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So, "Thriller" starts with Arizona moving on......... with Leah.

"But I love your kids-"  Cristina.  No, you can't have it both ways.

And Bailey's hubby shows up.  I think she's gonna get her groove thing back - whether she likes it or not.  And she won't b/c Webber's gonna let a resident operate.

Zombies in the ER!! They attack!!  Of course. (So did Derek - first season...)

Der and Ben bond over butterfly surgery but Bailey's not feeling so festive.  The Chief throws her off his case because she doesn't want to teach............doesn't want to teach?  Bailey?  The Nazi?  How did everything get turned backwards?

It's not Seattle Grace anymore, is it?

Meredith and Cristina aren't even each other's person anymore.

And now the Chief wants Meredith back on his case.  And he apologizes.  And asks her to teach the interns.  Mer can't be the Nazi.  She's the Mama.

And the little girl Karev's been treating who could get scared to death -- of course she's the one who finds the patient only Shane can see.  "I see dead people........."

But Shane finds her and Karev finds the girl.

It's an UnHalloween.  It's all been a very, very UnHalloween.

It's the year without a Halloween..........

Ben tells Bailey he quit and Bailey asks........  You don't love it..........He says he loves her............and she says she's disappointed in him.  That's not the Nazi, not at all.

And Cristina brings cupcakes but Mer doesn't even know she came.  So Cristina goes out and becomes a Witch.

Jo breaks out of her cocoon and becomes a butterfly for Alex.

It's a very, very unHalloween.........

Cristina is getting smaller and smaller and smaller and soon she'll disappear.........

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The description of this epi worries me a bit.  It says Derek and Callie collaborate on a brain-mapping project.  Last week's epi ended with a showdown between Mer and Der.  So, Der may be in a bad place - feeling like he's being blamed for something he didn't do - those choices were Meredith's.  And Callie?  She's all over the map right now - a real emotional roller coaster.   They're already close enough for confidences based on the time Callie lived with Mer/Der.  I don't want them getting any closer -- that's what I'm saying.

There's Der lecturing interns about a new brain-mapping computer program - using the thoughts of a paraplegic about movement to demo.  Of course, they see something irregular on the paraplegic's brain during the study.  Callie should be there but she's MIA & Der agrees to look for her.  Still don't feel good about this, especially after the first shot at casa Mer/Der where Mer touches Der's shoulder and he shrugs her off.  He hasn't gotten over Mer's accusation that he stole her career.

And Mer hasn't gotten over the truth Cristina laid on her.  She's looking for a research project.

And Der brought a mug from home to work that he gives to Shane to put away.  Shane doesn't and when she goes into the Chief's room she sees it, shrugs it off and say, "I have a mug like that at home."  I have a bad, bad feeling about that mug too especially after one of the interns drops it and it shatters...

Der finds Callie later.  She says she wants off the project.  Yes, let it go!

Mer is shoving away the idea of finishing a research project of her Mother's.  She's still not ready to go there.

And Der's talking about fixing the paraplegic's brain with glue.  He wants to finish the project and refuses to let Der take out the sensors for the brain project unless he removes the tumor.  Der says that's too dangerous.  And Shane proposes glue to Cristina for a heart repair.

Dear Duck - Der goes after Callie again and she's gushing about how Der and Mer have it figured out - how they can make the pieces fit.  And Der looks guilty but says nothing.

Heart guy agrees to Cristina's suggestion about using glue - a brand new procedure - but he hopes he dies.  He and wifey sold everything and maxed out all the credit cards to enjoy life.  They planned to pay them off with life insurance.

And all of a sudden, Mer wants her mother's journal back.

But the intern glued the mug together.

Mer lays it on Cristina, says Cristina pushed her aside last week because Mer had a baby.  And Cristina doesn't have time for anything she can't relate to, that's different.

Der tells Mer he wants to spend more time on research, less on surgery so that she can concentrate on her work.  He'll be spending that time doing research with Callie and that still worries me - even while he's being all McDreamy.

