Rogues and Rouge

Poe's Law states: "Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing." The release of Sara Palin's memoirs has, amusingly, put Poe's Law on display for book lovers. On the same day as Going Rogue's release, a satirical memoir title Going Rouge hit the streets, too, using a strikingly similar cover. From USA Today to Fox News (yes, Fox News!), the media has accidentally shown the satire book's cover when intending to talk about Palin's book. While I'd like to think its outright inability to distinguish the books (I'm having trouble telling them apart), I'd lay the reason for the mistake to be poor spelling ability. "Rouge" versus "Rogue" is a common spelling mistake for everyone, including the Googling graphic designers of Fox News and their ilk. Keep in mind, O family members who read my blog: make sure you buy the right one when shopping for my Christmas present!

Romance Writers of America

Romance novels are serious business, and the weekend before last was the 29th annual Romance Writers of America Conference. Largely attended by women aficionados of the genre, the event had meeting and seminars on how to be at the top of their game. The mainstream media covered the event somewhat, with a high-profile article in the Washington Post, a Nora Roberts interview by Scott Simon on NPR, and a short writeup in Publisher's Weekly. While it appears the attention is welcome, from a genre who is often a punchline, and there's some sour grapes over being treated like a joke by the media. The Post came across as stereotype-enhancing and an unfunny attempt as humor. The NPR story got his negative reaction on the air: Simon tried his hand at romance, but ended up sounding mockingly cheeky, and got called on it. I hope none of them saw The GeekDad's "ten reasons romance writers are geeky, too"; having their idiosyncrasies pointed out doesn't seem to please the romance author.

(Image found here)