A-Z Romances: Cat Sebastian and Independent Heroes

My favorite book by Cat Sebastian is You Should Be So Lucky. I love it so much, I usually read it in less than a day (so I have to set aside a day to read it). 

For this list, I read Two Rogues Make a Right. The book belongs to the Seducing the Sedgwicks Series. Of the nineteenth century historical romances, I prefer Sebastian's Turner Series. But one purpose of this list is to read what I don't usually read--or don't read that often. 

Two Rogues Make a Right is one of those books, rather like McCall Smith's Mma Ramotswe mysteries, that I can read a little bit, then put down, then read a little more. Sometimes, this approach backfires (I forget to pick up the book again before I have to take it back to the library) but sometimes, as with McCall Smith, the little bit gives me something to look forward to over a few nights. 

Sebastian is a very good writer and can create gentle, slice-of-life moments within a larger plot. She is also quite skilled at creating damaged characters in which the plot is not about how damaged they are. 

I've discussed elsewhere the problem of tying violence (even remembered violence) to romance. The characters in Two Rogues are not meant to save or fix each other. They can't. The past can't be undone. Certain conditions can't be cured (in the nineteenth century). But they can meet each other halfway. 

Will and Martin are a little different from other such characters since they are both, being rogues, willing to burn down the world for each other. But that burning-down-the-world doesn't extend to riding inside someone else's skin. Love--as I point out often on this blog--is about accepting a person where/who that person is, not trying to mold them into something else for their own good. (I separate "interventions" over drug addiction from "but I wish you had a different career"--see below.) 

There is a line (as when Martin is too sick to make decisions) and Sebastian honestly tackles that line as well as honestly tackling the problem of status and money. Like KJ Charles, Sebastian doesn't present love as so grand, lifestyle disappears as a factor. It must be tackled directly. 

Martin accepts that his skills and health only take him so far. He also learns, however, that he can live on £50 a year (historical "salaries" are incredibly difficult to figure: £50 a year is about $5,000 - $10,000, so not a great deal but more than enough for someone living in a cottage who doesn't have to pay rent for the cottage itself and who spend that same amount on buy 7 bushels of wheat, which is equivalent to 30 bags of flour. And since he is living with Will, who may bring in about the same amount, they will do fine! 

But they had to learn they could, not assume they could.   

Hobbies in Manga: Heavy Metal

A common container for romantic manga is hobbies. The romantic partners in BL and yaoi bond over various non-academic, non-work-related interests. 

One of the most delightful is The Metalhead Next Door by Mamita. Two neighbors meet when Kento's apartment heater breaks down. Soshi takes him in and feeds him. 

They bond when the more extroverted young man, Kento, learns that Soshi loves metal music. They don't share the interest, but Kento embraces Soshi's interest and learns more about Soshi through his interest. 

The hobby here is perfect for several reasons:

(1) The metal music loving neighbor, Soshi, is quite shy and diffident. He isn't loud and crass and drug-using. That is, he isn't the cliche. In fact, he struggles to communicate, thinking at one point, "I'm not acting. I'm really bad at expressing my thoughts through words."

(2) The manga exhibits knowledge of sub-cultures within metal music, including the Heavy Metal Knitting Competition, which I am not making up! 

The sub-cultures also address that there are different forms of metal music, which I knew from watching Bones. As I will say about classical music and romances and mysteries and, well, everything: the further one gets into a genre, the more differences and strongly held stances one will find. Two people WITHIN a field will have louder arguments than an insider with an outsider.  

 (3) Most of the main sequences take place in winter, which I find quite captivating. Many of my favorite manga, including Snow Fairy, take place in a winter environment. Kento and Soshi get to know each other over three winters. Primary scenes take place during cold weather, in snowfalls, at the tail end of winter. The emphasis is on indoor scenes with a few seminal outdoor moments, and the atmosphere is quite lovely. 

 

Who Does Colin End Up With?

Fans of The Secret Garden are rather obsessed with Mary and Colin and Dickon's potential romantic partners. I first encountered this obsession with an adult romance. Mary thinks she is going to end up with Colin, but it turns out he prefers men. So she ends up with Dickon. It's a kind of Lady Chatterley's Lover. 

The 1987 Hallmark movie makes Mary and Colin NOT cousins and she ends up with him (the older him is played by Colin Firth). Dickon is rather unnecessarily killed off. 

And the 1993 movie implies a crush between Mary and Dickon that makes Colin jealous. The issue is never addressed in the movie. I suspect it was there to remind the reader of Mary's part in the story. 

Me? I put Colin and Dickon together! 

Mellors of Lady Chatterley's Lover and Scudder of Forester's Maurice were  based on a working-class man, George Merrill, who lived (without anyone going to jail) with Edward Carpenter (Carpenter was capable of supporting a household where people didn't end up in jail). Merrill was ostensibly his servant--the intimate relationship was acknowledged by friends and they were buried side-by-side. 

