bank your head in that nice head-shaped divot on your desk? We here at SB HQ are happy…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on September 01, 2008
Robin B., Diana Holquist and a few other folks have sent me the link to this article from early August in the UK Guardian about…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on August 19, 2008
If you were hoping for a copy of The Jewel of Medina in Serbian, you’re shit out of luck. Publisher BeoBook pulled the Serbian translation…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on August 07, 2008
Thanks to BB for this link to a discussion on PW regarding an aggregate of the top 100 lists of Best Books in English. The…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on August 05, 2008
Seems this article in the Huffington Post about how blogs cannot possibly replace book reviews in newspapers made KatieBabs’ head spin around on her neck.…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on August 05, 2008
In my limited experience, with just about any child rearing or parenting book that I’ve read, I’ve come away with about one or two pieces…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on July 29, 2008
Back when I was learning to cook, I had an absolute monster file of shortcut recipes for The Poor Student Cook (that would be me).…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on July 07, 2008
In the course of writing The Book, I’ve done a lot of thinking about why I read romance, and what it is that I’m looking…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on July 03, 2008
From the “Now See Here, Motherfucker, We Work Hard On Those Reviews” department comes word of an eBay store swiping the reviews written by other…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on June 10, 2008
Can someone explain the titles of Kresley Cole’s books to me? I mean, from a marketing perspective. It seems absolutely confusing that books that are…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on March 27, 2008
Want to pay $10 for a guide to making money selling romance paperback on eBay? Sorry - pay $10 for an 11-page guide on making…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on March 26, 2008
Kathleen sent me an alert that Australian booksellers Angus and Robertson are holding a writing contest to celebrate relaunching the Mills & Boon line. Kathleen’s…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on March 17, 2008
The Tsaba/RWA saga continues, as the Publishers Weekly daily newsletter (special note to PW: OMFG FIX YOUR SERVER it is the slowest damn thing) features…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on February 05, 2008
Link the first: New York Magazine reviews Toby Barlow’s Sharp Teeth, a werewolf story told in poem format. From the review written by Sam Anderson:…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on January 26, 2008
Courtesy of Jeaniene Frost who sent me much linkage, avast! A story so delicious, you’ll stick your own foot in your mouth. Reporter Jane Henderson…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on January 18, 2008
While we’re on the subject of the Harlequin/Silhouette titles, most specifically the Presents line, take a look at this: The Romantic Novelists’ Association has announced…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on January 17, 2008
It's that time of year: we're t-minus one month away from Valentine's Day, and it's time once again for media outlets to start pestering the…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on December 19, 2007
It is news around the world - a top story - that Jamie Lynn Spears, Britney’s 16 year-old sister, is pregnant. Comments following that story…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on December 01, 2007
JaneDrew, recent winner of Barb Ferrer’s Name That Character contest, is a grad student in medieval/early modern European history, and, as she says, “yes, that…
Reviewed by Candy on November 05, 2007
I’ve been having issues lately with my leisure reading. Part of it is certainly lack of time—instead of immersing myself in high adventure, slick passages,…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on September 10, 2007
After the discussion about labels on romance novels, and prior discussions about series books in the romance shelves, one author and I had a rather…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on September 01, 2007
So Myers, in the ages-old crusty article I linked to a few days ago, picked the nits off various passages from literary fiction, but didn’t…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on August 30, 2007
From the school of “slap one hand to raise the other,” we have a thought provoking article from The Atlantic, emailed to me by Bitchery…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on August 29, 2007
I got my most recent RWR in the mail the other day, and since my entire job as a giant pregnant lady is to relax,…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on August 22, 2007
Bitchery reader Sarah (not me, another Sarah) send me a link to a long rant from LK Hamilton’s bulletin board about why the genre gets…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on August 07, 2007
Ah, yes, “Becoming Jane.” I personally would love to become Jane. She dresses marvelously, can synthesize and formulate a reply to a tricky question with…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on July 02, 2007
Suitable for the Head Up Our Ass Department, we have a red alert sent to us from Bitchery Reader iffygenia who directs us to this…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on June 21, 2007
