Warning: Some Violence and Much Strong Language.HE WROTE: And On The Seventh Day
And on a bit of a rant. Waiting for Jenny in the hotel-- what else. So we can head to the airport and fly to, you know, that place in Ohio. First of all, only one packet of hot chocolate for the machine. I'm bummed.
I sat in on Suzanne Brockmann's Q&A session yesterday. Someone asked her about the main character in her last book, HOT TARGET. Unfortunately, I haven't read the book, but it's got an FBI agent who is gay. And it seems Suzanne is getting a lot of email about it. The majority quietly supportive. But a minority loudly nasty and negative.
First of all, who cares? Does this mean the guy couldn't do his job? And why do people get so concerned about what other people do in their own personal lives?
I always love letters to the editor. Have you ever seen a letter to the editor where someone writes: Hey, ya know, I'M doing something I really think I shouldn't be doing any more and I'm gonna stop? Nope. It's always someone ELSE is doing something else I don't like and they need to stop. Like that letter is really going to make someone else stop. Right.
BTW-- we're in the airport now and Jenny sat down next to me wearing her Jackie O sunglasses and said: "Say something nice about me in the blog please." Hmm. Ok. Nice shoes.
All right. Where was I? We just did a stock signing in the Logan Airport, Delta terminal.
Anyway. What's really funny about those people who send those nasty letters to Suze Brockmann about her character is that it's a FICTIONAL character. It's not even like the guy exists. It's like the people who go on about the DaVinci Code. I mean, there's people who wrote entire books debunking the DaVinci Code and it's a novel-- I just had to ask Jenny how to spell novel, geez, we're fried--. It's fiction. How do you debunk fiction? Get over it.
When we did a stock signing in one of the book stores in Boston one of the guys in the stores says when DaVinci Code first came out Dan Brown was in there signing and the book hadn't hit and Brown was saying he was wishing he could get the royalty checks of another author at his agency named Dale Brown who is a very successful thriller writer. See-- never know how things are going to turn out.
The keynote Jenny and I, her and I, gave yesterday, was about rule breaking (according to me) or risk taking (according to Jenny) but that's what Suze Brockman did with her character in HOT TARGET and she took some flack for it. But she did it not because she was trying to write for the market but because it was something she felt she had to write. And that was what we talked about in our keynote. When we wrote DLD we did the same thing. When we put both names on the cover we did that.
When I put too many packets of hot chocolate in the machine I did that. Sometimes you pay the price.
Damn. Jenny just changed her seat on the flight. She's sitting next to me. I had a nice comfy seat in the exit row with an empty seat next to me. Now I have Jenny next to me. It's going to be a LONG two hours to Cincinatti. Or however the hell your spell it. She's going to want to banter. Then again. It is an exit row. And she is next to the door.
37 Comments:
Don't do it Bob! You'd have to sign all the books by yourself!
p.s. Interesting twist: instead of a character arc, you created a reader arc. I started out disliking La Favre, but by the end of DLD I liked him. And I don't think he changed anyway, so it must have been me.
First, I read an exerpt from 'tipping point'. Stuck on being compared to disease spreading. That's ok.
I love Suz Brockmann. I love what she did.I've never read a gay subplot that drew me in so much that I forgot they were gay, they were just human.
Okay PIONEERS, I'm off to spread the disease, umm, the word.
lbooth
Good job sticking up for Suzanne Brockmann. I enjoyed 'Hot Target' and I liked the character, plot, etc.
right on
You can't push Jenny out of the window, Bob. Agnes isn't finished yet and you'd have to carry the entire load of the DLD book tour all by yourself. That's a lot of movement. A lot of fire to draw.
Besides, all of us who think she's a goddess would hunt you down.
I love Suze. I love the Jules character in her books. He's a terrific character. If people don't like him, that's up to them, but writing hate mail? Ridiculous.
yes! isn't it terrible when the consumer feels they are misled into reading a book mainly about one set of characters (read her countdown to hot target) and then purchase the book to be taken by surprise by the depth of a subplot they have no interest in. how dare people expect to buy a book that is offered as one thing on the author's site, then read it to find something different. where do people get off?
Bob, did you share with Jenny that idea of the exit door with her aloud? I hope not or you may be fashioning your own parachute mid-flight. Men may be physically stronger, but women are brilliant with that "invention is the mother of necessity" thing. Of course, you have your pinky finger as backup, so you may be okay.
