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30 years ago, Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction shook Hollywood and redefined ‘cool’ cinema

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ben-mccann-398197">Ben McCann</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-adelaide-1119">University of Adelaide</a> What might be the most seismic moment in American cinema? Film “speaking” for the first time in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SzltpkGz0M">The Jazz Singer</a>? Dorothy <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4eQmTizTSo">entering</a> the Land of Oz? That <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw_D3a2pZtk">menacing shark</a> that in 1975 invented the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-history-of-the-blockbuster-movie/">summer blockbuster</a>? Or how about that moment when two hitmen on their way to a job began talking about the intricacies of European fast food while listening to Kool & The Gang? <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2j_A6e-VESk?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> Directed by Quentin Tarantino, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110912/">Pulp Fiction</a> (1994) celebrates its 30th birthday this month. Watching it now, this story of a motley crew of mobsters, drug dealers and lowlifes in sunny Los Angeles still feels startlingly new. Widely regarded as Tarantino’s masterpiece, the director’s dazzling second film was considered era-defining for its memorable dialogue, innovative narrative structure and unique blend of humour and violence. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, made stars of Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman, and revitalised John Travolta’s career. Pulp Fiction is dark, often poignant, and very funny. It is, as one critic <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/apr/13/my-favourite-cannes-winner-pulp-fiction">describes it</a>, an “intravenous jab of callous madness, black comedy and strange unwholesome euphoria”. <h2>A Möbius strip plot</h2> Famous for its non-linear narrative, Pulp Fiction weaves together <a href="https://thescriptlab.com/features/main/1457-structure-of-pulp-fiction-method-in-the-madness/">a trio of connected crime stories</a>. The three chapters – Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace’s Wife, The Gold Watch and The Bonnie Situation – loop, twist and intersect but, crucially, never confuse the viewer. Tarantino has often paid tribute to French filmmakers <a href="https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/jean-luc-godard-quentin-tarantino-ultimate-hero/">Jean-Luc Godard</a> and <a href="https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/director-deeply-inspired-quentin-tarantino/">Jean-Pierre Melville</a>, whose earlier films also presented their narratives out of chronological order and modified the rules of the crime genre. By inviting audiences to piece Pulp Fiction together like a puzzle, Tarantino laid the way for subsequent achronological films such as Memento (2000), Go (1999) and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). <h2>Pop culture meets postmodernism</h2> In his influential essay Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, first published in 1984, political theorist Frederic Jameson coined the term “<a href="https://literariness.org/2016/04/04/fredric-jamesons-concept-of-depthlessness/">new depthlessness</a>” to describe postmodern culture. Jameson perceived a shift away from the depth, meaning and authenticity that characterised earlier forms of culture, towards a focus on surface and style. Pulp Fiction <a href="http://moviemezzanine.com/the-eyes-behind-the-mask-pulp-fiction-and-postmodernity-20-years-later/">fits</a> Jameson’s definition of depthlessness. It is stuffed with homages to popular culture and a vivid array of character types drawn from other B-movies – hitmen, molls, mob bosses, double-crossing boxers, traumatised war veterans and tuxedo-wearing “fixers”. It is a film of surfaces and <a href="https://wiki.tarantino.info/index.php/Pulp_Fiction_Movie_References_Guide">allusions</a>. Jackson, Travolta and Thurman feature alongside established 1990s box-office stars including Bruce Willis and industry stalwarts Harvey Keitel and Christopher Walken, both of whom have brief but memorable cameos. The film’s most iconic scene takes place at the retro 1950s-themed Jack Rabbit Slim’s diner. Thurman’s twist contest with Travolta fondly echoes Travolta’s earlier dancing in Saturday Night Fever (1977) and pays homage to other dance scenes in films such as 8 ½ (1963) and Band of Outsiders (1964). <h2>Words and music</h2> Film critic Roger Ebert <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-pulp-fiction-1994">once noted</a> how Tarantino’s characters “often speak at right angles to the action”, giving long speeches before getting on with the job at hand. Pulp Fiction is full of witty and quotable monologues and dialogue, ranging from the philosophical to the mundane. Conversations about foot massages and blueberry pie bump up against Bible verses and reflections on fate and redemption. The film’s 1995 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay was a fitting achievement for Tarantino, who many regard as <a href="https://medium.com/word-garden/tarantinos-conversations-are-the-best-in-movie-history-this-is-why-52e06de4f773">the snappiest writer</a> in film history. Countless other filmmakers have looked to replicate Pulp Fiction’s mashup of cool and coarse. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/S6Vuj8tF-kk?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> Needle drops are <a href="https://medium.com/cuepoint/the-music-of-pulp-fiction-8a13a7cdb5a8">just as important</a> in establishing Pulp Fiction’s mood and tone. The film’s eclectic soundtrack pings between surf rock, soul and classic rock ‘n’ roll. The soundtrack peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard 200 in 1994 and stayed in the charts for <a href="https://www.grammy.com/news/how-pulp-fiction-reinvented-the-film-soundtrack-anniversary">more than a year</a>. <h2>Dividing the critics</h2> Though it was officially released in October 1994, Pulp Fiction had already made a stir earlier that by winning the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Many expected Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colours: Red to take <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/nov/09/three-colours-red-cannes">the top prize</a>. Tarantino himself seemed stunned, telling the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnS5pXQQmR4&t=188s">Cannes audience</a>: “I don’t make the kind of movies that bring people together. I make movies that split people apart.” The film has divided critics ever since. Many adored Pulp Fiction for its intoxicating allure and sheer adrenaline-fuelled pleasure. To this day it maintains a 92% critic score on <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pulp_fiction">Rotten Tomatoes</a>. Film critic Todd McCarthy <a href="https://variety.com/1994/film/reviews/pulp-fiction-1200437049/">called it</a> a film “bulging with boldness, humour and diabolical invention”. But the backlash was equally robust. <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2014/10/pulp-fiction-bad-film">Some</a> criticised the film for its excessive gore and irresponsible use of racial slurs. Screenwriting guru Syd Field <a href="https://sydfield.com/syd_resources/pulp-fiction/">felt</a> it was too shallow and too talky. Jean-Luc Godard, once one of Tarantino’s idol, apparently <a href="https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2022/12/0eav5zg509ajlqjg9xc8em2m3xrorw">hated it</a>. Nonetheless, its financial success (a <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0110912/">box office return</a> of US$213 million from an $8 million budget) signalled the growing importance and cultural prestige of independent US films. Miramax, the studio that backed it, went on to <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Down_and_Dirty_Pictures/aXn_CwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=down+and+dirty+pictures,+biskind&printsec=frontcover">become</a> a major force in the industry. <h2>A lasting legacy</h2> Shortly after Pulp Fiction’s release, the word “Tarantinoesque” <a href="https://www.oed.com/dictionary/tarantinoesque_adj">appeared</a> in the Oxofrd English Dictionary. The entry reads: <blockquote> Resembling or imitative of the films of Quentin Tarantino; characteristic or reminiscent of these films Tarantino’s films are typically characterised by graphic and stylized violence, non-linear storylines, cineliterate references, satirical themes, and sharp dialogue. </blockquote> Pulp Fiction has since been parodied and knocked off countless times. Hollywood suddenly began <a href="http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2016/the-10-worst-copycat-films-of-pulp-fiction/">mass-producing low-budget crime thrillers</a> with witty, self-reflexive dialogue. Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead (1995), 2 Days In The Valley (1996) and Very Bad Things (1998) are just some example. Graffiti artist Bansky even <a href="https://banksyexplained.com/pulp-fiction-2004/">stencilled</a> the likeness of Jules and Vincent all over London, with bananas in place of guns. The Simpsons <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u6wR_2S4xQ">got in on the act</a> too. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4u6wR_2S4xQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> Tarantino <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/profile-hollywood-s-hitman-quentin-tarantino-a-sadist-or-just-a-stylist-david-thomson-on-the-boywonder-director-of-pulp-fiction-1444551.html">once summed up</a> his working method as follows: <blockquote> Ultimately all I’m trying to do is merge sophisticated storytelling with lurid subject matter. I reckon that makes for an entertaining night at the movies. </blockquote> I’d say there’s no better way to describe Pulp Fiction.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/236877/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ben-mccann-398197">Ben McCann</a>, Associate Professor of French Studies, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-adelaide-1119">University of Adelaide</a> Image credits: Miramax This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/30-years-ago-tarantinos-pulp-fiction-shook-hollywood-and-redefined-cool-cinema-236877">original article</a>.

Movies

Settle in with one of these top reads this winter

It can be challenging deciding on a new book to read, but with these titles releasing throughout July 2023, you’re sure to find something to settle in with. Whether an edge-of-your-seat murder mystery, a laugh-out-loud romantic escapade, or even a deep-space adventure is more your cup of tea, the time has come to dive into your next favourite novel, and maybe even convince your book club to read along with you. For the budding detectives out there: <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/zero-days-ruth-ware/book/9781398508408.html">Zero Days</a>, Ruth Ware </li> </ul> “Hired by companies to break into buildings and hack security systems, Jack and her husband Gabe are the best penetration specialists in the business. But after a routine assignment goes horribly wrong, Jack arrives home to find her husband dead. To add to her horror, the police are closing in on their only suspect – her. “On the run and out of options, Jack must decide who she can trust as she circles closer to the truth in this unputdownable and heart-pounding mystery from 'one of the best thriller writers around today' Ruth Ware.” <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/four-dogs-missing-rhys-gard/book/9781760687724.html">Four Dogs Missing</a>, Rhys Gard </li> </ul> “While estranged twins Oliver and Theo Wingfield are identical in appearance, they couldn't be more different. Theo, an extrovert verging on arrogant, was always a drifter, a nomad, operating on the fringes of the law. Oliver, intense, creative and introspective, was destined to become a winemaker. Each vintage, every bottle from Oliver's Mudgee-based label, Four Dogs Missing, sells out. “And now, after fifteen years without contact, Theo unexpectedly turns up at his brother's vineyard, bearing an invitation that his twin knows nothing about. The quiet and fulfilling life that the winemaker has built for himself is about to change overnight: Theo's arrival is the catalyst for a series of murders involving those closest to Oliver. Finding himself the main suspect, Oliver soon discovers that not everyone in Mudgee supports a reclusive and unorthodox vigneron who's shied away from the community that helped him succeed. “Oliver is inexorably drawn into a sinister world where poisoned liquor and stolen art leave a deadly trail. Abandoning his grapevines, he sets out to solve the crimes – and confront his damaged past – before someone else he loves is found dead … beside a bottle of his own wine.” <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/none-of-this-is-true-lisa-jewell/book/9781529195989.html">None of This is True</a>, Lisa Jewell </li> </ul> “Celebrating her 45th birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her 45th birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins. “A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix's children's school. Josie has been listening to Alix's podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life. “Josie's life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can't quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. “Slowly Alix starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it Josie has inveigled her way into Alix's life - and into her home. “But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, her life and her family's lives under mortal threat. “Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?” For the sci-fi fanatics: <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/circle-of-death-james-patterson/book/9781529136630.html">Circle of Death</a>, James Patterson </li> </ul> “Since Lamont Cranston - known to a select few as the Shadow - defeated Shiwan Khan and ended his reign of terror over New York one year ago, the city has started to regenerate. “But there is evil brewing elsewhere. And this time the entire world is under threat. “Which is why Lamont has scoured the globe to assemble a team with unmatched talent. “Only their combined powers can foil an enemy with ambitions and abilities beyond anyone's deepest fears. “As their mission takes them across the globe and into the highest corridors of power - pushing them beyond their limits - can justice prevail?” <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built-becky-chambers/book/9781250320216.html">A Psalm for the Wild-Built</a>, Becky Chambers </li> </ul> “It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend. “One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. “But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how. “They're going to need to ask it a lot. “Becky Chambers's new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?” <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-mother-fault-kate-mildenhall/book/9781760859848.html">The Mother Fault</a>, Kate Mildenhall </li> </ul> “Mim’s husband is missing. No one knows where Ben is, but everyone wants to find him – especially The Department. And they should know, the all-seeing government body has fitted the entire population with a universal tracking chip to keep them ‘safe’. “But suddenly Ben can’t be tracked. And Mim is questioned, made to surrender her passport and threatened with the unthinkable – her two children being taken into care at the notorious BestLife. “From the stark backroads of the Australian outback to a terrifying sea voyage, Mim is forced to shuck off who she was – mother, daughter, wife, sister – and become the woman she needs to be to save her family and herself.” For those with a passion for romance: <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/palazzo-danielle-steel/book/9781529022421.html">Palazzo</a>, Danielle Steel </li> </ul> “After her parents perish in a tragic accident, Cosima Saverio assumes leadership of her family's haute couture Italian leather brand. While navigating the challenges of running a company at twenty-three, Cosima must also maintain the elegant four-hundred-year-old family palazzo in Venice and care for her younger siblings: Allegra, who survived the tragedy that killed their parents, and Luca, who has a penchant for wild parties, pretty women, and poker tables. “Cosima navigates her personal and professional challenges with a wisdom beyond her years, but her success has come at a cost: Her needs are always secondary. She's married to the business, and her free time is given to those who rely on her . . . until she meets Olivier Bayard, the founder of France's most successful ready-to-wear handbag company. “But Luca's gambling habit gets out of control and Cosima is forced to make an impossible choice to save him. The palazzo, the family business or cut Luca loose. Or is there another way to rescue everything she has fought for before it goes up in flames?” <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-willow-tree-wharf-leonie-kelsall/book/9781761066092.html">The Willow Tree Wharf</a>, Leonie Kelsall </li> </ul> “Samantha, owner of Settlers Bridge cafe Ploughs and Pies, is short on confidence and big on regrets. Married young to fill the void left by an unhappy childhood, she still works in the same small town where she grew up, too filled with self-doubt and insecurity to ever risk spreading her wings. Yet will the end of her abusive marriage force her to start anew? “City restaurateur Pierce di Angelis knows what it is to have his career and family ripped away. However, a chance encounter with the intriguing Samantha ignites his passion, and together they concoct a plan for a destination restaurant. “But, with their personalities like oil and water, will old hurts and hidden truths destroy the new business before it's afloat?” <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-forgotten-bookshop-in-paris-daisy-wood/book/9780008525248.html">The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris</a>, Daisy Wood </li> </ul> “Paris, 1940: War is closing in on the city of love. With his wife forced into hiding, Jacques must stand by and watch as the Nazis take away everything he holds dear. Everything except his last beacon of hope: his beloved bookshop, La Page Cachée. “But when a young woman and her child knock on his door one night and beg for refuge, he knows his only option is to risk it all once more to save a life… “Modern day: Juliette and her husband have finally made it to France on the romantic getaway of her dreams – but as the days pass, all she discovers is quite how far they’ve grown apart. She’s craving a new adventure, so when she happens across a tiny, abandoned shop with a for-sale sign in the window, it feels fated. “And she’s about to learn that the forgotten bookshop hides a lot more than meets the eye…” Images: Getty

