New Novel: Cupid in Captivity

Billy doesn't care that he was kidnapped by a fellow student, even after an unofficial investigation identifies his abductor, Jonas. Billy protects Jonas through high school and into adulthood when they both embody a great deal more money. Billy resolves problems for the wealthy elite. Jonas is a renowned photographer. Yet repercussions of that earlier deed persist, demanding retribution or reenactment.

With hints of satire and myth, the story of Billy and Jonas attests to the unanticipated and unique links that arise and survive between human beings, links that last for years and transcend labels.

Can the captor and captive fall in love? Why shouldn't they? Who gets to decide? Impacted by media, societal, and legal expectations, these two soulmates call for an unanticipated, transformative resolution.

Available on Amazon.

The second novel in this series, Ithax's Offspring on Mars, will be released in April, hopefully on April 12, 2021, the first day that a human--Yugi Gagarin--entered space. 

The books are not related by genre or characters. They range from suspense to space sci-fi to contemporary fantasy. However, they are thematically related. They satirize human attitudes that attempt to label and categorize events and personalities at the expense of experience, transcendence, and individuality. 

Romance is larger than petty politics.  

Sitcoms: Spouses with the Same Sense of Humor

Vanessa and Mike Baxter are the winners today: April 1, 2020

Two examples:

1. Vanessa and Mike keep teasing Mandy by telling her they will pay for her Caribbean vacation. They then burst into mutual laughter.   

2. Valentine's Day: Mike doesn't believe in Valentine's Day, so he doesn't usually get Vanessa a present (other than a taser). But this particular Valentine's Day, he sends her flowers--which she doesn't discover until the evening--along with a "card" that states, "Dear Vanessa: Bet you didn't see this coming. Ha! In your face. Love, Mike."

Vanessa thinks it is hilarious. And touching.

What's extra fun about Vanessa is that she loves bad puns. Mike will shake his head at the really bad ones but he actually enjoys them too. There's a delightful scene in Season 2 when Mandy comes home from a date (with Kyle). Mike is sitting up reading bathroom jokes:

What does one John say to the other? he asks her, then answers, You look flushed.

He then starts laughing. Mandy gives him a patient look and shakes her head.

I don't mind Molly Cook as Mandy but I do miss Molly Ephraim. Like Jonathan Taylor Thomas, she had the ability to exactly and precisely play off Tim Allen's humor.

I do have to mention Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Kevin & Raymond--an ongoing joke in the series is that Raymond is the "funny" partner. Both husbands are so entirely dry (talk about being married to a straight man!--sorry, couldn't resist), the Scoobies are left to ponder exactly what makes him so humorous.

But hey, as long the spouses are happy, who cares?!

Romances with Humor: Loretta Chase

Humor in romances has followed a weird path. Go back to the nineteenth century and one gets wit and biting social commentary.

During the twentieth century, with the notable exception of Georgette Heyer, romances were often tiresomely serious. Irony was dead. "Funny" took the form of teasing and cute: cute puppies, cute romance cards, cute children, cute proposals. Think of the dead seriousness of high school prom invitations. In my day, a high premium was placed on being over-the-top sweet, meaning inviters were expected to issue the invitation in a really, really adorable and unusual way: through a cassette, through a balloon bouquet, etc.

This is the level of humor suffusing a great deal of romance literature in mid-twentieth century romance novels. "And then they both ended up on the same cruise! It was so funny!!"

Where's Daria when you need her?

Nowadays, it is almost de rigueur--thankfully--for romances to use humor of the more rigorous kind: sarcasm (which can backfire), wit (which doesn't).

Loretta Chase is one of the best at humorous romances. She writes traditional romances (M/F), and they never fail to appreciate (this is difficult since romance writers, like any writers who have to continually produce, can run out of steam).

Some of my favorite Loretta Chases:

Mr. Impossible
Mr. Perfect
Lord of Scoundrels
Scandal Wears Satin (my favorite of the Dressmakers' Series)
Don't Tempt Me

Manga version of Mr. Impossible

Chase has the skill to create feisty female characters who are not simply defined by their feistiness. And she creates heroes who are ironic in a blithe sort of way. In Mr. Impossible by Loretta Chase, the hero Rupert Carsington--who was sent off to Egypt by his father to keep him out of trouble--wonders "if [the heroine] was counting to ten. People often did that when conversing with him." Chase's heroes and heroines have brains and hearts, interests and goodness and wit.

In conversations, the exchanges can ramp up to The Thin Man territory as in the antique discussions in Lord of Scoundrels. This exchange from The Thin Man echoes the cadence of Loretta Chase's novels:

Nick: Now, how did you ever remember me?

Dorothy: Oh, you used to fascinate me. A real live detective. You used to tell me the most wonderful stories. Were they true?

Nick: Probably not.

Chase's novels are also clever--with plot lines that converge like those in an Oscar Wilde play. Scandal in Satin is a particularly good example here, employing wit, disguise, break-ins, and other entanglements. Plus a very witty heroine. And an amazingly insouciant hero. 

A full list of Loretta Chase's books can be found here.