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ROMANCE

                               September 8, 1993 

In the interests of openmindedness,
I read a romance novel.  I think it
was by Johanna Lindsey.

The writing was pretty awful, but I
could get used to it.

The main character was entirely
useless, completely passive.

I mean, this is a plot: "No, no,
no, no, no, yes..."?

I heard Dawn Friedman make an odd remark recently
about holding a convention panel discussion on the
subject of what SF can learn from Romance novels.


  (1) I think, yeah right, you can do an SF novel
  about an entirely passive character who just
  sits around saying "No, no, no... yes."
  
  (2) Except you could actually do that.  A
  character could be in control of something
  extremely valuable... a resource, an industry,
  an alien race, an alien artificat... and
  various factions could come up offering him
  deals, that he keeps rejecting.

  (3) Actually, this is what _Season of the Mists_
  is about, isn't it?


    And I suppose this is the
    opposite of my old idea of
    translating the appeal of           That notion: the central
    male-fantasy fiction (e.g.          characteristic of       
    Detective stories) into             male-oriented adventure 
    women's fiction.                    fiction is contrived    
                                        situations in which     
                                        prohibited behavior is  
                                        justified.  Spider-man  
                                        never has any difficulty
                                        finding bad guys to beat
                                        up when he needs to.    
                                        
                                        So the female analog would be
                                        something like situations in 
                                        which playing the whore would
                                        be required by circumstances.
                                         
                                        
                                         
                      Possible Examples:             
                                                     
                      The female spy who lures men to
                      their dooms with her body,     
                      strictly for patriotic reasons.
              
                                                          
              Ayn Rand's first novel "We the              
              Living" is about someone who            
              sleeps with a Soviet official                
              to obtain medicine required by
              her lover.                    
                                                       

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