And he puts the glued mug back in the cabinet.  The pieces are glued back together, but it's still broken.

And the mug still worries me............

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First - a thought about a different "Grey" - as in Fifty Shades of Grey.  Ya know who I think would make a freaking awesome Christian?  JESSE WILLIAMS.  Grey's Anatomy fans know that he plays Dr. Jackson Avery.  Take a look at these photos and tell me Jesse wouldn't make a mighty, mighty fine Christian!  It would launch his career into the stratosphere.  Unlike Charlie, I bet Jesse's time on Grey's Anatomy has prepared him for the journey.  Just sayin'.  Yo - EL James/Erika Leonard, are you listening?

Grey's begins with the greatest truth Meredith ever voiced over - Being a mother requires more commitment than anything else - even surgery.  Not a mother in America disagrees.

Bailey and Mer fight over a surgery.  That seems like old times, doesn't it?

Callie thinks she, Mer and Der are in a relationship.  She's channeling "Big Love."

Of course.  Jackson's Mom walks in while he's heading towards the nasty in the on call room with his intern.  The same intern who walked into the room to show Jackson the shirt she picked out to prove to his Mama that she was a serious surgeon - not a gold digger.  The impression Mama got?  That intern Stephanie is a temp.  You know what?  That's the same impression I have.

I'm wondering if the theme of this one is going to be "revelations."  Mama Avery is revealing some truth to Jackson about remembering his position.  Yep, Jackson was thinking about a lot of positions.

And there's a man in the ER with a very swollen penis.  It was bees.  He rattles off a story about being outside and making himself a peanut butter and honey sandwich and falling asleep, but yeah, he must've gotten some honey on his howz-it.  Even intern Stephanie doesn't believe that and she's swallowed a bunch of lines from Jackson.

Then Mer needs someone to take over for her at a princess party with Zola.  To show Z that she hasn't been replaced by her new brother.  But instead, Z gets replaced by.........  a can't miss surgery.  (How long before Mer starts channeling memories of her childhood, and all the tea parties Her mama skipped for all those can't miss surgeries?)

Stephanie has to go get Mama Avery for the Giant Penis guy.  Of course, she walks in saying:  "Dr. Avery, I have a Giant Penis."  It goes downhill from there, which speaks to the skill of Grey's writers.

Callie promises to be at Z's tea party by 6pm.  It won't matter.  Callie's great but Mer knows better than anyone that there is no substitute for Mama who says 6pm is too late for a tea party.  It has to be a 4pm.  And if there is no tea party she's already started turning into her Mama.  It didn't take long.......

Jo gives Karev a lecture about how he should go meet his father and bond with him. Karev says - discharge him.

It takes Mama Avery 1 minute, flat, to get Giant Penis guy to admit he put his penis in a hornet's nest.  It takes her less time to totally flatten any hope intern Stephanie had of impressing her about anything.

Penis guy isn't impressed either.  He's busy learning the price of discovery.  Revelations aren't all they're cracked up to be....

It's a wee bit..... or maybe a NOT SO WEE bit sad how fast they've got Mer bonding with Bailey over breastpumping and walking away from "a moment" with Cristina to pump and bond.  **Big Sigh**

Mama Avery tells the chief she's going to save penis man's manhood and wants to come back and have a long talk with the Chief about him coming home with her- the peeps at the hospital pamper him too much.

Jackson tells Stephanie to keep it medical with his Mama..... Of course, he's telling Steph that his Mama probably already forgot the on call room when Mama walks up saying how nice it is to see them together again, and dressed this time.

Jo tries to get Karev's Dad into a treatment plan.  He says no.  Then she tries to make Karev go stop his Dad from leaving and he says no.  Both guys scream at Jo.  You know what Jo - when you've got TWO men telling you to shut up and stay in your place - it means you're doing a bunch of stuff right.  You go girl.   She's really the only intern whose name I remember on a consistent basis.  I have to check with Dr. Google to figure out who the rest of 'em are.  We all know what that means, right?  Yep.  I haven't bonded with them.