In sum, Carpenter embodied the kind of utopian philosophy that 10-year-old Colin spouts off while Merrill embodied the (literally) down-to-earth  behavior that Dickon practices. They are decent representations of Carpenter and Merrill. (Both Mary and Colin are enamored of Dickon; in the book, it never crosses the line out of childish hero worship.) 

Two snags: Colin is not really the sit still type. I can't picture him voluntarily moving back to Misselthwaite Manor in his later years. He strikes me as a city-university lad. Or an explorer. Or an anthropologist. 

And Dickon loves Yorkshire. He is the Andy Griffin of his home soil. He wouldn't want to leave.  

In addition, for all Lawrence's praise of men of the soil (Forester was somewhat more insightful), people of Dickon's class could be far more conservative than people of Colin's class. Colin might find the Bohemians kind of staid (seriously--he's waaay out there). But he would get to know them. Dickon, on the other hand, has a large loving family that he wouldn't want to embarrass. 

I have Dickon and Colin find a way to stay together in my Thatcher-Damien heaven or heavens: in my Thatcher-Damien fan-fiction's afterlife, there are all kinds of heavens for all kinds of people. Dickon-Colin's heaven is a kind of Victorian/Edwardian steampunk city that sits next door to a Yorkshire-type countryside. 

As for Mary, I don't see why she needs to get together with anyone. I see her as a kind of Nellie Bly, heading out to explore the world and collect seeds from different countries. Why not?!  

A-Z Romance: Stalkers in Nora Roberts' Skin Deep

For "R" I read Nora Roberts, the novella Skin Deep. The plot is about a film celebrity being stalked and the ruggedly handsome guy who guards her. 

I'm a big believer that there are exceptions to every rule, so even though I dislike books about celebrities, and I don't care for books about people being stalked (women or men: I have never watched more than ten minutes of Cape Fear 1962 despite Gregory Peck), I thought I would give it a try. 

Lo and behold, the celebrity part and even the stalking part didn't bother me too much. I thought Roberts captured the day-to-day grind and professional attitude of actors on set. The stalking was less than satisfactory but frankly, it paled next to what did bug me. 

The hero behaves like a stalker. 

He wanders through the film star's home. He enters her bedroom. He demands that she do what he wants and go where he wants. And because he is so virile and handsome and angsty or whatever, she doesn't get creeped out. She argues, but oh my, even as she is arguing, she is swooning. 

The problem here is not (necessarily) the bold, demanding, slightly demented hero. At one point, he acknowledges that he is behaving rather like the stalker. And I've read books, including manga, where the bold, demanding, slightly demented hero was matched by the bold, demanding, wholly demented love interest. Hey, if it works for them...

The problem here is that I was supposed to ignore the female character's OWN ARGUMENTS. 

"Oh, how dare he! I can't stand that kind of pressure. I am so tired of feeling unnerved in my own home! But..."

The mistake here is a mistake that I think only Joss Whedon and Dorothy Sayers have ever directly acknowledged: a person can be overwhelmed physically and sensually. That doesn't mean they won't hate themselves when their brain catches up to the rest of them. 

Yes, even with sex (which is supposedly untouchable). 

So Angel sleeps with Darla and then goes, "Wow, that was SOOOO dumb." 

And in Dorothy Sayers, Wimsey, who has a reputation for being good in bed, refuses to use that particular tactic with Harriet. He tries everything else. He takes her on dates. He argues with her. He gets involved with the murder case she comes across. But he never uses physical pleasure to bind her. 

At one point, she acknowledges that if he had, she--weary from her trial; weary with herself--would have "gone up like straw." 

Wimsey would have got her in the short run. He would have lost her forever in the long-run. 

In truth, in fact, in reality, the film celebrity in Nora Roberts' novella should have fired the hero the moment he stepped into her bedroom without her permission. There was absolutely no reason for him to be there. It's unprofessional behavior. And having non-professionals guard one is the epitome of dumbness. And rather terrifying.

Intent does not excuse stalking--not once the brain catches up to a person's integrity.  

The Sad and Lovely Ache: Sweet Moments in Romance

I recently posted on Votaries about mono no aware, a concept in Japan that often shows up in slice-of-life. Below is a repost about that concept in romance.

* * *  

I am a fan of romance from manga to paperbacks, from classical literature to movies. Generally speaking, I prefer my romances to end on a positive note, which by my definition means "conclusively." So, are they married or what?!

Every now and again, I will encounter a captivating film that ends somewhat inconclusively. Such films leave behind a gentle, sweet sadness or acceptance--mono no aware in Japanese. And that's okay. It isn't the equivalent of some dreadful French drama where I'm asked to acquiescence in the futility of life. Rather, instead, I'm being asked to accept the fleeting beauty and kindness of life.

