Author: Emma

Emma Barry is a teacher, novelist, recovering academic, and former political staffer. She lives with her high school sweetheart and a menagerie of pets and children in Virginia, and she occasionally finds time to read and write.

On Religion and Romance

Why don’t romance novels tend to feature religion?

To spin it another way, why is it that outside of inspirational romance, religion tends to be excluded from or mentioned only in passing in non-inspirational (or straight genre) romance?

This is a particularly salient question in the historical context as church membership was a significant part of culture–in fact, perhaps one of the most significant parts of culture, especially in some of the popular settings for historical romances.

(For example, in The Feminization of American Culture, a book which despite its title is largely about Victorian American theology, literary scholar Ann Douglass argues that three-quarters of mid-nineteenth-century Americans were active members of churches, perhaps the highest degree of religiosity in American history. The period was also one of great religious fervor in the UK. And while we’re having a bit of an aside, let me say also that for simplicity’s sake, and because it reflects the bulk of the genre, this post will assume a western lens. I would love love love for the genre to be more diverse in terms of ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, class, race, religion, and politics than it is, so don’t take my discussion of the genre “as is” as endorsement of the status quo.)

Even in the contemporary period, religion remains a significant part of the cultural landscape. So if romance is a realistic genre, if it is frequently set in the world that we know, and if it represents scenarios that could happen/are familiar to us, then what gives with the absence of faith?

Continue reading “On Religion and Romance” →

2013 in Review

The last twelve months have been strange, which is to say stranger than normal because the baseline in my life is, well, strange. At the start of the year, I had many goals and most have not been achieved. But here is what I did do!

  • I wrote about 100,000 words of fiction, which included finishing the book that’s now called Special Interests, writing a sequel to it, and starting three other projects. I also wrote innumerable words of non-fiction, emails, and blog posts (some highlights of the latter).
  • I sold a book and then, because that had been so much fun, I sold three more.
  • My first novel, Brave in Heart, came out in July, whereupon I discovered convincing people to read your book might actually be more difficult than writing one.
  • But the sting of that faded because working with critique partners, beta readers, and editors who take you and your work seriously is awesome.
  • I revised Special Interests and now I can’t wait for you to read it (April 7, 2014; mark that down someplace).
  • I read many wonderful books, and even more articles, blog posts, and tweets about books. I generally came to feel like contemporary print culture is a vibrant place that I want to contribute to in as many ways as I can.

But for the past few weeks, I have been feeling very doldrum-y. My writing and creative process is like a tide. I’m the sun-bleaching-the-coral moment, waiting for inspiration to sweep back in. I know this: next year, I want to read more words, to write more and better words, and to work more productively and consistently.

As Yul Brynner once said in a movie, “So let it be written; so let it be done.”

I’ll see you in 2014!

Friday Flash Giveaway

So it’s my children’s birthday. Children’s plural. Birthday singular. Yes, three years ago I had twins and ever since then, it’s been sheer utter craziness.

To celebrate, I’m giving away one digital copy of my debut novel, Brave in Heart, via Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice). Just a leave a comment below and I’ll pick a winner at random after midnight EST on Friday, December 27, 2013.

Cheers!

A Fine Romance Eve: Desk Set

There are lots of lovely Christmas romances on film, including The Shop Around the Corner, Love Actually, and While You Were Sleeping; many other holiday classics include secondary romance plots (It’s a Wonderful Life, Meet Me in St. Louis, Miracle on 34th Street, The Bishop’s Wife). Today’s very special Christmas Eve edition of A Fine Romance Friday is going another direction, however, a more Hepburn and Tracy direction, specifically to Walter Lang’s underrated 1957 film Desk Set.

Desk Set takes place in a totally fantasy world in which Hepburn’s television studio research library is being threatened by a new fangled invention, Tracy’s brand new computer. See, something like that would never happen in real life. Anyhow, Hepburn and Tracy play refreshingly middle-aged, smart, career-driven people who banter and bicker, reveal vulnerabilities and attractions, all while navigating a changing world.

Hepburn has gone about as far as a woman of her time could go, which is to the head of  small department with no further promotions in sight, and into the arms of a long-term boyfriend, a sniveling mid-level executive who doesn’t intend to propose and isn’t half-worthy of her. She’s a woman in need of the feminist revolution. Tracy, who has been so wrapped up in his work that he’s neglected to develop any social skills, bruises his way in, neglecting to be honest about the corporate changes at the studio and his technological innovation and setting up the Big Misunderstandings of the third act.

