The Highwaywoman's Virtuous Stableboy
Mar. 9th, 2010 05:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreA few weeks back, I picked up this book on a whim, based largely on the pretty cover (which does not have the odd distortion issues Amazon's picture has) and am currently reading it. While it's certainly better than the historical fiction I almost literally threw in the UBS box in self defense (not that that would be hard, from what I read of that one) I probably never would have touched it if I’d noticed the title instead of the cover.
Why? The following list is an example of the kind of title that isn’t exactly something that’s going to draw me in:
The Astronaut’s Wife
Galileo’s Daughter
The King’s Mistress
The Astronaut’s Wife *
The President’s Wife
The Emperor’s Concubine
The Captain’s Lady
The Pirate’s Mistress
The Musician’s Daughter
The Time Traveller’s Wife
The Magician’s Wife
Ahab’s Daughter
The Detective’s Secretary
See the trend? [Important Male]’s [Attached Female, Importance Defined By Attachment To Male]. Seriously, haven’t we had enough of that? And when we do get “The [Female Title]’s [Attached Male]” it tends to be “The Lady’s Knight” or “The Queen’s Assassin” or “The Princess’s Bodyguard”: i.e., the male is still presented as the more dominant figure due to cultural connotations. You don’t get “The First Lady’s Gigolo,” “The Queen’s Footman,” “The Empress’s Stableboy,” “The Nurse’s Son,” The Midwife’s Boyfriend, ” etc.
Fiction about women: GOOD. Fiction about women that thinks it can’t sell unless it tries to sound like the woman is only important because of the man she’s attached to: GO FIND A BETTER TITLE.
* ETA: Apparently, I hated the trailers even more than I thought!
Why? The following list is an example of the kind of title that isn’t exactly something that’s going to draw me in:
The Astronaut’s Wife
Galileo’s Daughter
The King’s Mistress
The Astronaut’s Wife *
The President’s Wife
The Emperor’s Concubine
The Captain’s Lady
The Pirate’s Mistress
The Musician’s Daughter
The Time Traveller’s Wife
The Magician’s Wife
Ahab’s Daughter
The Detective’s Secretary
See the trend? [Important Male]’s [Attached Female, Importance Defined By Attachment To Male]. Seriously, haven’t we had enough of that? And when we do get “The [Female Title]’s [Attached Male]” it tends to be “The Lady’s Knight” or “The Queen’s Assassin” or “The Princess’s Bodyguard”: i.e., the male is still presented as the more dominant figure due to cultural connotations. You don’t get “The First Lady’s Gigolo,” “The Queen’s Footman,” “The Empress’s Stableboy,” “The Nurse’s Son,” The Midwife’s Boyfriend, ” etc.
Fiction about women: GOOD. Fiction about women that thinks it can’t sell unless it tries to sound like the woman is only important because of the man she’s attached to: GO FIND A BETTER TITLE.
* ETA: Apparently, I hated the trailers even more than I thought!
no subject
Date: 2010-03-10 06:37 am (UTC)I would read that book until every single page fell out.