Books

8 fictional places you can visit in real life

Step into the world of your favourite book, movie or TV show with a visit to these fictional locations that represented the original. Hogwarts, Harry Potter You won’t see anyone playing Quidditch on the lawns, but Alnwick Castle in Northumberland in the UK played Hogwarts in the first two Harry Potter films (with a little digital trickery thrown in). The castle has been the home of the Dukes of Northumberland for more than 700 years and is in high demand with film and TV crews – it also stars in the Downton Abbey Christmas specials. Jurassic Park The lush jungle foliage and towering waterfalls of the island of Kauai in Hawaii served as the backdrop for Stephen Spielberg’s rampaging dinosaurs in all three Jurassic Park movies. You can rent a four-wheel drive and travel through the national park where the movie was filmed though, sadly, none of the dinosaurs remained behind after shooting wrapped. West Egg, The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald modelled West Egg on Great Neck in Long Island, New York. This area on the north coast of Long Island was known as the Gold Coast because of the huge mansions, polo fields, golf courses and country clubs built there by America’s super wealthy (think Vanderbilt, Astor or Guggenheim). The very grand Oheka Castle in nearby Huntington partly inspired Gatsby’s house. Amity Island, Jaws Don’t go in the water! The beach on Amity Island was the setting for the first scene in the classic 1970s horror movie, Jaws. As well as looking the part of the perfect American seaside resort, the shallow water of the bay made it easier for the crew to operate the mechanical sharks. Hundred Acre Wood, Winnie the Pooh Just over an hour from London you can walk in the footsteps of Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin through Ashdown Forest. There’s only about 25 square kilometres of wooded area left from what was once a mighty forest, but it is still quintessentially English and one could almost expect Pooh, Tigger and Piglet to come bounding around a shady corner. Greenbow, Forrest Gump Life is like a box of chocolates in Varnville, South Carolina, which served as the fictional town of Greenbow in the Oscar winning movie Forrest Gump. The old Southern mansion that Forrest and his mamma lived in was a fake however, built just for production (and torn down right after), and even some of the Vietnam War scenes were shot around Varnville. Thank goodness for special effects. King’s Landing, Game of Thrones The historic Maltese capital of Mdina played the part of Kings Landing in the first series of Game of Thrones. The medieval walled city is in the centre of the island and has a population of just 300 – many of whom weren’t happy about the series. Maltese officials complained about the damage done and filming moved to Croatia for the following series. Hobbiton, The Lord of the Rings The three Lord of the Rings movies were such a smash hit that the village of Hobbiton was completely rebuilt in the original film location near Matamata in the North Island of New Zealand. You can step inside the tiny hobbit holes, visit the Green Dragon Inn and (of course) buy a souvenir at the gift shop. Images: Getty

International Travel

"The wilderness of mirrors": 70 years since the first James Bond book, spy stories are still blurring fact and fiction

"The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning." With these opening words, Ian Fleming (1908-64) introduced us to the gritty, glamorous world of James Bond. Fleming’s first novel, <a href="https://www.ianfleming.com/items/casino-royale/">Casino Royale</a>, was published 70 years ago on April 13 1953. It sold out within weeks. British readers, still living with rationing and shortages after the war, eagerly devoured the first James Bond story. It had expensive liquor and cars, exotic destinations, and high-stakes gambling – luxurious things beyond the reach of most people. The novel’s principal villain is Le Chiffre, the paymaster of a French trade union controlled by the Soviet intelligence agency SMERSH. After losing Soviet money, Le Chiffre takes to high-stakes gambling tables to recover it. Bond’s mission is to play against Le Chiffre and win, bankrupting both the Frenchman and the union. The director of British intelligence, known only by his codename “M”, also assigns Bond a companion – Vesper Lynd, previously one of the agency’s assistants. The two infiltrate the casino, play at the tables, and dodge assassination attempts, while engaging in a dramatic battle with French communists, the Soviets, and each other. Fleming’s Bond – the sophisticated, tuxedo-clad secret agent – is an enduring image of espionage. Since 1953, martinis, gadgets, and a licence to kill have been part of how ordinary people understand spycraft. Some of this was real: Fleming drew on his own work as a spy for his novels. Intelligence work is often less glamorous than he depicted, but in both espionage and novel-writing, the difference between fact and fiction is not always easy to distinguish. <h2>Ian Fleming, Agent 17F</h2> Fleming came from a wealthy, well-connected British family, but he was a mediocre student. He only lasted a year at military college (where he contracted gonorrhoea), then missed out on a job with the Foreign Office. He could write, though. He spent a few years as a journalist, but drifted purposelessly through much of the 1930s. The outbreak of war in 1939 changed everything. The director of British Naval Intelligence, Admiral John Henry Godfrey, recruited Fleming as his assistant. Fleming excelled, under the codename 17F. He didn’t see much of the war firsthand, but was involved in its planning. He was an ideas man, not overly concerned with practicalities or logistics. Fleming came up with the fictions; other people had to turn them into realities. In 1940, for example, he developed “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/entertainment-britain-fleming-bond-finea-idCAL1663266620080416">Operation Ruthless</a>”. To crack the German naval codes, Fleming planned to lure a German rescue boat into a trap and steal its coding machine. They would obtain a German bomber, dress British men in German uniforms, and deliberately crash the plane into the channel. When the German rescue crew arrived, they would shoot them and grab the machine. Preparations began but Fleming’s plan never eventuated. It was too difficult and risky – not least because crashing the plane might simply kill their whole crew. Fleming worked on various operations. When he began writing after the war, these experiences found their way into Bond’s world. Fleming and Godfrey had visited Portugal, a neutral territory teeming with spies, where they went to the casino. Fleming claimed he played against a German agent at the tables, an experience that supposedly inspired Bond’s gambling battles with Le Chiffre in Casino Royale. Godfrey maintained that Fleming only ever played against Portuguese businessmen, but Fleming never let facts get in the way of a good story. Fleming picked up inspiration everywhere. Godfrey became the model for M. Fleming’s secretary, Joan Howe, inspired Moneypenny. The Soviet SMERSH coding device in <a href="https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/From_Russia_with_Love_(novel)">From Russia, With Love</a> (1957) was based on the German Enigma machine. Many of Fleming’s characters were named for real people: one villain shares a name with Hitler’s Chief of Staff, another with one of Fleming’s schoolyard adversaries. It became something of a sport to hypothesise about the inspiration for Bond. Fleming later called him a “compound of all the secret agents and commando types” he met during war. There were elements of Fleming’s older brother, an operative behind the lines in Norway and Greece. Fleming also pointed to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Reilly">Sidney Reilly</a>, a Russian-born British agent during the First World War. He had access to reports on Reilly in the Naval Intelligence archive during his own service. Other possible models include <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_O%27Brien-ffrench">Conrad O’Brien-ffrench</a>, a British spy Fleming met while skiing in the 1930s, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_Dunderdale">Wilfred “Biffy” Dunderdale</a>, MI6 Station Chief in Paris, who wore handmade suits and was chauffeured in a Rolls Royce. Stories of discovering <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/mr-bond-i-presume-20141017-117xji.html">the real-life James Bond</a> still appear. But there was also much of Fleming himself in Bond. He gave 007 his own love of scrambled eggs and gambling. Their attitude towards women was similar. They used the same brand of toiletries. Bond even has Fleming’s golf handicap. Fleming would play with this idea, teasing that the books were autobiographical or that he was Bond’s biographer. Much like a cover story for an intelligence officer, Bond was Fleming’s alter-ego. He was anchored in Fleming’s realities – with a strong dash of creative licence and a little aspiration. <h2>The changing world of Bond</h2> The success of Casino Royale secured contracts for more Bond novels. In the early 1960s, critics began to denounce the books for their “sex, snobbery, and sadism”. Bond’s attitude toward women, in particular, was clear from the beginning. In Casino Royale, he refers to the “sweet tang of rape” in relation to sex with his MI6 accomplice and paramour Vesper Lynd. But the public appeared to be less concerned. Bond novels still sold well, especially after John F. Kennedy listed one among his top ten books. The first film adaptation, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055928/">Dr. No</a>, appeared in 1962 and Fleming’s success continued apace. Bond’s world was evolving, though. From Casino Royale to For Your Eyes Only (1960), Bond battled SMERSH, a real Soviet counter-espionage organisation. The early Bond novels were Cold War stories. Soviet Russia was the West’s enemy, so it was Bond’s. But East-West relations were thawing in 1959 when Fleming was writing Thunderball (1961). The Cold War could plausibly have ended and he didn’t want any film version to look dated, so Fleming created a fictional villain: SPECTRE. This was an international terrorist organisation without a distinct ideology. It could endure beyond the battles of the Cold War – and did. It features in the 2021 Bond film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2382320/">No Time To Die</a>. Fleming’s more fantastic plots were always anchored in reality by recognisable brands and products. Bond’s watch was a Rolex; his choice of bourbon was Jack Daniels. His cigarettes were Morlands, like Fleming’s. In the novels, Bond drove Bentleys – the Aston Martin was introduced in the 1964 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058150/">Goldfinger</a>. The films have changed Bond’s brands to keep up with the world around them (and secure lucrative product-placement deals): Omega replaced Rolex in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113189/">Goldeneye</a> (1995); the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/apr/17/bond-taste-for-beer-skyfall">martini was swapped for a Heineken</a> in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1074638/">Skyfall</a> (2012). Bond now carries a Sony phone. Other changes brought the 1950s spy into the 21st century. Recent films have more diverse casting. Their female characters do more than just spend a night with Bond before their untimely deaths. The novels, too, continue to change – the 70th-anniversary editions have had <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/27/james-bond-novels-to-be-reissued-with-racial-references-removed">racial slurs and some characters’ ethnic descriptors removed</a>. Some have criticised this as censorship. But as with <a href="https://theconversation.com/roald-dahl-a-brief-history-of-sensitivity-edits-to-childrens-literature-200500">recent rewritings of Roald Dahl’s books</a>, changes like this are not new. Fleming’s family has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-28/ian-fleming-james-bond-books-changes-to-new-editions/102035958">defended the alterations by citing similar removals</a> in 1955, when Live and Let Die was first published in the United States. There is a risk that this whitewashes Fleming’s attitudes, making them appear more palatable than they really were. But the revised Bond novels will include a disclaimer noting the removals. Casino Royale itself has not been altered (Bond’s rape comment remains intact), so the changes will perhaps be less extensive than the media coverage suggests. <h2>Spies After Bond</h2> Fleming is not the only ex-spy to have successfully turned his hand to spy fiction. John le Carré’s George Smiley is perhaps an anti-Bond: slightly overweight, banal, and essentially a bureaucrat. He relies on a shrewd mind rather than gadgets or guns. Le Carré introduced his readers to a more mundane, morally grey world of espionage. He had worked for MI5 and MI6 in the 1950 and ‘60s. He thought Bond was a gangster rather than a spy. Le Carré’s stories have also shaped how we think about espionage. Words like “mole” and “honeytrap” – the terminology of spycraft – <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2023/02/john-le-carre-spy-came-in-from-cold-book/673227/">entered common usage via his novels</a>. Stella Rimington, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/apr/23/stella-rimington-i-fell-into-intelligence-by-chance">the first female director-general of MI5</a>, began writing fiction after retiring from intelligence in the late 1990s. Her protagonist, 34-year-old Liz Carlyle, hunts terror cells in Britain. Like Smiley, Carlyle appears rather ordinary. She is serious and conscientious. We get glimpses of the everyday sexism she experiences. Carlyle triumphs by remaining level-headed, not by fiery gun battles or explosions. After three decades of agent-running for the CIA, Jason Mathews wrote his <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/series/The-Red-Sparrow-Trilogy">Red Sparrow</a> trilogy to occupy himself in retirement. He called it <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/28/books/shadowing-jason-matthews-the-ex-spy-whose-cover-identity-is-author.html">a form of therapy</a>. There’s a little more Bond in Mathews’ books than in those of le Carré or Rimington. His protagonists Nate Nash and Dominika Egorova are attractive, charismatic and entangled in a personal relationship of stolen moments and high drama. This is counterbalanced by the many hours they spend running surveillance-detection routes before meeting targets. The more tedious and banal aspects of spycraft – brush passes, broken transmitters, and dead drops – accompany the glamour and romance. <h2>The wilderness of mirrors</h2> Spy fiction is never just about entertainment. The real world of espionage is so secret that most of us only ever encounter it on pages or screens. We don’t usually look to Bond films for accurate representations of espionage. But the influence of Fleming’s spy and the general aura of secrecy surrounding intelligence work lend some glamour and excitement to the work of real spies. These fictions also influence our views on real intelligence organisations, their activities, and their legitimacy. This is why the <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-cia-goes-to-hollywood-how-americas-spy-agency-infiltrated-the-big-screen-and-our-minds/">CIA invests time and money into fictionalisations</a> dealing with its work. From stories based on true events, such as <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1024648/">Argo</a>(2012) or <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790885/">Zero Dark Thirty</a> (2012), to fictional series like <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1796960/">Homeland</a> (2011-20), the agency’s image is shaped via the media we consume. This was true when Fleming was writing, too. Soviet authorities <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Russia-and-the-Cult-of-State-Security-The-Chekist-Tradition-From-Lenin/Fedor/p/book/9780415703475">were preoccupied</a> by Sherlock Holmes’ surging popularity behind the Iron Curtain and fretted over the release of the Bond novels and films. The KGB studied both carefully. It was likely Bond who prompted KGB officers to release classified details about their most successful spy story: the career of <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-name-s-sorge-richard-sorge/">Richard Sorge</a>. Former intelligence officers such as Fleming are often quite good at fiction – perhaps because it is a core part of spycraft. A solid cover story has to be grounded in reality, with just enough fiction to protect the truth or gain a desired outcome. A good operation often requires creativity, to outwit a target or evade detection. And spreading fictions – disinformation – can sometimes be just as useful as gathering information. The world of espionage is sometimes referred to as the “wilderness of mirrors”. Spycraft relies on both reflections and distortions. The line between fact and fiction, between real stories of intelligence work and invented ones, can become blurry – and intelligence agencies often prefer it that way. Image credits: Columbia Pictures This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-wilderness-of-mirrors-70-years-since-the-first-james-bond-book-spy-stories-are-still-blurring-fact-and-fiction-201373" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Books

