Amanda and I are traveling to May 1994 and taking a look at the book reviews in this edition of RT Rewind!

We’re answering many questions, including:

• Why does five stars mean something is a classic, but one star is acceptable?
• What do CS, RM, VR, and F stand for inside Contemporary and New Reality?
• What grade did Dreaming of You receive?

There’s so much Fabio, a telepathic cat, blaming tornadoes for murder, and a lot of time travel.

But my gosh, golly, gee whiz, do not miss the visuals for this episode!

Music: purple-planet.com

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Len Pennie’s book of Scots poetry poyums is out in the US this week, and you might have seen my post about her book launch earlier this week. Len is my guest today and we’re going to talk about:

• Poetry!
• Healing from trauma and abuse
• The subversive revolution of teaching a word a day in a minoritized language
• Using humor to overcome the “cultural hangover of linguistic oppression”
• More poetry!

TW/CW: discussion of intimate partner violence and domestic abuse, depression, stalking.

Music: purple-planet.com

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Y’all, the April 2005 issue of Romantic Times is a treasure of truly amazing fun. So many of you told me that episode 609, where we looked at the reviews, made you laugh so hard you cried.

Well, let me share some highlights of what is about to happen to your eardrums.

• The Mr. Romance Cover Model Pageant was a Six-episode reality tv show on the Oxygen network, and we missed it when it ran. It’s not all on YouTube but we have a few links!
• We have the arrival of what I called the “venti sized” paperback
• Romance writers with “dedicated rooms for Star Wars collectibles!”
• We’ve got some disturbing gimp masks on computer generated Poser people.

It’s a glorious time. Come on over.

Did you ever attend Mr Romance at RT? Did you see the Mr Romance Pageant on tv?! And gosh, do you have a Romance SoundTrack CD? Please tell me everything.

Don’t miss the visual aids!

Links! For your browsing pleasure!

• Jafar’s staff on Ebay
• The 2005! cover snark featuring The Big Sword and the Naked Guy
• The 2006 post about the Venti sized paperbacks
• The cover for Running Anonymous – NSFW, NSFL

And visit the visual aids for a clip from Mr Romance on the Oxygen network!

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What happens when you write the books you want to read but are having a hard time finding? Many good things. Kimberly Lemming loves fantasy, and started writing her own catnip, which led to the joy that is the Mead Mishaps series.We answer ALL the tough questions, like how many mead mishaps have we personally experienced? How does one make the bananas spin? And why is Galavant the greatest production ever made?

Note: in the middle of the episode, the email Kimberly sent that gave me a peek at the cover for That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human, which was in the final stages of development, so you’ll hear me lose my cool.

For the book and video games we discuss in this episode, please visit our show notes page!

You can find Kimberly Lemming at KimberlyLemming.com, and on Instagram @KimberlyLemming.

We also mentioned cover artist Mike Pape, and the cover art for the Mead Mishaps series is visible on his website, too!

Thank you for supporting our show, and our advertisers! new customers GET $5 OFF a Lume Starter Pack with code SARAH15 at LumeDeodorant.com. That equates to over 40% off your Starter Pack when you visit LumeDeodorant.com and use code SARAH15.

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We’re taking a tour through the new releases across many genres from April 2005, nearly 20 (!!!) years ago. Romance has changed a wee little bit.

How much cringe shall we find? Plenty!

Other oddities? Mainstream includes YA and Chick Lit. Contemporary includes New Reality. Regency in Format includes Corinthians! And we’re trying to understand a character who wants to “dim the pain of turning 30.” It’s a ride, as usual.

Side trips include Sea Breeze, Stridex, and St Ives Medicated Apricot Scrub.

TW: for mention of sexual assault, body horror – we do announce it in the audio so you can skip ahead.

You can find all the Romantic Times Rewind episodes, visual aids posts, and more in one convenient place!

Don't miss the visual aids for this episode!

We also mentioned:

• Regency in format, not genre: This r/HRNovlesDiscussion post shows a treasure trove of Regency/format books. 
• Did you use St. Ives Medicated Scrub? I sure as heck did.
• RegRom.com answers the question, ‘What is a Corinthian?’
• Amanda mentioned author Naomi Hirahara in a recent Get Rec’d with Amanda post

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Mel Blue was my guest when we discussed Spare – which has become one of my most listened-to episodes – so I asked her back to talk about the narratives of PR, why the weird stories around Kate Middleton grabbed attention worldwide, and why so many people were and are paying attention.