Paging Shonda Sunshine --- hang onto as many of Grey's Greatest as you can or there won't BE a Grey's.

Mama Avery doesn't make the penis surgery easy for Jackson or Stephanie.  She tells her son - this is what happens when men put there penises in places they don't belong.

Mer has to run to Z when she falls and hurts herself.  Mer asks if leaving her hurt child for surgery doesn't sound a little Ellis Grey.  Karev tells her to relax, that she's a good mother.  But Mer sees the writing on the wall...

And Callie tells failing kidney woman's spare parts younger sister that she can say no.  And Callie tells herself that she can say no, too.

Penis man's Mama knew her son hurt himself by putting his penis in the hornets nest.  Apparently, getting stung is his thing.  Hey Penis Guy's Mom, Did you ever see an episode of Criminal Minds? Go buy the whole series -- fast.

Cristina kicks Mer out of the surgery.  She's been replaced by Bailey - the Doc she stole the surgery from.  Cristina doing the right thing?  That's not at all like Cristina.  That hurt - everyone.

The Chief tells Jo to stop coddling him.  If his white blood cells are low, he needs a proper exam.  Mama Avery walks in just then and the Chief tells her he can't go home with her - these fools need him.  He's right.

Callie runs into Owen whose not leaving because spare parts sister decided to donate her kidney after all.  Callie looks crushed.

Mer yells at Cristina for stealing the surgery.  Cristina tells Mer she's not as good a surgeon as Cristina is.  Cristina tells Mer she can't be a great Mom and a great surgeon.  She tells Mer she knows that Mer doesn't want to be her Mother.  She tells Mer that she let up, that she took a different road.  That they are in different places with different priorities ow, and that's okay.

And Callie kicks Arizona out.  She says she's tired of taking care of other people.  I'm not discussing Arizona.  I choose not to do that.

Intern Stephanie sits down at Joe's with Mama Avery and tries to call her to account.  Mama Avery tells Stephanie that the reason she didn't have time to put in the catheter was that she didn't diagnose correctly.  Steph says she didn't have all the info.  Mama says, When in doubt presume he put it somewhere it shouldn't have been.

Mer yells at Derek.  For making her choose.  Derek tells Mer he never made her choose. Did he?

No - probably not.  Mer just never realized that in each little choice, she was making a bigger one.  That's her revelation.   Sometimes the job we ended up doing isn't the one we wanted.  I can relate.  I need to re-direct my day job into my dream job too.

CHECK OUT MY BOOKS - BUY ONE OR TWO OR FIVE AND HELP A LAWYER find her dream -- we all have to wait to see what Mer's dream turns out to be - but Shonda promised us that it would include Der.......

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UPDATE 10:17 at 1:30 pm:  :  Sometimes, it's hard being right - Publisher's Weekly just linked to this UK story by the UK Telegrah.  It's an interview with KOBO's CEO over the whole "porn purge." Notice the headline?  "KOBO porn scandal:   the end of self publishing?"  The publishers' push isn't so undercover anymore.....

 

In case you've been buried under a rock, vegetating with the 'shrooms, or swimming with the ducks and haven't heard - the Porn Prohibition has arrived.    You can catch up here via an excellent piece from The Digital Reader.

Basically, some publication dug up a story that combined porn and Amazon - I'm guessing that pub was very hungry for some dirt to boost ratings.  The pub found porn in Amazon's Kindle store and after that story broke, reader hungry pubs from all over the world began digging around and finding similar books on all sites.  Under heavy fire from one of the strangest moral coalitions in history,  all the sites began ducking for cover and ditching porn right and left.

I'll grant you - there are some HORRENDOUS things out there.  What's more, the worst of the worst sell the most of the most.  But caught up in the great purge are some fine erotica and even erotic romance works by excellent authors - excellent SELF PUBLISHED authors.  Because the moral coalition or the etailer sites - likely pushed, poked and prodded by traditional pubs who may have even fed the story to the first pub - decided that only self-published erotica was bad.  Traditionally published erotica is fine.  (The moral distinction of that escapes me.  The common sense also escapes me - the etailers like Amazon, KOBO, Barnes and Noble are all siding with the publishers who stayed in business all these years by deciding people were too stupid to figure out what they wanted to read on their own.  People should only read what publishers thought they should be allowed to read.)

