Raging Romantics

Kindle Unlimited is great...until we remember it's run by Amazon.

The petition!

Authors/books we mention:

• Raven Kennedy
• Carissa Broadbent
• Ruby Dixon
• Elise Kova

Sources:

• "I support Everyone's Decision" (Well-Read Nurse, Tiktok)
• "Z-Library shutdown leaves users scrambling to find alternatives" (Emde, 2022)
• Royalties in Kindle Unlimited
• "Amazon Punishes Authors Whose Work Is Pirated, Due to Aggressive Exclusivity Clause" (Ulatowski, 2023)
• "KDP Global Fund Payouts [Updated February 2023]" (Noblit, 2023)
• "Kindle Unlimited Royalties: KDP Global Fund and Payout Trends" (Kizer, 2017)
• "Is Kindle Unlimited Pay Per Page Read A Fair Deal For Authors?" (Haines, 2022)

What does a printing press and a Canadian fur trader have in common? One of the most successful romance publishing houses in the history of modern publishing, Harlequin! Jackie leads Jen down the marketing and publishing rabbit hole in this episode to explore the history of the little purple paperbacks everyone loves to read...and pick on.

EDIT - the day after we recorded, Harper Collins and the strike reached a tentative agreement! For more information see HarperCollins Union information

Questions/Comments/Concerns/Recommendations? Email us at [email protected]!

Raging Romantics Book List

Books/authors we mention:

• How to Keep House While Drowning by K.C. Davis
• Temple of No God by H.M. Long
• The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen
• Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty
• The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss
• Elizabeth Lowell
• Sandra Brown
• Janet Dailey
• Linda Howard
• Nora Roberts

Sources:

• “The Invention and History of the Printing Press,” (McFadden, 2018)
• “Linotype Invented and Built in Baltimore” (Cole, 2015)
• "Who said romance was dead?" (Segal, 2008)
• "What is a Linotype Machine?" (Exploring Trafford's Heritage, n.d.)
• "Mills & Boon - Archive and Library" (University of Reading Special Collections)
• "Our History" (Mills & Boon)
• What Happened to the Harlequin Romance? (Raphel, 2014)
• “​How Harlequin Became the Most Famous Name in Romance” (Faircloth, 2015)
• "Sexy Books: A Brief History Of The Harlequin Romance" (Norman, up. 2020)
• "Our History" (Harlequin)
• “Sex Sells: Harlequin’s transition from sweet to sultry” (Houck, 2017)
• "Lawrence Heisey" (Prabook, 2021)

Help Jackie welcome Hilary Hallett, professor, historian, and author, in a conversation about Elinor Glyn. If you haven't yet, go listen to episode #49 Shameless and Shameful Fiction: reintroducing Elinor Glyn for an intro to today's discussion!

Questions/comments/concerns/recommendations? Email us at [email protected]!

Raging Romantics Book List

Books/references we mention

• Inventing the It Girl: How Elinor Glyn Created the Modern Romance and Conquered Early Hollywood by Hilary Hallett (2022)
• Atlantic Article "Don't Call them Trash" (Gilbert, 2022)
• Go West, Young Women: The Rise of Early Hollywood by Hilary Hallett (2013)
• "What’s Fact and What’s Fiction in Babylon, the Star-Studded New Movie About Early Hollywood" (Hallett, 2022)
• Babylon movie
• Three Weeks by Elinor Glyn
• Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss
• Pamela: or virtue rewarded
• Ruby Dixon
• Katee Robert

In honor of Valentine's Day, Jen does a deep dive into the history of modern courting and dating. Who would have thought department stores could have had so much to do with it?

Questions/Comments/Concerns/Recommendations? Email us at [email protected]!

Books we recommend:

• Labor of Love by Moira Weigel
• Sorry, Bro by Taleen Voskuni
• Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
• Inventing The It Girl by Dr. Hilary Hallett
• Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie
• Agnes and the Hitman by Crusie
• Crazy for You by Crusie
• Faking It by Crusie
• Anyone but You by Crusie
• When a Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare

Indie bookstores we recommend in Syracuse!

• Parthenon Books
• Golden Bee Bookshop

Other episodes:

• #48 Let's Get Personal

Sources

• "Labor of Love by Moira Weigel review – how dating has changed" (Paskin, 2016)
• "The history of dating reveals how consumerism has hijacked courtship" (Barclay, 2019)
• "How the "First Date" Has Changed in Every Decade Through History" (Chatel, 2014)
• "Looking for love online? We chart the evolution of digital dating" (Khan, 2021)
• "Department Store" (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
• "The American Gift & Curse — Non Generational Millionaires are making the United States Poorer than the rest of the world" (Lopez, 2019)

Are you on a book buying ban? Do you have a lot of books on your shelves you own but haven't read? Don't worry, we do too. No shame here! Here's some of the books Jen and Jackie are so excited to read...even if they've been languishing for years at this point.

