[Viv]

... of the reading/writing variety!

My mother-in-law visited recently and spotted one of my regency-romance bodice-ripper paperbacks on an end table. She was shocked. After all, I have a literature degree: my guess is she imagined I sit around reading War and Peace all day and being, you know, pretentious.

Fact is, I have done some other reading/writing things that would probably shock her even more. Fanfiction is one. But even more than that, real-person fic. Real-person slash, even. That would totally bake her noodle!

Anybody else wanna come clean here, where it's safe?

[NeumeIndil]

0/ I too have a handful of bodice rippers laying around. There's nothing like breaking up the monotony of Emma with quivering loins and bosoms that heave like the sea.

[Haleth]

My confession is that I can't read bodice rippers. I've tried. The last time I succeeded was in the 80's while studying for a nasty set of exams.

[Viv]

[Alassante]

I don't read bodice rippers either. I have some really guilty pleasures though.

~Bring it On - a movie about cheerleaders that I absolutely love lol
~Rock of Love, American's Next Top Model and sometimes Real World -some people follow American Idol or Dancing with the Stars obsessively - I follow these 2-3 shows
~I collect more books than I read. I have all 10 of HoME, UT, Hobbit, and have not read any of them - just used them for research. When I want something to read, it'll be something by John Saul or one of the Buffy series books (the adult ones only not the teen ones because they're too cheesy even for me)
~I have an unreal collection of nekkid menz pics but its not exactly all my fault. I don't use them for dirty purposes lol I crop them and use them for RPGs and stuff. Oh and to cheer up my friends when they're down

[Alassante]

[Sulriel]

I don't know ... I'll read just about any genre as long as it has a plot and some interesting conflict.

Erotica is a big e-market these days, but I have to keep the print books off my desk to avoid comments from the kids - although I don't read as much of that as 'other stuff' because the sexual adventure is the plot, admittedly, and I like more to the story than that. I don't read many traditional bodice rippers, but there are a lot of good romances out there. Ashley Kath-Bilksy(sp?) _A Sense of Honor_ is a somewhat atypical 'traditional' romance. A very very good read. Cara Marsi is another really good one. _Logan's Redemption_ is available at Wild Rose Press. I think she has another one coming out, but I'm not sure of any of the details.

Caspian Press has a new series, the first book is called _Mind Fuck_, it's hard science fiction, near future dystopia, primarily slash, bdsm and one of the best books I've read in recent memory. The second book just came out, but I don't have it yet and can't remember the name.

Juno Press has some good ones too. Wind Walker ...? Wind-something. it's pretty good.

I still read fantasy and high fantasy, I've been buying anthologies from Fantasistent.com. They have three recent releases that I liked a lot, Sails and Sorcery, the Dark Elf one (and they do mean dark) and _Modern Magic_.

Leopards Daughter is another good one, can't remember the press or the author. it's like Wind-whatever in that it's a mythically-based adventure/drama w/romantic elements. and mostly off what you find on the beaten path.

Holly Lisle and Patricia Briggs are two more of my favorites, as is John Ringo who writes SFF, Urban Paranormal and modern military adventure/drama.

I guess my guilty pleasure would be my collection of Tarzan, Conan and John Carter, I love the old pulps - or my antique (horse of course) reference books. that's probably where I've spent the most money. - that and Tolkien of course. I have most of, and have actually read, the HoME

[dolarabee]

I used to read much more. And then life began and I pretty much stopped. Squeezing in LotR was a feat, one I'm proud of, but after that I didn't read much. I have four or five books started, and only one near finished. It's frustrating.

I usually go for science fiction (love Heinlein!) or fantasy/horror. Mainly Stephen King and Anne Rice (only in French because that's how I started reading her books and now that I'm totally immersed in English, it's my way to try and retain some French vocabulary beyond swear words). And got suckered into reading the X-Files, some Star Wars, SGA, ST:Enterprise and Pitch Black novelisatons. A bit of bios too, and Bill Bryson and baby books (of course).

None of that is really a dirty little secret, except maybe the fact that, like Al, I tend to collect way more books than I read. But I wish I could read them all and I have a firm belief I'll get there one day.

