Book Tour--SHEPHERD'S MOON

SHEPHERD’S MOON by Stacy Mantle
A fantasy thriller

BLURB
It's taken twelve years to earn the official title of Shepherd but she's now mostly trained, fairly effective, and the first female in over two centuries to hold the position as protector of animals. All animals…

The Territorial Council isn't thrilled with her new title of Shepherd, but they don't have any more control over the appointment than they have over her. All they can really do is wait for her to screw something up - which Alex is determined not to do.

Everything changes when a chance encounter with a genetically modified Shifter leaves Alex shaken and initiates a quest to locate its maker. Despite years of training, Alex finds herself woefully unprepared to tackle the new threat.

To make matters worse, she must work with a mysterious man who's been trying to kill her since the day they met…

EXCERPT
I listened to him shuffling papers as he searched for the file. “Body count of twelve in the last two months. Four in the past four days — throat ripped out on each.” He paused, scanning the notes. “Impressive… The profile fits a PSK.”

I chuckled softly. Preternatural Serial Killer — the standard moniker assigned to any serial killer. The acronym worked with the local police who attributed the P to psychopathic rather than preternatural, and allowed access to funding that the department wouldn’t normally have access too. The additional funding afforded them the ability to outsource the unconventional and bizarre cases to people like me, which allowed the public to remain oblivious to the fact that we had creatures they had only read about in horror novels out roaming the earth.

Sometimes ignorance really is bliss.

To qualify as a serial killer with the police, a person has to have three kills inside of a month. Unfortunately, a lot of people fit that profile these days… The only real difference between a preternatural and a psychopath is that preternaturals tend to have a much higher body count within a much shorter timeframe.

“The profiler made a few comments,” Richard continued.

“Let me guess, I interrupted. “White male, loner, mid-thirties, with a God complex who was recently laid off work?”

“You got it.” He paused, and I could almost picture him searching the file for a preliminary sketch. But he needn’t have bothered. Any sketch coming back would reflect someone who looked like Jeffrey Dahmner or Ted Bundy—a seemingly normal, somewhat attractive man who people would describe as such a normal-looking person that they would never have suspected of being such a monster.

“No Handler listed.” Richard continued, “At the very least, we haven’t been able to locate one, so finding him will be your first priority.”

ABOUT STACY

While Stacy Mantle is most well-known as the Pack Leader of the popular website, PetsWeekly.com, however she is rapidly gaining a fan base in the genre of fantasy with the publication of Shepherd’s Moon, the first book in her Alex Wilde “Shepherd” series.

Stacy has a B.A. in English, a post-baccalaureate in Secondary Education, and an MBA with an emphasis on Marketing. She is active in animal rescue and is a nationally-known pet industry authority. She currently resides in the deserts of the Southwest with several cats, a few dogs, and a very understanding husband. You can learn more about her at StacyMantle.com.

Connect with Stacy on Facebook and Google+. Follow her on Twitter at @stacymantle, and find her on Pinterest.

Find the SHEPHERD’S MOON series on Google+ and Facebook.

Buy SHEPHERD’s MOON as a paperback or ebook at Amazon and B&N. It’s also available as a hardback from Lulu and an ebook from Smashwords.

Animal lovers, check out Stacy’s PetWeekly links.

-Website
-Pinterest
-Google+

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Hey readers,

Preternatural Serial Killer? *shiver*

Follow the rest of the tour here

And don’t forget to comment for a chance at a prize.

Stacy will be awarding a $15 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

Book Tour--COVER OF DARKNESS

COVER OF DARKNESS by Gregory Delaurentis
A crime thriller

BLURB
A high profile murder of a Wall Street executive in Westchester pits three people against the criminal underbelly of Manhattan nightlife. The key players are two ex-cops turned private investigators—Kevin Whitehouse, whose sharpest tool is his keen analytical mind, and David Allerton, a former Special Forces operative—and Margaret Alexander, Kevin’s lover. In their search for a killer, they are forced to travel to the edge of sanity and morality, while stumbling onto their own confusing secrets as well. The Cover of Darkness is a gritty noir saga that untangles a web of deceit in the course of tracking down a brutal murderer.

EXCERPT
The pool area was wide and reflected the sun on this hot summer day. It was edged with white marble so polished that it looked like pearl. Deck chairs lined the sides of the long pool, which was two lengths more than Olympic-sized. Outside the deck area was the carpeted lawn of the vast backyard, dappled with sun.