Chatbots set their sights on writing romance

Although most would expect artificial intelligence to keep to the science fiction realm, authors are facing mounting fears that they may soon have new competition in publishing, particularly as the sales of romantic fiction continue to skyrocket. And for bestselling author Julia Quinn, best known for writing the Bridgerton novel series, there’s hope that “that’s something that an AI bot can’t quite do.” For one, human inspiration is hard to replicate. Julia’s hit series - which went on to have over 20 million books printed in the United States alone, and inspired one of Netflix’s most-watched shows - came from one specific point: Julia’s idea of a particular duke. “Definitely the character of Simon came first,” Julia told BBC reporter Jill Martin Wrenn. Simon, in the Bridgerton series, is the Duke of Hastings, a “tortured character” with a troubled past. As Julia explained, she realised that Simon needed “to fall in love with somebody who comes from the exact opposite background” in a tale as old as time. And so, Julia came up with the Bridgerton family, who she described as being “the best family ever that you could imagine in that time period”. Meanwhile, Simon is estranged from his own father. Characterisation and unique relationship dynamics - platonic and otherwise - like those between Julia’s beloved characters are some of the key foundations behind any successful story, but particularly in the romance genre, where relationships are the entire driving force. It has long been suggested that the genre can become ‘formulaic’ if not executed well, and it’s this concern that prompts the idea that advancing artificial intelligence may have the capability to generate its own novel. ChatGPT is the primary problem point. The advanced language processing technology was developed by OpenAI and was trained using the likes of internet databases (such as Wikipedia), books, magazines, and the likes. The BBC reported that over 300 billion words were put into it. Because of this massive store of source material, the system can generate its own writing pieces, with the best of the bunch giving the impression that they were put together by a human mind. Across the areas of both fiction and non-fiction, it’s always learning. However, Julia isn’t too worried about her future in fiction just yet. Recalling how she’d checked out some AI romance a while ago, and how she’d found it “terrible”, she shared her belief at the time that there “could never be a good one.” But then the likes of ChatGPT entered the equation, and Julia admitted that “it makes me kind of queasy.” Still, she remains firm in her belief that human art will triumph. As she explained, “so much in fiction is about the writer’s voice, and I’d like to think that’s something that an AI bot can’t quite do.” And as for why romantic fiction itself remains so popular - and perhaps even why it draws the attention of those hoping to profit from AI generated work - she said that it’s about happy endings, noting that “there is something comforting and validating in a type of literature that values happiness as a worthy goal.” Images: @bridgertonnetflix / Instagram

Books

5 things the latest season of The Crown got right and 3 things that were inaccurate

<h2>Separating fact from fiction</h2> Season 5 of The Crown finally aired on Netflix after two years of waiting. The first season of The Crown aired in 2016, telling the story of all the major players in the royal family trees starting just before Queen Elizabeth II’s ascension to the throne. Every season since has covered roughly a decade or so in the lives of the royals. The new season of The Crown takes place between 1991 and 1997 and sees Charles and Diana nearing the end of their tumultuous marriage, securing their position as global tabloid fodder. (And, as season five points out, coverage of their lives would often blur the line between journalism and salacious gossip.) Despite the fact that there was so much real-life royal drama during this time, there are elements of The Crown that are not based on real events – so much so that Netflix added a disclaimer when releasing the trailer for this season that stated, ‘Inspired by real events, this fictional dramatisation tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and personal events that shaped her reign.’ It can be confusing to parse fact from fiction. Here’s a fact check of The Crown season five to help understand what’s real and what’s not. <h2>Here’s what was actually true in The Crown – and what wasn’t</h2> Most of the historical events that have appeared on The Crown are based on true events. Let’s start with a few things that definitely happened. <div> </div> <h2>Truth: Martin Bashir did use false evidence to convince Princess Diana to appear on Panorama</h2> On The Crown Season 5 Episode 7, BBC journalist Martin Bashir (played by Prasanna Puwanarajah) is shown fabricating fake bank statements to convince Charles Spencer and his sister, Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki), into believing that members of their trusted teams were being paid off by British intelligence services for information about them. In turn, Bashir played into their fears and earned Diana’s trust enough to convince her to appear on his TV show, Panorama, giving one of the most explosive interviews of the decade. In 2020, an independent inquiry did find Bashir guilty of wrongdoing, and the BBC apologised to Charles Spencer for Bashir’s deception. <h2>Truth: Prince Philip was a world-class carriage driver</h2> Season 5 Episode 2 is when we learn of Prince Philip’s obsession with carriage driving. In fact, Philip (played by actor Jonathan Pryce) was not just a hobbyist in the sport, but he competed internationally as a member of the British Diving Team. He also wrote several books and served as the president of the Fédération Équestre Internationale. <h2>Truth: Windsor Castle sustained massive fire damage in 1992</h2> In Season 5 Episode 4, Queen Elizabeth (Imelda Staunton) referred to 1992 as an “annus horribilis,” or, a horrible year. It was the year that marked the separation of Charles and Diana as well as Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. Adding to the heartbreak, 1992 was also the year that Windsor Castle caught fire when a spotlight ignited a curtain, destroying dozens of rooms and several priceless works of art. <h2>Truth: Mohamed Al-Fayed hired the Duke of Windsor’s former valet, Sydney Johnson, to work for him</h2> In Season 5 Episode 3, we are introduced to Mohamed Al-Fayed (Salim Daw), the Egyptian businessman who would build up an empire that included the Ritz Hotel in Paris and Harrods Department Store in London. As the show depicts, Al-Fayed was a lifelong Anglophile and did meet and hire Sydney Johnson, a Bahamian man who previously spent three decades as Edward, Duke of Windsor’s valet after Edward abdicated the throne. Johnson began working for Al-Fayed in 1977, five years after Edward passed away. After Edward’s wife, Wallis Simpson died, Al-Fayed purchased their Paris estate and, along with Johnson, helped restore it. With regard to the end of this episode, when Mohamed Al-Fayed met Princess Diana, while we’re not sure if they really did bond instantly at a polo match, it’s true that the two became friends years before Diana began dating Mohamed’s son, Dodi Al-Fayed. Dodi would later die in the 1997 car crash that also took Diana’s life. <h2>Truth: tampongate really did happen</h2> In 1989, when Charles and Camilla’s affair was not yet public, the two engaged in a phone conversation where Charles compared himself to a tampon. The conversation was later released to the public in 1993 after Diana and Charles separated. <h2>And now for a few things that appear on The Crown season 5 that didn’t actually happen… Fiction: The Sunday Times poll</h2> Throughout the season, Prince Charles (Dominic West) is seen as a man who is ready for new responsibilities. Specifically, the responsibility of being king. In Episode 1, a poll revealing that half the British population thinks that his ageing mother Queen Elizabeth, should abdicate her role is published in the Sunday Times, and Charles takes that as a sign that he should start preparing himself to be king. He even goes so far as to meet with Prime Minister John Major (Jonny Lee Miller) to seek his support. But, none of that happened. There was no such poll published in 1991 by the Sunday Times, and no such conversation between Major and the Prince of Wales. In fact, Major is one of this season’s biggest detractors. He has called the series “a barrel-load of nonsense.” <h2>Fiction: Prince Philip and Penny Knatchbull’s affair</h2> It’s true that Prince Philip and his godson’s wife, Penny Knatchbull, were both invested in the sport of carriage driving, and it is also true that their friendship was fodder for speculation that there was something more to it. But alas, there is no concrete evidence that Prince Philip engaged in an affair with Penny. <h2>Fiction: Diana warning the queen about her Panorama interview</h2> Everyone involved in Princess Diana’s Panorama interview knew it was a giant risk to let the estranged princess speak so candidly on the most revered broadcasting network in the country. While it’s true that Marmaduke Hussey, then-chairman of the BBC, felt that it was a disgrace to air the interview, the queen herself was not actually given a heads-up by Diana before the inflammatory program aired in 1995. The conversation between Diana and the queen was pure fabrication, confirmed by Patrick Jephson, Diana’s press secretary at the time. While it can be confusing parsing out what The Crown gets wrong about the royal family and what the show gets right, season 5 remains as engrossing as ever thanks to its excelling writing and cast. What we do know for sure is that season six, which tackles the final months of Diana’s life and the years after, can’t come soon enough. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/culture/5-things-the-latest-season-of-the-crown-got-right-and-3-things-that-were-inaccurate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader's Digest</a>. Image: Netflix