And it does feel like an act. The material’s stage roots are evident, Tracy isn’t half as convincing as an engineer as Hepburn is as librarian, and the computer, when it arrives, is amusing as hell. But Hepburn and Tracy are always magic together on screen and the two big holiday set pieces–one involving a sort of clown car on Thanksgiving and the other a wild office Christmas party–are worth the price of admission. Behold a marvelously drunk Hepburn and be grateful.

So among my many Christmas comfort viewings, I make room for Desk Set.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

The Ten Best Movie Kisses Ever

I’m procrastinating. And in moments of procrastination, I blog. And in case in moments of procrastination you read blogs, I present for your viewing pleasure a list of my most treasured lip-locking moments in cinema. I’m stealing this idea quite shamelessly from Katy Regnery, who blogged about her favorite movie kisses a few weeks ago.

Follow me below the fold…

Continue reading “The Ten Best Movie Kisses Ever” →

One-Sentence Pitch: Special Interests

I had to write a one-sentence summary of my forthcoming book Special Interests and it turned out pretty well so I thought I’d share.

A shy labor organizer and an arrogant congressional aide clash over the federal budget but find love the more difficult negotiation.

Is it April yet?

A Fine Romance Friday: Chungking Express

Like any good American on the day after Thanksgiving, I’m in a bit of a food coma. Not a tryptophan coma–I don’t like and therefore never make turkey; yes, I know, I should revisit that “good American” thing–but a definite one-too-many-helpings-of-pumpkin-pie, why-yes-one-more-roll-would-be-lovely haze. So today’s selection has to be food-related. And my favorite food-related romance is Wong Kar-Wai’s Chungking Express.

We’ve already talked about In the Mood for Love, which is a stunning film, though ultimately not a genre romance. Chungking Express is, however. It’s upbeat, charming, and very very romantic. It’s a perfect post-Thanksgiving fine romance.

It tells two love stories about heart-broken cops in mid-90s Hong Kong. In the first (which is a fairly brief amuse-bouche), a nameless cop waits a month to move on after his girlfriend breaks up with him, meting out a piece of pineapple every day as he works through his grief and memories. When the month is up, he meets a mysterious drug smuggler and invites her up to his room. Things don’t go as planned. In the second story, a young woman working at a fast food noodle place is in love with a cop she serves everyday. He’s too busy nursing a broken heart to notice. Until he does. The end.

Let’s count what’s good here. 1) Tony Leung. Basically, I think he’s incredibly sexy and I’d watch him read the phone book. With subtitles. 2) Michael Galasso’s music, both the original score and the soundtrack choices. This film has the best cinematic use of The Mamas and the Papas’ “California Dreamin'” ever. 3) Christopher Doyle’s cinematography. Doyle and Wong Kar-Wai have a long history of working together, including on In the Mood for Love. But while the cinematography of ITMFL calls attention to itself, almost takes over the film, here it’s invisible and innovative until it does something so casually brilliant that it changes how you understand the profilmic events. Here’s a thoughtful analysis of a 22-second shot from the film that encapsulates the longing in the second story perfectly. 4) The use of classic cinema and longing. In my haze, I’m not going to be able to say this as well as I’d like, but the film uses filmic nostalgia as a stand-in for nostalgia for the past. In the context of the two stories (not to mention the film’s visual coding), it’s a perfect metaphor.

This all makes it sound very pretentious and it’s not. Chungking Express is delightful. If you haven’t seen any Wong Kar-Wai, it’s the perfect place to start. I’ll be watching it with dim sum tonight!

The Special Interests Playlist

There are times–entire weeks of my life actually–when I forget that I have books releasing next year. Two of them. And then I remember and minor panic attacks ensue.

What if no one reads my book? What if no one likes my book? How am I going to get people to read and like my book?

The book in question is the one formerly known as The Easy Part, now known as Special Interests. It will appear in an ebook store near you on April 4, 2014. And while the back cover copy, excerpts, etc. are forthcoming, this morning, in a fit of panic, I created a playlist for the book. Because that’s how you sell books: with an enticing playlist.

Regardless, if you use Spotify and want to listen to the most-played tracks from when I was writing the first draft a year ago, you can check it out here.

In the meantime, I’ll be over here having a panic attack.

And Yet Do I Read

(This is a meditation on how I read. Here are my thoughts on why and what.)

As you probably know I wrote a book, a historical romance set during the American Civil War called Brave in Heart. It released in July and a handful of people read it. Some went so far as to write things down about it. Some of the things were joyous and celebratory, others were more measured or censorious, but still: people read what I had written and said thoughtful things about it. All together, it was one of the nicest intellectual experiences I’ve had.

In becoming an author, in adding creator to reader and scholar in my list of bookish roles, I began to wonder about the process of reading–and not just reading but evaluation. How do we do it? And how should we?

Continue reading “And Yet Do I Read” →