Fifty Shades and more...

I don't usually have a rant and rave, at least ot before my cup of caffeine! However, there have been several things this week that have really irritated me. The first, and most important, was the fact that I had to take 3 hours away from editting my latest manuscript to reformat my already published novel on Smashwords.

Nothing remiss there, you might add. Well, actually it was pretty annoying. Apple have changed the size requirements of their covers. Consequently, I decided to upload new covers to suit this. Having done so, my pc then told me that there were errors in the manuscript! Aargh!! I screamed. How can that be? I haven't uploaded a new manuscript?  Anyway, I had little choice but to go through my 55,000 word mansucript and edit it...again.

The second irritating thing concerns the ubiquitous Fifty Shades Trilogy. Actually, it concerns those who are taking it far too seriously.

Have you succumbed to all the hype and publicity and picked up it up yet? I have and, for all the huffing and puffing it's generated, I am actually enjoying it. Okay, there are only so many foil packets you can stand to have ripped open, and poor Christian must be almost bald due to Ana's tugging. Oh, and those trousers he wears...do they really hang off his hips all the time? And the baggage....

However, I am on the third book and am finding it an easy, light, enjoyable story. Granted, it's not everyone's cup of tea, but does it really deserved to be burned at the stake? Come on, isn't it an over reaction?

Books, like all art forms, are subjective. Whatever your beliefs, your sexual proclivities, you are entitled to read what you want, when you want, where you want. Who are the critics to dare suggest that if you pick up this book you are depraved and immoral. Oh, and the thoughts that the book have put in my head....Should I be typing this on my knees in a red room waiting for hubby to assert is authority as my husband and boss?

Come on guys, get real!

What I would like to know is....What do these amateur critcs read?

The Bible?...there's enough sex and killing in there to turn you into the next serial killer...whatever the moral behind the stories.

Agatha Christie, perhaps?...Sweet Miss Marple...But wait, doesn't she solve murders and crime?... There's nothing immoral and depraved about murder...right?

Are we getting the point yet?

Sex, murder, drugs, love, romance.....These are all parts of life. People are just that...people. Human. Flesh and blood. Some commit bad acts. Some are simply happy to switch off at the end of the day, sit back and enjoy a ripping good yarn.I'm sure the murderers in the world weren't motivated by reading the books they read, not deep down.

I have two, rather salient, points to make on the whole thing.

Firstly, to those who state that Fifty Shades objectifies women.....Have you read the book? Ana actually enjoys the whole S & M stuff. Also, perhaps more importantly, she helps Christian see that there is more beyond his whips and handcuffs. Surely this illustrates the exact opposite of objectification?

Secondly, there is apparently no such thing as bad publicity.... so perhaps the last laugh is on E.L. James... and I doff my cap to her. Bring on the next Fifty!