Romance fiction rewrites the rulebook

Romance fiction has one of the most recognisable brands in book culture. It is known for a handful of attributes: its happy-ever-after endings, the pocket Mills & Boon and Harlequin editions, the covers featuring Fabio (in the 1990s) or naked male torsos (the hot trend in the 21st century). It is known for being overwhelmingly written and read by women, and for being mass-produced. But romance fiction is also the most innovative and uncontrollable of all genres. It is the genre least able to be contained by established models of how the publishing industry works, or how readers and writers behave. Contemporary romance fiction is challenging the prevailing wisdom about how books come into being and find their readers. For our book <a href="https://www.umasspress.com/9781625346612/genre-worlds/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Genre Worlds: Popular Fiction and Twenty-First Century Book Culture</a>, coauthored with Lisa Fletcher, we conducted nearly 100 interviews with contemporary authors and publishing professionals. Our research shows that fiction genres are not static. They do not constrain artistic originality, but provide the kind of structure that sparks creativity and passion. Genre fiction can be understood as having three dimensions. The textual dimension is what happens on the page. The industrial dimension is how the books are produced. And the social dimension is the people who write, read and talk about genre fiction. These three dimensions interact to create what we have called a “genre world”. Each distinct genre world (such as fantasy or crime) combines textual conventions, social communities and industry expectations in its own way. And romance is the most fast-paced, rapidly changing genre world of them all. When it comes to genres of articles, we have a soft spot for the listicle. So, here are five things you may not know about contemporary romance fiction – five things that show the dynamism at the heart of book culture. <h2>1. Romance is at the forefront of digital innovation</h2> Twenty-first century publishing has seen fundamental shifts in the way books are produced, distributed and consumed, largely thanks to digital technology. The romance genre is notable historically for its rapid production and consumption cycle. As a result, it has been well placed to adapt to the widespread uptake of digital publishing, which also moves rapidly. Romance writers and publishers are entrepreneurial and comfortable taking risks. The moment constraints are released, romance writers rush in. This is exactly what has happened with self-publishing. Since the advent of <a href="https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kindle Direct Publishing</a> in 2007, hundreds of thousands of romance books have been self-published there. Other opportunities have blossomed on sites such as <a href="https://www.wattpad.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wattpad</a> or through print-on-demand services such as <a href="https://www.ingramspark.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IngramSpark</a>. In Australia, for example, there was a 1,000% increase in the number of self-published romance novels between 2010 and 2016. Some self-published romance novels have achieved mind-boggling success. Anna Todd’s 2014 romance novel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_(Todd_novel)" target="_blank" rel="noopener">After</a>, originally fan fiction based on the band One Direction, drew more than 1.5 billion reads on Wattpad. It was subsequently acquired by Simon & Schuster and has spawned a movie series. In other cases, romance authors have formed co-ops to publish work together. <a href="https://tulepublishing.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tule Publishing</a> is a small, largely digital publisher with a limited print-on-demand service that produces multi-author continuity series as part of its publishing model. The Tule authors we interviewed spoke of their strong community and creative connections. The self-publishing of genre fiction has blurred the lines between author, agent, editor, cover designer, typesetter, publisher and bookseller. <a href="http://www.stephanielaurens.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stephanie Laurens</a>, one of the world’s most successful romance novelists, began writing with Mills & Boon before moving to HarperCollins. In 2012, she gave a keynote address to the <a href="https://www.rwa.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Romance Writers of America</a> convention. She used the opportunity to reflect on industry change. Soon after, she began reconfiguring her own publishing arrangements. Now Harlequin publishes her print novels, while she self-publishes the e-book versions. She also self-publishes novellas that are prequels to, or that sit between, the novels in her traditionally published series. Laurens is a prolific author with loyal fans, an author who can afford to take risks. She realises that self-publishing potentially offers her a better deal and has been able to pursue that while retaining ties to a traditional publisher. Her career complicates any view of self-publishing as second best. Her example has been much emulated among romance writers. Such a career move challenges how we might typically theorise the power relations of literary culture. <h2>2. Romance readers are active and engaged</h2> The dynamism of romance fiction is intimately linked with its engaged readers. Unlike other kinds of publishing, where the fate of each book is relatively unpredictable, romance has historically had many loyal readers who subscribe through mail-order systems to receive books regularly – a model that has not worked successfully at scale for any other genre. In the 21st century, many of these loyal romance readers are online. They tweet about their favourite authors, write Goodreads reviews, and run blogs and podcasts. People read romance fiction for different reasons. They might be drawn to its focus on the emotional nuances of relationships, its escape into various times and places (romance subgenres really do cover the gamut), or its gold-plated promise of happy endings and pleasure. They might read casually or intensely, with curiosity, scepticism or devotion. All of these are active modes; they can’t be reduced to consumerism. There is an element of feeling to the involvement. The shared pleasure and sense of belonging that comes with being in the genre world came up regularly in our interviews. Author <a href="https://www.rachaeljohns.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rachael Johns</a>, speaking of romance fiction, said “this is my passion, I fell in love with the romance genre”. Agent Amy Tannenbaum described the romance community as “tight-knit”. Harlequin marketing specialist Adam Van Roojen suggested the romance community’s supportive nature makes it “so distinctive I think from other genres”. People say the same thing about other genres, of course, but these claims show how people imagine genre worlds as a kind of community. Communities have boundaries and can be exclusionary. <a href="https://kristinabusse.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kristina Busse</a> has written about the impulse to police borders in fan-fiction communities, and of how ascribing positive values to some members of a community may exclude other people. This dynamic is at work in genre worlds, even if it is low-key or not openly acknowledged. What’s more, the inside world of romance fiction has an inside of its own. This is evident in the way readers relate to one another (there is an implicit hierarchy of fans) and in the industrial underpinnings of the genre. For example, there is a distinction between a writer’s core audience and fringe audience that affects sales formats and international editions. Core romance readers tend to read digitally, and therefore can often access US editions of a book. Casual romance readers are more likely to pick up a print book from a store like Big W or Target and are therefore more likely to be the target audience for local editions. In general, though, both core and fringe romance readers know how to read romance fiction. They are attuned to the codes that run through the novels. Back in 1992, <a href="http://faculty.winthrop.edu/kosterj/engl618/readings/theory/Krentz&BarlowRomanceCodes.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jayne Ann Krentz and Linda Barlow</a> argued that certain words and phrases in romance fiction act as a hidden code “opaque to others”. Committed romance readers have a deep knowledge that makes them experts in their genre. When these readers express their views online, authors and publishers take note. One recent example involves a tweet from romance fiction author, podcaster and blogger <a href="https://www.sarahmaclean.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sarah McLean</a>. She asked her nearly 40,000 Twitter followers to “Tell me the best romance you’ve read in the last week. Bonus points for it being 🔥🔥🔥.” The tweet was directed at the hardcore readers of the romance genre world. It assumed an audience that reads more than one romance novel per week. The 300 or so replies constitute a mega-thread of recommendations. Romance readers are generous to one another this way, as the sheer abundance of commercially and self-published romance fiction makes it hard to sort and choose. The replies also offer an up-to-the-minute map of the subgenres and tropes to which readers are responding. These include shape-shifters, second-chance love stories, queer romance, and dukes and duchesses (possibly a Bridgerton effect). <h2>3. Romance fiction is global</h2> Far from being circumscribed by small horizons, romance fiction is globally connected and inflected. This is amply demonstrated by the example of Australian romance fiction, which is formed and sustained across international literary markets and creative communities. Pascale Casanova’s theory of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Republic_of_Letters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world republic of letters</a> notes the cultural force of London and New York as anglophone publishing centres. This mitigates against the inclusion of Australian content in popular fiction. Stories set in New York or London seem to have no limits in terms of international portability. But stories set in Australia, or another peripheral market, can be harder to pitch. Australian writers are conscious of this, as it directly affects the viability of their careers. But export success is possible for Australian work. The subgenre of Australian rural romance or “RuRo” is the best-known example. Authors like Rachel Johns are bestsellers in other territories. Romance novels set in Australia are popular in Germany – the Germans even have a name for them, the “Australien-Roman”. Romance fiction is energised by transnational communities of readers and writers, often mediated online. Australian romance author <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/author/kylie-scott/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kylie Scott</a>, for instance, credits American romance bloggers with driving the popularity of her books, and thanks book bloggers in the acknowledgements of her books. These cultural mediators assist the transnational movement of books in genre worlds. The development of digital-first genre fiction publishers and imprints also supports such movement, not least through promoting global release dates and world rights, so that genre books can be simultaneously accessible to readers worldwide. But nothing comes close to the romance fiction convention, or “con”, in demonstrating the international cooperative links of the romance community. Cons, such as Romance Writers of America, support romance writers by providing professional development opportunities; they offer structure to participants’ professional lives. For example, Regency romance writer <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/anna-campbell/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anna Campbell</a> has oriented her career towards the United States. Campbell began to professionalise by joining the <a href="https://romanceaustralia.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Romance Writers of Australia</a>, but then entered professional prizes run through US networks, and it was these that gained attention for her writing and enabled her to get an agent. American success followed: <blockquote> My agent ended up setting up an auction in New York, and three of the big houses wanted to buy it. The auction went for a week, and at the end of Good Friday 2006, I was a published author and they paid me enough money to become a full-time writer. </blockquote> Campbell went on to write five books with Avon, then moved to Hachette for a number of books. She has now moved to self-publishing. The majority of her readership remains in the US. Romance’s capacity to reflect the local concerns of writers and readers, coupled with its responsiveness to global industrial processes, makes it one of the most intriguing genres for considering what “Australian books” might look like in the 21st century. <figure></figure> <h2>4. Romance can be socially progressive</h2> It has been more than 50 years since Germaine Greer, in The Female Eunuch, dismissed romance fiction as women “cherishing the chains of their bondage”. The perception that the genre is conservative persists. But romance writers and readers are more and more concerned with inequality across gender, race and sexuality. They are pushing back against old conventions. In 2018, Kate Cuthbert, then managing editor of Harlequin’s Escape imprint, gave a speech that revealed romance’s internal debates. She addressed the responsibilities of romance fiction writers and publishers in the #MeToo era, arguing that <blockquote> if we want to call ourselves a feminist genre, if we want to hold ourselves up as an example of women being centred, of representing the female gaze, of creating women heroes who not only survive but thrive, then we have to lead. </blockquote> For Cuthbert, this means “breaking up” with some familiar romance fiction tropes, such as the coercion of women: <blockquote> many of the behaviors that are now being called out – sexual innuendo, workplace advances, stolen kisses because the kisser couldn’t resist – feel in many ways like an old friend. They exist in the romance bubble […] and they readily tap into that shared emotional history over and over again in a way that feels familiar and safe. </blockquote> Cuthbert’s compassionate acknowledgement of readers’ and writers’ attachment to established genre norms sits alongside her call for evolution, for renewed attention to “recognising the heroine’s bodily autonomy, her right to decide what happens to it at every point”. Structural hostility in the publishing industry towards people of colour has also become a cause romance writers and readers rally behind. In 2018, <a href="http://blackmagicblues.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cole McCade</a>, a queer romance writer with a multiracial background, revealed that his editor at Riptide had written to him: <blockquote> We don’t mind POC But I will warn you – and you have NO idea how much I hate having to say this – we won’t put them on the cover, because we like the book to, you know, sell :-(. </blockquote> In the wake of this revelation, multiple authors pulled their books from Riptide, as a further series of revelations about the publisher’s bad behaviour emerged. The following year, the Romance Writers of America examined the past 18 years of its <a href="https://www.rwa.org/Online/Awards/RITA/RITA_Award.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RITA Awards</a> finalists and published the results: no black author had ever won a RITA, and the percentage of black authors represented on shortlists was less than half a per cent. In response, the board published a “Commitment to RITAs and Inclusivity”, in which it called the shocking results a “systemic issue” that “needs to be addressed”. In 2020, they announced they were employing diversity and inclusion experts to help diversify their board, train staff, and help “design and structure” more inclusive membership programs and events, including the annual conference. The Romance Writers of America’s intentions have not always been successful. The ongoing visibility of marginalised groups in the genre continues nonetheless, in part driven by romance’s rapid and robust uptake of digital publishing. Access to publishing platforms has allowed micro-niche genres to proliferate. LGBTQIA+ romance subgenres have become particularly visible: from lesbian military romance to gay alien romance to realist asexual love stories. Sometimes these stories go spectacularly mainstream, as with C.S. Pacat’s <a href="https://cspacat.com/books/captive-prince/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Captive Prince</a>, a gay erotic fantasy about a prince who is given to the ruler of a neighbouring kingdom as a pleasure slave. Originally self-published, The Captive Prince started as a web serial that gathered 30,000 signed-up fans and spawned Tumblrs dedicated to fan fiction and speculation about where the series would go. The book was rejected by major publishers, so Pacat self-published to Amazon and within 24 hours it had reached number 1 in LGBTQIA+ fiction. A New York agent approached Pacat and secured her a seven-figure publication deal with Penguin. The queer fantasy or paranormal romance has continued to thrive in Pacat’s wake. In our interviews with romance authors, questions of diversity, inclusion, representation and inequity arose again and again. In representation and amplifying marginalised voices, romance has enormous potential to lead the way. <h2>5. Romance has gates that are kept</h2> Romance fiction is more progressive than some stereotypes might suggest, but it is not free from exclusion or discrimination. The genre is influenced by its gatekeepers – human and digital. One form of gatekeeping takes place through the same voluntary associations that nurture community. In late 2019, the board of the Romance Writers of America censured prominent writer of colour, <a href="https://www.courtneymilan.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Courtney Milan</a>, suspending her from the organisation for a year and banning her from leadership positions for life. The decision was made following complaints by two white women, author Katherine Lynn Davis and publisher Suzan Tisdale, about statements Milan had made on Twitter, including calling a specific book a “fucking racist mess”. This use of the organisation’s formal mechanisms to condemn a woman of colour and support white women was controversial, provoking widespread debate across social media and email lists. Milan had long been an advocate for greater inclusion and diversity within Romance Writers of America and the romance genre. As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/31/romance-novel-industry-uproar-discipline-author-racist-courtney-milan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Guardian reported</a>, the choice not to discipline anyone for “actually racist speech” made punishing someone for “calling something racist” seem like a particularly troubling double standard. “People saw it as an attempt to silence marginalised people,” observed Milan. The board retracted its decision about Milan. It is difficult, however, to calculate the damage that may have been done to readers and writers of colour in the romance genre world. Conversely, the use of Twitter to extend debate and eventually correct the Romance Writers of America shows change happening, in real time. Another form of gatekeeping in romance fiction happens through the same digital platforms that put the genre at the forefront of industry change. Safiya Umoja Noble’s book <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479837243/algorithms-of-oppression/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Algorithms of Oppression</a> demonstrates how apparently neutral automated processes can work against women of colour — for example, the different results that come up from a Google search of “black girls” compared with “white girls.” In the world of romance fiction, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Claire-Parnell" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Claire Parnell’s research</a> has shown the multiple ways in which the algorithms, moderation processes and site designs of Amazon and Wattpad work against writers of colour. For example, they make use of image-recognition systems that flag romance covers with dark-skinned models as “adult content” and remove them from search results. They can also override the author’s chosen metadata to move books into niche categories where fewer readers will find them, such as “African American romance” rather than the general “romance fiction”. Concerted activism and attention is needed to work against this kind of digital discrimination, which risks replicating the discrimination in traditional publishing. There is no simple way to account for the dynamics of contemporary romance fiction. It is inclusive and policed; it is public and intimate. Its industrial, social and textual dimensions are not static, but interact dynamically, incorporating the possibility of change. Only by understanding these interactions can we gain a complete picture of the work of popular fiction. Contemporary romance fiction is formally tight, emotionally intense and digitally advanced. It’s where the heartbeat of change and action is in book culture. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-romance-fiction-rewrites-the-rulebook-183136" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Books

Charges against the Queen and 75 others dubbed a “work of legal fiction”

Social media posts celebrating the fact that the Queen, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Pope Francis are among 75 individuals charged with “crimes against humanity” have been dubbed a work of fiction by experts.According to <a href="https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck/arrest-warrants-for-queen-and-pope-a-work-of-legal-fiction/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AAP FactCheck,</a> the so-called “International Common Law Court of Justice” has no legal authority to issue arrest warrants and its judgements are meaningless, despite the claims made online.Posts have emerged from <a href="http://archive.today/0ctCR" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australia</a> and <a href="https://archive.ph/0gl6U" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Zealand</a> claiming the International Common Law Court of Justice has convicted the individuals to life imprisonment for their crimes.“After a four-month trial convened under International Law, the judges of the International Common Law Court of Justice (ICLCJ) issued their historic verdict and sentence today, along with Arrest and Expropriation Warrants against the defendants,” a Facebook post read.The post also contained a link to a <a href="https://www.bitchute.com/video/4L4VdCi0QEl9/?fbclid=IwAR2hyrAAxKeSaFaJDp7IOKprKJy2TKmft6oXg_n4VbfvqsXL5BAAUBhezv4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bitchute</a> video of a man who introduces himself as “Kevin Annett Eagle Strong Voice” and claims to be the chief advisor to the ICLCJ in Brussels.<img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/02/kevin-annett1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" />Kevin Annett, the man seemingly behind the International Common Law Court of Justice, reads out the court’s ‘judgement’ against the Queen, world leaders, and the CEO of Pfizer. Image: Murder By DecreeThe full video, available along with the judgement details on a website for Mr Annett’s book, <a href="http://murderbydecree.com/2022/01/14/breaking-news-from-the-international-common-law-court-of-justice-january-15-2022-gmt-big-pharma-government-church-leaders-face-arrest-as-court-convicts-them-of-genocide-prohibits-injections/?fbclid=IwAR211sRCsw1jEQDI0uVz7ymp0S1JF_rfvHrb0HS8tvb6zviBumkdDVUAnDQ#page-content" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Murder By Decree</a>, claims to be an “international press conference” going out as a “cause of hope to people labouring under the Covid Corporate Police State”.Mr Annett, a former Canadian church minister who was <a href="https://pacificmountain.ca/kevin-annett/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">removed for spreading conspiracy theories</a>, goes on to share a summary of the court’s “judgement” on its behalf.Along with the Queen and the Pope, others who have been “charged” include Albert Boula, the CEO of Pfizer, and Emma Walmsley, the CEO of GlaxoSmithKline.As well as sentencing the 75 individuals to life imprisonment, the verdict also “seizes their assets and disestablishes their corporations, and lawfully prohibits the further manufacture, sale or use of their COVID vaccines”.Documents on Mr Annett’s website also claim that the COVID-19 vaccine is part of a “Criminal Conspiracy to reduce humanity to slavery” and “master plan of global Eugenics”.In addition, the court’s ‘judgement’ allegedly empowers “not only our Sheriffs and deputised police, but people everywhere to enforce the Court’s verdict by arresting the convicted felons, seizing their assets, and halting the sale and use” of the vaccines.<img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/02/queen-guard.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" />Though the ICLCJ may allow it, arresting Queen Elizabeth II may not be the best of ideas. Image: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty ImagesHowever, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported that the ICLCJ doesn’t exist as a legal authority in any jurisdiction, and that it isn’t listed on the United Nations’ list of courts and tribunals.An investigation by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-vatican-pope-idUSL1N2RT0XP" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters</a> also found that the court had no legal standing and appeared to have been invented by Mr Annett.Professor Kevin Heller, an expert in international law and human rights at the Australian National University (ANU), described ICLCJ as a fabrication.“It is a private initiative that has adopted a fancy name to make it seem like a real one,” Professor Heller shared with AAP FactCheck in an email.“Basically a right-wing version of a People’s Tribunal (such as the Russell Tribunal during the Vietnam War). Because it’s not a real court, it has no authority to issue an arrest warrant for anyone.“So any ‘conviction’ of the Queen or Pope or anyone is meaningless.”Professor Heller, who is also a special advisor to the International Criminal Court Prosecutor for International Criminal Law Discourse, said that the only international court with the power to prosecute individuals was the International Criminal Court (ICC).Emeritus professor Steven Freeland also told the publication that there was no such thing as the ICLCJ, and that the International Criminal Court can only prosecute individuals for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.Image: Murder By Decree