Hugh Osterman walked along the side of the pool wearing a heavy terry cloth robe and sandals. In his right hand, he held a martini glass. He ran his left hand through his sandy sun-streaked hair as he looked over his shoulder at the man following him.

“What’s going on? I don’t get it,” Osterman said, stopping at the end of the pool where the flotation chairs were kept.

“They said no,” the man replied. Considering the backdrop, he was incongruously dressed in a dark suit and tie.

“They said no . . . just like that?”

Osterman sat his drink down on the marble surface, and pushed a flotation chair into the deep end of the pool, sending it out and away. Then he peeled off the robe and dove smoothly into the water, emerging next to the floating chair.

“You go back and tell them that we aren’t pleased,” Osterman said sternly, pulling himself up and into the seat of the chair. “You tell them that Hugh Osterman wants to know what’s holding things up—what the problem is.”

The suit just stood at the edge of the pool, opening his jacket against the heat of the day. Osterman paddled to the side, and reached out and retrieved his martini glass. “I take it you have nothing to say about this?” he persisted, despite the other man’s silence.

The suit shook his head. “Well, what are you waiting for?” Osterman said as he tipped the glass up to his lips. Suddenly, the bottom of the stem shattered. Osterman gurgled as he dropped the glass, blood bubbling from his mouth, an open tear in his neck. He jolted upright in the chair as the suit closed the distance between them, his Colt .38 Super still trained on its victim, its silencer smoldering.

Osterman slowly sat back as the suit pumped more rounds into Osterman’s bare, well-defined chest—the hot shells of his pistol ejecting out and striking the surface of the water, settling to the bottom. His life ended as his body tumbled from the floating chair, his blood a widening crimson slick roughly in the area where his body slipped through.

The suit popped his clip, slipped in a new one, and headed for the sprawling house.

ABOUT GREGORY
Gregory Delaurentis spent his adult life roaming from job to job, working for Lockheed in California, various law firms in New York, and financial firms on Wall Street. Throughout this period of time, he was writing—unceasingly—finally producing a large body of work, albeit unrecognized and unpublished . . . until now. Cover of Darkness is the first in a series of upcoming books that include Edge of Darkness, Pale of Darkness and Cries of Darkness. These novels follow the lives of three individuals who do battle bringing criminals to justice, while they struggle to understand the complex relationships that exist among themselves. This intriguing trio has absorbed the attention of Mr. Delaurentis for the past year and a half, so much so he decided to self-publish their stories to bring them to a wider audience. [AUTHOR’S DISCLAIMER: These are works of fiction. Name, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.]

Check out Gregory’s blog. Visit the Dark Novels website. Connect with Gregory and the books on Facebook, and follow them on Twitter @cupgrease.

Buy COVER OF DARKNESS.

-Amazon
-Kobo
-B&N
-Sony Ebookstore
-Smashwords

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Hey folks,

Oof, murder. Nice hook.

Follow the rest of the tour here.

And don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for a chance at a $50 amazon/bn gc.

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Book Tour--BLOOD DESTINY SERIES

BLOOD DESTINY SERIES by Helen Harper
Urban fantasies

BLOODFIRE

Mackenzie Smith has always known that she was different. Growing up as the only human in a pack of rural shapeshifters will do that to you, but then couple it with some mean fighting skills and a fiery temper and you end up with a woman that few will dare to cross. However, when the only father figure in her life is brutally murdered, and the dangerous Brethren with their predatory Lord Alpha come to investigate, Mack has to not only ensure the physical safety of her adopted family by hiding her apparent humanity, she also has to seek the blood-soaked vengeance that she craves.

BLOODMAGIC

After escaping the claws of Corrigan, the Lord Alpha of the Brethren, Mack is trying to lead a quiet lonely life in Inverness in rural Scotland, away from anyone who might happen to be a shapeshifter. However, when she lands a job at an old bookstore owned by a mysterious elderly woman who not only has a familiar passion for herbal lore but also seems to know more than she should, Mack ends up caught in a maelstrom between the Ministry of Mages, the Fae and the Brethren.

Now she has to decide between staying hidden and facing the music, as well as confronting her real feelings for the green eyed power of Corrigan himself.

BLOODRAGE

Mack begins her training at the mages' academy in the hope that, by complying, the stasis spell will be lifted from her old friend, Mrs. Alcoon. However, once there, she finds herself surrounded by unfriendly adults and petulant teenagers, the majority of whom seem determined to see her fail.

