And the winner is....
And the winner is....
Well, I think we all won, after reading this past week's series on crime fiction's "girl ghetto." The insights offered by our guest goddesses, Laura Lippman and Sarah Weinman, and our guest studs, Harlan Coben and David Montgomery, were all thoughtful and thought-provoking. The Book Tarts extend our appreciation to the fantastic four, as well as to the commenters who offered their feedback.
I have a feeling this topic won't likely be put to rest anytime soon, not with such varying opinions (and strong opinions at that). Even Patti Sprinkle, outgoing Sisters in Crime president, notes in her address in the latest InSinC newsletter that the job of SinC is not over yet, not by far. Though, maybe as some suggested, it's more about light vs. dark, as opposed to girls vs. guys. Or else it's perception, or maybe it's the fault of us readers who tend toward a certain subgenre and don't venture much into others. Could be that our own blinders keep us from realizing there's more out there than just traditional cozies and hardboiled noir, and prevent us from seeing who's writing something fresh and new that can't be lumped into existing categories. Whatever the answers, the debate gives us food for thought, and that's never a bad thing.
Look for the Book Tarts to get back to our usual schedule this week, starting with Harley on Monday. No doubt, she has some pithy piece that's been festering inside her while she edited her chapter's SinC anthology and finally caught up on the "girl ghetto" series to find that Sarah and I had been doling out invitations from her for B-con week. Boy, will she be a popular girl (and a poor one!).
For Tuesday, Sarah's thrown together a little ditty about physics and how she's found, through personal experience, that Einstein's theory of relativity is pure bunk. (Okay, I'm lying, as I have no clue what she's going to write about. Still, she's very smart, so it could be physics, for all I know.)
Nancy's got revisions to finish, so we won't bother her until Friday, which means I can slip in my Chippendales observations on Thursday (really, there are so many ways those guys are like mystery authors--it boggles the mind!).
Also, catch me "Guest Stalking" on StalkingKellyRipa, thanks to an invitation from buds Jen Apodaca and Natalie Collins. Got my new author photos back, though I'm waiting for the toucher-upper guy to eliminate scratches and wrinkles (because, heaven forbid, I should have a line on my face). I will share with you on Thursday, if I can figure out how to do the thumbnail photos that link to real-sized ones. Sometimes, Typepad scares me.
Hope everyone has enjoyed the weekend. You still have time to read a good book, or at least start one! I'm re-reading EVA MOVES THE FURNITURE by Margot Livesey for book club and loving it as much the second time around.
We haven't yet blamed booksellers for the ghetto-izing of women's fiction, Susan. Until bookstores make it easier for readers to find books that cross various genre lines, readers will always have a hard time finding books beyond the aisle they usually haunt. Or is that the fault of publishers who haven't found ways to put a book in two places at once? But that's a series for another time, isn't it?
Thanks to all our guests for putting up with us so good-naturedly. Everyone made terrific points. I hope somebody was listening.
N
Posted by: nancy | July 10, 2005 at 04:23 PM