But my little dirty secret at the mo, beside fanfic, is all Ghetto's fault. She got me into those paranormal/fantasy/erotica romance novels. ::nods:: Of all things. Especially JR Ward' Black Dagger Brotherhood series. It's brain crack, she likes to say and I have to agree. I hadn't read a book in two sittings in like forever! So who cares if it's not the next Moliere? I liked having that all-consuming feeling again, that page-turner that won't let you rest 'til you get to the end. I even got into Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunters, but I find her harder to read. A little less at a time. It's more flowery or something. Don't know. Certainly not as addictive as Ward.

So yeah, those books came barging in and whilst I have 4 sitting there for ages that need finishing, those came in and went in a matter of a few days. I've got one here that I've been keeping for the plane tomorrow. Can't wait any longer!

Yep, dirty little secret.

do.

[Haleth]

It took me over 20 years to finish one book.

The book was The Worm Oroborous by E.R.Edison. I started it in high school and finished it in the airport in December of 2002 while delayed for 9 hours.

I also have way more books than I've read; mostly non-fiction dealing with Roman history.

If Ellis Peter's Brother Cadfael's mysteries can be considered a guilty pleasure, it's mine.

I'm currently reading early 20th century fanstasies. Every new fantasy novel claims to be 'the best since Tolkien'. I want to see what the genre was like before Tolkien.

[trekqueen]

No dirty little secrets other than my fanfiction of course. I sent my mom-in-law a link to some pictures from a family gathering that I hosted on my domain. I didn't think she would actually go to my main domain home page, which she did and wandered over to my stories section where I did have a list of my work. She made a comment to me a couple days later about "oh I didn't know you like writing!" and that she would like to read something sometime. I don't think she realized what some of them were (especially some of the naughty ones) let alone what fanfiction is specifically. I quickly hid that page.

[Sulriel]

[Ania]

Oh bodice rippers, very much a guilty pleasure of mine. I tend to read a lot of historical fiction anyway, but there is such a huge diversity of written ability out there. Some on them are literally modern values set in medieval times which does amuse me.

Another guilty pleasure that I used to read was Clan of the Cavebear series by Jean M Auel, my word does that woman love her 'loving' smut scenes. It gives the stone age a whole new twist!

Apart from Fanfic (major addiction), my most recent embarrassing secret is that I've been doing a module in children's literature this term and I got reading modern books for teens. I discovered a series called Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal snogging and I have taken to reading them to get away from my revision (I had my first final today). They are literally ridiculously short but they are very funny and wonderfully teenage and hormonal, yep, says the english student

[elea24]

Well, everytime I go into a second hand bookshop a pick up a few Mills & Boons (Harlequin in the US I think) to read on the bus to work. Just an amusing way to pass the time without having to really engage my brain.

A bit like watching a corny soap opera really. All good fun.

[Haleth]

My dirty little secret is that I don't care for slash. I haven't since I first ran into in in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover Series way, way back in the 80's.

It's not that it offends me. It's that it bores the living heck out of me.

I can only compare the reaction to watching a professional sports game where you don't understand the rules and aren't interested enough to learn. It might be an exquistely played game; the players may have taken years to develop their skills, the teams might be the best in the world but there is simply no interest.

[LuthienTinuviel]

Like Haleth, I do not care for slash. It's just...not me. Anyways, I do have a reasonable (around 20) collection of Mills & Boons, courtesy of my Mother. It was her passed down reading of choice a couple of years ago while we were cleaning out the clutter. I guess it's ok. I agree with you, corny, but ok.

But my favs have got to be Judith McNaught's historical romance series. Ooooh la la. Read them when I was 11 and loved it since, it's actually my then teenage siblings' stuff but as far as a bored little ole me was concerned at the time, books are books. My Mom didn't have a clue. My sister whooped my ass real bad when she found out, but I already finished reading them at the time. We were all sent to boarding schools in our teens and none of my sisters thought it prudent to hide their raunchy stuff from me.

As for BDSM types, you absolutely must try Jacqualine Carey's smutty Kushiel series. It's not your average bodice rippers, the complexity of the fantasy world, plot and her style of writing is exquisite.

Josie Litton's works are also quite lovely. Loads of smut, plot twists so and so, but overall a really nice read. Love the Vikings!

^_^