I just keep getting news that I can’t wait to share… The Romantic Times review is in for Cuffed by Candlelight the erotic romance anthology that I’m in with Beverly Jenkins and Katherine D. Jones. They gave it 4 stars! Here’s the review:

CUFFED BY CANDLELIGHT
by Beverly Jenkins, Gwyneth Bolton and Katherine D. Jones

RT Rating: 4
Published: February 2007

Review:
Since Jenkins is renowned for her historical romances, the scandalous and outrageous sexual romps between the restrained woman who marries a paroled inmate are shockingly titillating. She forces you to shed stereotypes of Southern belles. “Guns and Roses,” by Jones, is a mature twist from the horde of hip-hop books about sex and drugs in prison. Bolton’s contribution, “Handcuffs Mean Never Having to Say You’re Sorry,” has several scorching moments. Throughout, the characterization is crisp, and the pace is moderated so precisely that you’re primed for more.

Summary:
Jenkins’ “Prisoner” opens our eyes to post-slavery Kansas while dispelling the notion that the joy of sex is relegated to harlots, and decision-making to men. Officer Gunn in Jones’ story is torn between ethics and her own blatant prejudices when lustful thoughts of an arrogant inmate’s brother persist. In Bolton’s story, what happens when “I love you like a brother or sister” is overtaken by carnal desires is exposed, sometimes humorously. — Robin R. Pendleton

Okay, I know I said I’d be back in the New Year… But, my author friend Anisa Damien just let me know that she posted the Hero-Logy for the hero in my lasted novel on her blog, Strictly Seductive. So, I had to let you all know where to find him and a new excerpt from Divine Destiny. You can find the Hero-Logy here:

http://www.anisadamien.com/seductiveblog/

Happy Holidays!

Gwyneth

Here’s Fantasia singing one of my favorite Christmas songs. See you in the New Year!

Gwyneth

Normally, I detest dichotomies. I firmly believe that things are never either/or, black or white, this way and never that way. I’d be the first person to argue that things are “more complicated” and there are always more than two sides to any story. So it seems only fitting in an entirely too ironic way that my life seems to have broken down into weird dualities that seem to be in constant opposition with one another.

There are three questions that I get asked all the time that I never really know how to answer. The first question has to do with the amount of reading I do. People always ask, how do you read so much and still find time to write anything? The second question has to do with writing? People want to know how do you move between fiction and nonfiction? The third question is related, but more focused on the career aspect. People want to know how do I navigate being a college professor and a romance writer? Since my first novel was published this past March and I’ve only been a published romance writer with books on the shelves a little under a year, I haven’t been asked these questions a whole lot. (I mean, let’s not get it twisted. A sister realizes that she hasn’t had tons of interviews and media coverage. LOL.) But these questions have come up enough and the issues they bring up are starting to represent these seeming points of confliction in my life.

Check out the rest of this post on Blogging in Black:

http://blogginginblack.com/

But first, a word from some hip-hop femcees:

“And you? I ain’t mad you a ho. I’m mad you trying to teach my babies how to be a ho. When I ain’t home. Taking that video to the dome. While you trying to clone bitches. I’m trying to raise queens…” – Medusa, rapping in Rachel Raimist’s film Nobody Know My Name

“What’s going on in ya mind, is what I ask ya… But like Yo-Yo, ya don’t hear me though…” Queen Latifah, “UNITY”

“And dudes quick to take these groupies to bed. Betta watch out for they write a book about ya like Superhead…” Lil’ Kim, “Slippin”

Yes, if we’re honest, we can all point to instances where we may not have made the smartest decisions about men. Every girl has her stories. (Or has a stupid girlfriend who never ever seems to learn that self-respect is worth more than having a man between the sheets.) We could probably swap all kinds of stories about being young and dumb. But most of us know better than to put our stupidity on blast. Not so for Karrine “Superhead” Steffans and Carmen Bryan… By now I’m sure you’ve all heard of Karrine Steffans’s book, Confessions of a Video Vixen. It was the hot tell-all book a couple of summers ago in which a former video girl names all the names of all the rappers and basketball stars she’s slept with. Now we have Carmen Bryan’s book, It’s No Secret: From Jay Z to Nas, From Seduction to Scandal–A Hip-Hop Helen of Troy Tells All. In it, she tells all about her love affairs with famous rappers and basketball players. Are ya sensing a trend here…

Now I write erotic romance, so these women’s sexual exploits really don’t bother me. I’m all for sexual freedom, especially for women since we’ve been told for so long that boys can and we can’t. And, if their books were just about a sista getting her swerve on, that might be different. But the phrase “sucker for love” comes to mind… The claims of love abound in these so-called cautionary tales. These women claimed to love each and every guy that used them and abused them. All of them… For real… Love… In theory, I get it… As much as our community is concerned about little black boys, little black girls are going through some stuff too. I won’t go into statistics here. Because we all know that the rising prison rates and HIV/AIDS rates for women of color are kicking our behinds. And as I think of Karrine and Carmen, I can’t help but think that we need to do something to help little black girls find the love in themselves so that they don’t fall victim to all the bullshit.

