I was extremely happy that I finally finished a task – edit-translating Kazuki Kaneshiro’s coming-of-age novel Go – that basically took over my life for roughly three months.
It’s the kind where my eyes snapped open in middle of night when I thought of a better way of rephrasing a certain awkward line, and I tip-toed to the office and revised the line. The kind where half the time I hated it enough to wish I hadn’t taken it on. And the other half, the competitor in me was absolutely relishing in it as Go is heavily riddled with multinational pop culture references and politics*.
[*Here's an awesome article on the political and cultural history of Zainichi: John Lie's Zainichi Recognitions: Japan’s Korean Residents’ Ideology and Its Discontents, an adaptation of a chapter from his 2008 book Zainichi (Koreans in Japan): Diasporic Nationalism and Postcolonial Identity.]
The down side to that, though? It really messed with my English and time, and my usual routine with the mites and the household. Last weekend Will and the mites went up to Southport to visit a relative, and it was horrible to be in this empty-sounding house alone. Apart from the feed-me-feed-me cats, of course. Actually, sometimes, it was great to be alone so that I could just get on with it. Weird how it played out.
Anyroad, it’s done. FINALLY DONE!
I’ll never agree to take on a similar project again, though. Not for a while, anyway. It’d really wiped me out. Bye, Sugihara, and thanks for the good times but please don’t bother darkening my door step again.
As a reward to myself, I wanted to buy a Sandra Canfield as I recently heard there is a digital edition of Jericho, the first in Canfield’s Return to Calloways Corners trilogy. I couldn’t buy a copy there as it’s geo-blocked.
So I was trying to find a Sandra Canfield book elsewhere when I was getting irritated with the domineering presence of YA fiction until I took notice of book titles.
It seems that YA offers more interesting book titles than Romance usually offers. Examples:
- Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs
- The Way We Fall – Megan Crewe
- Arcadia Awakens – Kai Meyer
- The Eleventh Plague – Jeff Hirsch
- The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight – Jennifer E. Smith
- Under the Never Sky – Veronica Rossi
- Kiss Crush Collide – Christina Meredith
- The Catastrophic History of You and Me - Jess Rothenberg
- The Nightmare Garden - Caitlin Kittredge
- The Boy at the End of the World – Greg Van Eekhout
- 13 Reasons Why – Jay Ashe
- The Astonishing Adventures of Fan Boy and Goth Girl – Barry Lyga
- Article 5 – Kristen Simmons
- Bones On Black Spruce Mountain - David Budbill
- Trespass Against Us - Christian M. Frank
- Summer of My Dissent – Christian M. Frank
- Catholic, Reluctantly – Christian M. Frank
- Rot & Ruin - Jonathan Maberry
- Strange Angels - Lili St Crow
- Blood Red Road – Moira Young
- The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
- Brother/Sister - Sean Olin
- Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Laini Taylor
- The Noah Confessions – Barbara Hall
Compare that list with this list from recent digital releases of romance novels:
- A Rogue By Any Other Name – Sarah MacLean
- The Revenge of Lord Eberlin – Julia London
- A Lady Never Surrenders – Sabrina Jeffries
- Flat Out Sexy - Erin McCarthy
- Going Cowboy Crazy - Katie Lane
- The Duchess of Love- Sally MacKenzie
- The Highlander’s Bride - Michele Sinclair
- Every Night I’m Yours - Christie Kelley
- To Tempt A Scotsman - Victoria Dahl
- What a Scoundrel Wants - Carrie Lofty
- Spy Candy- Gina Robinson
- The Conqueror - Kris Kennedy
- Project Daddy- Kate Perry
- Mastering the Marquess- Vanessa Kelly
- A Rake’s Guide to Pleasure - Victoria Dahl
- Lipstick and Leather- Cheyenne McCray
- Highland Captive- Hannah Howell
- My Wicked Pirate - Rona Sharon
- Too Hot for a Spy - Pearl Wolf
- One Real Cowboy - Janette Kenny
- How the Marquess Was Won – Julie Anne Long
- The Price of Temptation – Lecia Cornwall
- The Duke is Mine – Eloisa James
- Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Duke – Sarah MacLean
- The Outlaw’s Bride – Maureen McKade
- The Darkest Hunger – Julianna Stone
- A Stranger’s Touch – Cait London
- Any Man of Mine – Rachel Gibson
I didn’t notice until now how hero-oriented those titles are either. Depressing.
What makes it more depressing is that I raised the exactly same issue on my old blog years ago. Why hasn’t it changed since then? I know it’s a characteristic of Romance, but I still don’t like it. Admittedly, I’d tolerate it if general romance cover art was changed, but that will never happen — so why do we have both dodgy titles and dodgy romance cover art? It’s cruel.
I have been accused of being ‘ashamed’ of those elements, but I’m not ashamed or embarrassed. I just think it’s ridiculous. Some YA novels are teen romance novels, but we don’t see teens in a clinch, do we? Ditto for romantic novels from other genres – SF/F, thriller, action/adventure, etc. And the titles? Come on.
How can I recommend good romance novels to non-romance readers with a straight face? “You should try Too Hot for a Spy, Helen.” or “Have you tried Daddy By Accident by Paula Detmer Riggs?”
Actually, I was scrolling down Dear Author’s A-reviews when I realised most listed titles aren’t conventional. Off the first two pages (barring category roms):
- Lily
- The Bride of the Rat God [non-rom]
- Isle of Night [YA]
- The Orchard [non-fiction]
- The Music Box
- Unlocked
- Sylvester
- Cotillion
- Eleven Scandals to Start Win a Duke’s Heart <– diiing!
- Kiss of Snow
- The Name of the Wind: the Kingfiller Chronicle [non-rom]
- The Bishop and the Actress
- The Winter Sea
- La Bonne
- Emily and the Dark Angel <— ding?
- Here Comes the Groom <— diiing!
- Anna and the French Kiss <— ding?
- His for the Holidays <— diiing!
- Marry Me <— ding?
- A Christmas Promise <— ding?
- Resistance
- Native Star [non-rom]
- The Iron Duke [I'm on the fence here because when I see 'Iron Duke', I immediately think of Wellington as it's the UK's usual nickname for him. It's similar to hearing 'Brangelina' and think of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. So yeah, I admit it took me ages to adjust to the book title. I think for many outside the UK, it's a diiing!]
- Trial by Desire <— diiing!
- Middlemarch [non-rom]
- Stolen [YA]
- Crocodile on the Sandbank
- Bleeding Violet [YA]
- Bonds of Justice
- His at Night <— diiing!
- Special Delivery <— diiing!
- Shades of Gray
Just six titles – and four possibilities - out of thirty-two books that scream “Romance!”
That has me looking at the Experiment to see how it would fan out. It seems to me that it’s roughly 60% that have conventional romance titles including Heart of Deception, Heart of Fire, Her Heart’s Desire, Passion, Falling For You, Lord of Danger, As You Desire, Rogue’s Reform and Meet Me at Midnight. I could include November of the Heart, but I won’t because I think it’s different enough.