Feeling attacked on all fronts, Mack finds it harder and harder to keep a rein on her temper. Forced to attend anger management classes and deal with the predatory attentions of Corrigan, the Lord Alpha of the shapeshifter world, her emotions start to unravel. But when she comes across a familiar text within the walls of the mages' library, which might just provide the clues she needs to unlock the secrets of her background and her dragon blood, she realizes that her problems are only just beginning…

EXCERPT FROM BLOODFIRE
I jogged along a small brook until it curved upstream towards the hills, then hopped over it and headed towards where I knew John would be. I finally found him crouched in a clearing, not far from the edges of the moor.

“You sound like an elephant running through those trees,” he complained.

I put my hands on my hips and raised an eyebrow. “Is that the thanks I’m getting for interrupting my run to come and investigate the over-energetic dalliances of some bunny rabbits?”

“That was one time.” He straightened up. His salt and pepper beard and bald head, along with the laughter lines around his eyes, hinted at the wisdom and experience contained within that smart mind of his. John had been alpha in Cornwall for thirty-two years, and was universally liked and respected by the pack, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t still have a little fun.

“So what is it this time? Don’t tell me, I’ve got it, a sheep has gotten lost on the moor and its bleating is terrifying the farmers.”

He held out his palm. There was a small shiny black object resting in the middle. “I wish that’s what it was,” he said grimly. “Take a look at this.”

I picked it up from his hand and rolled it through my fingers. It was almost entirely weightless, and very smooth. There was also something else. I held it up to my ear and heard an odd chiming sound.

John looked at me sharply. “You can hear it?”

“Sure,” I said surprised.

“Describe it to me.”

“You mean you can’t hear it?” I was puzzled. Compared to my own hearing, John could hear a leaf drop from fifty paces away. “It’s like bells. Only not, it’s more continuous than that. Like a never-ending echo of a chime.”

He pursed his lips, clearly unhappy. “It’s a wichtlein’s stone.”

“A mine fairy’s? They knock three times and a miner drops dead?”

“You’ve been reading too many fairy tales. Wichtleins do sometimes hang around old mines and tease the men that work there, but more often than not they are true harbingers of evil. I don’t think one has been seen in the British Isles for more than a century.”

ABOUT HELEN

Helen Harper is an English teacher currently living abroad in Malaysia. As a long time reader of urban fantasy, she finally bit the bullet and began to develop her own series of novels.

Helen has always been a book lover, devouring science fiction and fantasy tales when she was a child growing up in Scotland. "I always loved the escapism provided by those genres," states Helen. "No matter how bad life gets, you can always find a route out, even if only temporarily, in the pages of a good book.”

The growth of urban fantasy fascinated her - the mix of reality and fantasy along with strong heroic female characters appealed from the very beginning, and inspired her to write her own.

Like Helen’s Facebook page, and follow her on Twitter @HarperFire.

Buy the books in the BLOOD DESTINY series on amazon.

-BLOODFIRE
-BLOODMAGIC
-BLOODRAGE

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Hey readers,

Always looking for a new urban fantasy series. Finally, one where I don’t have to wait for the books to come out. Yay!

Follow the rest of the tour here.

And don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for a chance at a prize.

Helen will award a $25 Amazon GC to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

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Support Daily Science Fiction

Good Friday,

Daily Science Fiction is a pro-rate, SFWA qualifying e-zine I read, well, daily. They produce some awesome content. No really, awesome—funny, tear jerking, makes-you-think—sometimes all in one.

I believe in the power of strong literature, and I believe in the strength of short fiction. Combined, I believe that short fiction needs to continue being available in as readily available a format as DSF. And for those reasons, I ask you to support and/or donate to Daily Science Fiction on Kickstarter.

Give any amount starting at $1. Every dollar is one $ closer to their goal, which will allow them to continue paying authors for their hard work.

Thank you for your time, eyes, and support. Sharing this post puts the word out there too.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

Placing Books on the Shelves

Good Wednesday,

DISCLAIMER: There may be made-up words in this post.

I spent the last two days in a car and, thus, not terribly inspired. I did read, though, (helped with a few of the hours yesterday), and that helped me get in gear for blogging. It also gave me a topic as you can see by the title.

I call things like I see them. If it has four legs and barks, it’s a dog, for example. A fantasy is a fantasy. A mystery is a mystery, and a young adult romance with a dystopian setting is not a straight-up young adult dystopia.