As much as Karrine and Carmen paint their stories as cautionary tales, they don’t work that way. Let’s be real, if you give these books to a young sister thinking you are providing her with a cautionary tale, you will be making a grave mistake. Karrine’s book could aptly be re-titled, “How to be a Video-Ho.” The critical self-reflection that is a requirement for caution is not present in her book. And Carmen’s book could be a connecting book to “How to Sex a Baller Out of His Mind and Money,” if they were written by the same author… and if Carmen would have had to have been a little bit more successful at what she tried to do… Come to think of it, would be a kind of crappy how-to book for the way she constantly gets played. (And on a side-note, but totally in theme with my biggest gripe this month, guess which magazine is doing a feature on Carmen Bryan in their new issue… just guess… that’s right Essence… anyway…) Neither of these women seemed to have learned anything. They are just recounting their stupid repetitive mistakes. And they are irritating for that reason… (The same reason that the character Robin in Waiting to Exhale got on everyone’s nerves until she got some self-respect and a backbone. But at least Robin had a career and a life outside of her quest for a man…)

To hear Superhead tell it, she loved every single guy she screwed. It was like a mantra, “I rea—lly lo-ved Gotti, Ja-Rule… fill-in the blank.” Carmen would have us believe that she re-ally lo-ved Jay Z and Nas and Allen Iverson. I posit that these women don’t know what love is. And that is really sad. Carmen claims that the whole battle between Nas and Jay Z was because of her. That Jay Z made the diss song “Is That Your Chick” because she accepted Nas’s proposal and he was hurt. (But those of us that listen to rap know what Jigga sounds like on wax when his feelings are hurt over a woman. See “Song Cry” and the recent verse in “Lost One” in which he mourns the fact that Beyonce is choosing her career over their relationship. None of these are the scathing and misogynist lyrics we find in “Is That Your Chick.” But, I digress…) The point is the men she claims loved her so much that they went to war on wax have both moved on and she is left telling a story that is all too familiar.

So at the end of the day, what do I really think about the “Kiss and Tell” frenzy that we seem to be moving in? I really think that these books tell us things that go far beyond the gossip and the sex. They tell us a lot about the traps waiting for our little sisters and baby girls if we don’t start showing them and teaching them what love really is. What do you think? Until next time…

Much love and peace,

Gwyneth

Sheila M. Gross’s great post last week on Blogging in Black, “Lights, Cameras…Wait a Minute,” got me to thinking about who I’d like to see play the leads if I am ever lucky enough to see one of my books made into a movie. (Side note… I think that if this were to ever happen, I’d probably be so happy that they could cast whoever they wanted in it and it wouldn’t bother me. I’d be too busy screaming, ‘They’re making a movie out of my novel! They’re making a movie out of my novel!!)

You can find Sheila’s post here if you want to find out more on what she has to say about the limited amount of Black novels being made into films: http://blogginginblack.com/2006/12/09/lights-cameraswait-a-minute/

So, anyway, I started thinking about who I’d like to play the leads in my novels and came up with the following:

I’m Gonna Make You Love Me

With….

Shemar Moore as Darren Whitman

and…

Tatyana Ali as Alicia Taylor

If Only You Knew

With…

Lamman Rucker as Carlton Harrington III

and…

Beyonce Knowles as Latonya Stevens-Harrington

Divine Destiny

With…

Morris Chestnut as Darwu the Warrior Prince

and…

Sanaa Lathan as Kara Millan

Handcuffs Mean Never Having to Say You’re Sorry (Novella in the February 2007 release Cuffed By Candlelight)

With…

LL Cool J as Lance King

and…

Malinda Williams as Tamara Downing

Sweet Sensation (March 2007)

With…

Shawn Wayans as Fredrick “Flex” Towns III

and…

Tyra Banks as Deidre “Sweet Dee” James

So if any of you big-time Hollywood Stars happen to be reading this and want to option one of these novels, holla! Until next time…

much love and peace,

Gwyneth

Figures I’d be the one that got kicked off the show… LOL!

