You don't even want to know what I just typed three times and decided to erase without posting.

Really not.

And that's why a lot of people have a hard time writing for Harlouette, as we shorthanded it at my old office. Their new lines have a bit more breadth, but some of the old taboos were hard to break.

Also, by cerebral I believe the thinking was not hat musicians were necessarily cerebral, but that writing about a guy, say, playing second chair sax for the orchestra was not going to offer as much of a sexy factor as a cowboy roping steers out on the ranch, or a corporate raider...doing whatever it is that corporate raiders do.

Edited for one too many "necessarily"s than was needed.

Corporate raiders unemploy working people. Sexy thought.(/lefty bias) (Oh, go on, pretend it closes!) But I know what she means. Power, authority, expensive sweaters...wondering what's under the Armani. Mr. Big. Absofuckinglutely.

I can honestly say that I have never for one second found a corporate type sexy. UGH.

All about the musicians, dude. Have you LOOKED at their fingers...?

I can honestly say that I have never for one second found a corporate type sexy. UGH.

Which is probably one of a meeeeeeelion reasons you aren't the target audience for the imprint.

Yep. My only inclination toward corporate raiders of either genre is to turn the crossbow on them and do a Bill Hicks: "He was a moron! He's dead! I just felt the world get lighter - fucking CELEBRATE!"

Definitely not their target audience, nope.

Harlouette (at least the original lines) are still really heavy on:

cowboys
sheiks (?!)
office romances with virgin heroines
billionaires

I don't think I'm their target audience either.

What still makes me fume is that I was *there* when we started Brava for Kensington. And we discussed the fact that some of our personal sexual squicks were going to have to be ignored, because we couldn't censor everything we didn't like (or encourage only what we did). And whether my editor realizes it or not, a lot of the readers buying the sexier stuff, which is what Brava is supposed to be, find stuff like slash sexy, and love guys with tattoos, and so on. Not all of them, but then there's that pesky "can't please everyone" adage to remember.

I have never for one second found a corporate type sexy. UGH.

Depends on your definition of "Corporate." For example, the satellite company my Brother works for has a bunch of guys who wear suits every day and work in an office, but I met them all and they are, almost to man, chamring British and Australian and Dutch guys who are multilingual, world-traveled, funny and really interested in the culture. If that's not sexy, I don't know what is. You really can't judge a person by his outfit, you know?

I'm way too corporate myself to dream of ruling the group out as a whole. It's not what you do, it's the way that you do it.

It's not what you do, it's the way that you do it.

Oh, exactly. And a guy in a well-cut suit is very often hot. Like DB, for instance. I think he looks yummy on Bones.

Seconded, that a suit that fits properly can garner several extra sexiness points. Those points may only be collected, however, if the suit is worn ironically. (I can just imagine reams and reams of "Impetuous Virgin Secretary Tames Gordon Gekko," at which I can only wonder -- A. This dude thinks lunch is for wimps. Just guess what his attitude toward virginity is. and B. This dude is Michael Douglas!! Have you no taste?)

Mickey Mouse watches, suspenders, and funny socks all count as irony, in the business world.

cowboys, sheiks (?!), office romances with virgin heroines, billionaires

Sadly, it seems to be impossible to combine all these four into a single character of Ideal Masculinity. I'm also pretending I'm blind for the second category, because the potential for racist/exoticist stereotyping and insensitivity is staggering.

You know, I just realized -- billionaires is meant, as a category, to encompass modern Darcies, isn't it? I mean, I've never heard of a romance hero who was penniless, but the modern equivalent of the landed aristocracy is, like, a grandson of the Waltons.