Legal

“It has stayed with me”: Using fiction to explore trauma

Content warning: This article mentions sexual assault. Those who experience trauma can seek help in various ways, through therapy or creative outlets, and fiction is no exception. In fiction, traumatic events are often depicted as a jumping-off point for a protagonist or hero’s story - whether that’s watching Bruce Wayne’s parents die before he can fight crime as Batman, or witnessing the attempted murder of Uma Thurman as the Bride in Kill Bill before she seeks revenge. These depictions of traumatic events are often the precursor to a character’s descent into revenge, madness, or both, but they don’t have to be the only stories we see. In her <a rel="noopener" href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0022167817749703?casa_token=s_BbuJyDvjAAAAAA%3Apewb-trbcPxlbO0uGRYKAqOf_cchsFgT1CCpbRZQvODADU7rWimX6gaj1of76-A1cM1u61nak6K1L40" target="_blank">doctoral thesis</a> published in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Dr Lynn Gumb defines an ‘ordinary hero’ that can emerge in fiction as a “person who, despite the challenges of trauma, continues to live an ordinary life” and doesn’t follow the well-worn path to madness or revenge. Instead, the individual can choose to “alter the landscape of their own lives” after trauma and pursue recovery. P. J. McKay, the author of <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.pjmckayauthor.com/shop-1" target="_blank">The Telling Time</a>, uses traumatic experiences from her own life to explore this recovery process, as women from two generations navigate the Croatian immigrant experience, family secrets and backpacking as a rite of passage. “I know that my personal experience while backpacking in the 1980s, especially in a country like Yugoslavia, where there was such a chasm in the way men viewed Western women (fuelled of course by Western movies and songs) would be familiar territory for many young women,” she told OverSixty. “For me, novels that speak of shared experiences, or situations which feel believable, resonate most. “The backpacking experience has been a rite of passage for many, particularly in Australasia and I know many have experienced unwanted sexual attention. My experience was a close call. It has stayed with me and has felt like a significant turning point in my life.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Our discomfort and resulting tendency to retreat into silence only adds to the power of perpetrators. — Grace Tame (@TamePunk) <a href="https://twitter.com/TamePunk/status/1464790576323170305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 28, 2021</a></blockquote> As difficult as it can be for survivors to witness these moments, stories like The Telling Time keep these traumatic situations at the forefront of our minds, especially as these situations continue to happen. “I thought it was important not to shy away from the reality of sexual assault and to explore the impact of this on friendships and why sometimes (often) it seems best to hold close and not disclose what happened,” McKay adds. However, some argue that the focus of recovery stories should be on what happens after the traumatic event, and how individuals can find truth and healing despite their experiences. “There seems to be no doubt that trauma can stand in the way of finding truth and healing,” McKay says. “It remains to be seen whether society today, with its broader expectations and openness around sexual relationships, and less traditional male and female roles, will alow for more open conversations by those who have suffered trauma, particularly sexual trauma.” In an interview with ABC’s 7.30, American activist and founder of the #Metoo movement Tarana Burke said conversations around trauma should shift, as the retelling of traumatic events comes with more costs than benefits. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none"> "We urge survivors to share their story, so you're re-traumatising not only the person but the person hearing that. There's not a tremendous amount of value in hearing the story, there's so much value in the hearing what happens after." – <a href="https://twitter.com/TaranaBurke?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@taranaburke</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/abc730?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#abc730</a> — abc730 (@abc730) <a href="https://twitter.com/abc730/status/1450386432757927947?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 19, 2021</a></blockquote> “We urge survivors to share their story, so you’re re-traumatising not only the person but the person hearing that,” she said. “There’s not a tremendous amount of value in hearing the story, there’s so much value in hearing what happens after.” As the conversations around trauma continue to change, it may be that having to witness these events becomes less necessary, and that we no longer need to share them to prevent future generations from experiencing them. Image: Getty Images

Mind

5 minutes with author P J McKay

In 5 minutes with the Author, OverSixty asks book writers about their literary habits and preferences. Next in the series is <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.pjmckayauthor.com/" target="_blank">P J McKay</a>, a novelist and mum-of-three based in Auckland. After training and working as a food scientist, McKay began writing while undertaking her Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Auckland. During her studies, McKay was inspired by her travels through former Yugoslavia to pen her debut novel, The Telling Time. After winning the 2020 First Pages Prize, McKay’s novel is now available. OverSixty sat down with McKay to chat about representing New Zealand’s Croatian community, her current reads, and the role cooking played in her novel. O60: What book(s) are you reading right now? My current book on the go is Betty by Tiffany McDaniel — insights into the Cherokee Indian culture are an added bonus and despite the tough themes I’m enjoying cheering this resilient young woman on. And I have just finished two novels: Crazy Love by Rosetta Allan — A love story with a twist. A triumph of love conquering adversity. A no-holes barred insight in the realities of supporting our mentally unwell. This is Rosetta’s third novel. She manages to inject humour into what’s a tough subject to tackle and never allows the story to wallow. And for something much lighter, Take me Home by Karly Lane — transports the reader from Australia to Scotland. A feel-good story with a dash of romance. O60: Does your training in food science influence your writing in any way? Great question! There are a few food descriptions peppered through The Telling Time. My love of cooking (and consuming food!) has most definitely influenced this. Some reviewers have noted it as a bonus to be transported by these descriptions. Any reference to food is of course relevant to the era and/or the setting but given the aroma, taste or even just the sight of food transports us to different settings it can be a useful and fun tool to employ: think Greece and Mediterranean dishes, or traditional Australasian sweet treats — lamingtons for example — or food which is typical in Croatia, such as črostule, njoki, špek or the local wine on Korčula, Pošip. As an author I invite the reader to use all their senses when imagining my characters in scene. If I get their taste buds watering then that’s a bonus. O60: How did you start writing historical fiction? It’s the genre which I enjoy most as a reader and my background roles in research were also very helpful. The nugget for this novel came from my own experience when backpacking in the late 1980s tied in with my interest in the immigrant experience and for The Telling Time, the Croatian diaspora. I also wanted the novel to encompass the mother/daughter relationship, hence the dual timeline that includes the late 1950s and 1989. It’s scary to think that these two eras now count as historical! When researching for a novel like this it means going back even further in time. The Telling Time references events from the early 20th Century, WWIII, and the events that followed afterward, particularly in the former Yugoslavia. I love that historical fiction often gifts the reader information they didn’t previously know. This for me is the joy of historical fiction writing; finding those facts to thread through the fiction to ensure the ‘world of the novel’ is credible. O60: The Telling Time was inspired by your travels and the connections you made with the local Croatian community. How did it feel to represent this community with your novel? I feel privileged to have been privy to stories from the Croatian community and delighted to shine some light on what makes this group unique, but also what unites their stories with other immigrant groups. It is always tricky finding the balance when representing a community that is not your own lived experience. For me, it was important to observe and listen at the local Dalmatian club when attending club nights and events. There were excellent resources to draw on at the club — their cultural museum and language tutor who checked my use of Croatian words/phrases in the novel — and having the novel reviewed by Dr Nina Nola from the University of Auckland’s English department was another essential step. Nina’s mother immigrated to New Zealand from Hvar in the 1950s. This is a novel, and therefore a work of fiction, but staying true to the culture and customs is an essential component and the feedback from readers of Croatian heritage suggests I have succeeded in getting the balance and details right. Of course, when Croatian publishers Znanje d.o. bought the translation rights for the novel earlier this year (to be published there in June 2022) this was a further seal of approval. I felt both proud and delighted that I would soon be able to gift copies of the translated novel to the club. O60: What book or books do you think are underrated? That’s a curly question! The Lost Lights of St Kilda by Elisabeth Gifford is a gentle historic novel, published last year which I thoroughly enjoyed but don’t hear a lot about now. And I’ll put in a plug for fellow New Zealand author, Rosetta Allan, mentioned above. Along with Crazy Love, her two other novels, Purgatory and The Unreliable People, are both fabulous reads that deserve more air-time!! O60: How do you deal with writer’s block? I found the best solution was to chat more. By this I mean nutting out a problem with trusted friends or asking a question which then often provided a lead, or new tangent to explore. There was one dire moment of writer’s block when I was desperate to get my character, Gabrijela, out of the house. I asked Mum for ideas about social events in the 1950s and she told me how popular a day at the races was along with a personal story about backing an outside runner called Red Glare. Bingo! Guess where Gabrijela was now off to! Critique was also a valuable tool, especially during my Masters in Creative Writing year at Auckland University. It challenges you to think harder and strive to improve, to iron out the creases waiting to trip the reader out of their suspended disbelief. O60: Which author, dead or alive, would you most like to have dinner with? Has to be Janine Cummins, who wrote American Dirt. Images: Supplied

Books

Fact or fiction? 5 myths about heart health, busted

When it comes to heart health, cardiovascular disease is still affecting <a rel="noopener" href="https://world-heart-federation.org/world-heart-day/about-whd/world-heart-day-2021/" target="_blank">520 million people</a> around the world. In Australia, 16.6% of the total population is currently living with cardiovascular disease[1]. This continues to be the leading underlying cause of death in the country[2],not only amongst the elderly but also for people <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/life-expectancy-death/deaths-in-australia/contents/leading-causes-of-death" target="_blank">aged 45–64</a>. Knowledge is power and understanding how to look after our heart is as essential as separating facts from fiction when it comes to our heart health. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7844397/ross-walker.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/b080367c7cb546658786946d3b956a01" /> Image: Supplied Ahead of World Heart Day on 29 September, we spoke with Dr Ross Walker, an eminent practicing cardiologist with over 40 years experience as a clinician to discuss the top 5 myths surrounding heart health and help us separate truth from myth. Myth 1: Heart disease is a man’s problem Like men, women can be diagnosed with a range of heart conditions. The common risk factors for cardiovascular disease for Aussie women are high cholesterol, overweight and lack of physical activity. In fact, 90% have one risk factor for heart disease, and <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/heart-health-education/risk-factors-for-women" target="_blank">50% have two or more</a>. Although cardiovascular disease develops 7 to 10 years later in women than in men, the risk <a rel="noopener" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12471-010-0841-y" target="_blank">increases significantly</a> after menopause. The truth is that most heart research has been done on male patients rather than females, but <a rel="noopener" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12471-010-0841-y" target="_blank">studies have shown</a> that women have gender specific symptoms when it comes to heart disease and failure. What you can do whether you are a man or a woman is to get your heart checked every twelve months even if you are feeling fine. This way, if your blood pressure or cholesterol is not well controlled, you can commence treatment right away. The earlier you begin to treat these issues, the better. Myth 2: After heart failure, exercise can be dangerous After heart failure, physical activity can actually assist you in restoring your usual day to day activities. Although you may be worried about which exercises you can and can’t do, staying physically active <a rel="noopener" href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ehf2.12225" target="_blank">reduces your chances</a> of having another heart attack. Being involved in a supervised cardiac rehabilitation program is recommended, especially if there is a prior history of heart disease or you have a very strong risk factor profile. You can start by talking to your doctor and follow advice on how to gradually restore your fitness in a safe and suitable way. Walking, for example, is a great way to start. You can begin with a daily 5-10 minute walk and build up slowly to 30 minutes over several weeks. Myth 3: It is okay to have high blood pressure as we age As we age our cardiovascular system changes, and high blood pressure is more common in older people. As we age, our arteries <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/high-blood-pressure" target="_blank">become stiffer</a> causing our blood pressure to rise. However, this is not necessarily good for our health or heart. In fact, high blood pressure should be monitored regularly, as it increases the risk of suffering from stroke and a possible heart attack. Myth 4: Good vs bad cholesterol A major misconception around cholesterol is that one type is good and one type is bad. Incorrectly, low-density-lipoproteins (LDL), is labelled as “bad” cholesterol while high-density lipoproteins (HDL) is labelled as “good” cholesterol. The truth is both types of cholesterol carrying proteins contain “good” and “bad” elements. LDL and HDL both contain small and large components. The large components of LDL and HDL are beneficial for normal body metabolism, keeping cholesterol away from our arteries and removing any excess from arterial plaque, which <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/health-conditions-and-risks/australian-health-survey-biomedical-results-chronic-diseases/latest-release" target="_blank">helps to prevent heart disease</a>. The small components of LDL and HDL promote fatty deposits in the artery wall. This is what can contribute to cardiovascular disease. The small components of LDL circulate in our blood and may build up in our arteries, forming plaque that may rupture, <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fats-and-cholesterol/cholesterol/" target="_blank">leading</a> to blocked arteries. On the other hand, the small components of HDL are <a rel="noopener" href="https://iubmb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/biof.1205" target="_blank">pro-inflammatory</a>. Although heart disease & cholesterol have strong genetic components, it is also important to avoid foods containing trans fats and processed carbohydrates, eat a diet full of fresh fruits and vegetables, and conduct regular physical activity to help maintain good health. You may also need to check in with your GP to assess if your cholesterol levels are high and if you are deemed at high risk for a vascular event such as heart attack or stroke, the medications, such as statins or blood pressure therapy, may be necessary. Myth 5: Supplements are of no benefit While a good balanced diet and exercise are key to good health, our food today has lower nutritional value and we encounter many toxins in our day-to-day. Supplements can bridge the gap between the nutrients we need and the food that is lacking them. For example, numerous studies have proven that <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.ubiquinol.net.au/" target="_blank">Ubiquinol</a>, the active form of Coenzyme Q10, helps promote heart health by <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.eurekaselect.com/161292/article" target="_blank">providing the cellular energy needed</a> to keep the heart pumping well. Ubiquinol helps improve heart function by maintaining healthy levels of LDL cholesterol as well as the overall maintenance of a healthy cardiovascular system. While this antioxidant is found in many foods – including oily fish, meats and whole grains – it is difficult to achieve the daily recommended dose without consuming excessive amounts, e.g. 14kg of sardines or 60 avocados! In this case, taking Ubiquinol in supplement form may help achieve the recommended daily dose to support optimal energy levels and cardiovascular health. Seek advice from a healthcare practitioner to determine if supplementation is right for you. Always read the label and use only as directed. This article was written by Dr Ross Walker. [1] Australian Bureau of Statistics 2018, National Health Survey 2017-18, Data customised using TableBuilder [2] Australian Bureau of Statistics 2020, Causes of Death 2019, cat. no. 3303.0, October Image: Getty Images