The two films that come to mind are both the product of Japanese artists (slight spoilers):

Only Yesterday: From Studio Ghibli, Only Yesterday ends romantically (if not entirely conclusively). The romance is either the entire point or it is entirely incidental: I'm not quite sure. What brings an ache to the heart is not necessarily Taeko and Toshio meeting on the road but Taeko's decision to leave the train. And what turns that ache into a shout of joy are the children from Taeko's past. They crowd about her, encouraging her, egging her on while they engage in high energy, hilarious romps.

The entire sequence is accompanied by a gorgeous rendition of Amanda McBroom's "The Rose" sung by a Japanese singer. It sounds sappy. It surprisingly isn't. Rather, the song evokes a nostalgia that transcends mealy-mouth nostalgia. Taeko is not remembering her childhood fondly or wishfully, the way people think back to their "glory" days in high school. She is recapturing her youth in order to move forward.

Voices of a Distant Star: One of my all-time favorites, Voices of a Distant Star ends, possibly, with the lovers separated. There are Blade Runner-type hints--especially in the manga--that time and space may collapse, but as with Only Yesterday, that is hardly the point. They have already transcended time and space through the  email messages that eek through what Star Trek fans would call the space-time continuum and what Cat from Red Dwarf would call magic.

In this case, Cat is the closest because the result is magical.

"It's like a miracle to hear from her after all this time."

"Maybe thoughts can overcome time and distance."

"One thought. What would it be?"

"It would be--"

I am here.

Singles Without Stigma

Bilbo remains single. So does Frodo. Sam gets married. 

Leslie A. Fiedler spent a lifetime as a critic claiming that while European and British literature is suffuse with romance, American writers (of the classic novel variety) spent their careers running from the female. 

Like most theories about anything, I think Fiedler has a tiny point that is blown way out of proportion. 

The tiny point is that American culture does seem to idealize and worry incessantly about marriage while stigmatizing singles--all this in a way that the more outwardly romantic British do not. 

Of course, there is a historical-time-period issue here. Tolkien was born in the late 1800s. He was writing in the early to mid-twentieth century. In England. In a university town. 

In sum, Bilbo's singleness is VERY English. It also carries zero stigma. He is the classic bachelor, even more so than Wooster and, for that matter, his own nephew. Frodo is the Fisher King, the wounded hero who cannot stay in the village he saved. 

Bilbo, on the other hand, is part of his village. He has his books, his friends, his food, his wanderings (hikes), and, eventually, his beloved Frodo. 

And there's absolutely nothing more to be said about his lifestyle one way or the other, either from a conservative or progressive perspective. 

This view of singleness is, truly, quite lovely.  

What Makes This Manga Different From the Others: Dashing Zaddy and Icy Protege

Dashing Zaddy and Icy Protege is one of those series I picked up at Books-a-Million. I visit Books-a-Million for its stunning and expanding manga section. And I have been pleasantly surprised by a few volumes I chanced across (rather than volumes I went to BAM on purpose to find). Dashing Zaddy is one of them. 

I like it for several reasons: 

(1) The older "December" Zaddy character actually looks older. So many times with manga, the only reason I know one character is older than the other is because the "script" tells me (similar to BL Thai series on Viki, in which the "older" character is almost always taller despite the character looking much younger). 

But Takanashi of Dashing Zaddy actually looks older--while still being charismatic and attractive. He has a kind of Elvin quality that makes him sparkle on the page. In many ways, his age enhances this otherworldly quality: he is a lively 40-year-old and appears that way. 

(2) The characters have a background. Quite often with manga series in office environments, the characters MIGHT have a background from high school (where they were rivals) but there's no substance to the background. But Hiwatari from Dashing Zaddy has an entire foundation of memories which fuel his affection and attraction for Takanashi. 

(3) The characters are different from each other. As I have mentioned multiple times on this blog, the best romances bring together complementary characters, and they retain their differences throughout the romance. 

They don't have to be the odd-couple: the slob and neat freak come with a separate set of issues. But they are more enchanting if they work off of each other rather than mirroring each other. 

Takanashi is an extrovert, a people-person manager. In contrast, Hiwatari has a "straight-arrow," somewhat blunt personality that masks a deeply romantic nature. In fact, the underlying mindsets here are quite clever. Takanashi, while being more people-aware, is more relationship-cautious. He's the kind of guy who has to figure out whom he loves. Hiwatari is the kind of guy who knows whom he loves and needs to bring the knowledge out of the clouds and into reality. A dreamer-realist and a realist-romantic: those combinations are more common than you might think!  

(4) Because the characters are different and reasonably complex, the story is not just about the relationship. There's nothing wrong with the relationship being the primary focus but endless pages of people being cutesy can get rather dull (one reason I love romance-mysteries so much is that the couple solve crimes: the focus is the couple, but the couple actually gets to do stuff). 

In Dashing Zaddy, the workplace is more than a staging area for dates and sex. The characters have to function in society: might as well show them carrying out those functions! (The underlying politics of New Employee/New Recruit also come to mind.)  

Dashing Zaddy and Icy Protege is a wonderful series that I am still enjoying!