Whereas the only apparent appeal of the James books is the sex.

It has to be. Because it sure isn't the writing. Or the non-sex content.

Amy, I consulted the most omnivorous reader of mysteries and fantasy I know

Thanks, Ginger. And thanks to you, too, Calli!

Are there not assumed to be books which have sex in them in public libraries, or is it just that no one's supposed to admit they exist?

Henry Miller, anyone?

The whole issue is so absurd. There are scores of erotic books out there, and many of them have been in libraries for years. I think the press on this particular book led a lot of women who might have otherwise to give it a try, though. Some of the quotes from readers (of Grey) make it sound like they'd never considered a book so graphically sexual before.

It fries me in particular, because every house out there has been publishing, if not hardcore erotica, at least erotic romance for YEARS now. Hello? Someone was buying them.

Interview with Naomi Novik over on Librarything. (And I've just realized that I'm behind on the Temeraire series AGAIN.)

The novel with sex scenes is hardly new. When I was a teenager, our public library had a sizable assortment of popular novels of the day. And at least in the '70s, a number of best-sellers had sex scenes that would have made Jacqueline Susann blush. (Harold Robbins comes to mind.) (And the librarians never hassled me about checking out his books when I was 16-17.)

And I think I've mentioned that I learned a fair bit about sex when I read The Godfather, which I'd checked out of a school library in 8th grade.

Is this where the Scalzi LCD discussion lived? I can't remember -

Erin Hoffman rebuts: [link]

Need some help here, folks: Am I interpreting this totally the wrong way round or have I only just noticed the really nasty violence-against-women in Gaiman's "Murder Mysteries"?

I think that argument strengthens itself by virtue of being pretty much unreadable to me. If that's what gamers get effortlessly, then they are more of a breed apart than I'd considered, but I think accusing Scalzi of "cultural appropriation" gives the gaming community too much of an effective equivalence, to say, Native Americans, or any actual groups for which I think cultural appropriation is actually a real issue.

I think accusing Scalzi of "cultural appropriation" gives the gaming community too much of an effective equivalence, to say, Native Americans, or any actual groups for which I think cultural appropriation is actually a real issue.

Yeah, I thought that was a real stretch.

I also think she over-sold the argument. Gamers are no better at identifying systematic oppression than anyone else. What's that saying about how stupid a man can be if his job requires him not to understand something? I think that applies in this instance, as well: people are very good at not seeing how a system benefits them at the expense of other people, and that certainly includes gamers.

Not to mention the fact that the target of the article was far beyond gamers, just that Scalzi happened to use gaming as a metaphor.

I didn't know what a "dump stat" was until I asked around, but everything else was really easy to understand. Maybe that's part of her point? That you have to speak to her culture in gamer-specific code, because if regular people can understand...

Which, really, fuck off. It's *English*. I don't see why English speakers should need things made *more* complicated so they can understand. Still, the ultimate goal is increasing comprehension, so I guess-knot yourself up into tangles, if that's what it takes to change a mind or turn on a light bulb.

But, fuck, that's kinda dumb.

Need some help here, folks: Am I interpreting this totally the wrong way round or have I only just noticed the really nasty violence-against-women in Gaiman's "Murder Mysteries"?

As Gaiman (basically) says in the introduction, there's a reason the title is plural.