I'm not all about the pain, either. Just more about the whole reality-of-life thing. Mushy moments are more the exception than the rule.

Same here.

On another topic, has anyone read "Future Imperfect", which is a Spuffy story set in 2336 that was recced on BBF a few days back? Is it just me, or is it pretty much a straight ripoff of Yahtzee's "Phoenix Burning" with Spike in the Angel role, except less interesting?

Plei is me. I have a very low tolerance for mush.

I get mushy about my kitties.

But that's life, not reading.

I wasn't equating it. Just pointing out that "reality of life" and "interesting fiction" don't tend to intersect anyway.

See, I find that I'm endlessly entertained by characters attempting to deal with the mundane reality of life despite extraordinary circumstances.

I find that I'm endlessly entertained by characters attempting to deal with the mundane reality of life despite extraordinary circumstances.

Ah. I wasn't putting "extraordinary" in my "reality of life".

I get mushy about my kitties.

Whew. t no longer looking for strange knobby protuberances on the back of Plei's neck

Ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Yep, I'm there.

Ah. I wasn't putting "extraordinary" in my "reality of life".

Gotcha.

So, to clarify my position (make it all gheetastic), I like to see how they cope. What they cling to. What makes ticking happen. The schmoopy stuff doesn't tend to hit the things I want to know, like, say, how do you brush your teeth if there's no running water?, or something like that.

Neal Pollack is one of those intensely ironic writers where very little, if any, of what he says can be taken at face value. Go read his blog, which is hysterical if you follow the sort of politics/media nexus he's mocking. I haven't read this article, but I doubt it was meant to be taken at face value.

In the population at large, mebbe. In the fanfic community, I feel like I have two heads or something for not (normally) getting all that worked up by, as connie put it, "seeing tough guys get all mushy."

Lyra, I'm with you. I like having a female character to identify with, and when it comes to sex scenes/erotica, it's the het stuff as turns me on. This has often made me feel like a freak, or even like I need to preemptively defend myself against charges of homophobia, in discussions of fanfic.

(None of the above is directed at anyone in particular, and I'm fully aware that I'm Too Damned Sensitive, and need to work on having more confidence about just liking what I happen to like.)

even like I need to preemptively defend myself against charges of homophobia

Gleep. May you never feel that way here. I just see it as not your brand of thrill.

Thanks, connie. And it's definitely been more of a general "What would people think of me if they knew how completely this stuff fails to turn me on?" rather than anything specific about this board or anywhere else.