Anyway, Jeff Bezos, Amazon and all the others have joined the "our readers are idiots" bandwagon being pulled by the moral coalition and the traditional publishers.  The justification for all of it?  That "those books" are right there on digital shelves where children can see them.  The only solution is a prohibition style shelf sweeping of all erotic works by all SELF-PUBLISHED authors.  Why is that the only solution? BECAUSE IT'S THE ONLY SOLUTION THAT WILL HELP KEEP TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANIES IN BUSINESS.

The publishers are all so desperate at the surge in reader acceptance of indie work that they've forgotten that readers were never actually stupid.  The stupidity was always on the publishers side of the scale.  Yep,  I think the publishers finally drank their own Kool Aid.  The readers know there are lots of solutions that don't rob them of their independence and their right to choose what they do and don't want to read.  So the readers will likely wait it out until the hoopla dies down, things get back to normal, and they're in charge again.  Because control has passed.  That horse has left the barn.  The old normal is dead.  Forever and always dead - Thank You God.

There are a couple of reasons all this concerns me so much, the largest of which is that I was just underway with my first erotic romance/erotica work which I plan to put out under a pen name.  It'll be entirely separate from any of my deranged duckly doings.  See, a lot of writers of erotic romance/erotica make enough to write full time.  I think fate saw my intent and conspired with the publishers and the (not so) moral morons specifically to try to keep me tied to my day job.  (My boss may have even been in on the great conspiracy.  He may be even crazier than I am because he actually VALUES my legal writing/research.)

At the risk of tossing a dose of common sense big enough to put out the current witch-burning bonfires, I have a suggestion.  Why don't ALL the sites concerned about keeping young eyes off of books they shouldn't see agree on a standard.  They should require that everyone shopping on their site enter through a welcome screen at which they input their date of birth and certify their age.  Yes, people can lie, but people also show up with fake IDs and get into bars everyday.  We have to require some element of personal/parental responsibility, don't we?

Requiring all visitors to a site to enter their age lets the etailer screen out all kinds of products.  Underaged people wouldn't be able to see the wine or liquor section.  The sex toys and naughty nighties won't parade by their eyes.  And all kinds of books will be screened out -- because there are lots of books of all genres that people of certain ages may not be ready to read.  It won't matter who publishes those books - the subjects will actually decide what is screened - and lest we forget, that's allegedly the point of all this, right?

Never mind that those same kids can Google some terms and pull up stuff all over the internet that makes me - a MOST mature lady - go all wide eyed, look at Mr. Duck and say -- really?  There are people who are into THAT?  I don't know most of those sites but I'll lay you odds that most teens could give me a list.  But never mind that -- their young, impressionable minds could be protected by a simple welcome screen at which they enter their date of birth and certify their age.

Mind you, I don't expect my common sense suggestion to gain any traction because NONE of this is actually about protecting young people.  It's about a desperate desire to turn back the clock and keep all that self-published stuff from reaching into any more wallets.  Really, it's almost sad.  Because we all know that as we speak, there are entrepreneurs all over the globe setting up adult oriented ebookstores and all of those people want to keep any more "naughty" money out of Jeff Bezos' wallet.

Would it do any good to remind anyone that getting around the rules created a whole closet industry during the first prohibition?  Would it help to remind everyone that the first prohibition DIDN'T WORK EITHER?   Probably not, because desperation doesn't leave room for facts or common sense.  It does leave room for a big pitcher of martinis though and the publishers can be glad of that once they realize that the power-shift to the readers isn't a temporary phenomenon.

It's a brand new world, but at least we can toast to it, right?

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Grey's is turning 200?  And Patrick Dempsey is still McDreamy?  Nah, Grey's is turning 10 tonight with episode 200 - but , P Demp is still mighty fine.