Body

Revealed: 2021 Booker Prize shortlist

The shortlist for the 2021 Booker Prize for Fiction has been announced, with six authors in the running for the coveted title and £50,000 prize money. The Booker Prize is open to authors of any nationality who have published a novel in the UK or Ireland, which has been written or translated into English. The authors were selected from the 158 novels published in the UK or Ireland between October 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021. Judging this year’s finalists, the panel includes historian Maya Jasanoff, writer and editor Horatia Harrod, actor Natascha McElhone, two-time Booker-shortlisted novelist and professor Chigozie Obioma, and writer and former Archbishop Rowan Williams. Ms Jasanoff, the chair of the judging panel, said “With so many ambitious and intelligent books before us, the judges engaged in rich discussions not only about the qualities of any given title, but often about the purpose of fiction itself. “We are pleased to present a shortlist that delivers as wide a range of original stories as it does voices and styles.” The shortlist for the 2021 Booker Prize for Fiction include: <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">The Promise, Damon Galgut</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">A Passage North, Anuk Arudpragasam</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">No One is Talking About This, Patricia Lockwood</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">The Fortune Men, Nadifa Mohamed</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Bewilderment, Richard Powers</li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Great Circle, Maggie Shipstead</li> </ul> The winner will be announced on November 2. Image: The Booker Prizes

Books

Against cancelling Chaucer

Was Chaucer a toxic misogynist, or a staunch women’s ally? Spying is a risky profession. For the 14th-century English undercover agent-turned-poet Geoffrey Chaucer, <a rel="noopener" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=kYzgDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA95&dq=Chaucer+military+intelligence&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwikmuL34d_xAhWRcc0KHRMHB0kQ6AEwAHoECAkQAg#v=onepage&q=Chaucer%20military%20intelligence&f=false" target="_blank">the dangers</a> – at least to his reputation – continue to surface centuries after his death. In his <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/why-is-chaucer-disappearing-from-the-university-curriculum-leicester-essay-a-s-g-edwards" target="_blank">July 2021 essay</a> for the Times Literary Supplement, A.S.G. Edwards, professor of medieval manuscripts at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England, laments the removal of Geoffrey Chaucer from university curricula. Edwards says he believes this disappearance may be propelled by a vocal cohort of scholars who see the “father of English poetry” as <a rel="noopener" href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/727754" target="_blank">a rapist, racist and antisemite</a>. The predicament would have amused Chaucer himself. Jewish and feminist scholars, among others, are shooting down one of their earliest and wisest allies. This is happening when <a rel="noopener" href="https://voegelinview.com/feminist-thought-of-geoffrey-chaucer-the-wife-of-bath-and-all-hire-secte" target="_blank">new research reveals</a> a Chaucer altogether different from what many current readers have come to accept. My decades of research show he was no raunchy proponent of bro culture but a daring and ingenious <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/for-the-birds-hardly-valentines-day-was-reimagined-by-chivalrous-medieval-poets-for-all-to-enjoy-respectfully-155099" target="_blank">defender of women and the innocent</a>. As a <a rel="noopener" href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=iDoS8ewAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">medievalist who teaches Chaucer</a>, I believe the movement to cancel Chaucer has been bamboozled by his tradecraft – his consummate skill as a master of disguise. Outfoxing the professors It’s true that Chaucer’s work contains toxic material. His “<a rel="noopener" href="https://chaucer.fas.harvard.edu/pages/prologue" target="_blank">Wife of Bath’s Prologue</a>” in “The Canterbury Tales,” his celebrated collection of stories, quotes at length from the long tradition of classical and medieval works on the <a rel="noopener" href="https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/12914/" target="_blank">evils of women</a>, as mansplained by the Wife’s elderly husbands: “You say, just as worms destroy a tree, so a wife destroys her husband.” Later, “<a rel="noopener" href="https://sites.fas.harvard.edu/%7Echaucer/teachslf/pri-par.htm" target="_blank">The Prioress’s Tale</a>” repeats the anti-Semitic <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.adl.org/education/resources/glossary-terms/blood-libel" target="_blank">blood libel</a> story, the false accusation that Jews murdered Christians, at a time when Jews across Europe <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.montana.edu/historybug/yersiniaessays/pariera-dinkins.html" target="_blank">were under attack</a>. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411132/original/file-20210713-21-fxqh4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411132/original/file-20210713-21-fxqh4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="An illustration of two women characters from Geoffrey Chaucer's 'The Canterbury Tales'" /></a> The Prioress and the Wife of Bath from Geoffrey Chaucer’s ‘The Canterbury Tales.’ <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-prioress-and-the-wife-of-bath-from-old-england-a-news-photo/1036139720" target="_blank" class="source">Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)</a> These poems in particular generate accusations that Chaucer propagated sexist and antisemitic material because he agreed with or enjoyed it. <a rel="noopener" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=5rDoDwAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=elaine+tuttle+hansen+chaucer+and+the+fictions+of+gender&source=gbs_navlinks_s" target="_blank">Several</a> <a rel="noopener" href="https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/40555" target="_blank">prominent</a> <a rel="noopener" href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691160092/chaucer" target="_blank">scholars</a> seem convinced that Chaucer’s personal views are the same as those of his characters and that Chaucer is promoting these opinions. And they believe he abducted or raped a young woman named Cecily Chaumpaigne, although the <a rel="noopener" href="http://www.umsl.edu/%7Egradyf/chaucer/cecily.htm" target="_blank">legal records</a> are enigmatic. It looks as though Cecily accused Chaucer of some such crime and he paid her to clear his name. It’s unclear what actually happened between them. Critics cherry-pick quotations to support their claims about Chaucer. But if you examine his writings in detail, as I have, you’ll see themes of concern for women and human rights, the oppressed and the persecuted, reappear time and time again. Chaucer the spy Readers often assume Chaucer’s characters were a reflection of the writer’s own attitude because he is such a convincing role player. Chaucer’s <a rel="noopener" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=E4DXD7Sk7WcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=life+of+Chaucer+Riverside+Chaucer&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiws4jr0uXxAhWnEFkFHXbCAOQQ6AEwAHoECAsQAg#v=onepage&q=life%20of%20Chaucer%20Riverside%20Chaucer&f=false" target="_blank">career in the English secret service</a> trained him as an observer, analyst, diplomat and master at concealing his own views. In his teens, Chaucer became a confidential envoy for England. From 1359 to 1378, he graced English diplomatic delegations and carried out missions described in expense records only as “<a rel="noopener" href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-riverside-chaucer-9780199552092?lang=de&cc=lt" target="_blank">the king’s secret business</a>.” Documents show him scouting paths through the Pyrenees for English forces poised to invade Spain. He lobbied Italy for money and troops, while also perhaps investigating the suspicious death of Lionel of Antwerp, an English prince who was probably poisoned soon after his wedding. Chaucer’s job brought him face to face with the darkest figures of his day — the treacherous <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-II-king-of-Navarre" target="_blank">Charles the Bad, King of Navarre</a>, a notorious traitor and assassin, and Bernabò Visconti, lord of Milan, who helped devise a <a rel="noopener" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=0YoxAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA179&dq=Bernabo+Visconti+torture&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwizxdyM8t_xAhVZGs0KHZgQCn0Q6AEwCHoECAQQAg#v=onepage&q=Bernabo%20Visconti%20torture&f=false" target="_blank">40-day torture protocol</a>. Chaucer’s poetry reflects his experience as an English agent. He enjoyed role-playing and assuming many identities in his writing. And like the couriers he dispatched from Italy in 1378, he brings his readers covert messages split between multiple speakers. Each teller holds just a piece of the puzzle. The whole story can only be understood when all the messages arrive. He also uses the skills of a secret agent to express dangerous truths not accepted in his own day, when misogyny and antisemitism were both entrenched, especially among the clergy. Chaucer does not preach or explain. Instead, he lets the formidable Wife of Bath, the character he most enjoyed, tell us about the misogyny of her five husbands and fantasize about how ladies of King Arthur’s court might take revenge on a rapist. Or he makes his deserted <a rel="noopener" href="http://mcllibrary.org/Houseoffame/" target="_blank">Queen Dido cry</a>: “Given their bad behavior, it’s a shame any woman ever took pity on any man.” Chaucer the chivalrous defender While current critiques of Chaucer label him as an <a rel="noopener" href="https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/40555" target="_blank">exponent of toxic masculinity</a>, he was actually an <a rel="noopener" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=E5BCs9mylBsC&pg=PA379&dq=Chaucer+human+rights&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjKqeXc1OXxAhV3F1kFHZztDcYQ6AEwAXoECAoQAg#v=onepage&q=Chaucer%20human%20rights&f=false" target="_blank">advocate for human rights</a>. My own research shows that in the course of his career he supported women’s right to choose their own mates and the human desire for freedom from enslavement, coercion, verbal abuse, political tyranny, judicial corruption and sexual trafficking. In “The Canterbury Tales” and “The Legend of Good Women,” he tells many stories on such themes. There he opposed assassination, infanticide and femicide, the mistreatment of prisoners, sexual harassment and domestic abuse. He valued self-control in action and in speech. He spoke out for women, enslaved people and Jews. “Women want to be free and not coerced like slaves, and so do men,” the narrator of <a rel="noopener" href="https://sites.fas.harvard.edu/%7Echaucer/teachslf/frkt-par.htm" target="_blank">“The Franklin’s Prologue” says</a>. As for Jews, Chaucer salutes their ancient heroism in his early poem “<a rel="noopener" href="https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/English/Fame.php" target="_blank">The House of Fame</a>.” He depicts them as a people who have done great good in the world, only to be rewarded with slander. In “The Prioress’s Tale” he shows them being libeled by a desperate character to cover up a crime of which they were manifestly innocent, a century after all Jews had been brutally expelled from England. Chaucer’s own words demonstrate beyond the shadow of a doubt that when his much underestimated Prioress tells her antisemitic blood libel tale, Chaucer is not endorsing it. Through <a rel="noopener" href="https://sites.fas.harvard.edu/%7Echaucer/teachslf/pri-par.htm" target="_blank">her own words and actions</a>, and a cascade of reactions from those who hear her, he is exposing such guilty and dangerous actors as they deploy such lies. And was he a rapist or an abductor? <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/07/document-casts-new-light-on-chaucer-rape-case" target="_blank">It’s unlikely</a>. The case suggests he might well have been targeted, perhaps even because of his work. Few authors have ever been more <a rel="noopener" href="https://scholarship.depauw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1133&context=studentresearch" target="_blank">outspoken about man’s inhumanity to women</a>. It is bizarre that one of the strongest and earliest writers in English literature to speak out against rape and support women and the downtrodden should be pilloried and threatened with cancellation. But Chaucer knew the complexity of his art put him at risk. As his character the Squire dryly observed, people all too often “demen gladly to the badder ende” – “They are happy to assume the worst.”<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152312/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jennifer-wollock-1179510" target="_blank">Jennifer Wollock</a>, Professor of English, <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/texas-aandm-university-1672" target="_blank">Texas A&M University</a> This article is republished from <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/calls-to-cancel-chaucer-ignore-his-defense-of-women-and-the-innocent-and-assume-all-his-characters-opinions-are-his-152312" target="_blank">original article</a>.

Books

"Fiction is presented as fact": Royal family blasts new series of The Crown

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text redactor-styles redactor-in"> The British Royal family is said to be "furious" about the fourth season of hit Netflix show The Crown, which covers aspects of the royal family's life, including Charles' doomed marriage to Princess Diana and his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles. The Prince of Wales' friends have slammed the show to UK tabloids, saying that "fiction is presented as fact" in the latest series. ‘This is drama and entertainment for commercial ends being made with no regard to the actual people involved who are having their lives hijacked and exploited,’ one told the <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8949675/Prince-Charles-friends-launch-blistering-attack-Netflixs-Crown.html" target="_blank" class="editor-rtflink">Mail on Sunday</a>. “In this case, it’s dragging up things that happened during very difficult times 25 or 30 years ago without a thought for anyone’s feelings.” “That isn’t right or fair, particularly when so many of the things being depicted don’t represent the truth.’” The depiction of a cold and disinterested Prince Charles meeting and marrying a young Princess Diana while continuing his affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles is the issue the royal family have contention with. “This is trolling with a Hollywood budget.” “The public shouldn’t be fooled into thinking this is an accurate portrayal of what really happened,” another insider added. Sunrise Royal Editor Rob Jobson said that the royal family is understandably upset by any negative portrayal of the Prince of Wales. “The bottom line is the Prince of Wales is a kind man, and the reality is that at the beginning of his marriage he did try very hard to help Diana,” he said. “I’ve known him fairly well and I think he’s a much nicer guy than he’s been shown to be.” </div> </div> </div>

Love and a happy ending: Romance fiction to help you through a coronavirus lockdown