PLUS, if you toss her, you'll be stuck writing Agnes YEC *and* sex scenes yourself. That right there should clear out any hostile thoughts instantly.
I think the rabbits infiltrated Bob's mind and took control. Jenny, watch for his eyes turning red and beady.
Bob, do you really want to carry the Cherry legacy ALONE?????
I think not.
We are many.
We are legion.
We love Jenny.
Camilla, in Tennessee
How do I get a seat in a row adjacent to them so I can eavesdrop? The Bob and Jenny show...uncensored...
Okay, I couldn't stand it anymore. I am READING. *grin*
And I find arnica mentioned on one page and then 18yo Glenlivet on the next! You guys rock!
You may have just done more for homeopathy than Sam Hahneman ever could...and luckily there's plenty of Glenlivet to go around because I'm not parting with mine. *vbg*
That's it. I am going to buy DLD today. I can't take it any longer. Rent? Ha! Groceries? Pfftthh. I have to read Don't Look Down. I cannot possibly wait for the 126 people on the library waiting list to finish it before I have it in my sweaty little palms. Not acceptable.
I knew it! This blog is actually a cleverly disguised brainwashing experiment in mass sales.
I do love being a guinea pig, though.
I just finished DLD. I loved it. Just like all Jenny's books I want to be her leading women and know her leading men. And maybe that way. Although I will have to say that I have started reading it again because it was too hard to shut my mind down the first time. I kept thinking of the blog and trying to figure out who wrote what and what was mentioned on the blog and then I would have to reread the part that I only read with my eyes. This has never happened before. I have never had an insight into an author's thoughts before reading a book.You flowed together seamlessly, though. I couldn't tell the difference.
And one question, is the ghost still alive and are you chasing him in your new book, Bob? Or is this a different ghost?
I am so glad Jenny is going home. I was definitely picking up her vibe on Friday. I was at the kitchen sink looking out on my backyard on an absolutely perfect spring evening when I suddenly had the impulse to magically transport both of you onto my deck so you could be somewhere to just be you for a moment. I thought you might need a place to just sit and be without anyone around. Not even me. Just my dogs to pet. Nothing beats nature is one of my other mantras and I got the feeling that maybe you two were tired of being inside with people you had to be "on" with all the time.
Of course then I came to my senses and thought hey they're probably having a great time. They're out with Cherry Bombs and other famous authors and it's Friday night...
I have been quite clearly WARPED (further) by DLD and this blog. There I am, looking at patterns, designing bed jackets, and listening to gospel on the radio and I hear them singing "He's a bodyguard. Bodyguard! He's a bodyguard."
Um. No. It's GOSPEL. "He's a mighty God."
I kind of liked it better my way.
The DaVinci Code is fiction!!
Bob, why is it that only you, Dan Brown and I seem to know this? People keep telling me to read it and I keep telling them I read the first few pages and it didn't thrill me. And no, I don't care who is in the movie. Yeesh. People have a hard time with the concept of "Dan Brown made this all up!"
Bob, if you think you have had fun so far, wait until you get to Cincinnati in Jenny's home stomping grounds. There is some pent up Cherry Bomb-ness that is just waiting to come out.
Yes, I promise I will ask for Moot before I let Jenny say one word. Do we doubt that she starts?
Can't wait to see you two-er-three.
See, this is why you're a good guy - you don't care what fictional people do in their private lives, and you have a passion for hot chocolate ;-)
[quote]it's got an FBI agent who is gay. And it seems Suzanne is getting a lot of email about it. The majority quietly supportive. But a minority loudly nasty and negative.[/quote]
Jules is a great character. You can tell by how he is written how dear he is to Brockmann's heart.
Have fun in Cinci. Relax. Enjoy the view.
Bob, sorry bout the hot chocolate rationing. Good for you - continuing on in spite of adversity.
Thanks for your comments on Ms. Brockmanns Q&A and for the rant. I think people get all "up in arms" because of their own insecurities. It is way easier to pick on someone else than it is to take a serious look at self.
How many 'her and I's have you managed to work into the blog this week. (When we have downtime in the blog - I might go back and count in order to pass the time.) I'm guessing that you aren't going to hit Jenny directly for this weeks incident. You are going to slowly torture her with it, one 'her and I' at a time.