It does make me think though -- other than for a wedding (which is different) - the last time the cast got all fancied up was for the prom Chief Webber had at the hospital for his dying niece, who missed her prom.   That was THE episode - Denny died and Der's dreamy looks sent Mer running away from the vet.  Der chased her down a hallway and into an exam room, ending his marriage and Mer's romance with the vet.

April says "He accepts me for what I am, but that's enough, that's everything."  Arizona asks:  "Are you talking about Matthew or Jesus?"  And April gets that wild-eyed, what am I doing look.

And Webber punches Bailey while she is trying to help.  He's in a hospital.  There are drugs everywhere.  He's a doctor.  If he really wants to die - he can make that happen.  So he doesn't want to die -- he just wants to punish everyone who still loves him.

This ball, though, is much different.  Jackson was thinking rich and conservative and he got Vegas, complete with c clowns, gymnasts, magicians, waiters on unicycles and one very charming juggler - Dr. McDreamy.  It seems that Mer and Der both want to win the prize for raising the most money for the hospital at the gala -- and, like Callie says, both of 'em are bored silly at home.  (How they could be bored with a newborn and a toddler to care for is beyond me.  Maybe they need to write some romance novels.  Then they'd be tickled tangerine to have all that time at home to write -- I know I'd be. )

Fancy party - and McDreamy, he was charming a group of well-heeled ladies moments ago, is jealous of Mer flirting.  I guess he remembers that Mer can be a little easier to catch on formal evenings.

And while the attendings are away, the interns are owning the ER.  "Locked and loaded" indeed.

Der fetched the baby from the hospital day care and brought little Bailey to the party.  Is there a better hook for charming money from folks than a McDreamy man with a newborn?

Dear Duck.  Callie is raising money by telling peeps that her wife is dead; April overheard; and now April is sharing champagne with Arizona in the supply room.  Is there any chance April won't spill the beans?

Uhh ohh, the baby spit up on Mer and now she's wearing a hoodie over her fancy gown.  (Was that McDreamy's plan?)

Dear Duck, the sequel - a gymnast just fell in the middle of Jackson's big speech.  It looks like a broken bone and Callie's on the spot. All the doctors head out - and Derek misses Meredith.  He tracks her down in the OR where she tells him he's better at charming donors - and then she offers him a surgical instrument and a spot at the table.

And the old junkie Cristina has to do heart surgery on?  Alex thinks he might be his father.  Karev hasn't seen his Dad in 20 years.  Jo walks in to find Karev trying to draw his own blood for a test.  What a way to find your father!

And Jackson brings the formerly fleeing rich folks to the OR gallery to take them behind the scenes of the circus.  And they ask - "How much do you need?"  That's the sweetest question since the jury in "The Verdict" returns with the question - "Is our award limited to the amount the Plaintiff asked for?"

And there are Mer and Der in the exam room........talking about the prom I started off this post by discussing -- and then they do more than talk.  Still wicked in the best ways.......

Bailey moves her lonely, racist patient in with the Chief!  That'll be interesting.

And Jackson walks in on Shane kissing his woman - the one he didn't ask to the party. But she goes after Jackson.  Look how far they've come on Grey's boys and girls!  Der and Mer had to hide because he was an attending and she was an intern.  Now the Chief of the Board can kiss an intern right in the open, in the remains of his big party.

And Bailey's gambit makes the Chief try -- Cristina finally pushes Owen away hard enough to make him try - and Mer/Der give getting back to work a try (why?  I guess medicine is their writing)

The show ends with a quote from "on with the show."  Because it must go on - and we must try - even though trying is the hardest thing of all.....

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Published on 1 Comment on Liveblogging Grey’s Anatomy: “Everybody’s Crying Mercy”

Boy does the title of this epi hit home with me.  Too many deadlines and tasks at work.  Too much work for too long without an end - or a carefree vaca in sight.  Too many bills and too little money.  And now - the Gremlin's have struck.  Last night, Mr. Duck had to play HVAC repairman b/c our AC died.  Thankfully, he fixed it.  (Mr. Duck's my hero!)