On one level it’s a story that originated in gossip about rich and powerful people in an archaic power structure being weird. But it’s also a story of misinformation, propaganda, and a complicit media system, and we deal with that over here in the US, too.

This was recorded on Wednesday, March 20, and we did a follow up this week following the announcement late Friday, March 22, that Kate Middleton is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer. So there are two parts to this episode.

A few content warnings: Discussion of self harm, disordered eating, suicidal ideation, and child abuse and exploitation.

Please visit the show page for all the resources used for this episode, including news articles, Instagram live recordings, and Twitter threads.

Music: Purple-planet.com

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We’re looking at the ads and features from the March 2016 issue of RT Book Reviews!

We’ve got cowboy heads growing out of gravel roads, a dude who looks like he’s on fire, and that one guy who is always ripping his shirt off from romance covers. We decide on an in-house definition of “Castle Bangenschloss.”

Oh! And a really angry reader wants self pub authors to stop using the same stock images for different covers. It’s wild, y’all.

Don’t miss the visual aids that go with this episode! 

We’ve got links!

• Fanlore.org: Cassandra Claire
• Dahlia Adler’s LGBTQ Reads Patreon
• Tirgearr Publishing’s T shirts!
• The podcast episode where we were at the Peppermill in Reno, and also on edibles, aka episode 304. “You Have a Type and it Might be Mullets” – Sarah, Amanda, and Elyse are VERY Silly About Books and Villainy
• The Chippendales at the Rio

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Music: Purple-planet.com

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Shirley Green and Sharon Spiak are the duo behind many, and I mean many of your favorite romance covers, and are absolutely 100% the duo behind one of mine – For the Love of a Pirate by Edith Layton. The hair. The waves. THE ROCKS.

I connected with Shirley and Sharon and got a History Lesson in how cover shoots used to work. We’re talking costume, art direction, photography, and painting skills combined to make some very memorable covers, and how much deliberate emotional care went into some of the photo shoots with the cover models.

You can find Shirley Green’s portfolio and stock image collection at ShirleyGreenPhotography.com. You can find Sharon Spiak at SharonSpiakArt.com.

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Amanda and I are diving into the reviews from the March 2016 issue of RT Book Reviews.

In this episode you will learn about A Tale of Two Biddies. You’ll discover Baby Bothering and God Bothering. And most importantly, are demons really a natural fit for the Regency era?

All these questions are more will be answered in this episode!

Don’t miss the visual aids for this episode!

Music: Purple-planet.com

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Katee Robert joins me to talk about her many releases this year, about marketing through Kickstarter and direct-to-reader options like Patreon, and about the foundational books in fantasy and romance that got her started.

We also talk about current issues, like Findaway Voices and Spotify’s changes to the terms of service for authors.

You can find Katee Robert on her website, KateeRobert.com. You can also check out her Patreon.

We also mentioned

• Modern Postcard
• Bonkers Romance
• The Bonkers Romance Kickstarter
• NK Jemisin's Patreon
• Ursula Vernon/T Kingfisher's Patreon
• Changes in the Findaway Voices ToS
• And former PRH CEO Markus Dohle's comments under oath:

“The trial put the inner workings of the company on public display in sometimes unflattering ways. In his testimony, Dohle argued that success in publishing is driven by instinct and random luck, not necessarily a company’s size — an argument that the judge found unconvincing. And he revealed his dissatisfaction with the company’s performance since the 2013 merger.”

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We’re traveling back to April 2006 in this month’s RT Rewind!

We discuss the evolving cover art for the Immortals After Dark series and style changes in illustrated covers. We also talk about

• Well water adventures
• Author photo? MUST be leaning
• A contest made of author prom photos
• Many predecessors to GoodReads
• A book from 1991, promoted in 2006, made into a movie in 2022.

And a FULL PAGE of Mr. Romance.

When I start talking about Redeeming Love, massive trigger warning and content warning, just a giant pile of YIKES. The book summary begins at 35:20.

Thank you for the reviews, the support, and the positive feedback to this series! If you’re enjoying these episodes, please drop a comment below or on the visual aids post and let me know?

Music: purple-planet.com

Don't miss the visual aids! Really, I mean it!

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