Okay, there are days when I absolutely adore the cheesiness of the Romance Genre, and this hysterical commercial is exactly why:

Since becoming a published author, I’m far more aware of imagery than I used to be. I’m always looking at things and wondering if they would make a good cover. Using Stumble-Upon today I fell over these photographs which blew me away and I thought I’d share. I love everything about these photos.

They are staged so beautifully, and everything about them reads like the story of some fabulously interesting ancient woman. My brother-in-law is trying to convince me that my next historical novel should be about Empress Theodora and I imagine that these photos could be very inspiring to a cover artist.

I’ve been saying for a while that I think the more inventive and creative writing in the industry is happening on the erotica end of the scale. Megan Hart, one of the most literary writers in th genre, has been pushing that envelope with deep and thoughtful novels that happen to center around sexual topics.

My editor at Berkley is quoted in this very interesting article in Publisher’s Weekly:

Relationship-centered erotica is very important at Berkley, where executive editor Cindy Hwang notes that although the imprint has only been publishing its Heat line since 2005, “In that short period of time, we’ve really seen the erotic romance take off. This isn’t to say these books aren’t as sexy as other erotica—just that there’s an emphasis on the character development and emotional connection between the characters.” Hwang cites Emma Holly’s September Fairyville as a great example of a book that combines intense emotional connections with “envelope-pushing sexuality.”

What, might you ask, does a baby elephant have to do with my work as an author? Well, I’m so glad you asked. As it turns out, elephants figure into some of the research I’m doing for my sequel to LILY OF THE NILE (my forthcoming book from Berkley about Cleopatra’s Daughter, Selene, to be released January 2011).

The guy pictured above is an Indian elephant, which is a smaller breed than the more well-known Ethiopian Elephant (now known as the African Elephant). There used to be a third kind.

The elephants that Hannibal took over the Alps were North African elephants, now extinct, but Cleopatra Selene’s husband Juba wrote extensively about the species and described it as having an uncanny intelligence.

Okay, so that gave me my excuse to post an adorable baby animal picture!