Tonight a pothole - big enough to swallow a bunch of big ole pots - opened in our concrete driveway.  Both my trusty PT and Mr. Duck's minivan - ancient vehicles that have long deserved the retirement they won't get - have developed issues. Hey, maybe the pothole is the work of our vehicles - a suicide pact of sorts......  Or maybe, the Graham vehicles think that if the hole gets big enough they can hide and enjoy a nice long vaca themselves.

Yep, I'm crying Mercy.  So, I'm right there with Grey's greatest on this one!

Cristina and Karev bonding.  That feels way strange.  Remember all the ways she insulted him during their internship?

Webber doesn't want a feeding tube.  Bailey's still fighting his battles.

Owen tells Arizona and Cristina that he needs them to be board members and doctors.  They're not buying it.  I understand.  People can only stretch so far.

A woman impaled through the chest with a half a baseball bat makes Jo promise to tell her husband something if she dies -- that she cheated on him with his brother.  Why?  That must be the thing stretching her to her breaking point.

April's waiting on the results of the board exams she had to repeat.  And yeah, that's tugging her towards her breaking point.   And Calzona?  They're tugging each other towards the cliff.

And Jackson is going to do free miracle surgery to repair a teacher's face - but Owen says no pro bono surgery until the ER is fully repaired.  What does Jackson do?  He throws a "I own this hospital tantrum" and gets his way - the teacher will get her surgery.  So Jackson did a bad thing for a good reason.   Does that make it okay?

And Mer/Der are fighting over naps.  Der took an hour and a half nap in the parking lot of the grocery store when he went for milk.  Mer gets jealous and snaps to Cristina - her phone a friend - that she is entitled to a nap too.  Mer passes out, dead asleep, in mid conversation, curled up on the bathroom floor. Yep, I remember those newborn days well.  It feels like you'll never again get to sleep for a full night.  You think you're destined to be a living zombie. Why did you do this?  Why?  And then the baby coos or moves his little hand and you know exactly why you did it.

But Owen has the teacher transferred so Jackson doesn't get to play superdoctor.  Owen's stressed about the hospital needing money -- I can relate.  Maybe the hospital's under Gremlin attack too.

Webber won't take a feeding tube & Bailey won't force him.  When he asks for soup she Orders the intern to bring some and he does.  But the intern pokes his head around the corner and sees Webber choke with pain when he tries to swallow a single spoon of soup.

Impaled baseball bat woman is bleeding out during surgery.  They call Callie who tells them not to cut the clavical but Callie arrives just as April puts down the saw.  A stretch too far? The patient or Callie?

Jackson's still having an ego tantrum and it's not so cute anymore.  He's doing liposuction because Hunt needed him making money.  Poor little rich boy.

Mer's so worried about Webber that when Der passes out, she takes the baby and heads to the hospital.  Yeah, Webber did good picking her as his "person."

Baseball bat woman dies.  Will Jo tell the husband her secret?  April says no but Callie says Jo made a promise and the husband deserves the truth.

Mer and Bailey fight over the feeding tube.  They go off to see another doctor and the intern goes in and tells Webber that Mer hauled her baby out to come and force him to accept a feeding tube.  Intern asks Webber if he's going to make Mer do that or will Webber man up and accept it.  The intern is planning to put in the tube.

April passes her board.  Jackson's with her.  But she wants to give him a hug and he holds out his hand for a shake instead.  But they both have secret smiles on their faces as they walk away from each other.

And baseball bat woman - Jo goes to tell her hubby about her death.  He's devastated. Jo starts to tell him the truth and Callie stops her.  She says only that his wife said she loved him.

And the intern does put the tube in and Richard accepts it.

Owen pages all the docs to the ER - with the big hole in it - and tells them they're going to have a big fundraising party.  200th episode anyone?

Karev takes Cristina's advice and plays caveman with Jo who hasn't been wanting sex.  Yep,  she wants it.