You scored as Toni. Woohoo!! You’re a Toni. Damn girl you could shop all day long and still not be tired! Sometimes you go for the guys that can offer you things instead of going for the guys that you really care about and offer their heart out most to you. Nevertheless, you’re still a great friend and would do anything for your girlfriends. You go girl!!

Which girlfriend are you?(from the hit tv show girlfriends)
created with QuizFarm.com

I love anthologies. It’s not so much that I like shorter reads, but more that I like being able to read something and finish it even when I have a bunch of stuff going on in my life. I can read a novella and finish it without the same amount of guilt that I feel when I take the time to read a full novel. The other thing I love about anthologies is usually you get at least two of your favorite authors in one book, sometimes more. And it’s just heaven when you get three or four of your favorite authors in the same book. The other thing I love is that in addition to getting your favorite author, sometimes you get introduced to a new author. I love being introduced to new authors. And I love acquiring new favorite writers.

I just finished reading the anthology, Takin’ Chances for the Holidays. It features novellas by three amazing best selling authors, Adrianne Byrd, Donna Hill, and Monica Jackson. The stories are H-O-T! They offer three quick reads by these three very talented writers. The stories were fresh and had a bit of an edge to them. They had a sassiness to them that I loved.

I also finished the novellas in the anthology Vegas Bites: A Werewolf Romance Anthology. And all I can say to this is, YES! I finally got my Black weres! I am so happy that more sisters are writing paranormals. I really loved this anthology. I’d read vampire paranormals by two of the authors, L. A. Banks and J. M. Jeffries and contemporary romances by the other two authors, Seressia Glass and Natalie Dunbar. But what these women did with those Black werewolf packs… Lawd. Have. Mercy.

I have lots of favorite anthologies and I’ll be adding these to the list. Do you like anthologies? Or do shorter reads not have enough meat for you? Do you have favorites? What are you reading now? Any suggestions for a good read? Let me know. Until next time…

Happy Reading,

Gwyneth

Welcome and thank you for tuning in to the first annual Brotha Please Awards also known as the “boo, negro boo awards.” I’m your host for this evening, Gwyneth Bolton, and tonight we’ll be honoring three brothas who need to sit their behinds down and shut up. Now, I know that we shouldn’t reward bad behavior. But we should have a way to call attention to these brothas in a way that serves to curb that kind of behavior in the future.

So without further ado, the first award of the evening goes to a young man who has been writing for a while. He built his career off of the hard earned dollars of loyal female readers and a few years back had the nerve to stand in front of an audience of women book club members and complain about having majority female readers. You see he wants men to read his books. And he even went as far as to chastise the women for not doing more to make sure their husbands and boyfriends read so that he can have men read his masculine books. Then he wrote and essay in a major black women’s magazine (Essence 2/06—I told y’all they have fallen off…) going on and on about how he is such a successful alpha male with so many women adoring him that when his wife is too tired for sex or has a headache it makes it hard for him to keep wanting to be faithful. Brotha Please! Omar Tyree gets the Most Sexist Brotha of the Year Award.

The second award goes to a rapper who began his rap career talking about how many times he’d been shot and also started a war with another popular rapper at the time. Now, there is nothing wrong with attacking the guy on top in order to take his place. Law of the jungle, kill or be kill, whatever… But this rapper went a little crazy with it and couldn’t seem to stop starting trouble with other rappers and just stirring up all kinds of mess. Every new album he releases he has a new beef with yet another rapper. One would think that he wanted to get shot again… But now the brotha has really lost his ever-loving mind. He is going to war with Oprah Winfrey! He’s complaining to everyone who will listen (White Media…) that Oprah doesn’t like black men and she is no longer black identified, etc… whatever… And he is doing this because he feels that Oprah doesn’t have enough rap artists on her show. Hmmm… let me see… last time I checked it was the Oprah Winfrey Show. She can have whoever or whatever she wants on her show. When you get a show then you can have what you want on your show. See how that works? You still don’t get it do you? Are you slow? No, you just like starting shit, huh? Brotha Please! 50 Cent, please step up and take your two awards: The Whiniest Brotha of the Year Award and the special So, You Wanna Be Starting Somethin’ Certificate.

