Five Special Title Lists Open for Submission
After a brief break we’re happy to announce that this morning five Special Title Lists are open for new submissions: (1) Spies, P.I.’s, & Warriors; (2) War; (3) Cons, Burglars, and Pickpockets; (4) Amnesia…or not; and (5) Rakes and Rogues.
We look forward to seeing your submissions for these lists starting today Monday March 17 and going for the next two weeks ending Sunday, March 30 at midnight. As a reminder, any additions to the list have to be: (1) the best of the best, (2) stand the test of time, and (3) actually fit the list for which they were submitted.
Amnesia…or Not. This list is so self evident that it doesn’t even have a description! Last updated in June of 2009, this is the place for great romances featuring heroines or heroes with amnesia, or who are pretending to have amnesia.
Spies, P.I.’s & Warriors. This list was last updated in February of 2010 and features romances with heroes or heroines who are Spies, P.I.’s, Warriors, and other Men (or women) in Uniform. The heroes and heroines you will find on this list are those where being a Warrior (or Spy, Cop, PI or In the Armed Services) isn’t just a job description; it’s a state of mind, a part of who they are. A romance won’t make the list if the hero is a Marine, but it plays absolutely no part in the story, either in the hero’s actions or thoughts. Being a Marine (or Spy, Cop, PI, etc.) must be integral to the character’s state of mind and/or to the plot. And considering how it sometimes seems every other romance features a Regency spy or Navy Seal hero, please restrict your nominations for this list to the most excellent among the excellent – otherwise we’ll be swamped!
War. This list was started in November 2001 – because during that year we felt very strongly that it added an important category to our Special Titles Listings – as an extension of the Spies, P.I.’s and Warriors list, and was last revised in April 2010. The heroes and heroines on this list have are living through or have lived through war, and it has a huge impact on their lives. They may be scarred inside and out, they may have lost loved ones or their home. But with all the sadness and horror, this list contains examples of people rising above themselves, of caring and of healing. There may be a few overlaps with the list above, but when you nominate a book, could you very kindly consider whether the novel’s main focus rather is the war situation and its aftermath (the War list), or whether it rather is the soldier profession (the Spies, P.I.’s and Warriors list)? And could you please, in the field “reason for submitting”, indicate which war the novel is about?
Cons, Burglars, and Pickpockets. While the heroes or heroines in these books may be nice, their occupation definitely isn’t. Yes, this list — last updated in January of 2010 — features heroes or heroines on the other side of the law.
Rakes and Rogues. This list, last updated in April of 2009, features heroes who are a “rake” or a “rogue.” While these terms are often used interchangably, they are not the same. In romance novels, the rake is used as a term for a ladies’ man, a bon vivant and possibly a libertine while the rogue is used as a term for a scoundrel, a man considered dangerous (perhaps he is a smuggler or is thought to have murdered his first wife), a man who may be acting outside the law or the prevalent code of honor. On the other hand, if he is an actual con artist or criminal, he should go on the Cons, Burglars, and Pickpockets list (see above). Rakes and rogues are a romance staple so we hope you will nominate those heroes that touched your heart so we can highlight the best this category has to offer. Often a man labeled as a rake or rogue is only a pretender, but for purposes of this list, you’ll still find him here.
As with the Young Adult Special Title List last month, we’re continuing to use an external site (surveymonkey) for your entries. Instead of one big blank space in which you list everything, we have divided the ballot by the titles you submit. You will enter in separate spaces for each book the title, author, the list you are submitting it for (Two-Hanky, Spies, etc.), the subgenre of the list, and reason for submitting the book. The ballot has space for you to recommend up to 20 new titles for the lists. Have more than 20 recommendations? Just fill out a second ballot. Please note that you do not have to recommend 20 titles. If you have only one recommendation, complete the information for it, and then scroll down to the bottom of the ballot and click on the “DONE” button. Once you have clicked on DONE you will be directed to a standard surveymonkey page. Be assured that if you end up on this page, your submission has reached us.
When we first began updating the Special Title Lists in September of 2012 we asked you to tell us which lists you wanted to see updated first. After we worked our way through your most requested lists we asked you to pick your favorites again. We’ve slowly worked through most of your favorites and are now down to the remainder of the lists that just a few of you wanted to see updated. So, we’ll admit to being a bit nervous: just how many submissions will we get for these five lists? We hope you have read some wonderful books that fit into these categories and we look forward to your submissions. You will find the criteria and submission ballot here.
Cindy, Rike, LinnieGayl
Also going throigh the other updated lists, I now see most paranormal stories are listed under alternate reality. Perhaps the new submission form could be updated to say “”Alternate Reality (including contemporary paranormal)”” or something. I was unsure at the time I submitted so I checked miscellaneous.
And one last thing. I was trying to go through the older posts and noticed not all of the special titles listings posts are tagged as such (like this one http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=11115) Any way to add the tag to some of these older posts?
Just wanted to say I don’t like the new submission form. It’s so much more time consuming to fill out.
Okay, it was more time consuming, but I guess it makes things easier on your end. I hope the comments all made it through. The small window smushed them up so I ended up writing everything out in a Word document and copying the info over.
My question deals with the “”Cons, Burlgars, and Pickpockets”” list.
I take it, when we consider “”cons,”” we’re talking about people who run cons either for “”a living”” or for fun, but not people who are — in a sense — conning people for other reasons. Two that come to mind which I recently read are Vicki Lewis Thompson’s “”Mr. Valentine”” and Jane Blackwood’s “”The Sexiest Dead Man Alive.””
In the former case, a male romance author writes under a pseudonym and doesn’t want anyone (including his publisher) to know that he’s a guy and he gets his female friend to pretend to be the author. They are basically trying to “”pull off and maintain a con,”” but I didn’t see them as con artists, per se, right?
In the latter case, a famous actor who everyone thinks is dead is actually alive and he’s been hiding out and fooling people all these years into thinking he’s dead. When the heroine finds out, he co-opts her into his “”con”” which isn’t based on monetary gain or other nefarious reasons. He literally feels he has good, moral reasons for what he’s doing. So, I take it this doesn’t count either, right?
Sandylynn. Your take on the list is the same as mine. The list description is very brief, “”Romances featuring heroes or heroines on the other side of the law.”” I think we may need to expand it a bit, but hopefully it helps explain the difference currently.
Woohoo! So happy to see “”Cons, Burglars, and Pickpockets”” on the list for submissions!
Glad we hit a list you like, Corinna.
I may have it wrong, but I thought the original meanings of rake & rogue were somewhat the inverse of what you said.
I thought rake was short for rakehell, and a rakehell was a thoroughly nasty person with little or no conscience.
I thought rogue had a more naughty than nasty connotation: a rogue may misbehave, but people like him anyway.
Hi Mark,
I’m updating this list and I was struggling with the definitions also. From what I can tell the term Rake has more to do with moral standards – drinks to excess, gambles has lots of sex. Whereas a Rogue is someone you like despite the fact that they do something you yourself disapprove of.
So for me, a rake could be a rogue (drunk but fun loving so people enjoy his company) or he can be someone no one wants around. A rogue, meanwhile is always likeable despite doing something maybe society frowns on. (Owner of a gambling establishment).
I do have to keep reminding myself about the difference because before this list I did think of the words as interchangeable.
Finally, you can be offended if you are called a rake and flattered if you are called a rogue.
CindyS
Nothing to add (every one I thought of was already on a list). Just wanted to comment how amazed I am at the number of amnesia books. Who knew!