Talking Poing: Taking one for the Team. This morning I was flipping through cable channels and stopped at a late 80's Michael J. Fox movie - The Secret of My Success. I had a fit of hysterics during one of the scenes - he was "taking one for the team". Since I'm a true CB with blog on the brain - I just laughed and laughed. Then later in the movie, the lead female (not the "Agnes type character)says "there is no right or wrong, just opinion". I totally busted up then and had to sign on to the blog to reread Jenny's DLD talking points.
Enjoy your visit to that city in Ohio.
Have a good break, even if it's short. Thanks for a great book! I really loved it and can't wait for Agnes to come out!
I'd rather spend money for a story the author is compelled to tell, than one the author felt compelled to twist to avoid offending someone. The story will be better so I'll be more entertained. And if the compelling story challenges me, makes me uncomfortable, then I will have learned something that I would not otherwise have been able to, and will be a better person for it.
I've read the books with Jules in them, and I will admit to being uncomfortable when he was introduced. As you read about him, you discover he's a really neat guy doing a difficult job that he believes in under difficult circumstances, with as much honor and integrity as any other character in the books. You lose track of the gay label and see the person. So when Gloom came along in DLD, his being gay didn't bother me at all. And thank God for that!
I wrote "not the Agnes character" = should have been not the Althea Character.
Sorry
Be sure to read Breaking Point after finishing Hot Target. Anywho, answering your question about Jules, he is capable and who he goes home to at night doesn't matter. He's not real.
Fiction? Really? Who'da thunk it? :-)
No one really should care, but people are a strange and wonderous breed.
Sigh, spell it however you want. (Bet you made your teachers nuts.)Maybe the Cincy cherrybombs will bring you all sorts of fun key chains and stuff with the correct spelling so you don't "forget." Tsk, tsk. And you, a writer.
Oh--my other favourite author. If I wasn't blogging with you guys I'd be stalking Suz. What a lovely woman.
Jules is great. Love Jules, love Suz. Love hot chocolate out of machines--I think they put something addictive in it.
Please don't push Jenny out the airplane without a chute.
I can not imagine where people get off complaining about fiction. These guys who sued Dan Brown deserve their massive court expenses. Miserable gits. Tess Gerritsen is always getting emails because her books have nasty things happening in them. Don't people read the blurb? Don't they read the newspapers?
Weird.
Have fun in Jen's house!
Okay, see, this is why I don't buy hardcover books (aside from the fact that I can't afford them, that is). It's a GREAT book, I knew it was going to be a great book, and now I really have to buy two more copies to send to my daughters because I know that they'll love it too.
Of course, I have four brothers and sisters who would also love it, but there is a limit. I'll be happy to tell them that they really need to read it, but after that I'm afraid it's on them...
But it's great. And you guys are great, I love you, I really do (and thank you, Bob, for your rant on behalf of Suze Brockmann and Jules. It's important regardless of whether Hot Target was fiction or non-fiction.).
And, Bob. Tell me that you know that "Jenny and I" and "her and I" don't go together. You know that "Jenny and I" is the grammatical equivalent of "She and I," right? And you know that "her and I" is not correct, right? You know that it has to be "her and me," right? You're just trying to drive Jenny crazy, aren't you? And the fact that I've gone around the bend with her is just a bonus, isn't it? So now you won't feel obligated to keep doing it, will you?.
Please, Bob...
I'm begging you here. But you and Jenny do write incredible blogs, to which I am completely addicted. And I am totally in awe that you two can write books, do a book tour, workshops, conferences, whatever, and still find time for this. You are my heroes.
Don't you just love the way other people pick apart something to make themselves feel morally righteous? I always wonder what's hiding in their closet that they are trying so hard to distract you from. Judge not lest thou be judged. Huh.
I remember when Grisham's "The Firm" was the hot book. An attorney I know got worked up about how it wasn't anything like a real law firm. Hello? I explained to him that - hey, that's why you find it in the fiction section.
This whole hot chocolate thing is obviously hitting you really hard. Ask Jenny to make you some so you'll feel better. And stop picking on her. Remember without Jenny you wouldn't have the Cherrybombs. Bob? That's a BAD thing Bob! Wipe that dreamy look off your face now, mister!
I have this theory if people could choose to be gay or not then there would be marketing groups devoted to getting us to change sides. Change teams- get a toaster.
Bob, one of the reasons people keep "debunking" DVC (one of my friends co-authored THE DA VINCI HOAX) is that Dan Brown has claimed on his website and in interviews that the information in the book is TRUE. Considering that that includes some pretty libelous things about the Catholic Church, it is understandable that people are offended and want to prove him wrong.