Romance fiction has two <a href="https://www.rwa.org/Online/Romance_Genre/About_Romance_Genre.aspx">defining features</a>. First, it centres on a love story. Secondly, it always ends well. Our protagonists end up together (if not forever, then at least for the foreseeable future) and this makes the world around them a little bit better, too. In times of uncertainty, upheaval and chaos, readers often turn to romance fiction: during the second world war, Mills & Boon was able to maintain its paper ration <a href="https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198204558.001.0001/acprof-9780198204558">by arguing</a> its books were good for the morale of working women. The books the company was producing in this period were not about the war. Most never even mentioned it. Instead, they provided an escape for readers to a world where they could be assured everything was going to turn out all right: love would conquer all, villains would be defeated, and lovers would always find their way back to each other. Today, romance publishing is a <a href="https://www.rwa.org/Online/Romance_Genre/About_Romance_Genre.aspx">billion-dollar industry</a>, with thousands of novels published each year. It covers a wide range of subgenres: from historical to contemporary, paranormal to sci-fi, from novels where the only physical interaction between the protagonists is a kiss, to erotic romance where sex is fundamental to the story. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_34_(Internet_meme)">Rule 34</a> of the internet states if you can think of something, then there’s porn of it. The same, I would argue, is true for romance fiction. But where to begin? As both a scholar of romance fiction and an avid reader of it, I’ve put together this list of five great reads for people who might want to start exploring the genre. If you like Jane Austen, try… <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42279630-the-austen-playbook">The Austen Playbook</a> by Lucy Parker The Austen Playbook is the fourth book in Parker’s London Celebrities series (all only loosely connected, so you can jump in anywhere). Heroine Freddy is an actress from an esteemed West End family, trying to balance her desire to perform in musicals and crowd-pleasers over her family pushing her towards serious drama. Hero Griff is a theatre critic and his family estate is playing host to a wacky live-action Jane Austen murder mystery, in which Freddy is playing Lydia. Parker is a gifted author, and this book is a light, bright and sparkling delight. If you like (or hate!) dating apps, try… <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39863092-the-right-swipe">The Right Swipe</a> by Alisha Rai Many people now find partners on dating apps, but these apps are often <a href="https://theconversation.com/right-swipes-and-red-flags-how-young-people-negotiate-sex-and-safety-on-dating-apps-128390">not exactly friendly</a> for women. Rai addresses that to great effect in The Right Swipe, where heroine Rhiannon is the designer of a dating app designed specifically for women. She meets hero Samson the first time as a result of swiping right, and then the second time, months later, when he’s teamed up with one of her primary business rivals… If you’re fascinated by psychology, try … <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35852829-the-love-experiment">The Love Experiment</a> by Ainslie Paton Paton is one of Australia’s smartest and most underrated romance authors. The Love Experiment draws on the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167297234003">36 questions</a> developed by psychologist Arthur Aron to explore whether intimacy could be generated or intensified between two people if they exchanged increasingly personal information. The 36 questions were popularised in Mandy Len Catron’s 2015 New York Times essay <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/style/modern-love-to-fall-in-love-with-anyone-do-this.html">To Fall In Love With Anyone, Do This</a>. Here, journalist protagonists Derelie and Jackson undertake the experiment in Paton’s book, only to find love is more complex than 36 questions. If you think we need to save the oceans, try… <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42016094-project-saving-noah">Project Saving Noah</a> by Six de los Reyes This book emerges from <a href="https://romanceclassbooks.com/about/">RomanceClass</a>, a fascinating community of English-language romance writers and readers based in the Philippines. One of their distinctive features is their collaboration with local actors in Manila to perform excerpts from the books (including Project Saving Noah) at their <a href="https://romanceclassbooks.com/live-reading/aprilfeelsday2019/">regular gatherings</a>. I was privileged enough to attend one of these last year. Protagonists Noah and Lise are graduate students in oceanography competing for one spot on a research project, while simultaneously being forced to work together. Their romance is conflicted and compelling, but what stands out about this book is the vividness with which their environment – natural and academic – is constructed. If you like your protagonists to have some maturity, try… <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44084867-mrs-martin-s-incomparable-adventure">Mrs Martin’s Incomparable Adventure</a> by Courtney Milan If Milan’s name sounds familiar, it’s because she was at the centre of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-the-romance-writers-of-america-can-implode-over-racism-no-group-is-safe-130034">recent scandal</a> engulfing the Romance Writers of America, which penetrated through romance’s usual cultural invisibility. When she’s not standing up against systemic racism, Milan writes excellent, mostly historical, romance. Mrs Martin is a delightful historical romp, as our two heroines Bertrice (aged 73) and Violetta (aged 69) team up against Violetta’s terrible nephew, and fall in love and eat cheese on toast together.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133784/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jodi-mcalister-135765">Jodi McAlister</a>, Lecturer in Writing, Literature and Culture, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/love-and-a-happy-ending-romance-fiction-to-help-you-through-a-coronavirus-lockdown-133784">original article</a>.

Books

American Dirt fiasco exposes the shortcomings of publishing industry

In an early chapter of <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/American_Dirt_Oprah_s_Book_Club/FkiSDwAAQBAJ?hl=en">American Dirt</a>, the much-hyped novel now at the center of a racial controversy, the protagonist, Lydia, fills her Acapulco, Mexico, bookstore with her favorite literary classics. Because these don’t sell very well, she also stocks all “the splashy bestsellers that made her shop profitable.” Ironically, it’s this lopsided business model that has, in part, fueled the backlash to the book. In the book, Lydia’s favorite customer, a would-be poet turned ruthless drug lord, orders the massacre of Lydia’s entire family after her journalist husband writes a scathing expose. Lydia and her 8-year-old son must flee for their lives, joining the wave of migrants seeking safety in the U.S. With the border crisis as its backdrop, the book was anointed by the publishing industry as one of those rare blockbusters that Lydia might have stocked in her fictional bookstore. Its publisher called it “<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209764">one of the most important books of our time</a>,” while <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2020-01-27/oprah-winfrey-american-dirt-book-club">Oprah</a> chose it for her book club. But the author, Jeanine Cummins, is neither Mexican nor a migrant, and critics <a href="https://tropicsofmeta.com/2019/12/12/pendeja-you-aint-steinbeck-my-bronca-with-fake-ass-social-justice-literature/">savaged the book</a> for its cultural inaccuracies and damaging stereotypes. At least one library at the border <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/27/opinion/american-dirt-book.html">refused to take part in Oprah’s promotion</a>, 138 published authors wrote an <a href="https://lithub.com/dear-oprah-winfrey-82-writers-ask-you-to-reconsider-american-dirt">open letter to Oprah</a> asking her to rescind her endorsement, and the publisher canceled Cummins’ book tour, claiming <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/01/30/american-dirt-tour/">her safety was at risk</a>. <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/cmci/people/journalism/christine-larson">As someone who studies the publishing business</a>, I see this ordeal as a symptom of an industry that relies far too heavily on a handful of predetermined “big books,” and whose gatekeepers remain predominantly white. Sadly, this model has become only more powerful in the digital era. A high-stakes poker game Today’s publishing industry is driven by three truths. First, people don’t buy many books. The typical American <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/09/25/one-in-five-americans-now-listen-to-audiobooks/">read four last year</a>. Second, it’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/suwcharmananderson/2013/03/28/book-discovery-give-me-blind-dates-with-books/#1d6618f23192">hard to decide which books to buy</a>, so most people look for bestsellers or books by authors they already like. Third, nobody – not even big publishers – can predict hits. As a result, the business can sometimes seem like one big, high-stakes poker game. Like any savvy gambler, editors know that most bets are losers: People don’t buy nearly enough books to make every title profitable. In fact, only about <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/books/review/Meyer-t.html">70% of books</a> even earn back their advances. Luckily for publishers, a single hit, like Michelle Obama’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38746485-becoming?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=bwZd6RTzVB&rank=1">Becoming</a>, can subsidize the vast majority of titles that don’t make money. So when publishers think they have a winning hand, they’ll bet the house. To them, “American Dirt” seemed to have all the cards, and the book sold at auction for <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/book-deals/article/76994-book-deals-week-of-may-28-2018.html">seven figures</a>. With that much money on the table, publishers will do everything they can to ensure a payoff, channeling massive marketing resources into those select titles, often at the expense of their others. Who’s holding the purse strings? It wasn’t always like this. Back in the 1960s, publishing was a sleepy industry, filled with <a href="https://www.pw.org/content/publishing_in_the_twentyfirst_century_an_interview_with_john_b_thompson">many moderately sized firms making moderate returns</a>. Today, just <a href="https://www.bookbusinessmag.com/post/big-5-financial-reports-reveal-state-traditional-book-publishing/">five conglomerates</a> dominate global publishing. Big firms seek big profits, and, as Harvard Business School professor <a href="https://www.npr.org/2013/10/24/239795165/blockbusters-go-big-or-go-home-says-harvard-professor">Anita Elberse</a> has pointed out, it’s cheaper and easier to launch one enormous promotional effort for a single “big book” than to spread resources across those smaller bets. With each publishing house releasing just one or two big books a season, few authors can hope to produce one of those splashy bestsellers. That’s even more true for marginalized authors, because every step in the publishing and publicity process depends on <a href="https://blog.leeandlow.com/2020/01/28/2019diversitybaselinesurvey/">gatekeepers who are largely white</a> – to the tune of 85% of editors, 80% of agents, 78% of publishing executives and 75% of marketing and publicity staff. Nevertheless, the book world does occasionally publish blockbusters by authors of color, whether it’s Becoming or Tayari Jones’ <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/06/books/review/american-marriage-tayari-jones.html">An American Marriage</a>. As black author Zora Neale Hurston <a href="https://pages.ucsd.edu/%7Ebgoldfarb/cogn150s12/reading/Hurston-What-White-Publishers-Wont-Print.pdf">wrote in 1950</a>, editors “will publish anything they believe will sell” – regardless of the author’s race. But those editor beliefs about what would sell, she noted, were extremely limited when it came to authors of color. Stories about racial struggle, discrimination, oppression and hardship – those would sell. But books about marginalized people living everyday lives, raising kids or falling in love? Publishers had no interest in those stories. Of course, well-told stories of struggle are important. But when they’re the only stories that the industry aggressively promotes, then readers suffer from what novelist Chimamanda Adichie calls “<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en">the danger of a single story</a>.” When a single story gets told repeatedly about a culture that readers haven’t experienced themselves, stereotypes become more and more deeply engraved in popular culture. In a self-perpetuating cycle, publishers become even more committed to promoting that one story. Much of the criticisms around American Dirt centered on Cummins’ lack of first-hand experience – the book, for instance, was peppered with <a href="https://medium.com/@davidbowles/non-mexican-crap-ff3b48a873b5">inaccurate Spanish expressions</a> and off-key notes about the middle-class heroine’s actions and choices. While a vast network of publishing insiders would have likely looked at American Dirt before it was published, they all missed elements that were glaringly evident to informed readers. For the mostly white publishing world, Cummins’ book simply fit the narrative of the “single story” and aligned with pop culture stereotypes. Its failings easily slipped past the blind spots of the gatekeepers. The internet’s unfulfilled promise The internet was supposed to have upended this system. Just 10 years ago, pundits and scholars heralded <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/mar/22/society1/">the end of gatekeepers</a> – a world where anyone could be a successful author. And indeed, with the digital self-publishing revolution in the late 2000s, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/they-own-the-system-amazon-rewrites-book-industry-by-turning-into-a-publisher-11547655267">hundreds of thousands of authors</a>, previously excluded from the marketplace, were able to release their books online. Some even made money: <a href="https://christinelarson.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Christine-Larson-Open-networks-open-books-gender-precarity-and-solidarity-in-digital-publishing-1.pdf">My research</a> has found that romance writers doubled their median income from 2009 to 2014, largely due to self-publishing. Romance authors of color, in particular, found new outlets for books excluded by white publishers. Back in 2009, before self-publishing took off, the Book Industry Study Group identified just six categories of romance novels; by 2015, it tracked 33 categories, largely driven by self-publishing. New categories <a href="https://bisg.org/page/Fiction">included African American, multicultural, interracial and LGBT</a>. By 2018, at least <a href="https://www.actualitte.com/PDF/autopublication%20etats%20unis%20chiffres%20bowker.pdf">1.6 million books across all genres had been self-published</a>. Nonetheless, though choice is expanding, readership has stayed <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/09/25/one-in-five-americans-now-listen-to-audiobooks">flat since 2011</a>. With more books but no more readers, it’s harder than ever to get the attention of potential buyers. Meanwhile, many grassroots outlets that could push a midlist book – industry jargon for one not heavily promoted by publishers – to moderate levels of success have receded. Local media outlets that could create buzz for a local author are hollowed out or <a href="https://www.usnewsdeserts.com/">have vanished altogether</a>. In 1991, there were some <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=wruuBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT43&lpg=PT43&dq=john+b+thompson+decline+of+independent+bookstores&source=bl&ots=5l9nKK1Tbi&sig=ACfU3U01GFevWyDLEGvuDwSwDvaE7Uovzw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjatPqaiLbnAhXFXc0KHU-LCNQQ6AEwAHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=john%20b%20thompson%20decline%20of%20independent%20bookstores&f=false">5,100 indie booksellers</a>; now there are <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/03/29/598053563/why-the-number-of-independent-bookstores-increased-during-the-retail-apocalypse">half that many</a>. The onus is now on authors to promote their own work. They’re spending a full day a week doing so, according to a forthcoming paper I wrote for the Authors’ Guild. In that same paper, I find that authors of color earn less from their books than white authors; in addition to other serious problems, this indicates they may have fewer resources to promote themselves. It’s clear the internet has not delivered the democratization it promised. But it has helped authors in at least one important way. Social media has offered a powerful outlet for marginalized voices to hold the publishing industry accountable. We’ve seen this twice already this year – with American Dirt and with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-the-romance-writers-of-america-can-implode-over-racism-no-group-is-safe-130034">Romance Writers of America</a>, which lost sponsors after it penalized an author of color for condemning racial stereotypes. Such outcries are an important start. But real progress will require structural change from within – beginning with a more diverse set of editors. On Feb. 3, executives from Macmillan, the publisher of American Dirt, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/feb/03/macmillan-latinx-american-dirt-dignidad-literaria">met with Hispanic authors and promised to diversify its staff</a>. It’s an example that the rest of the publishing industry should follow. <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/christine-larson-426866">Christine Larson</a>, Assistant Professor of Journalism, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-colorado-boulder-733">University of Colorado Boulder</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/american-dirt-fiasco-exposes-publishing-industry-thats-too-consolidated-too-white-and-too-selective-130755">original article</a>.

