I was hoping someone would address the racial issues in Ward’s work, for instance the way she uses old-school rap for her white-skinned vampires but never references the cultural/racial/social origins of the music. There’s a paper in there for sure.

Funny you should mention race in Ward’s work – I participate on another forum in which we have discussed the race of particular characters often. For instance from all of Ward’s descriptions of Rhev I always have this picture in my head of the character Shaft (think Richard Roundtree from the tv show) with Billy Dee William’s voice. Xhex for me is kind of Grace Jones. Tall, strong, Nubian; elementally female in a warrior kind of way. Both strong ethnic characters; but when a friend of mine was at a Ward signing and asked about the race of those two characters she was told by Ward that her vampires don’t have a race as we would know it – so no caucasin, African American or Asian; that they are something entirely different. She didn’t explain “different”, just that they are not a race as we would know it. Ah well, I know she is the author and all, but Rhev will always be Shaft to me, only with a mohawk and purple eyes.

As to the issue of the slang the Brothers use – that has always bothered me as being out of place. Seems to me that 200 year old royal vampires, the salvation and protectors of their race would talk a bit more cultured and less teenage boy trying to be cool. It also seems they would be less inclined to name-drop the designers of their suits and shoes, but that is a whole ‘nother discussion.

The relationship between V and Butch has always read to me more as two men learning that they need each other to do the job they are there for and coming to terms with that rather than as homosexual. I do see the homoerotic lines running through their relationship, but I never felt as though they intended to act on them, or that they were even an issue. In real life it can be a struggle to find your place in someone else’s life, especially when that someone turns out to be more important than you ever thought possible. I found the relationship between the two men to be quite believable and interesting; moreso when Jane and Marissa enter the picture and it becomes a balancing act between their need to be together for the job and their need to be with the women on a more personal level.

the difference between a fan and a scholar was not coming through to me
The line gets very blurry. Have you spent any time on televisionwithoutpity.com? Some of their threads dissect TV shows in an extraordinarily analytical manner. Fandoms aren’t all “OMG <3 !1!”

Yes, I used to watch the Bachelor mainly because of TWoP. When they booted the Bachelor lo these many years ago, I stopped.

I think there is a difference between an academic paper and even the best fan analysis, although not as much of a difference as I once did, nor should anyone assume I am saying that academic analysis is superior, or closer to “Truth” in some impossible metaphysical sense.

A series of observations about a popular cultural phenomenon, no matter how intelligent and apt, are not therefore academic. I think an academic has (or should have) a highly reflective sense of what grounds her claims — and this is often disciplinary or interdisciplinary — while a fan need not. My mistake was assuming all the papers here would be academic.

I really disagree. Once you’ve read V’s backstory, it becomes clear that he has never experienced intimacy of any kind. With his destructive hand, he is conservative about how he touches others– he’s touch-deprived.

When he “falls in love” with Butch, he’s experiencing an emotional connection for the first time in his life and he’s confused by it– or maybe it’s better to say that he’s open to all the possibilities. I don’t think he ever thinks of it as exclusively sexual, but I suppose that’s open to interpretation. In any event, he understands from the beginning that Butch doesn’t swing that way. He also doesn’t trust his own sexuality – those two factors are what keep him from acting on his feelings (mostly), not an authorial dictation to adhere to genre norms. IMO, anyway.

When Jane comes along, he’s able to better distinguish between romantic love and fraternal love, because now he’s experiencing both. The bonding instinct never shows up when he’s with Butch, either. Personally, I don’t see that as a “correction” but as learning and growing. V was in a very stunted place emotionally to begin with.

By the end of Lover Unbound (spoiler alert) – there are two people in his life that not only is he allowed to touch without reservation, that touch saves them.

Eeep. gotta run to work. But I could talk more about V’s hand and his fears and how his HEA is so perfectly suitable for him.

the difference between a fan and a scholar was not coming through to me

The line gets very blurry. Have you spent any time on televisionwithoutpity.com? Some of their threads dissect TV shows in an extraordinarily analytical manner. Fandoms aren’t all “OMG <3 !1!”

I looked in the SF/F sections in both stores for a while before asking someone for help and was genuinely surprised they were in the romance section. They just don’t seem like traditional romance novels to me…even though they pretty much have HEAs. The Sookie Stackhouse books are in SF/F, so I thought the BDB would be too…

I don’t know about the statement that Ward “admits to being influenced by fans”– every interview, every comment on her forum I’ve seen on the topic, is that the stories form as pictures in her head, and she writes them.

[I don't have much time to comment, as I am still in conference throes.]

Nicola,

You are right. Also, I talked with Sarah Frantz of Teach Me Tonight, who was also at the session and will be blogging about it at TMT, and she corrected me on this point. The claim was that Ward is emotionally affected by fan reaction, not that her writing process is affected. My bad.

Drusilla wrote:

Do you know if they are available to read online or if they are in an academic database?

I believe they are works in progress, but you can email the authors and ask if (a) they are forthcoming in a journal or collection and which one, or (b) whether they would be willing to email you their drafts.