• Poison Princess by Kresley Cole (Arcana Chronicles)
• War of Two Queens by Jennifer Lynn Armentrout (From Blood and Ash series)
• Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas
• The Inadequate Heir by Danielle Jensen (Bridge Kingdom series)

Questions/Comments/Concerns/Recommendations? Email us at [email protected]!

Who's listening survey

CONTENT WARNINGS: repeated use of the word "harem," non-explicit discussions of sexual exploitation, the potential harm and benefits of polyamory, and brief mention of cultic practices in the United States both historically and contemporaneously. Specifically @20:21-21:20 discussions of sexual exploitation from lack of consent; @24:05 - 24:35 discussion of "Ascended fellowship" and child abuse; @1:01:53 - 1:05:50 discussion of the usage of "harem" and the problematic associations with that term in romancelandia

But hey! Let's have this discussion, because we know you love a Jackie deep dive...and this time she gets to talk anthropology. Plus Jen gets to share some of her highschool trauma, I mean, ahem, memories.

@13:49 please note these practices are *illegal* even though it sounds like Jackie says *legal*

Visit us online at NOPL.org!

Fictional Love Survey

Who's Listening?

Books we mention:

• Katee Robert's Dark Olympus and Wicked Villains series
• Sp. Cruel Seduction
• Introductions by C.L. Stone
• Cat Kid Comic Club: Collaborations by David Pilkey
• The Starless Crown and The Cradle of Ice by James Rollins (Moon Fall series)
• Sigma Force series by James Rollins
• Rough, Raw, and Ready by Lorelei James
• Den of Vipers by K.A. Knight
• Her Pastry Shifters by Mia Harlan (croissant shifter book...)
• Three Swedish Mountain Men by Lily Gold
• Entranced by Basilisks & Deceived by the Gargoyles by Lillian Lark
• Learn My Lesson & The Sea Witch by Katee Robert
• Broken Bonds by J. Bree
• Caged Wolf by Caroline Peckham
• Queen Takes Knights by Joely Sue Burkhart
• Nights in Bliss series by Sophia Oak (aka Lexi Blake)

Episodes we recommend:

• #27 Werewolves
• #55 Sports
• #56 Christmas trees
• #15 Dark romance

Other resources we recommend:

• Trust Me Podcast
• Polygyny and Canada's Obligations under International Human Rights Law (Canadian Government, 2006)
• "Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey" documentary (Netflix)
• "How to Build a Sex Room" (Netflix)

Sources:

• "Polycule" (dictionary.com)
• "Polyamory" (dictionary.com)
• "Polyandry" (dictionary.com)
• "Polygamy" (dictionary.com)
• "Bigamy" (dictionary.com)
• "Polyandry, the Practice of Taking Multiple Husbands" (Heaphy, n.d.)
• One Bridge For Multiple Brothers, July 17, 2010 (page A4 N). (Barry, New York Times, 2010, Jul 17)
• Polyandry, or the practice of taking multiple husbands” (Inglis-Arkell, 2012)
• “Polygamy is rare around the world and mostly confined to a few regions” (Kramer, PEW, 2020)
• "A Survey of Non-Classical Polyandry" (Starkweather & HAmes, 2012)
• "What Makes Reverse-Harems Different From Harems (Other Than the Obvious)" (Ramsburg, 2021)
• "Is The Reverse Harem Trope A Hopelessly Outdated Thing Of The Past?" (Lu, 2021)
• “Is Polygamy Legal In the United States?” (Portman, ed. O’Connell, 2022)
• “A Select History of Consensual Nonmonogamies in the US” (Sheff, 2022)
• “The Truth About Threesomes, Throuples, and Triads” (Sheff, Aug. 2022)
• "Oneida Community (1848-1880): A Utopian Community" (VCU Libraries Social Welfare History Project, 2017)
• "The Rich, Sexy History Of Oneida — Commune And Silverware Maker" (wbur.com, 2016)
• “Reverse Harem Romance” (Johnson, 2018)
• "Reverse Harem, gyaku-harem 逆ハーレム" (japanesewithanime.com, 2019)
• “Otome game” (wikipedia)
• "Shōjo manga" (Wikipedia)
• The History of Anime in the USA: The 2000s" (Cooper, n.d.)
• "Why are Girls Better at Reading Than Boys?" (Wong, 2018)
• “Sheiks; Middle Eastern Representation in Romance Fiction” (Li, 2018)
• “History of Reverse Harem and Reverse Harem Garden” (reverseharem.blogspot.com)
• "Consensual Non-Monogamy Fact Sheet" (Moors et. al.)
• "When Taking Multiple Husbands Makes Sense (Dreger, 2013)
• "Plural relationships, when consensual and gender-neutral, may actually help reduce gender inequality" (lse.ac.uk, 2014)
• "Polyamorous parenting: The surprising benefits of the ultimate modern family" (Smith, 2020)

Ready for some more romance rec's? Break out the pens and paper, we're stacking the decks with 2023 releases!

