Hot days & Technology

The warm weather continues and it is pretty wearing. I sympathise with people who have to work through the hot days and remember how awful it was to be trapped indoors in offices and libraries - and yet now I close the curtains against the sun, open windows on the shady side of the house and only go out on to the patio after five o'clock when the heat is deliciously warm without being overpowering. Now I know exactly why France closes down in the middle of the day and comes alive at night. We've had temperatures over 30 degrees Centigrade here in the north, and I think the big cities like London are reaching 34. Only Scotland comes up shady on every weather forecast.

Today is the day I joined the ranks of those who have a smart Apple iphone in a smart red leather jacket. It isn't that I use a mobile phone very much at all, but Tim got hold of the bum bag I use when I take him for walks, and in it was the old Nokia phone. I carry it in case we get too tired and need dh to come and pick us up - thought that is less and less likely as Tim leaves puppyhood behind. But still, it's handy to have in case anything goes wrong. The old Nokia still worked in spite of the teethmarks and the missing bits, but it didn't look too good. Now I will have to learn how to use this lovely new gadget. I never really became at all conversant with the Nokia, but dh assures me this are far easier to use. We'll see. Maybe I'll join the ranks of those people who walk down the street oblivious of all but what's on their iphones...

I've just begun reading Leopard Unleashed by Elizabeth Chadwick and enjoying it, partly because there are fictional characters taking the main parts, and partly because she infiltrates her research so well. My reading has been fairly eclectic lately, veering between The Art of Fiction by David Lodge, Rafa, My Story by John Carlin, and To Distraction by Stephanie Laurens. Tim got hold of the last named and chewed several pages, so I had to pay up at the library and now I own the book. The blurb says it is "sinfully sexy," by golly that was a true statement. . I've read Laurens before, and I'm surprised this title isn't listed on erotica sites along with 49 shades, or whatever it was called.

Taking a breather

I ought to confess that I haven't yet read A Country House at Work even though I've had it sitting in my This Week slot for several weeks. Suffice to say that it details the lives of servants in country houses, and right now I don't need to know about servants but I'll keep it against the day that I most surely will.
I have begun a new Stephanie Laurens book. This one is about Sir Giles, and was published 2007. I may keep a count of the er, h'mmm, sex scenes this time just to see what percentage of the book is taken up by them! It could become my new hobby.

Things are calming down in my life. I've sent copies of FAG off to hopefully be reviewed by local press. I've posted the cover on here, my website and notified my critique group and my local and national writers group. The next step will be to begin tapping into Yahoo groups and breaking the news there.

I have finished off and despatched a short work for the UNDONE series, sent off two historicals and now I can concentrate on Daisy. This time I am weaving a "crime" into the romance and finding that I keep losing track of who done what where. But now that I have only one work to worry about, I should get to grips with it soon even if it means sitting down with a print out and noting, synopsis style, what has happened so far. In fact, that would be a good idea for several reasons. I've got about 31,000 words down to date, with several completed chapters of what happens later in the story already complete. They just need working in. Reminds me of reading Diana Gabaldon's website and seeing that she writes each chapter and prints it out. Then she'll do another, and another, and at the end, she sits on the floor with all these chapters spread out around her and decides their order in the final book. Makes my eyes water just to think of it!

Skipping sex

I thought it was about time I commented on some of the books I've been reading and listing on here. (If you haven't noticed, look to the right....)

Last read has been a Stephanie Laurens. This is perhaps the fourth one - I've done Vane, Devil, and Lucifer. This time it was one of the girls as protagonist- Amanda, to be precise. I adore the way the author gets her character psychology so right, the Regency times so precise and love her excellent use of language. But...you can tell there's a but coming, I suspect - I now skip pages describing most of the sex encounters. At first it was Vane and Priscilla and the encounters were well done and in character. (And new, of course. To me, anyway.) Slowly, as I've found and read the other titles, I find the level of sex is increasing until in the last two books I've been tempted to count the pages that detail the encounters - sometimes seven, eight and nine page encounters and more than three, four or five encounters per book - perhaps more. What percentage of the whole book, I wonder? Not that it isn't well done, but...there's only so much lapping, laving and silken skin a person can take before it begins to feel just a tad repetitious. I'd much rather have more story, which the author also writes very well indeed.

Perhaps I've read too many of the series in too short a space of time. Spread out over a few years, would I notice? I don't know.

Does this demand for sex come from the reader, the editor, the publishing houses? and how much is enough? and how much becomes too much?

I'm wondering how far and where this trend will go. If you have a view, let me know! And if Ms Laurens happens, by some strange internet quirk, to see this - don't worry - I'll still be reading your books!