Books

3 alternative romantic fiction authors that will heat up any beach trip

There’s no better way to escape the stresses than to put your reading into “romance” gear. For summer relief, try instead the question of the heart versus the mind. That is the core problem of much of my very favourite, intellectually inspiring fiction. Chick lit is out, I’m afraid: an avowed literary snob, I like my dilemmas of desire served up in rich, fulsome English, with slowly unravelled plots and textured characters, not two-dimensional patriarchal fairy tales dished up in elementary school grammatical structures (hides under the table). Current favourites are George Gissing’s <a href="https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/odd-women">The Odd Women</a> and an assortment of Margaret Drabble, the queen of 1970s British letters, and pretty much anything by Iris Murdoch. George Gissing For the tensions and irrationalities of romantic feeling, The Odd Women (1893) is superlative. What it does so brilliantly is take one of the burning sets of issues of the day – women’s rights, particularly in relation to marriage – and pits its intellectual and ideological propositions against the anarchic, intrusive power of dawning love. Let me lure you further. The book’s main characters are two vehement feminists, the excellently named Rhoda Nunn, and her partner in crime, the angelic yet forceful Mary Barfoot. Together – they live together, too – they seek to save single, or “odd” women from the desolate dregs of the old maids’ job market by training them up as clerks on typewriters. Suddenly, Rhoda finds herself in an odd position. An avowed spinster, determined to practice what she preaches, she is also of “strong and shapely” figure and “handsome” feature. So when Mary’s sexy cousin, Everard, begins visiting the house on return from his relaxed bachelor travels around the Orient, he takes an interest in her. Rhoda’s position is the following: “I am seriously convinced that before the female sex can be raised from its low level there will have to be a widespread revolt against sexual instinct.” Catnip for Everard who – as stubborn as Rhoda – begins a woo that is hard to resist, seeming to fall not only for Rhoda but for women’s equality, too. The delicious yet unexpected conclusion to this story is head and shoulders above your usual romance fare, the work of a master stylist who never abandons humour, even as he makes you cry. Margaret Drabble Drabble, 80 years later, gives a softer but equally crystalline gender-aware portrait of relationships. In <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/10/19/home/drabble-oates.html">The Needle’s Eye</a> (1972), reserved Simon Camish goes to a dreadful supper party and is offended by the guests’ vulgarity. But then rough-skinned, makeup-free, and self-dispossessed heiress Rose walks in, and with her genteel delicacy of manner and genuine modesty, immediately entrances Simon, himself married to a minor heiress he can’t stand. Simon gets involved in Rose’s divorce saga; desperate to play the legal knight in shining armour (he is a lawyer) to Rose’s sensitive yet deeply stubborn damsel in distress. Both reveal astonishing integrity of character as Rose is buffeted with extreme violence for rejecting social expectations by insisting on being poor. But if you’re feeling anxious, I recommend <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/15/the-millstone-the-crucial-1960s-feminist-novel">The Millstone</a>, Drabble’s 1965 peach about an adorable unmarried scholar of Elizabethan verse who gets pregnant the first time she has sex, and never tells the father, who she worships from afar. It’s both soothing and sad. The father is a BBC radio announcer, and she merely switches on the radio when she wants to feel reassured by him, which is a lovely bit of romance. It is a very slim book, but it’s perfectly formed: a story of an intelligent, liberated woman leaving the man out while falling in love with the baby everyone told her not to have on any account. Happy ending? Unclear. Like real life, in which convention, rationality and deep emotional drives do not always mesh? Definitely, but sweeter. Iris Murdoch Iris isn’t for everyone. But I have loved her ever since a friend handed me <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/20/specials/murdoch-prince.html">The Black Prince</a> (1973) on a rainy holiday in Sicily. Cowering on a deserted beach, I found myself intrigued and amused as ageing author Bradley becomes increasingly caught in a cat’s cradle of deadly desire, starring a striking assortment of women with men’s names such as Christian and Julian. Booker Prize-winning <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/feb/10/iris-murdoch-sea-booker">The Sea, the Sea</a> (1978) also completely bewitched me: once more, a story of explosive obsession ripping through the reserve of an otherwise orderly, if arrogant, English life of letters. And currently I’m savouring <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/20/specials/murdoch-sandcastle.html">The Sandcastle</a> (1957), about a middle-aged Surrey schoolmaster, Bill Mor, who falls ill-advisedly in love with the deliciously named Rain Carter, a nymph-like portrait painter hired to capture the retired headmaster. The parched school grounds, the doe-like yet strong Rain, the prudish ferocity of Mrs Mor and their children’s spectral games cast a magic spell, just as Murdoch – I assume – intended.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61549/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> Written by Zoe Strimpel, Doctoral researcher, History, University of Sussex. Republished with permission of <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/three-alternative-romantic-fiction-authors-that-will-heat-up-any-beach-trip-61549" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.

Books

Mothers anonymous: How children's books have written mum out of the story

Here’s an interesting fact. When it comes to children’s books, the word “mother” is the most frequent noun used to refer to female characters – and has been since the 19th century. But despite this, mothers are rarely the heroes or protagonists in children’s fiction – often, they don’t even have a name. They are part of the supporting cast – and sometimes they are even dead or otherwise absent. When it comes to what their children are reading, mums are usually barely visible. We’ve been studying <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/edacs/departments/englishlanguage/research/projects/glare/index.aspx">gender in children’s literature</a> by analysing the frequency of words like “mother” in collections from Beatrix Potter to modern children’s books. We compared <a href="https://clic.bham.ac.uk/">19th century children’s books</a> with <a href="https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/childrens/dictionaries-you-can-trust">contemporary children’s fiction</a> which has helped us understand how repeated language patterns reflect a gendered view of society. What is striking in both the 19th century and contemporary data, is the inequality of gender representations. When we looked at word pairs such as “he” and “she”, or “man” and “woman” the scale of the imbalance becomes clear – in the 19th-century data “he” is more than twice as frequent as “she”, while in the contemporary fiction, “he” is still 1.8 times more frequent than “she”. Meanwhile “man” appears in the 19th-century collection 4.5 times more frequently than “woman” and in the contemporary data it is 2.8 times more common. A mother’s place The range of occupations for men and women is also particularly revealing. In the 19th-century data set, as you’d expect, occupations and roles for women in society were extremely limited. Women could be queens, princesses, nurses, maids, nannies or governesses – but there were not many other options. While there may be fewer nurses, maids, nannies and governesses in the contemporary data, we still find queens and princesses. But even now, the wide range of occupations that is theoretically open to women – doctor, driver, servant, professor, officer, spy, boss, judge, farmer, pilot, scientist, minister to name just some of the frequent ones – is mostly occupied by men in children’s books. It’s yet another example of what writer and activist <a href="https://guardianbookshop.com/invisible-women-9781784741723.html">Caroline Criado Perez describes</a> as the “gender data gap”, when she uncovers the invisible bias in a world designed for men. So fiction and the real world look pretty similar. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266595/original/file-20190329-71003-mklqn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266595/original/file-20190329-71003-mklqn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> A comparison of the frequency of mentions of different types of women in 19th-century and modern children’s books. Michaela Mahlberg/Anna Cermakova, University of Birmingham, Author provided Against the background of the otherwise skewed gender representation, this makes mothers even more prominent. Mothers do not only occur frequently, they are also found across a large number of texts. Mothers feature in most of the children’s books that we studied. A comparison with other typical female characters in children’s books – witch and queen – also highlights the importance of mothers. Good mum, bad mum But the story is not often actually about the mothers. They are defined by being somebody’s mother: “Martha’s mother sent me a skipping-rope. I skip and run,” wrote Frances Hodgson Burnett in her 1911 classic, The Secret Garden. The role of mothers is primarily to look after their children. “I got nine GCSEs and am well-known for my literacy skills enforced by Mum,” wrote 16-year-old Rachel Riley in her diary in Joanna Nadin’s 2009 novel, Back to Life. Sometimes their rules cause anger or frustration in the child protagonists. “Request denied by Mum on ‘because I say so’ grounds,” Rachel reports in My Double Life (2009), another book in the same series. But mothers are always there to support their children as 14-year-old Maya’s Mum demonstrates in Tim Bowler’s 2011 psychological thriller Buried Thunder after Maya makes a horrific discovery. <blockquote> Maya went on crying. ‘OK’, said Mum. ‘It’s OK’. ‘It’s not OK’ said Maya. ‘I’m being horrible’. ‘You’re not being horrible’, said Mum. </blockquote> And, as you might expect, they are often the person for their children to confide in as Jade admits in Julia Clarke’s 2009 novel Between You and Me. “Normally I tell Mum what is happening in my life. But I can’t tell her about Jack and the failed kiss or the shock of seeing him and Sybil together.” Mothers might not typically be the main character in the story, but their presence matters. In Rhiannon Lassiter’s Bad Blood (2007) John’s mother has died and his father has remarried. But she is a constant presence in the back of his mind. “He remembered his mother’s smell, like apples and soap; the way she’d hug him goodnight, wrapping her arms around him so that they were locked together in the hug. They were small memories but they were all his.” So, while mothers might often only appear in the background, without them the story would certainly not be complete. In reality, of course, mothers play numerous, varied and important roles in the narratives of their children’s lives. And they are of course, not only mums. Something to remember. Written by Michaela Mahlberg, Professor of Corpus Linguistics, University of Birmingham and Anna Cermakova, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow, Centre for Corpus Research, University of Birmingham. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/mothers-anonymous-how-childrens-books-have-written-mum-out-of-the-story-114519">The Conversation</a>. <img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114519/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />

Books

Fact or fiction: Are these laws real or not?

It is true, Australian laws are some of the strangest rules in the world. Some are so strange and bizarre that they don’t seem real. So which laws are just urban legends and which ones are actually punishable? Scroll through the gallery above to see if these laws are real or not. Did you know any of these bizarre laws in Australia? Let us know in the comments below.

News

Why we need to change the way we think about ageing

Amal Awad’s world was turned upside down when her father was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2013. His schedule began to be filled with doctor appointments instead of retirement luxuries, and his daily activities – including driving and going out – soon grew more and more untenable for him to carry out on his own. From then on, Awad embarked on a mission to help her father and support her mother, dedicating every Friday to them. The more time Awad spent caregiving, the more she realised that her experience of navigating a new, disrupted reality with ageing parents was far more common than she thought. This became the base of her fifth book, Fridays With My Folks, where she interweaved her personal journey with wider explorations around how Australians are ageing, and the way sickness and mortality affect the afflicted and those around them. She talked with fellow carers, doctors, nurses, specialists, politicians and residents in retirement villages to delve into their insights, unveil ongoing issues and discuss solutions. The book was released in February and is available in stores now. In an interview with Over60, Awad discusses the country’s discomfort with ageing and death, her thoughts on being a caregiver and the changing children-parent dynamic that entails. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. In this book you brought attention to the many ways in which we could improve the way we look after ageing loved ones. What do you think is the most important matter to address in Australia to make a difference? There are things that we can do at a government level that are really important in terms of improving aged care facilities and how services are made available to people. But I feel like what is really important is a societal shift in how we perceive aging. We’re afraid of it, we don’t want to talk about it, a lot of older people talk about feeling like they’re invisible … the community psyche, how we perceive getting old. Something we’re all terrified of, really. I went to a bookstore to have a look and see what books are available on ageing. Most of them are about staying young, preserving your youth, and making sure you still look great and feel great. It’s like there’s no real sense of reverence or respect for the process of ageing, that you have come to this point in your life and that there’s wisdom that you can share, that you still have value as a person. Why aren’t we helping older people to continue in the workforce if that’s what they want, to keep using their mind, being active and engaged with the community at large, rather than feeling like someone we just have to take care of or look down on? And these are basic – but if you can imagine, it took 20 years for people to understand that drink driving is not just a crime, but extremely dangerous, and now you see people have designated drivers. So, imagine if you had two decades of people talking about ageing in a different tone, in a different way. I feel like it’s a slow-moving shift, I don’t think that there’s any quick fix, but I think we need to address how we think about it. You also discussed about how getting to know your parents as they’re ageing is a “gift”. Could you elaborate on that? I feel like most of us, and I’ve heard this from other people, still feel like children in front of their parents. When we get into our adulthood, we’re thinking freedom, detachment from our past – we want to just live our own life, and yet the minute we’re in the presence of our parents, whatever your relationship with them, you revert to be a child. I had a very cultural upbringing, I was brought up in a very conservative family, and so my parents just always struck me as very strict people, a bit uncompromising … But [after caring for my parents] what they became to me was human. That sounds really silly to say that, but I really thought of them in a certain way and I’ve gotten to see how human they were, that they had this emotional spectrum I got to give them credit for, that my dad’s dreams and goals were very wrapped up in desires to also make his own father proud. I didn’t know that about him. I didn’t see the way my dad could become emotional about things. There was more than one moment where I’ll just go, “Wow, this is extraordinary”, because it’s so powerfully simple and yet it’s beautiful to see this side of my parents. I really felt like it was a gift, because some people go through their whole life and not find that. They might even look after their parents or give care of some kind, but not feel a kinship with their parents, not feel the need to connect to them. So, I think it’s just getting to know each other. There’s no real rule around how that looks, what it feels like. One person in the book said, “Meet them where they’re at.” And it was like a reformation of the relationship, it was like renewing things. And it just felt very much like a gift to me, because it means that I could sort of move into a new energy with my parents and understand them better. <img style="width: 397px; height: 300px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7824294/aawad-harbor.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/714249570c7f4c78bd85aae351290ca8" /> Amal Awad's parents at the Sydney Harbour Bridge, circa 1970 What about people who don’t necessarily have the best relationships with their parents – is there also that kind of accepting and understanding? A lot of the people that I spoke to don’t have good relationships with their parents – I would say the majority of people don’t think they have a good relationship with their parents. There is a lot of angst, resentment from the past, and what happens when parents get older and possibly sick and suddenly need your help? All that comes rushing to the surface. So, this person has to figure out, “How do I do this in a way where I’m not being resentful, but I can help my parents?” And there are examples in the book on that, where one woman was very vocal in saying, “I don’t think this is fair. I didn’t have a good childhood, I didn’t have a good relationship with my parents, and I don’t want to look after them.” For me, the opportunities for growth [are] in another way. It’s not that you have to suddenly fall in love with your parents or they have to fall in love with you. It’s about acceptance, where you don’t need them to change in order to do what’s right … What this is about is an unfurling, an unfolding of your life in a very, very deep way, and it’s a pathway to understanding and forgiveness if possible, but also just acceptance. It’s saying, “I don’t need you to be the perfect mom or dad, I don’t need you to be everything amazing, you just need to be you and I would try to meet you at that point.” But if I don’t have a good sense of myself and love or care for myself, I’m not going to be able to show up and not feel that resentment. It’s about truly embracing the potential for growth and expansion in these relationships. If that’s not possible, then find the solution where you are not going to go crazy because you just can’t bear being with your parents. There are going to be situations where maybe things can’t be fixed at all, and maybe you’re not the right person to care for them. So maybe you just make sure they get the right care, that’s possibly a solution for some people. <img style="width: 400px; height: 300px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7824295/aawad-today.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/383bfdd9cf3f4b38b640a0909a195e34" /> Amal Awad's parents, 2018 To close this off – how is your father, and how are you doing as his carer? I really struggle with that term “carer”, because I spend two days [per week] with them – originally it was just Friday, and now it’s a couple of days a week – I don’t feel like I am one, but I’ve been told what I technically do is caring. My dad’s alright … he’s still very quiet. Kidney failure is a really terrible thing to go through, it’s quite tiring on the body, but my father is an active person, he’s very vital in a sense that he doesn’t just want to sit at home, he wants to be out in the world and he still maintains that aspect of his personality which I really love. And as I said, I just try to meet him where he’s at, I try to provide support and care for my father and my mother. It’s really about just offering support and making sure I’m not expecting anything of my father in terms of his own trajectory, his own journey. I was quite depressed when I first started writing the book and then by the end of it, I had come to find a bit more peace. But you know, there are days where it feels very unfair, and it still feels a bit like “I don’t know how to do this better” or “how to fix this”, and then I have to remind myself that it’s not my job to fix it, it’s just I need to be there and support and care where I can. Fridays with My Folks, RRP $40, Vintage Australia

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