Men are from Mars, women are from...well you know the rest

 I thought I'd repost this article including the comments, the final one being from the Kitsch slapper herself - It's all a bit of fun, you know.


I've been Kitsch slapped - specialising in bad taste from a feminist chick's perspective, or so the subtitle goes. It's a great website that offers a female perspective on - well, just about everything.

I was surprised to find an article written around my review of an old copy of the pulp magazine, Ranch Romances -

"Contrary to what Jack Martin/Gary Dobbs says, I do not see Ranch Romance (& Adventures) magazines as primarily for women.
Jack/Gary says they must be “aimed at young women since all of the stories have a romantic element to them.” But come on now, dude, I know this may be difficult for a man who loves Westerns to admit but the whole genre – from books to films — is nothing but male romance novels and dick flicks. Sure, there’s some action in there; but the guns and body counts are there to win the damsel, the dame — the 500 miles he would walk just to fall down at her door.
Stop living in denial."

Check the piece out HERE - And for the record I still reckon Ranch Romances is one for the birds.

Gary Dobbs/Jack Martin said...

I'm not saying that there was a heck of a lot of great writing in Ranch Romances. I've read the dozen or so issue I own cover to cover, and yet all westerns are to some extent romances. But I maintain that given the male dominated society at the time this magazine was published, it was aimed at the female market. Some true greats among the writers listed in the comments above. Me I'm off to write another dick flick.

1 February 2011 01:11

Chap O'Keefe said...

I'm sure the publishers aimed RR at the female market. But does that mean it's "for the birds"? I don't own a single copy of the actual mag myself, unfortunately, but the content other than the fiction (e.g. ads, readers' letters) would make the magazine's marketing thrust clear. I do know its longest-serving editor was Fanny Ellsworth, and many of its best stories were later reprinted in books produced for western readers in general. Our friend Laurie Powers ran a great post on RR last July 10 at her Wild West blog, which I believe is where this string had its origins. Laurie's piece and the comments from her readers are well worth re-reading. Undoubtedly, and despite "male-dominated society", most western fiction of RR's heyday had a strong romance element. I'm currently re-reading a 1930s western novel (one not "aimed at young women") that on page 10 contains the following. A cattle drive across unforgiving desert is contemplated: "A quick thought came to Clint Seeley. For a girl like that he would drive a herd of mavericks straight through the main street of hell. "'Let your men begin shuckin' out cattle again tomorrow, Mr Savage. We're going to drive the sands, and we're going to get through -- for Miss Lura.'" That certainly backs up your scolding critic's contention. And more than a few of us still write romance into our westerns without realizing it! Read the excerpt you'll find here: http://chapokeefe.webs.com/bhemrb

1 February 2011 12:04

Deanna aka Pop Tart said...

First, thanks, Gary/Jack, for continuing the conversation here :) I know I'm late (I'm always late -- unless it's a deadline!), but I wanted to add a few things here... To Chap, I'm not sure, but it sounds like you are interpreting "for the birds" in the derogatory sense as opposed to how I believe Gary/Jack intended it, as slang for women, i.e. "chicks." Then again, perhaps I am misinterpreting you? ;) Also, I did link to Ms Power's post as well. Personally, I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with stories/entertainment for men than there is in doing so for women. I do however feel there should be a certain amount of honesty in doing so for the sake of integrity, if nothing else -- and men, I fear, are more reluctant to do so than women. Such honesty/integrity would go a long way in terms of respecting gender preferences, if not better understanding of them. PS Double bonus points for the "off to write another dick flick" line. I actually did laugh out loud at that :p

Getting in touch with my feminine side

I've been Kitsch slapped - specialising in bad taste from a feminist chick's perspective, or so the subtitle goes. It's a great website that offers a female perspective on - well, just about everything.

I was surprised to find an article written around my review of an old copy of the pulp magazine, Ranch Romances -

"Contrary to what Jack Martin/Gary Dobbs says, I do not see Ranch Romance (& Adventures) magazines as primarily for women.
Jack/Gary says they must be “aimed at young women since all of the stories have a romantic element to them.” But come on now, dude, I know this may be difficult for a man who loves Westerns to admit but the whole genre – from books to films — is nothing but male romance novels and dick flicks. Sure, there’s some action in there; but the guns and body counts are there to win the damsel, the dame — the 500 miles he would walk just to fall down at her door.
Stop living in denial."

Check the piece out HERE - And for the record I still reckon Ranch Romances is one for the birds.

Romance under Western Skies - CHASTITY BUSH INTERVIEW

The romance genre is, at present, one of the most popular genres with buyers of eBooks. Indeed the genre has long been a mainstay of the entire book market - Mills and Boons with their cheap and cheerful paperbacks may dominate, but there's much more than that out there. There are romances set in every period of history and some take place in the far flung future.

And so, red rose in hand, the Tainted Archive sat down for a Q&A session with romantic scribe, Chastity Bush.


TA: What can readers expect when they pick up one of your books for the first time?



CB: A lot of excitement. I write romance but I want to have more to a story than, boy meets girl, girl plays hard to get, boy wins girls heart and they live happily ever after. I like to have a lot of mystery and some suspense on top of the romance.



