It is really weird. People have moved past imposing their religious standards on people, but think nothing of imposing their healthcare beliefs onto them. Has it become part of the social contract that you eat impeccably during your pregnancy?

The male outrage for this should be delicious, as they wring their hands over their world slipping away (or whatever it is that pisses them off about stuff like this.)

That’s a really, really good summary of everything he ever talked about. I thought it was pretty BS that his well of Murph/Cooze-outrageous-times-in-Vegas stories never seemed to go dry.

I can understand what she means. That's a good way of explaining the pervasiveness of that strange, strange trope.

This has been an education. Wow. I can't believe we aren't talking about a hundred years ago.

Wow. I'm amazed that something that so many women live in fear of could be have had such broad appeal. I wonder if they were getting off on the transgressiveness of it. Perhaps it's just a case of the world having done a number on women back then that they thought men being overcome with passion to the point of rape…

Don't most romance novels conform to the same formula, though? If the plagiarist kept the plot-points the same, what would be the thing that would give-up his game?

Can you give some examples of how things are different? I’d assume they guys are portrayed a bit more sensitively now, but I’m just thinking about how women still swoon for Jane Austen’s Mr Darcy and he's hundreds of years old.

Care to expand on that?

Ah, well that shows you how many romances I’ve read. :)

Do the estates of the original authors ever get involved?

I suppose because of volume. There is an ocean of romance novels out there. I’ve heard that a lot of romance readers are insatiable, like three novels a week. I took a course in women’s literature while in university and romance was a component of it. The prof said the romance industry cranks those books out like…

I understand that. I’ve just alaways wondered how it doesn’t happen in the traditional romance publishing model. I mean, those stories are pretty formulaic to begin with. I know I’m a bit off-topic here.

I remember our abnormal psychology teacher talking about this, and he marveled at the skill of the mesoamerican’s ability to do this successfuly. he talked about how they used flint tools to perform it, and how flint can hold a much sharper edge than metal, though it has the disadvantage of not being able to be…

Serious question here for anyone who doesn’t mind explaining a bit about the editorial process of the romance world:

Yeah, he pissed off the Reagan administration pretty bad because he was always writing bad stuff about them. Check this video where he talks about how he caught them tapping his phone line and how he got his revenge. Start at 2:17 if you are interested in a good laugh.

She identifies as a guy. It’s complicated and she often doesn’t go into it because she has a few trolls consantly dogging her heels like yapping feists, and she doesn’t need extra B.S.

I never knew who PS was until I started reading Harlan Ellison. That dude HAAAATED her and took every opportunity to express it. He had four gargoyles crafted for a balcony outside his house, and one of them has her face.

My best friend on kinja is Unrepentant Punk. We have tons of laughs together, but a nice side benefit is she knows damn near every troll in the Gawkerverse. Her radar is impeccable. If you are ever curious about someone in particular, just ask her.

It is a great indicator of his arrogance, of course. “Ha ah! I can troll you under the same name because you are too dumb to know that a Debaro is a tomato! You dummy!”