The third award of the evening goes to my friend and yours… we’ve talked about him on this blog before. He is also an… entertainer… (The hip-hop purist in me won’t allow me to call him a rapper…) He just released an album and he has been seen everywhere promoting it. Luckily he and his long-term girlfriend are expecting twins just in time to help build the hype around his new album. And luckily his momma is a long time friend of Essence Magazine’s former editor and iconic presence Susan L. Taylor… (How else can one explain the many covers devoted to this fool over the years, especially the most recent one?) Anyway, there are so many reasons why he should get the Brotha Please Award. But this year he gets it for using his girlfriend’s pregnancy to sell records. That’s just tacky, tacky, tacky. Pimping your children before they even get here is so not cool. All I can say is Brotha Please! Puffy or Diddy or whatever you are calling yourself these days, come on up and get your Tackiest Brotha of the Year Award.

Now I realize that you might take issue with this year’s awardees. You might think we here at Gwyneth’s Blog have been too harsh. Or you might think that there are others far more deserving of this award. So, please feel free to voice your opinion and share your thoughts. Also feel free to nominate and even give out your own awards. And before you say I’m picking on the brothas, let the record show that I fully intend to have a Sista Please Award Show soon. Because some of y’all have lost your minds as well… Kim Porter… Essence Magazine… Superhead… Carmen Bryan… New York from the Flavor of Love… all the sistas on Flavor of Love…

So, let us know what you think. Until next time…

Much love and peace,

Gwyneth

So it’s December and it’s the release month of my first erotic romance. And I’ve been seriously thinking about all the hoopla surrounding erotica and erotic romance. And I’ve been thinking of what I look for in a good erotic romance? As a matter of fact how do we even define erotic romance? Is there a difference between porn, erotica, erotic romance and sexy romance? Well, the special interest chapter of Romance Writers of America, Passionate Ink’s president Sylvia Day breaks it down this way:

“Porn: stories written for the express purpose of causing sexual titillation. Plot, character development, and romance are NOT primary to these stories. They are designed to sexually arouse the reader and nothing else.”

“Erotica: stories written about the sexual journey of the characters and how this impacts them as individuals. Emotion and character growth are important facets of a true erotic story. However, erotica is NOT designed to show the development of a romantic relationship, although it’s not prohibited if the author chooses to explore romance. Happily Ever Afters are NOT an intrinsic part of erotica, though they can be included.”

“Erotic Romance: stories written about the development of a romantic relationship through sexual interaction. The sex is an inherent part of the story, character growth, and relationship development, and couldn’t be removed without damaging the storyline. Happily Ever After is a REQUIREMENT to be an erotic romance.”

“Sexy Romance: stories written about the development of a romantic relationship that just happen to have more explicit sex. The sex is not an inherent part of the story, character growth, or relationship development, and it could easily be removed or ‘toned down’ without damaging the storyline. Happily Ever After is a REQUIREMENT as this is basically a standard romance with hotter sex.”

That sounds about right to me. (And that’s saying a lot because usually I’m one to cringe at any attempts to define things.) But for this particular aspect of romance, I think a little definition is useful. First, it helps to have some guidelines for all those folks in the romance community that claim that erotica and erotic romance is ruining romance. The funny thing is these people never quite get that the powers that be see all of it as smut and porn for women any way. And the way to combat that kind of ignorance is not to try and stifle erotic romance or to try and define romance as only this and never that. But that’s another post… The reason the Passionate Ink definitions work for me in ways that the failed Romance Writers of America attempts to define romance as a story of a relationship between and man and a woman didn’t–besides the inherent homophobia in the RWA attempt–is that the Passionate Ink definitions lend themselves more readily to craft and structure. As a writer these work for me when I’m thinking about the kind of story I want to create. I know that if I can take the sex out of my story or tone down the sex in the story and still have the same story then I have not written an erotic romance. Writing erotic romance does not mean add hot sex in abundance and run with it. The sex has to be crucial to the plot and story. As a reader this is also useful, because it made me realize that I read some novels that claimed to be erotic romance when they were really just sexy romance. And I’ve read some erotica that is really just porn.

There have been lots of conversations about this in the romance community and I’m not sure where I fall in the debate. I do know that at the end of the day I want to read and write great stories, whether they be sweet romances or erotic romances. What do you think about it? Are romances getting a little too erotic for your taste? Too sexy? Where do you fall on the erotic romance may be the death of romance debate? Do you read spicier romances? If so, what draws you to them? If not, why?

And if you are interested in writing them, check out the special interest chapter of RWA, Passionate Ink.

http://www.passionateink.org/index.php

Happy writing and reading,

Gwyneth