I rarely let my emotions get carried away with me enough to rant online, but tonight, I'm going to rant. Why you might ask? Because one of the judges ditzed firefighters as a hero. Okay, this is my friend Lindsey's entry but even if it wasn't, I'd be offended at this judge's comment. OMG!
Here's the judge's comment:
Hilary Ross -- The author realizes that firemen are killed fairly often in the course of duty but chooses one for her hero anyway. This shadow might hang over the head of the reader -- especially since 9/11-- and slightly spoil the romance.
Hello! Firefighters are HOT & sexy & very heroic. Who better to be a hero if not a firefighter?????? I assume Ms. Ross' personal biases influence her comment, and I feel for all those directly touched by 9/11 (and our entire nation because 9/11 has touched each and every one of us), but I found her comments shallow, and did I mention offensive? Am I wrong here? Are firefighters unheroic because of what happened with 9/11? What about airline pilots who died that day? Police officers? Businessmen? Good Samaritans? Because men from all these fields died in 9/11. Are they not heroic enough for a romance novel, either??? Am I missing something here? Do romance novel heroes have to be Greek Billionaire Shieks with Bodyguards or something? I think not. Real life heroes are out there and in my opinion, they are the most worthy romantic characters (not knocking the Greek Billionaire Shieks with Bodyguards of the world, mind you ;) ).
To shun away from using Firefighters as heroes in romance novels because of 9/11 is totally ridiculous. Firefighters (& many other brave souls) proved their heroism that day & deserve our praise and admiration. Romance novels are about HOPE & happiness & triumping evil---tell me again why a firefighter doesn't make the perfect hero??????? Why we wouldn't want to see a firefighter find happiness and triumph and prove that hope does exist in the world??????
Yes, I am seething. And I feel like my skin is pretty thick on this kind of stuff. After all, I went through the contest and dealt with the judges' comments first hand. Not once did anyone hear me say anything negative about anything the judges said. However, I find Ms. Ross' comments about firefighters just WRONG.
Help me send a strong message about just how heroic firefighters are. Vote for Lindsey Brooke's American Title 3 entry, Operation: Date Escape & let's prove just how heroic we believe firefighters truly are.
Vote for Lindsey's entry by sending a blank email to webmaster@romantictimes.com with OPERATION: DATE ESCAPE in the subject line. Please ask all your friends and family and, hey, your local firemen, too, to go vote for OPERATION: DATE ESCAPE.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
I voted, Janice - and I'm with you. What an ASININE thing to say! Publicly, no less. Of course, all the judges seem to be pretty brutal this round.
Here's to heroes everywhere, and if a guy who risks his life to save the life of strangers on a regular basis isn't a hero, I don't know who is.
Fireman AND women in combat. I blogged about this, too.
Janice, thanks for taking this up. You worded your response to the judges' comments so well. I, too, felt some of the remarks made were way out of line. To me, firemen are heroes and I don't regret having written about one at all. I think there are a lot of readers out there who would love to read about a firefighter hero. Same goes for a strong heroine, one with a military career included.
Lindsey Brookes
ATIII Finalist - OPERATION: DATE ESCAPE
Right on, Janice. I thought a lot of the judges' remarks were needlessly harsh this month and strangely sexist, too.
But in spite of all that, it's really satisfying to see our friends support us and vote for us and RANT on our behalf like you did for Lindsey. That's a very cool and lovely side benefit of this insane contest. *G*
Diana, you're right on the women in combat. Actually, I was offended by quite a few of the comments made this time by Ms. Ross. I read your blog & agree with your comments 100%. I can't help but wonder if they purposely did this to cause more sensationalism for the contest. Either way, the comments were way off.
Kate~you're a doll! Thanks. I have to agree with you on the friends made during this contest. Two years after the first American Title contest & it's the friends I made directly as a result of the contest that are the greatest treasure.
I'd worried that the comments would be biased--geared toward uplifting a male in the romance genre. As a nurse, I see this happen within that profession. Male nurses are more likely to get scholarships and promoted, simply because they are male in a female dominated profession. But this round's comments didn't seem biased...perhaps obtuse, though.
Exactly right, Janice. To single out a heroic profession and say - Oh, they did something incredible for our country in the course of their job. You shouldn't use them in a book because, you know, they are heroic...- some message that gives.
Post a Comment