The Mizahar Book Club!

[Elysium]

Those are all wonderful selections, Matthew! I'd read any one of them. I think you've definitely illustrated some of the diversity of the genre. I'm also impressed you actually did research for your character.

[Timshel]

This still set for Febuary? I'm down. I don't know much about romance, so no recs from me. Of the ones Mathew mentioned I liked Being Dead.

Side note :

Say what you guys want about some of the 'low-brow' tendencies of the romance genre. Every so often, one of my friends self-publishes what's essentially a short, novella smut-fest for $2.00 a pop on Amazon. Makes around $600 in a weekend if they do OK, with trickle-in-cash over the next few months.

Now, I don't think my friend's blowing anyone's mind, but he sure isn't hurting anyone either. I don't think what he writes is poorly written, either. It's just kind of formulaic and, well, mediocre.

But to him, those stories are like sketches on scrap paper. $500ish (after Amazon's cut) isn't too shabby for what's essentially a month's worth of smutty, linguistic doodles. I'd say he's making about $12-$15 for every hour of sexy fantasizing. Nothing wrong with that. And those readers can still have fun. Shallow content and face-value words don't devalue their enjoyment.

I've definitely thought about doing it. Reading any romance, good or bad, can't hurt.

Part of the point of Mizahar is to doodle. Not every word (written or read) has to change the world.

But that's like, my opinion. Man.

Sure, romance me up. Let's go.