Fictional Love survey

Listenership survey

Questions/comments/concerns/recommendations? Email us at [email protected]!

Raging Romantics Book List

Books we mention:

• Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
• True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren
• Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen
• Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten
• Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon
• Happy Place by Emily Henry

SPOILER ALERT for Fire in His Blood by Ruby Dixon @ 1:01-1:02

Ready for a classic Jen and Jackie discussion? Well buckle in, because as is now tradition, we're driving back into Ruby Dixon territory! This month, we're tackling the Fireblood Dragon series and, in a larger discussion, shifters in general. Let's go!

Please, if you would be so kind, help the podcast out and fill out these surveys!:

Who's listening survey?

Fictional Love survey

Questions/comments/concerns/recommendations? Email us at [email protected]!

Raging Romantics book list

Books/authors we mention:

• Fireblood Dragons series by Ruby Dixon
• Tiffany Roberts
• Her Pastry Shifters by Mia Harlan (croissant shifter book...)
• Anita Blake
• Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris
• You Slay Me by Katie MacAlister
• Honey Badgered by Shelley Laurenston
• Dragons Love Tacos (children's picture book) by Adam Rubin
• Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon
• Scarred Earth Saga by G.A. Aiken (centaur books)
• Eragon (Inheritance series) by Christopher Paolini
• Dragon's Kiss by Tielle St. Clare

Other episodes to go listen to:

• #34 Ruby interview!
• Ice Planet Barbarians (#9) and IPB discussion (#10)
• #27 Werewolves

It's the final countdooooooown to 2023! And what better way to say farewell to 2022 than to reminisce on our favorite books we read this year?

Raging Romantics Book List

Favorite books to recommend? Email us at [email protected]!

Jackie's favorites:

• Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail by Ashley Herring Blake
• The Kraken's Sacrifice by Katee Robert
• Plated Prisoner series by Raven Kennedy
• Bonus mention: A Court of Thorns and Roses (Series) by Sarah J. Maas

Jen's favorites:

• The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang
• All the Feels by Olivia Dade
• Bonus mention: Love in Color by Bolu Babalola
• Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola

Episodes we've mentioned:

• #38 Retellings pt. 2
• #52 Monsters pt. 2

Calling all Cindy Lou Who's! Are you a holiday nerd in addition to being a romance nerd? Well good, because we're thinking way too deeply about Christmas trees and lumberjacks in this one. Buckle in for a history of the Christmas tree and cross-cultural intersectionality and dating and mating rituals.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Suggestions? Email us at [email protected]!

Raging Romantics book list (Jackie's 2023 goal is to catch up on this behemoth)

We wish you a warm and comfortable holiday season and a bright new year!

Happy Reading,

Jackie + Jen

Books we mention

• You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky
• Kiss Her Once For Me by Allison Cochrun
• In the Event of Love by Courtney Kae
• Season of Love by Helena Greer
• There's Something About Merry by Codi Hall

The lifecycle of the Christmas tree article Jackie recommends! (Moody, 2021)

Sources:

• "10 Reasons Why You Should Be Dating A Lumberjack" (Gentlile, 2015)
• "What Women Want: Lumberjacks and Men in Skirts" (Reardon, 2020)
• "19th Century lumberjacks were kinda crazy" (CDN History Bits blog, 2014)
• "Lumbersexuality and Its Discontents" (Brown, 2014)
• "The End of Men" (Rosin, 2010)
• "8.8% Fortune 500 CEOs are women - the highest of all indices - according to the Women CEOs in America Report 2022" (Pr Newswire, 2022)
• "Are You a "Lumbersexual"?" (Chan, 2014)
• "Christmas tree cultivation" (Wikipedia)
• "The twelve pests of Christmas (trees)" (CABI blog, 2018)
• The biodiversity that is crucial for our food and agriculture is disappearing by the day" (Food and Agriculture Association, 2019)
• "Pests and Diseases" (PennState Extension)
• "Customers Pick and Chop Their Own At the Christmas‐Tree Farms Upstate" (Faber, 1973)
• "History of the Christmas Tree" (Hilt & Fischman, 2007)
• "Where Christmas trees come from" (Meko & Tierney, 2019)
• "The Amazing Growth of the Christmas Tree" ( Lévêque, 2021)
• "Why do we have Christmas trees? The surprising history behind this holiday tradition" (McKeever, 2020)
• National Christmas Tree Association
• "History of Christmas Trees" (NCTA)
• "What is Yule?" (Almanac.com, 2021)
• "The Complicated History of the Christmas Tree" (NYC Christmas Trees, 2021)
• "The curious history of the Christmas tree" (Spaced-out scientist, 2015)
• "The War On Christmas and a partridge in a pear tree" (Durso, 2017)
• "The origin and history of the Christmas tree: from paganism to modern ubiquity" (Puiu, 2021)
• "The Life of a Lumberjack" (Lam, 2016)