And Cristina and Owen have an intense confrontation in the elevator.  Where else?  If those elevators could talk...

And Callie goes to see Arizona.  Callie says Arizona cheated because she was unhappy.   But Callie leaves.  She's stretched too far.

Webber tells Mer that he picked her because she wasn't his family.  He thought he could trust her to be logical, not to bring him back to life when he was all but dead.  He tells Mer he was wrong to pick her.  He says he chose the wrong person.

Mer was already stretched too far.......  but Webber just stretched her further.

Life stretches us all, I guess.  How much can we take?  The "too much" may be the smallest thing, in the oddest place.  What will we do when we reach it?  Go mad?  Break permanently?

Maybe we'll retreat into a romance novel where a happy ending is guaranteed - like one of the Quackingalone romances by yours truly --- come on, help me battle the Gremlins.  Pick up a QA romance today!

 

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It's a new season of Grey's -- but it's Cristina's LAST one.  There's got to be some smashing Cristina Time before Sandra Oh leaves the hospital for the last time.  Ellen Pompeo (Meredith Grey) promises that this will be Oh's "best acting season." Now I'm wondering how many tissues Shonda Sunshine will make me go through to START Cristina's last season.

Opening with the storm - seems a lot like my life lately.  Webber has the voice over talking about the intern's white coat ceremony and about life flashing before your eyes right before you die.  Webber is saying that it's fitting that the white coat  should be on him at the end.

Okay, Yang's first words - about Mer - "She had a baby. She doesn't know things."  And Callie's first line; an answer to Yang's question "Who is Dr. Boswell."  Callie says "She's the woman Arizona slept with last night."

Ambulances in the bay right after Owen says the ER can't open today --- a mudslide. And Webber is still missing, since last night, lying on the flooded floor with sparks flying.  Oh, Richard -- no.  Just no.

Yang tells Mer that she and Owen ended it - for real this time.

The interns are brushing off the command to find Webber.  That tells you they don't know his as well as the others.  Webber is not family to them.  Wait, one of them goes looking - Webber's eyes are open but the intern steps right into the charged water and falls over.  It's sad that I can't ID this one by name right away.  We all know what that means, right?  Yep, that Grey's Anatomy is the originals and the originals are Grey's -- but we're losing Cristina this year.

Funny, Webber and the intern are both lying on the floor near the generator but I keep imagining Cristina lying there....

...continue reading "Liveblogging Grey’s Anatomy – “Seal Our Fate; I Want You With Me”"

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Published on 2 Comments on Amazon Shifts Goodreads Focus Back to Books

There has been a spate of abusive, bullying tactics at Goodreads, about which I blogged very recently HERE. This has been spawned by bad behavior by authors and reviewers/GR users.  As to the authors, they have erred mainly by entering discussions to randomly toss up marketing for their books - something which (justifiably) annoys readers no end and by wading, uninvited, into discussions about their books.  As to the reviewers/GR users, the bad acts go from small - labeling their shelves in a manner designed to insult authors personally -  to large - ganging up to harass and threaten authors on GR and by leaving bad reviews on Amazon.

Frankly, I suspect that my prior blog post led to my receiving a dose of the bad Amazon reviews.  It may or may not have led to bad reviews or insulting shelves on Goodreads.  Like most writers, while the readers have been in a "posse" or "follow the bully" mentality, I've stayed off GR.  Now, thanks to a move by GR owner Amazon, I may return - along with many other writers who love reading and discussing books as readers.

Sheriff Amazon finally waded into the fray, enforcing a couple of important, basic rules and announcing them at the same time.  What are they?   (1)  Reviews must be about the book; and (2) Members can't harass or threaten others.  They're such basic rules, one wonders how they weren't always the standard at the site.  However, Amazon's announcement led to a mass backlash at GR, with users crying the expected charge of "censorship."

...continue reading "Amazon Shifts Goodreads Focus Back to Books"

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Yet another writer has penned an anti-"Fifty Shades of Grey" rant.  This one is in Pajiba and is entitled:  "Women Who Have Never Had Decent Sex Outraged By Warped Fantasy Movie Casting."

