[LMB] TSK and genre romance

[Azalais Aranxta]

Quoting "Meg Justus" <mmegaera at nwlink.com>:

> Malfoy:
>> I didn't get that out of Tony's post or mine.  I just...don't
>> like books in which I am assured that Justice Will Be Done from
>> the get-go.  That doesn't imply deus ex machina.
>
> I guess it's just that pretty much as soon as a discussion of genre romance
> comes up, almost every time, someone will bring up how "formulaic" it is,
> even thought the formula is just a framework.  I took the reference to deux
> ex machina as a fancy way of saying romance endings are a copout.

There is a formula in terms of pacing that seems to be more rigid than  
other genres; that may be part of the objection.

>> Because that's what my two-fold problem is with books that
>> operate on the just world theory:  first of all, I don't believe
>> in a just world, and second of all, I like books to surprise me
>> and not telegraph their endings too much.
>
> So you don't like mysteries, either?  They most definitely operate on the
> just world theory.

BZUH?

REALLY?

Anne Perry's mysteries (if we count by number of books owned, she's my  
favourite author, even though she actually isn't) are full of  
murderers who have to be punished with whom the reader actually  
sympathises, murder victims and families with whom one doesn't, and  
all kinds of unpleasant consequences for people who don't really  
deserve it.

My favourite SF mystery series, Retrieval Artist, is more or less  
built on the theory that the universe in which Miles Flint operates is  
INHERENTLY unjust and that in order to do any kind of justice he must  
break the law; all moral victories in anything I've read by Kristine  
Kathryn Rusch, whom I adore, seem to be hard-won. (I have not read her  
fantasy yet though)

> No, really.  It's that we get tired of having disparaging remarks like "the
> happy ending always seems deux ex machina to me," or, "all romance is
> formulaic" jump into the discussion.  I used to think SF fans, who are also
> used to having their genre dissed, would understand this feeling, but that
> doesn't seem to be the case, alas.

While I don't like genre romance, I think it frequently gets  
disparaged because it is read primarily by women, and primarily by  
"normal" women, whereas SF is the literature of geeks (usually male)  
and the women who love them.  And women who think of themselves as  
feminists AND think that their feminist principles make them superior  
to unenlightened women, who would rather read Harlequins than Joanna  
Russ.  I know many people who know me only on the surface through my  
pretty pink princess act are shocked that I'd rather read Retrieval  
Artist than say, Catherine Asaro (who is SF, technically, but way too  
much of a genre romance writer for me).

I think often maligned genres are maligned in part because of their  
primary audience.  I like country music and a fair bit of rap, and I  
think many people who claim to hate both might not hate them so much  
if they weren't the music of poor rural whites and inner-city black  
folks.  And frankly I think a lot of the dissing Twilight gets is  
because teenage girls and stay-at-home moms love it.

~malfoy :)