I’ve posted a lot about romance lately. I’m not being hard on romance. It’s a genre. I don’t read it much, but I respect it as something that (contrary to popular belief) takes work to write. It just also seems to be the most mislabeled or miscategorized genre out there.

We spend a lot of time at residency for Seton Hill discussing genre and what it means. The prevailing theory of genre categorization is to place the book in the section with which the main plot most corresponds. If the main story is about the fight between good and evil and magic is present, that’s filed as fantasy (subcategorize as needed). If the main story is solving a crime, that’s filed as mystery. If the main plot is the struggle between two individuals to make a long-term, committed relationship work, it’s filed as romance. If the main plot line is the struggle between two individuals to make a long-term, committed relationship work, it is not filed under science fiction.

There’s also the argument that genre doesn’t exist. All books fall into all (or at least two) genres, and “filing” is something created by bookstores to market books. Personally, I think there’s more to defining what a book is about then marketing. To each his own on that one.

Either way, I define what I enjoy reading by genre because it’s easier to think in terms of categories and easier to describe it to others in terms of genres. I like dystopias. I don’t really like romances. So when I pick a book that’s labeled “ya sf dystopian” and discover I’m, in fact, holding a romance novel set in a dystopian world, I get kind of annoyed. Someone mislabeled or miscategorized this book. I probably would have still read it if it were labeled romantic sf, but I would have known what I was getting into and, thus, not finished the book with smoke coming out of my ears.

In the book’s defense, the blurb read like a romance. “Impossible decision between (insert two characters’ names here).” That’s a love triangle, which, as is evident by TWILIGHT’s appearance in the ya romance category, is a romance trope. The love triangle does appear in other genres, but in those books (such as HUNGER GAMES) the love triangle is not the main plot. The love triangle was the main plot in the book I read yesterday. I just wished someone had noticed that before firmly placing it on the dystopia shelf.

Thanks for reading.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

Book Tour--MIDSHIPMAN HENRY GALLANT IN SPACE

MIDSHIPMAN HENRY GALLANT IN SPACE by H. Peter Alesso
A science fiction novel

BLURB
As the last star fighter in squadron 111, Midshipman Henry Gallant is on his way from Jupiter to Mars. With the United Planets' fleet on the verge of annihilation, he can expect no help as he passes through the asteroid belt and threatening aliens. With so much uncertainty about the aliens' capabilities and intentions, analyzing the captured computer equipment in Gallant's possession could prove crucial. Unfortunately, it is his abilities that have been much in doubt during his tour of duty. In an era of genetic engineering, he is the only Natural (non-genetically enhanced) officer left in the fleet. Only bright and attractive junior officer Kelsey Mitchel has shown any sympathy for him. Now as his navigator on the last fighter in squadron 111, her life as well as a good many others, depends on Henry Gallant.

EXCERPT
Gallant prepared to press the firing button to launch an antimissile into the center of the damaged saucer, but then he paused. He suddenly realized that he had the opportunity to discover important information about the aliens, if he could get inside the saucer and relay what he found to Captain Caine and GridScape.

“Kelsey, we’ve got to dock with that saucer and board it. Once we’re inside who knows what we'll discover?”

Kelsey grew alarmed, “No, no, no. Henry; is that even possible - in the middle of this chaos?”

“It’s an opportunity we can’t afford to pass up.” He abandoned caution and committed himself to the risky venture. Kelsey stayed silent and motionless for several long seconds. Then any reservations she had faded. She calculated the course to dock, matching the saucer's speed, course, and orientation so that they would be relatively stationary.

"Kelsey, you’ll have to remain with the fighter and use the lasers to cover my spacewalk, but if things go badly, I want you to break off," said Gallant, strapping on his gun. "I don’t know if the ship’s crew will offer any resistance.”

"I’ll inform Repulse what you’re attempting. Maybe they can provide covering fire if needed," she said.

“Great idea. I’ll send a video feed from my suit comm pin to our Eagle. You can let Repulse follow my progress and record everything that happens for intelligence analysis.”

With the aftermath of the violent space battle around him, Gallant prepared to spacewalk to the saucer. He sealed his mirrored armored suit and exited the fighter through his overhead hatch. The suit included an oxygen generator pack that maintained an appropriate atmosphere for him to breathe as he traveled in space. He traveled along the surface of the fighter using short bursts of gas to propel him and then released his umbilical line. Using his propulsion jets he propelled himself forward into the darkness. He looked for a way to enter the alien ship.

