Gender Divide in the Rhiannon Novels

I started reading New Fairy because that's what you published first, or at least what I first spotted of your works. Afterwards I realised you were publishing a prequel but it was not matter of stop reading New Fairy and go back to the Jeb & Rhia, moreover because you told me each one is a stand-alone story. So...

Kiss,

Gacela

funny isn't.  My book the Saga of the Mighty Valentine set in a physics quantum reality is generally really liked by women and almost not at all by men. Heaven knows why. My theory is women have a much opener mind than men, men have set ideas when they start to read and women don't necessarily.  Your fairy story needs an open mind, I'm not sure about the love story. (I just read one chapter of that one)

I love how men are purported to be the villains here. In regards to taste in art or fiction or whatever. We'll take up the mantle of villainy but only because we generally don't mind being objectified. Also, because we're in the pole position pertaining to life on this Earth, men enjoy engaging in gender warfare. At least, I do. I suspect I'd feel rather opposite if someone were to remove my wonderful life-injecting penis apparatus, but... Whatever. I make jokes because I know Rhiannon can take it without getting too bent outta shape.

At any rate, yes... John Hamler is more immediately attracted to the sexy ingenue. Hamler has a hard time relating to kick-ass bitches because he's basically a troglodyte who recognizes the physical inequality between the genders. BUT...    New Fairy is a fantasy land and I'm more than willing to put away my childish sexism in order to get on board. As long as the prose is keen and the narrative is sharpish. Thing about romance is it's all in the beholder's eye. Sometimes, when I'm with my lady-lover, I get the feeling that it's all about me slowing down. About paying attention to details and paying complimentary/reinforcing service to her super-ego. Basically, women analyze everything -like body language- and they fret and worry 24/7 about appearances and feelings. So the question is...

Do we (as writers) hafta cater our prose to appeal to a specific gender? Just the other day I was talking about nothing but then a line from the film FULL METAL JACKET seeped into my soliloquy. My lady-lover was both appalled and intrigued. I thunk... Wait, baby. You've NEVER seen FULL METAL JACKET? And she said: NO, why? Am I missing out? And I answered, well... There ain't but two women in the entire film. Both of them Vietnamese. One of them is a whore and the other a murderous sniper. Are you still interested?

She said: HELL YES! And so we sat down and watched it on Netflix. And she LOVED the movie and didn't turn her nose (she did actually cover her eyes and yelp at a few scenes, though) despite all the violent warfare and misogyny. And so I thunk to myself... Why can't I open my mind and watch Sisterhood of the Lovely Pants --or whatever it's called-- without making snarky sexist remarks about how it's all so below my machismo?

I dunno.

All of this shit I be saying is a long way of saying... Write what you would like to read. In whatever style entertains YOU. Regardless of gender, race, or politics. Because if you, as the writer, are enjoying yourself it will come thru and entertain the reader. Regardless of gender, race...

Then again, I'm kinda drunk right now and don't know what I'm talking about.

Happiness!

John

Yeah, well... I'm an alcoholic. Not proud of it. Nor am I ashamed of it. I just am. I think it comes with the territory of being a wannabe writer. Or that's what I tell myself, anyway. Joyce, Hemingway, Poe, Shakespeare, Henry Miller, even Stephen King... All raging drunkards. In vino veritas, indeed!

On a side note... Something that you've established, Rhiannon, that I'm starting to get keen on is: The idea of writing a plethora of short *very short* novels revolving around one protagonist. Telling different stories of course, from different characters points of view, but culminating in a "serial" type entertainment. I'm thinking of the show ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK for instance. And the way it's centered on the main character but shifts to exposit the back stories of all the peripheral actors. I dunno. I dunno how to market such a thing but, seeing as my attention span is weak and how much trouble I have focusing on plot... Perhaps short bursts of story --a series of ten one-hundred page/economy-priced books on the Barnes and Noble shelf, for instance-- might be the ticket in this rapidly disintegrating literary market. Again, I dunno. The whole point is... Why should people READ anymore these days when they can just binge-watch Netflix for half the price of a hardback?

Perhaps that's a totally separate discussion, though? In the end I'm happy to be part of this rare breed. We who still strain our eyes and minds in order to comprehend and enjoy Times Roman typeface.

Cheers

John

John:  Interesting that you suggest a series of short stories or novel centering around the main character.  That was the original format of the Rhiannon stories: with stories written from Rosalyn's point of view, Rhiannon's, and even some "omniscient" POV's.  Maybe, the next stage in evolution will be just that.  The ones I'm writing now were originally meant to get me back in gear, a "re-boot," taking as many readers, old and new, with me as possible.

Cheers.

Rhia

John:  You don't need a complicated or intricate or convoluted plot.  A simple beginning, middle, end will do, with lots of conflicts along the way. As my Great Aunt Maude would say, to reach your destination, it helps to know where you're going.

Oh, and it's not 'either-or.'  You can have great prose and still read the road map.