[LMB] OT: When Favourite Authors Screw Up

[Beth Mitcham]

On 9/30/07, Margaret Dean <margdean at erols.com> wrote:
> Raye Johnsen wrote:

> > So I spent the entire weekend sitting there, telling
> > myself, /German measles!  Not mumps, German measles!/
> > Because mumps in an adult body isn't the same as mumps
> > in a juvenile body.  It's a longer, more debilitating
> > illness and one of the consequences is permanent
> > impotence - NOT something a male romance hero, even in
> > a comedy of manners where everyone's clothes stay
> > firmly on, should have.

Well, sterility is a possible consequence of adult mumps, but not a
definite one.  I don't get the same sense of discord here -- it's
a disease that has to be serious enough that he is gone for
several weeks and can't even sneak over for a quick talk.
Mumps is scary because there is a real chance of permanent
injury, but the odds still favor complete recovery.

Beth Mitcham