Gallant maneuvered the jetpack deftly. His suit shielded him from incredible extremes of temperature—up to 250 degrees Fahrenheit on sunlit surfaces and down to 150 degrees below zero on the shady side of the fighter.

Propelling himself forward, he tumbled and then straightened up. By using the communicator to connect to the fighter, he relayed information directly to the ship’s AI. He could also access the ship’s monitoring capability to see how the battle was progressing. Suddenly, the communicator notified him that an alien saucer was approaching. He could see laser shots flash near him. For a moment he couldn't breathe, and then he let his training take over and found the strength to go forward.

-What book and/or experience made you want to be a writer?

Science fiction novels provide wonderful adventures in unexpected places with unusual characters and strange circumstance. I’ve enjoyed them all my life including stories such as Jack Campbell’s The Lost Fleet series and it inspired a story that I wanted to share. Midshipman Henry Gallant was the result.

ABOUT H. Peter ALESSO

As a scientist and author specializing in technology innovation, H. Peter Alesso has over twenty years research experience at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). As Engineering Group Leader at LLNL he led a team of computer scientists and engineers in innovative applications across a wide range of supercomputers, workstations and networks. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a B.S. and served in the U.S. Navy on nuclear submarines before completing an M.S. and an advanced Engineering Degree at M.I.T. He has published several software titles and numerous scientific journal and conference articles, and he is the author/co-author of six books.

Visit his website. Check out his blog, and like his Facebook page.

Contact H. Peter - alesso@comcast.net.

Watch the book trailer.

Buy MIDSHIPMAN HENRY GALLANT IN SPACE on Amazon.

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Hey readers,

Hard core hard sf. Nice.

Check out the rest of the tour here.

And don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for a chance at a prize.

Peter will be awarding $100 Amazon or BN.com gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

New Adult: Why, Just Why?

Hi folks,

As promised (threatened?) on Monday—another rant.

I write fantasy and a bit of sf. I usually read fantasy and a bit of sf and some mystery. I’m trying to expand my knowledge of the genres, and I’ve been reading some romance lately. Romance isn’t really my thing, but if it’s well-written and interesting, I’ll enjoy it.

At residency for Seton Hill a few weeks ago, the recently popular “new adult” genre was called into the spotlight. We discussed and defined it, and here’s what we came up with.

“New adult is young adult romance with sex that’s written for the 18-22 age bracket.”

College-age romance. Ok, fine. That age range was neglected for a while and not just in romance. When I was a kid, I went from reading “A Wrinkle in Time” to “The Sword of Truth.” That’s a big gap.

So new adult. I made it part of my “expanding mission” to read some of these. After all, keeping up-to-date on what’s selling (even if it isn’t in your genre) is important.

I’ve read a few series of new adult romance, and I’m done. I’m very done. I know the alpha male is a thing in adult romance. I know dangerous men are a thing in adult romance. I know submissive women are a thing in adult romance, and I know that “dark past” is a thing in adult romance. Is it me, or does new adult take these elements, blow them out of proportion, and throw them into the backstories of college age kids? Because, seriously, that’s what I’ve read so far.

The girls—they are brainless. I remember a lot of the girls I went to college with, and some of them weren’t that bright. But the girls in some of these new adult novels are a flat-out insult to the girls who attend college in real life. Maybe I just didn’t associate with these types of girls, but letting your boyfriend walk all over you (to the point of skipping class because it makes him happy) is not healthy or smart.

And submissive. Some of them are submissive to the point where I want to shake them and ask if they were raised by doormats. “My boyfriend told me to strip in public. Guess I’ll strip in public even though half my professors are watching.” Wow, just wow.

And can we talk about the backstories. “I was traumatized somehow (most likely brutally) before going to college.” Hardly any of the leading ladies had a good life before college. I know dramatic backstories make for interesting characters and lots of tension, but the drama doesn’t have to be so severe. And it doesn’t have to be the case for almost every main female character in the genre. If they are representative of the real-life population of female college students, we all have terrible lives.

The sidekick friends—they are actually worth reading for in most cases. They are often the fun, smart kids that I hung out with in college. Probably because they aren’t the center of the story. Who wants to read about college students who make good decisions, right? The friends often seem to have healthy romantic relationships too. Go figure.

