Romance novels are not porn, says erotic fiction author Jina Bacarr

Huntington Beach, CA—Romance novels are all over the news: from the nervous mother who wrote to Dear Abby because her daughter was reading romance novels to the posters in Washington D.C. subways touting romances as trashy to the politician in Texas who said his opponent writes pornography because she published a romance novel.

Are romance novels porn?

No, according to Jina Bacarr, author of The Blonde Geisha, an erotic fiction novel from Harlequin Spice. "I'm here to set the record straight," she says in her romcast, the term she uses to describe her video podcasts combining romance with video. "Romance novels are emotionally satisfying reads and they're popular, too. More than 60 million Americans read a romance novel last year. The genre makes up 54.9 percent of all mass market paperbacks sold."

Bacarr also looks into the origin of the word pornography. "The word didn't come into fashion until the mid-nineteenth century," she says, then explains what it means and why it doesn't apply to romance novels.
"What are romance novels?" she asks, then she gives examples of some of her favorite romances, including Jacqueline Diamond's popular small-town doctor series for Harlequin, including "Doctor Dad," Deborah MacGillivray's "Restless Knight," a Scottish medieval featuring a feisty heroine and handsome English knight, and Kate Angell's "Squeeze Play."

"What could be more American than baseball and apple pie?" Bacarr says, discussing Angell's series about a team of Florida baseball players during the off-season and their lives and loves. She also talks about her novel, The Blonde Geisha, about an American girl in 1895 Japan who must choose between falling in love and being a geisha.

What do they all have in common? "They feature strong, independent, successful women, a hunky hero, and a happy ending," Bacarr says. "Doesn't sound like porn to me."

Check out her video podcast at: www.JinaBacarr.com or go directly to:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7013606341881865296&hl=en