TA: You tell me you're working on a romance with a western setting. Why did you chose this time and place?



CB:Tumbleweeds is a work in progress that I have had niggling at the back of my mind for a little while. I have written one other romantic western entitled Savage Rescue which was a bestseller for Hearts On Fire Books at fictionwise.com until the closing of Hearts On Fire. Tumbleweeds is a follow up to that story based on one of the characters from that story. I have always loved a good western be it a novel, movie, television show ect. There is something about that time period that holds a certain level of romance and I wanted to tap into that for this story.


TA: So what comes first character or plot with you?


CB:I think that strong characters are what make a great book. I have had a lot of great reviews and most of those talk about the outstanding characters. I think that if you have characters that stand out and come alive off of the pages you don’t have to worry as much about getting your plot absolutely perfect. Plot does matter and I try to make mine great but I concentrate more on the characters. As for outlining, I wing that as well. I find that if I plot and plan my writing is just not as suspenseful.


TA: At the moment the book business is in a state of flux. What do you think the future holds for readers and writers?


CB:As long as readers keep buying ebooks over traditional books I see ebooks becoming the most popular form of book. I myself would rather hold a paper book in my hands. I like the feel of going into the bookstore and being able to hold a persons work in my hands and not spending hundreds of dollars on a device to hold a five dollar book. I have nothing against ebooks and welcome change but I wish that one did not over ride the other.


TA: Describe you're writing regime.

CB:When it comes to a regime I am not sure that I really have one. I get my kids off to school and take a seat in front of my computer and whatever comes out comes out. I try to do as much writing as I can before my family gets home so that I can spend as much time with them as I can. I don’t really do a lot of planning of what I am going to put on the pages before I sit down to write. I guess you could say that I wing it.

TA: What advice would you give new writers?


CB:No matter who you are or how good your writing is you will get a rejection from someone. But don’t let that get you down; it is not grounds to quit. Keep going. Whatever ideas are floating around in your head, do not think that they are too different or too boring to put down on paper. You never know what the next big thing will be and it just could be you. And research who you submit to, do not submit to a publisher just because it looks like a good deal, there are some great website to search publishers and agents, take advantage of them so that a publisher does not take advantage of you.

THANK YOU CHASTITY
CHECK OUT CHASTITY'S BOOKS HERE

RANCH ROMANCES August 1944

Subtitled: Love stories of the Real West, Ranch Romances was a pulp western magazine that was published by Warner publications of Chicago. It was a long running magazine and this issue is number 4 in volume 120. The cover price is 15c (I paid £12 for it) and it's in very good condition for a pulp of this age. There were also British editions of the magazine and these are fairly easy to find but this is an original American issue.

It contains 7 stories, one of which is a novel, another a novelette and the rest are short stories. The novel is this issue, which boasts the cover image, is Rangeland Bridgehead by Clee Woods.

The magazine seems to have been aimed at young women since all of the stories have a romantic element to them. The male characters are all macho, strong and domineering while the female characters are weak, sweet and in need of protection. They also have a habit of fainting clean away at the first sign of trouble - maybe there were a few male writers among those female pen names.

One of the things I always enjoy about the old pulps is the letters page - readers could always be relied upon to send off a note to the editor and not always in praise of the respective magazine. The letter page is this issue though is largely given over to pleas for pen pals.

A 17 year old boy from Marietta, Miss, who lists his interests as riding his bike, collecting stamps and sports want to correspond with people, of either sex with as view to friendship.

Maybe he should have gotten in touch with Delores from Wishek, who is 15 years old with long blond hair and blue eyes. She likes skating and dancing and is looking for loads of letters from pen pals out there. There's a poem entitled Cowboy Sergeant from Sam Allen Cofer from Texas and another from Juanita Penningtom of Hamilton entitled Cowboy in Khaki and is a touching poem that tells of how she misses her cowboy now that he's serving in the army. Remember the magazine was published during the penultimate year of World War II. Another poem tells of the author's desire to become a cowgirl.

The AD's are also fascinating with companies making claims about their product that are often outrageous and sometimes hilarious. Radio was a big thing at the time and several adverts are offering the reader the chance to become a radio expert and make big big money.

"Shortages in trained, skilled men (apparently women were too busy in the kitchen!) run into the hundreds of thousands. Wartime demand for radio experts is tremendous - so train now with National Schools of California."

The Charles Atlas AD is present and correct though what it is doing in a magazine with a primarily female readership is beyond me. There's also details of a course that will turn you into a fingerprint expert so you can go into the exciting world of law enforcement.

Then we've got AD's for the treatment of piles - Page's Palliative Pile Preparations - you'll bless the day you read this. Another AD offers several volumes of cowboy songs which will make you Sign like a Cowboy and The Richard Brothers of Chicago are asking for Poems to be used in a musical setting. The Newell Company have a new technique that they claim will guarantee you stop smoking, Pulvex flea powder is apparently the favourite among dog owners, Crown Dental are offering a free sample of their plate reliner that will tighten your false teeth and half a dozen other AD's are offering further courses in the wonderful modern technology called radio.

All in all another great addition to the Archive.