And now for my real issue…

The men.

Oh. My. God. New adult took the alpha male and transformed him into this barely human monster. “I’m so badass I beat the crap out of people all the time and never get called out or arrested. And all the chicks love me for my mad beat-the-crap-out-of-everyone skills.” Um, no. If a guy is a black belt in karate and able to beat people but doesn’t, that’s attractive. There is nothing attractive about guys who beat everyone (except their girlfriend, conveniently) to a bloody pulp. That guy…he’s a loser.

What happens when super alpha male and overly submissive girl get together?

Nothing good.

Him: “I will follow you everywhere, honey. I’ll protect you from all the other guys who want to look at you, flirt with you, date you like a normal person, be your friend before your lover/protector/stalker, have fun in your presence (instead of treating every situation like the world is ending), and have a healthy relationship with you.”
Her: “Okay, (big, strong, hulking, crazy, obsessive, stalker-dude, dangerous, should-be-in-jail) boyfriend.”

BLECH!

How do guys like that get off being romance heroes? How is this romance and not creepy? How does this even qualify as romance? Isn’t romance supposed to end “happily?” I see no possible happy ending with a guy who acts like this.

And for the girl who says “ok, honey,” How can anyone be that stupid/submissive/naïve? How can they not see that their “wonderful” boyfriend is smothering them? How can none of their friends see it?

I read an article recently that called into question the job of genre writers to teach. We write likable characters because people won’t read characters they don’t like. Are we supposed to write likable characters to teach kids how to act? Isn’t that a parent’s job? The same argument has been put to TV shows. Whose job is it to teach kids how to behave and treat others?

Job or not, genre writers, we have an influence on tomorrow’s college students, like it or not. That doesn’t mean all our characters need to be shining examples of goodness, but the “good guys” (who are not specifically being identified and written as dark heroes) should not be less than one step up from the bad guys.

And therein lies my problem with most NA books. The characters are unrealistic. The plots are unrealistic. The actions of the “awesome badass guy” are often illegal and have no consequences, and the girls love their “awesome badass boyfriends” for being an “awesome badass” when they should be filing for a restraining order.

The genre is aimed at college kids, but let’s be real. High school and probably middle school kids are reading these books. There’s a lot of talk about girls and “strong female protagonists.” Again, it’s not our job to write all-around “strong” females, but we need to write likable females. There’s nothing likable about a wet blanket, and those wet blankets double as terrible role models. They show teen and preteen girls that the thing to do in college is get a boyfriend who is mentally and emotionally abusive, who will follow you everywhere, who will alienate you from your friends, and who will give you orders and expect you to follow them.

And it’s not just girls. Guys read romance novels. They won’t admit it most of the time, but they do. Notice the lack of discussion about “strong male characters.” “Strong” for guys means “physically…and nothing else.” There’s no talk of how male characters impact teen guys. There’s no talk of what teen guys learn as acceptable behavior from male characters. Guys reading NA learn that girls want them to stalk them, beat up other guys who look at them, treat them like property, and isolate them.

It’s no wonder there are so many misunderstandings when it comes to relationships at the college level.

I’m not saying to stop writing these books. Even if I was, no one would listen. It just sickens me that romance novels featuring abusive relationships get published and promoted as “intensely passionate” and “hot.” There is nothing attractive about abuse. These new adult books are like train wrecks. I wanted to put them down, but I couldn’t stop staring at the horror. What happened to romantic comedy? What happened to a bit of comedy in a serious romance? What happened to protagonists with normal moods and less-than-traumatic lives pre-story?

And it’s not just romance. I’ve seen it in urban fantasy, mystery, and especially science fiction (young adult dystopias are all about tragedy and traumatic lives). If I do a Google search for “upbeat books in (genre),” Google looks at me like I sprouted a few extra heads and started juggling kazoos.

Current and emerging authors, I beg you (and I know I’m not the only one), write fun. Write happy. Not every book needs to be upbeat. Not everything I write is, but some of what I write is. And more books need to be. It’s getting depressing. It’s said that popular books of an era reflect the overall mood of the public. Historians are going to look back at the early 2000s and shake their heads.

As always, thank you for reading. And readers, I ask this of you. Do not promote books that show abuse as fun, sexy, and romantic. For people who have been abused, it’s not ok that the subject is treated so lightly. And to people who view abusive relationships in books as sexy, fun, or romantic, pardon my French, but wake the f*** up.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter