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

Great interview.  I must confess I’m a romance reader that also has a soft spot for those RPGs.  FFXII sucked up 100 hours of my life, but damn that was fun.  And here I thought I was the only one.

Whatever I think of costumes (and no need to get into THAT again), I wish Liz and Marianne all success.

Really nice interview.

Great interview.  And OMG! You play video games?  And Jepad, too! That’s great to hear, because I was starting to feel rather lonely in Romanceland.  I’m not so much into RPGs because I don’t have that kind of attention span, and, ok, I admit I’m a sucker for gratuitous violence of the shotgun-and-chainsaw-wielding Evil Dead variety.

Anywho this manga/romance/mystery/history-reading, video-game playing, college-educated chick says, “Cross-over is good.  We need more of it!”

I wonder if Shomi has any plans to be at Otakon next year. It’s the biggest anime/manga con on the east coast so it’s definitely a good place to do promoting or a panel or a dealer’s room booth (if you happen to be reading this shomi ladies)

I actually saw Moongazer in the book aisle of my store and was like “Huh? A manga cover...but a novel? Eh?”
And thought it was neat.

My reward for pages finished?  Starcraft, Broodwar, Age of Empires… sensing a theme? ;)

Those were the costumes?

*mutters “Big Deal” under breath*

My kids are big into anime/manga, and hubby and I were gamers back in the day. Great interview!

Ok, I confess, I am also a gamer!
It’s all my “informatica” teacher: instead of actually learning, we played Age of Empires!
Every week we discover some new aspect about other SBs: who loves secret baby books, geeks, gamers, LOLcats addicts, ..., and all of us love romance *grins* Aren’t we great? *aaah high selfesteem€*

I’m with Robyn...goodness, if people really want to be shocked they should come to the Folsom Street festival here in San Francisco.  And many of those folks are professionals, too!

My sisters!  It’s such a relief to find women who read romances, watch anime, and dig manga and videogames.  Nearly all the women in my life find one or more of those things distasteful and beneath them. 

I must confess, I am still playing Diablo II, as the Assassin, of course.  I mean, I love the Amazon, but a chick with wrist blades?  Nothing better after a hard day than slicing me up some demon ass.

Spinsterwitch!

No no no, we have enough tourists at Folsom Street Fair quit inviting more dang it.

Kim Diablo2 rocks!

The Shomi line is some good reading.

Anywhere I can sign up for alerts?

You guys just need some eBooks dang it.

I didn’t realize the word haters was still in use.

In any case, I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, where I will take back my power.

myspace is the devil

:) my work here is done… Very nice interview, glad you survived the cons and such.  You guys done for now?

And for everyone else, anyone tried any of the shomi books yet?  loved em? hate em? eh em?

just wondering

have you been to the shomi site (http://shomifiction.com/)teddy… Twisted has the bestest cover evah.  It better not suck. 

I want to say there are four more books lined up not by the first three authors… Time Transit by Kay Austin, Twisted, Netherworld, The Challenge and then I *think* mari, liz and eve have books contracted with the line.

but I could be wrong

I didn’t realize the word haters was still in use.

Sure the fuck is Wry Hag.

Lower Haters are people living in Lower Height area. As in Height Street San Francisco.

Haters are street artsy cool.

“Personally, I’m sick of all these stereotypes. They’re created by people too lazy to actually interact with the people [insert - AND BOOKS ] they label.”

Nutshell.

Great interview.

Thanks guys! And wow - so many gamers out there. I love it. Though World of Warcraft pretty much takes up all of my gaming time nowadays, I used to love Age of Empires and Diablo2. The only thing I can’t play is first person shooters, as they make me sick to my stomach.

Lauren, will have to look up Oaktron. The only thing conference wise Liz have left this year is the NJ RWA, where we’re giving a workshop on author branding, incidentally.

And yes, Sybil, my anti-myspace dear, some great Shomi to come in the next year. I’ve read some of Twisted and can assure you it is definitely NOT teh suck. hehe. They’re producing excerpt booklets, like they did with the first round, so we’ll be able to read some samples soon.

As for Liz and I doing more Shomi, can’t say anything yet, as it’s still in the negotiations phase and I hate jinxing myself. Eve is definitely inked, though, for a July release.

Right now I’m in non-Shomi mode, as the 3rd in my Berkley YA vampire series, “Girls that Growl”, is coming out in less than a month. Werewolf cheerleaders. Woot!

Marianne

Otakon is a good way to market, it’s also a pretty fun con where EVERYONE is in costume pretty much (just beware of ManFaye, ManMisty, and ManCammy).

It’s in Baltimore. If you want more info here’s the site.

http://www.otakon.com

The problem with some games is that they can make your free time just disappear magically.

I’m talking to you, Civilization 4. And your sister Beyond the Sword isn’t much better.

Nice interview…

I still kind of think that the whole “I dress my characters like me.” mentality is icky.  But I’m colored through my Laurel K. Hamilton blog reading (TMI Queen) and now can’t help but glance at the author and the main character and any resemblances I inwardly cringe and begin to write the story off.

Maybe that’s not fair. But I really read for fantasy.  Having a direct link to the author like “Hey I wore that too!” or “I shopped that sale!” doesn’t make me squee in delight because it jerks me out of the moment of fantasy.

That said, cosplay is done for NUMEROUS genres/styles/games/whatevers pitching a fit because someone looks hotter than you is uncool.

Well, slap me, Teddy--I should’ve been able to figger that out, old hippie bitch that I am.

Final Fantasy 12 (Final Fantasy XII would be the official title should you look it up) surely must be played by the whole world. Best game in the series. The voice acting, the storyline, the heroes *siiigh*.

Surely some who like Romance would find something to drag them in with manga? If only the pretty pictures of them bishies. It’s an expensive habit, however. Favourite of the moment: PhD: Phantasy Degree!

Oh! I bet the SBs (and other SBs) would be amused with Ouran Highschool Host Club anime? It makes fun of the romance conventions found in Japanese media. Perhaps a bit on the YA side, but I love it very much.

Don’t get me started on videogames/anime. I could talk to you for hours.

Oh, trying Shomi soon! Saw Mrs. Giggles reviews and I was like ‘BRILLIANT’. Scifi/fantasy lover as well. I’ve got Asimov, Bova, Bujold, Goodkind and Haydon on my shelves to name a few so that’s something I definitely want to try.

I got into Final Fantasy around #8 and have played them all since. I just got #12 recently and haven’t gotten too far into it yet - glad to hear it’s a good one. I love the storylines and even the romance in the games. It’s almost like acting in your own movie. :)

Oh and Mrs. Giggles rocks. I was soooo thrilled and honored when I read her review of Moongazer!! It made my year. Once she gave me a 02 rating (on another book), so I know she’s not easy to impress!! Plus the woman knows her sci-fi.

MARIANNE

Oh yes, must bow down before the FFXII shrine.  My hubby and I are playing it together--well, he’s running the controller, so it’s kind of a like a big movie for me--and it could knock VIII (I heart Squall) out of the top spot in my heart.

But, then again, XII has Basch *ta-thump ta-thump*, and Balthier *le sigh*.

Man, I love those boots, heh. Like Marianne said I’m talking to Dorch about a sequel to Wired.  Meanwhile, I’m working on something for TokyoPop that’s a little different.  In any case, I’m not retiring the socks.  But maybe I’ll get some different colors for NJ and next year’s National.  ;) Again, thanks for the support!  You guys rock.

:)

Liz

Great interview! Romance readers are a diverse bunch (as is the genre itself)

I just read Driven and loved it!  Definitely fit the Shomi bill as you described it.  Genre Hybrid with great worldbuilding, kick ass heroine who was neither feisty nor TSTL, but had an interesting vulnerability to her.  And my favorite kind of hero--gorgeous, super strong and tough, but with a really endearing awkwardness to him.  Fast paced, romantic and different.

I’ll be reading more from the line, definitely.

Great interview.  I especially liked this, “And you, as a reader, can choose to listen to them and define yourself and your tastes by these random people’s sense of propriety, or you can tune them out, read whatever the hell you want to, and take back your power.”

EXACTLY RIGHT!  Who gives a crap what the latest [insert name of book] is among your friends.  When I was in my 20s, I wasn’t concerned about any of that stuff, but then my friends didn’t give a frig one way or the other what you read.

I don’t look at fantasy/anime/whatever as guilty pleasures; there is no such thing.  It’s just a PLEASURE to read, no guilt attached whatsoever.

~jerseygirl

Can I get an A-MEN???

A-fucking-men, Marianne and Liz!  A-fucking-men.