Book Appreciation with Anna Clutterbuck-Cook (part 1)
The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 35b with Heather Rose Jones
In the Book Appreciation segments, our featured authors (or your host) will talk about one or more favorite books with queer female characters in a historic setting. This time we had so much to talk about we split it into two episodes.
In this episode we talk about:
How the pricing structure of lesbian romance can form a barrier to general readers entering the market
Decoding how to find books that hit your sweet spot when entering a new reading community
How the history of lesbian small presses shapes price and content expectations
Some comparisons between f/f and m/m book communities
How latent sexism in the romance market affects the acceptance of f/f stories
Popular m/m and m/f romance authors putting a toe in the waters of f/f romance--what does it mean for f/f-only authors?
How do we overcome barriers to cross-promotion between siloed reading communities, when recommendation networks don’t overlap
Lesbian publishing as a “walled garden”--the ups and downs of curated spaces
Dealing with cross-gender motifs in historical fiction
Complications of gender and sexuality in historic societies
How to identify with characters without owning them--resource scarcity and contested spaces
Three models for communicating queer content in books: the donut shop, the whisper network, and the detailed menu
Fan fiction and learning acceptance of multiple readings of a text
Gender dynamics in fan fiction and the distribution of f/f stories
Envisioning independent women in history--how the sexism of popular media lies to us about the lives of historic women
Fan fiction generations pre- and post-Xena
Books and Resources Mentioned
”That Could Be Enough” by Alyssa Cole
f/f fiction by K.J. Charles
f/f fiction by Jordan Hawke
The Ripped Bodice (bookstore)
Smart Bitches Trashy Books (website and podcast)
”Black Widow, Scarce Resources And High-Stakes Stories” by Linda Holmes (NPR essay)
”The Mazarinette and the Musketeer by Heather Rose Jones
Anna’s f/f fan fiction for Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs
Archive of Our Own
A transcript of this podcast is pending.
Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online
Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog
RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
Links to Heather Online
Website: http://alpennia.com
Email: Heather Rose Jones
Twitter: @heatherosejones
Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)
Links to Anna Clutterbuck-Cook Online
Website: The Feminist Librarian
Twitter: @feministlib
Archive of Our Own: elizajane
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The Lesbian Talk Show Patreon
The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon