Year: 2003

Doug Atkinson said exactly what I was thinking.

See, I was thinking to myself, Hunh. Okay. Here’s all these people crabbing (notice I didn’t say “bìŧçhìņg”) about a marketing hook (which, as Kathleen noted, she actually came up with. All I did was suggest it to DC) but that’s all that’s happening. Crabbing. So what else could be offered? “Broad Strokes?” “Lady Killers?” And then I thought, Hey. Wait. So many folks here seem to know so much better what will work and what won’t.

All right: A marketing hook. Five words or less, preferably, to sell the concept of three titles emphasizing female empowerment, at least one of which has a noir-ish tone to it, and all of which have a more risque slant to them in terms of story matter than the average DC book (although not *quite* as risque as Vertigo.) Oh, and it can’t be offensive to any woman anywhere.

Sing out, Louise.

PAD

You know, the entire direction into which the “Marketing Fallen Angel” thread has skewed puts me in mind of “Soul Mates,” one of the two episodes I wrote for “Babylon 5.”

For that episode, I developed a storyline that, to me, made great sense: Delenn, with her newly acquired human characteristics, has a spectacularly bad hair day because she has no cultural clue how to care for her new mane. Ivanova is brought in to help the flummoxed ambassador cope with it, only to find herself speechless at the end when Delenn inquires as to these “odd cramps” she’s started experiencing.

When that episode aired, I got hammered by a number of female fans (and, of course, male fans expressing outrage on behalf of the females) for writing an episode that had two strong women worrying about haircare and periods. Interestingly, when I first arrived on the set of B5 and met Claudia Christian, Claudia told me with genuine enthusiasm, “I was so thrilled when I read this script! Finally, an episode in which we get to act like women!”

I’m sorry. I know it’s annoying to have one’s arguments dismissed as politically correct. But you know what? Women have curves. Men notice them. Some women like that notice. Some don’t. Some are flattered. Some aren’t. To me, the problem stems from the notion that women can *only* be appreciated if sexuality is ignored, as if it’s some part that can be surgically excised and set aside.

It’s a crock. Sexuality is part of everyone. It’s part of the package. Women and men are not the same, and sometimes emphasizing those differences can be fun. And sometimes it’s even fun to act like our genders.

PAD

An anthrax scare was caused at Random House and Del Rey (where Kathleen works) today when a package was discovered brimming with white powder.

Turns out the package was postmarked April 1, and preliminary testing on the substance comes back negative. Apparently it was someone’s idea of an April Fool’s Joke.

Hilarious.

PAD

Ooookay…still pondering…

Continue Reading “LAST NIGHT’S ANGEL (SPOILERS)” →

Folks have been asking how DC is planning to market “The Fallen Angel.” There’s some concern that it will receive little-to-no attention, and just be tossed out there so it can safely sail under retailer radar and quickly vanish.

Thus far that doesn’t seem to be the plan. According to what I’ve been told, “The Fallen Angel” is being promoted as the anchor book of three new titles featuring female leads that will–ideally–appeal both to male readers, and also attract that great untapped resource, women. There will be a major marketing push for these three books, of which “The Fallen Angel” will be the first, with the other two following shortly thereafter in subsequent months. I’ve suggested the collective marketing hook of referring to the new titles as “Dangerous Curves.” We’ll see if they go with that.

I believe “Fallen Angel” should be in the next Previews. Here’s hoping the book gets good positioning.

PAD

I was so involved with tending to Caroline yesterday that I missed the Mets opening day game…a game that such stalwarts as Bob Greenberger were attending, and I’d missed somehow the e-mails they’d sent me asking me if I wanted to go with them. So I was *really* annoyed with myself.

I tuned into MSG late and they were talking about the game, but they weren’t putting up the score. Then they posted the stats on Glavine. I took one look at his ERA–12.73–and thought, “Oy, THIS can’t be good.”

15-2. The most runs the Cubs have gotten on opening day since ’99…1899.

Oy.

PAD

There is much talk and outrage over Marines shooting up a vehicle filled with women and children that was apparently fleeing Baghdad.

Not to diminish the tragedy of it, but not only was it inevitable, it’ll happen again. Look at the situation. Iraqi soldiers hiding behind civilians. Iraqis signing up as suicide attackers. Car bombs being driven into soldiers. All that must have been going through the soldiers’ minds.

A major point of contention seems to be whether warning shots were fired in time. I’m thinking it wouldn’t have made a difference. Iraqis are being told that one of the requirements of being a marine is that you have to kill and eat a baby. I think they were planning to try and run the check point, not to ram it, but to get past what they perceived as a horrifying enemy invading their home. If they’d approached slowly, gotten out of the car, arms raised, they’d have lived. But they didn’t know that. They probably thought if they’d done that, the Americans would have taken their children and turned them into K-rations.

PAD