I feel old....

[winter_elf]

Just last week, I was having an argument with my grandma that she needed to get some new socks because hers had holes in them. Her response, 'they don't make the kind I like anymore'.

I now know what she feels like.

They are going to stop publishing my favorite type of romances - Regency!!

I'm going to cry. I love reading, I spend money on books every month (ask my friends, they've had to help me move boxes and boxes of books!), and I have lots of interests: history, ruins, castles, England, sci-fi, fantasy, D&D, art and my Regencies. Okay, I'll occasionally buy a bodice ripper - especially if it's set in England and during the 1800's, or the occasional paranormal one or fantasy type that catches my eye, but for good 'ole reading fun - I've been buying Regencies since College.

Lately, I've been having a HARD time finding new ones, and have tried several bookstores. During Tax Season HELL I wasn't able to buy many books (or had the energy to even try to read one), so now I'm catching up, and I couldn't find ANYTHING!

Frustrated, I did two malls tonight. My normal bookstore, with no luck, then the small bookstore at another mall, that for some reason, has always had their Regencies set together instead of mixed in. As I was looking, an employee was in the area shelving new stock and had piles of romances all over and asked if she could help. I explained I was looking for Regencies and where were the new ones/have they come out this month.

She gave me a pitying look, pointed to the three I'd already looked at, and said 'They are stopping that line, that's all we have. They are not going to be publishing them anymore'.

I almost cried. 'Why!' I asked. She shrugged. 'Not popular'. Seems the current trend is for extremely sexual. :::sigh::: No more subtle romance. Now it's all about the sex.

There will be occasional ones she pointed out, but the two main 'lines' of Signet and Zebra will stop the monthly printing.

Time to dig through my books and savor an old favorite.

Comments

[yrgoddess.livejournal.com]

Awww, I'm sorry to hear that, hon. Maybe you could find (or start) a website for people who miss their Regencies.

[doll-paparazzi.livejournal.com]

Next time you come down, bring your old books and we can go to Wolfe's aunt's used book store. Maybe you can find some old books that you'll like to read.

What? You don't like porn? ;)

[winter-elf.livejournal.com]

I always got into trouble at used bookstores because I'd end up getting duplicates because I'd forget what I'd had. It looks like I'm going to have to make a list of every single Regency I have and then go to a used bookstore.

[april-art.livejournal.com]

Heheh... just buy the used ones and read them and return them if you have them already. They're super-cheap when they're used! I was picking them up by the cartload from Wolfe's old shop for a while. I go through periods when I really need to read a gazillion Regencies, then I go off them for a while (although I do keep my favorites to re-read). I can get my romance fix from re-reading Heyer over and over... and I do like the bodice-rippers... Some aren't quite as hot and sweaty as others... you have to find the authors who actually have some story between their sex scenes, that's all! ;)

I was just on a Mary Balough kick a while back--had to read every book she wrote (haven't yet, but almost). She used to write regencies and now just does the "fat" romances--but she's OK, I think. Not as hot and heavy as someone like Henley. I think most are toning down the sex a little... Or maybe I'm just getting better at picking up the books that have some good story and character developement in them.

Georgette is always good to fall back on when I'm wanting a good "old fashioned" Regency (with people who actually behave as they had to in that period--I mean, they were chaperoned, fer goshsake! They couldn't spend enough time with a guy to even get a little footsie in, really, and if they did they were practically ruined!--It's usually not the sex scenes I object to as much as the total unbelievability of it all Not that people weren't having sex, but girls hoping for a good marriage were as virginal as could be...).

Anyway, I feel your pain. It's been hard to get Regencies for years now and I've heard over and over about how the genre was dying out. Very sad!

(Hmmm... and there goes any thought of actually writing a Regency! Or maybe we can start up our own press and keep publishing on-line for die-hard regency fans --and writers ???)

[winter-elf.livejournal.com]

Yea, I like Mary Balough. I should probably pick up her larger ones now. I've read a few of them, but not all.