Like most such rants, it says more about the writer than the subject.  This piece makes the writer appear to be bitter and brittle, too snobbish to appreciate the appeal of a good romance novel.  It paints a portrait of someone too insecure to consider that the books' readers could simply be smarter, more emotionally grounded, and far more secure in their acceptance of humanity's infinite variations than the writer could ever understand.   You know what?  That makes this writer, again, like most of them.

Them?  Yes, them - meaning, those who consider themselves superior to others.  Such superior beings imagine that they are very open-minded when in reality their view of the world is so narrow that it cannot encompass the possibility that they are wrong.  This particular writer, Courtney Enlow, a/k/a Courtney Enlow Hall, has the egotism to imagine herself as far more gifted, even, than the author of "Fifty Shades of Grey", Erika Leonard, a/k/a E.L. James.  Of Ms. James, and all of her readers, Ms. Enlow says:

" ...some simp of a drooling moron with her hand firmly clenched between her thighs as though she can will Edward into being through masturbatory efforts alone but cannot say the proper names of the body parts because that would be naughty WOULD go on to write the most popular book among fellow drooling morons, no longer satisfied by rubbing against their sparkly body pillows until the funny feelings go boom."

...continue reading "Fifty Shades Fans Don’t Have Good Sex? Yes, It’s Yet Another Anti-Fifty Shades Rant"

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One of the present trends is to scoff at books that don't portray people, places, things or eras "realistically."  I get those reviews for my historicals all the time - "this isn't how things went during the Regency" or "this behavior would never have been tolerated during the Regency."  That really disturbs my ducks.

Whether it's Regency England, the American West, Highland Scotland, Myrtle Beach, SC - or some imaginary modern day town (coming soon, perhaps) - I DON'T WANT TO PORTRAY IT REALISTICALLY.  You know what?  Reality really sucks.

If readers were overjoyed with their reality, they'd have no reason to ever pick up a book.  If television viewers were tickled twitless with their lives and their worlds, TV would no longer exist.  YouTube would go away and there would be no gaming industry because people would have every bit of the fun and danger they could ever want in their everyday lives.  In the real world, people aren't going to balls every night, surgeons find their jobs more tedious than titillating and people don't get paid to travel to exotic locales to spy or kill people.   All of that - every last bit of it - is not realistic.   Yet people spend beaucoup bucks on books, movies, and games and then they spend hours reading, watching or playing.

Why?  Why do that if what they are seeking in their entertainment is a "realistic" experience? Do people have so much money that we need to toss it away for something we'll despise experiencing?

We - unfortunately - presently live in a world where too many talented, hardworking people are unemployed or underemployed.  Simply to survive, to hold on a little longer, more people have to lower themselves and destroy their souls daily by taking welfare and food stamps from the government.  People still lose their homes in droves and bankruptcy and judgments are facts of life most of us never wanted to face.  That's reality and - like I said - it sucks.

Let's have LESS reality.

People who spend money they really need for food, bills or utility payments on books are -  for the love of all ducks - not looking to get more reality in their lives.  They're looking to escape from whatever wolf is presently lurking just outside their door.  If people want more reality, they can turn on a 24-hour news channel and be depressed and enraged constantly and it's probably part of their basic cable package.   People buying books or spending entertainment dollars are looking to bring fun and excitement into their lives.  They desperately need some time away in order to give them fuel to work at surviving for a few more days.

The LAST thing writers, artists, actors, producers or directors owe people is "a slice of life."  Real life slices people into slivers of themselves just fine in today's world without their paying to get sliced and diced a little faster.  We owe people something more, something different, something BETTER.

Don't buy my books if you're looking for a realistic portrayal of anything.  I'd never shortchange my readers by giving them reality.  If you're looking for reality -- open a window, answer your creditors' calls, and turn on a 24-hour news channel.  If you're looking to escape to a place that looks and feels nothing like your everyday world - pick up a Quacking Alone romance where a happy ending is guaranteed.