#RomancingTheVote, a genre romance authors-led effort that raised over US$750,000 for the 2020 and 2022 elections, mostly through silent auctions and funneling donations to Democratic candidates.
They're ramping up their efforts again, but since Xitter is, well, shitty, you can sign up for email notices here: https://forms.gle/h4yHf8VKQmsGaNQS8
And because the women behind #RomancingTheVote (Bree half of Kit Rocha and Courtney Milan) are the fucking class acts they are, now I'm crying happy tears:
Via @tuphlos, I just found out that Oklahoma's Supreme Court bocked the right wing state from banning books from public schools and penalizing schools who refused to comply with the fascists.
@herhandsmyhands@romancelandia@bookstodon OK, but is it erotica or is it women's fiction? Because I'm really struggling with the idea that it's both. Maybe very steamy women's lit? I feel like they are casting way too wide a net here...
The vector illo style isn't helping this at all. If you told me this was NA hiking/college romance, with fade to black closed-door intimacy, I'd be more willing to believe it than if you handed this to me and said it's erotica. Oof.
Hey, fellow romance readers! Longtime romancelandia denize and author of historical romances Manda Collins is facing a mountain of medical bills after spending almost two weeks in hospital at the beginning of the month.
Anything you can do to help (donate, share, both), is much appreciated.
@herhandsmyhands@romancelandia@bookstodon Thanks for sharing. I left RWA in January 2020 and I knew this was coming and what they would guve as the reason for their end.
ICYMI: the RWA is filing for bankruptcy, and because nice white ladies (TM) can't help themselves, they're implying it's Courtney Milan's (and the push for progress and inclusivity in the organization) that ruined the organization.
I’ve got the tiebreaker, so let’s go for the indie author, AJ Demas.
The official pick is Sword Dance.
Technically the first in a trilogy, but stand-alone with a HFN ending. Damiskos is an absolute cinnamon roll of a lead character, and the book itself is down the cosy end of the spectrum (with more plot than some cosies I’ve encountered 😊), though there is discussion of severe injuries including castration (Varazda is a eunuch).
However, Honey and Pepper is currently free on various sites, and The House of the Red Balconies just released a few days ago.
So, officially we’re chatting about Sword Dance in July, but perhaps we can also have a general AJ Demas appreciation month, whichever of her books you happen to pick up. They’re all set in the same fictional classical Mediterranean-inspired ancient world (which does include era-appropriate slavery), and they all feature rather sweet and comforting relationships. You’ll find them on Kobo Plus, your library if it’s better than mine (mine only has Sword Dance), or they’re all reasonably priced.
QRC is open to all, read at your own pace over the month and post about it under #QueerRomanceClub and @queerromanceclub — CW for spoilers if you’re posting early and going into details. No rules: let’s hear reactions, theories, reviews, favourite quotes etc.
ICMI: I read Kelly Armstrong's A Rip Through Time; this is both my introduction to the author and the first in the eponymous series--and it is very, very good.
@romancelandia
Brit friends, help? Would someone from a good family--not aristocracy, but perhaps landed gentry--refer to themselves as "a posh" when talking to someone else? As in, "I may be a posh from (place), but..."