"Social behavior-such as hitting a woman-that would be considered
totally unacceptable now was quite common sixty years ago. Scenes of near
rape would not sit well with a contemporary audience."
Right. Because none of that stuff happens between men and women anymore. If
there is one thing I expect from HB fiction, it is that it will try not to
lie to you.
I wonder what type of books Harlequin thought they were getting. I guess
they wouldn't like the ending of I, The Jury much at all. Or any of
Sanctuary.
James
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Crider" <macavityabc@gmail.com>
To: <rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 28, 2009 10:29
Subject: RARA-AVIS: Harlequin
Here's what the Harlequin blog has to say about the "editing" of their crime
reprints.
"Remember, our intention was to publish the stories in their original form.
But once we immersed ourselves in the text, our eyes grew wide. Our jaws
dropped. Social behavior-such as hitting a woman-that would be considered
totally unacceptable now was quite common sixty years ago. Scenes of near
rape would not sit well with a contemporary audience, we were quite
convinced. We therefore decided to make small adjustments to the text, only
in cases where we felt scenes or phrases would be offensive to a 2009
readership. Also, grammar and spelling standards have changed quite a bit in
sixty years. But that did entail a text edit, which we had not anticipated."
You can read the rest here: *http://tinyurl.com/ygp7nuz
Bill Crider
*
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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