And how about ordering the death penalty for a writer because of the blasphemous content of the FANTASY LIFE OF A FICTIONAL CHARACTER? (THE SATANIC VERSES)
Eileen- so funny. so true.
Now THAT's an editorial opinion I think might get through to people.
The one that gets me is the poor student who lost his scholarship after doing a research paper on three pairs of mated ducks at that big California zoo, because one of the pairs was a pair of gander, and the paper, which had already been accepted for publication, was yanked.
Apparently, it was feared that people who read it would think that same-sex pairings were "natural".
No, really?
Ducks sure sound supernatural to me...
It is so weird that you comment on fandom's Nasty Minority. A friend pointed me to Mercedes Lackey's website -- Lackey writes urban fantasy/fantasy that sometimes has gay characters in it, and of course magic, witches, talking horses, you know the routine. *She* had been getting death threats, particularly for her Diana Tregarde series. As a selfish fan, I have to say it's a real pity that authors have to stop writing for fear of provoking weirdos.
As a human being, I really feel sorry for that poor woman. It's like you and others have said, "It's a novel! You can leave it on the shelf if it's not your cup of tea!"
But, the minority always runs on the "squeaky wheel gets the grease" theory. *Sometimes* they are right. Sometimes they are just nasty. I think writers do owe a certain obligation to humanity, but I also think that humanity tends to vote with its buying power.
Anyway, it was more food for thought.
I am a first time poster, but a long time lurker finally compelled to write. When I read "romantic action" like Suze Brockmann's books (love 'em!), and romance in general, I am much more interested in reading YEC from the guy's POV than from the woman's. After all, I already have some idea how a woman would feel or react, but men are such a mystery. It's one of the reasons I think the Jenny and Bob show is such a great collaboration. In reading previous novels, I've never quite been able to shake the awareness that the guy's POV was written by a woman and is a woman's projection of how we'd LIKE guys to think. So Bob, how realistic is the male POV in the romance novels that you've read? When a guy is in a life threatening situation, would he really be checking out the ass of the woman he loves, or would he just be totally focused on saving it? Would he really be interested in doing his woman in an Indonesian jungle while being hunted down by both a rebel army and murderous drug runners? Because I've watched professional sports with lovers who could not be distracted by ANY form of coercion until afterwards. Just saying.
And BTW, Jules' may be imaginary, but his situation is not. I recently met two guys who were forced out of counter-intelligence by Clinton's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. I would feel a lot safer if they were still working for the government doing what they were trained to do. Such a waste.
Thanks for the great blog and a great book,
Faye
Surely in this world full of hate and violence if two consenting adults can love each other who cares if they're same sex? Or what colour their hair is or their eyes, whether they work for the Secret Service or not? People - Jeez!
One of the things I've always liked about Jenny's books are her gay characters. Loved Gloom. Loved
Joe in Charlie All Night too.
People - jeez!
Others have already said this- I'm at work after being out of town last Thursday and Friday, so I don't have time to read all the comments.
Jules- the gay FBI agent in Suzanne Brockmann's books- is one of my favorite fictional characters ever! The kind of person you wish was real, and would want for a friend. I'd read her stuff for him alone. I'm sorry that there are people out there who are so narrow minded that they can't get beyond the sexual orientation of a FICTIONAL CHARACTER. They're missing out on something good.
Was it Queen Elizabeth 1 who said, "I don't care what they do as long as they don't do it in the middle of the street and scare the horses"? Appropo, me thinks! I love Suze Brockmann's books - my only quarrel is that she has not paired Jules with a good guy yet. Thanks for sticking up for her Bob.
Love DLD!! Especially loved reading a male character from a guy's POV - enlightening! Can hardly wait for Agnes!
Lou
For me, it wasn't about gay vs straight with Brockmann. I gave her up after the Sam story. She just doesn't do it for me anymore.
Lou, the comment you quote was made by a much later figure--Mrs. Patrick Campbell, a famous actress and a good friend of George Bernard Shaw, who wrote a number of roles for her, including Eliza Doolittle in PYGMALION. There is even a play of sorts made out of their letters to each other, called DEAR LIAR.
Here's a pic of her. Why do ALL Victorian/Edwardian actresses always look like Sarah Bernhardt?
http://www.users.waitrose.com/~victorian/post/camp.jpg
Thanks Talpianna, I've always loved that saying and now I know who to quote!
Lou
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