Have I mentioned here that I exist in something of a news fast? I rarely if ever read the news. I might hear a few…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on June 06, 2007
In the romance world, there’s many an unspoken rule as pertains to authors and reviewers and whatall. Used to be you weren’t supposed to give…
Reviewed by Candy on May 23, 2007
Sarah forwarded on “Not Everybody’s a Critic,” an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times by film critic Richard Schickel. I would’ve dismissed it as…
Reviewed by Candy on May 10, 2007
Reader Joanne sent me an e-mail recently that thrilled me down to my bitchy little toes, because she hit on one of my biggest peeves…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on May 02, 2007
Our schadenfreude-o-meters are pegged solidly in the red today, dear readers. Perhaps it’s spring fever, perhaps it’s the pollen in the air, but people sure…
Reviewed by Candy on February 12, 2007
Ron at Galleycat has some marvellous linkage on the various reactions by chick lit authors. Go ye forth and click; marvel and chuckle with evil…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on February 12, 2007
The Bitchery is ever good about sending us the funny and the WTF links, which of course we pass along to you. For your Valentine’s…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on February 10, 2007
LovelySalome was kind enough to forward me a rather scathing attack on the omnipresence of ChickLit courtesy of Maureen Dowd in the New York Times.…
Reviewed by Candy on November 06, 2006
There’s been a bit of a Interweb kerfuffle regarding Anne Stuart’s recent comments about her publishers in an interview on All About Romance. Miss Snark…
Reviewed by Candy on October 10, 2006
To start things off, let me just say I’m still having trouble believing we were mentioned obliquely in the New York Times. Now, don’t get…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on October 04, 2006
Alert Bitchery reader JMC was forced to change seats on the DC Metro this week. Why? Because she didn’t want to face this crapful advertisement.…
Reviewed by Candy on August 23, 2006
(Update by SB Sarah: Forbes has relaunched the article, this time with a rebuttal alongside it, advocating men live up to the responsibilities of home,…
Reviewed by Candy on August 16, 2006
There have been some pretty heated discussions going on lately at the Romantic Times Readers’ Roundtable Messageboard and at the AAR Potpourri Messageboard about Anne…
Reviewed by Candy on August 03, 2006
Hey, remember Jan Butler, the writer with the tenuous grip on logic and history? You know, the one who wrote that incredibly asinine letter to…
Reviewed by Candy on July 24, 2006
Kate Rothwell recently posted a letter to the editor by one Jan R. Butler. It’s truly a masterpiece, invoking the usual homophobic canards. Despite knowing…
Reviewed by Candy on June 19, 2006
A couple of sharp-eyed Bitchery members have pointed out the current kerfuffle on covers going on at Karen Scott’s blog. It’s a good old-fashioned smackdown,…
Reviewed by Candy on June 16, 2006
Bitchery veteran, founder of Smart Bitches Day and Slayer of Foley, Beth, forwarded me this steaming pile of stupid yesterday. Go. Go read it. Make…
Reviewed by SB Sarah on May 03, 2006
Bitchery reader Amanda sent us a link to the following Q&A, Burning Questions on BookPage, where a bookstore owner wrote in searching for an update…
Reviewed by Candy on April 11, 2006
This is wildly OT and applies to more than romance novels, but it’s something that’s been stuck in my head a while, so here goes:…
Reviewed by Candy on January 12, 2006
I’m coming in late to this (work: KICKING MY ASS; the mess in my apartment: KICKING MY ASS; life in general: KICKING MY FUCKING ASS)…
Reviewed by Candy on December 20, 2005
Susan Gable broke this story on Booksquare yesterday: Harlequin is trimming down the word counts for the longer series romance lines by about 10,000 words.…
Reviewed by Candy on November 17, 2005
I’m the middle of reading Hot Spell, and a couple of nights ago, while reading Lora Leigh’s contribution (“The Breed Next Door”), I had to…
Reviewed by Candy on October 31, 2005
Via Sara Donati’s blog, I found this Slate article on Diana Gabaldon, the Outlander phenomenon and A Breath of Snow and Ashes. Have I mentioned…
Reviewed by Candy on October 14, 2005
It all started a couple of days ago when I noticed PBW calling certain types of historical romance heroes “sheroes” because they were too nice,…
Reviewed by Candy on October 05, 2005
We moved last weekend. OK, let me amend this sentence: We moved out last weekend, and are now deep in the process of unpacking and…
Reviewed by Candy on September 14, 2005
Yeah, that’s right. Rape. I can’t believe this blog has existed so long without us taking a long, hard (huh huh, long and hard) look…
Reviewed by Candy on September 08, 2005
There’s currently a very interesting discussion going on right now about narrowing the definition of romance in the comments section of our Gayle Wilson interview.…
Reviewed by Candy on August 22, 2005
Unlike my usual M.O., I actually spent all weekend thinking about this issue and talking about it with many different people before blogging about this…
Reviewed by Candy on August 10, 2005
Someone on one of the AAR messageboards has accused us Smart Bitches of having an anti-Christian slant. Candy’s Take: Confession time: Organized religions in general…
Reviewed by Candy on August 05, 2005
A lot of people have been very, very indignant at Terry Pratchett for his comments on J.K. Rowling, flinging accusations of jealousy, pettiness, etc. Me,…
