tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29995654.post115081865997789814..comments2023-10-20T05:52:47.074-04:00Comments on Survival Romance: Survival RomanceRowena Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11839386556697211986noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29995654.post-1154903754411490862006-08-06T18:35:00.000-04:002006-08-06T18:35:00.000-04:00Trying out the new photo!Trying out the new photo!Rowena Cherryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11839386556697211986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29995654.post-1152458535651023292006-07-09T11:22:00.000-04:002006-07-09T11:22:00.000-04:00Jacqueline,Wow! Fascinating thoughts. You know, y...Jacqueline,<BR/><BR/>Wow! Fascinating thoughts. You know, you ought to cut and paste this and post it on the blog as a Post.<BR/><BR/>~<BR/>RowenaRowena Cherryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11839386556697211986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29995654.post-1151007754725009582006-06-22T16:22:00.000-04:002006-06-22T16:22:00.000-04:00Rowena:Thank you for inviting me to this very inte...Rowena:<BR/><BR/>Thank you for inviting me to this very interesting blog.<BR/><BR/>The very essence of Adventure is the extraction of an individual who has come to depend on his/her local support-structure (culture, technology, friendships, family, safe-home) into an environment where all the rules are different.<BR/><BR/>When I was a child, my mother brought me (from the adult library) a book about a young man who got kidnapped and escaped only to find himself lost in the Sahara. <BR/><BR/>And since I've read and been affected by a number of similar books. <BR/><BR/>The key to survival, the lesson of the loner cast adrift in the wilderness, is always that you can't do it all by yourself.<BR/><BR/>You learn the very definition of "wealth" -- it is the knife it took you 3 days to make from some flint it took a month to find. It is the wooden bowl it took a week to carve. It is the bones and sinews of the animal it took 3 months to learn to trap. <BR/><BR/>Wealth is your capital investment in survival. <BR/><BR/>And the biggest, most irreplaceable capital investment of all is -- relationships.<BR/><BR/>There are friendships, alliances, adversaries, protectors, and so on -- but the biggest capital investment of all is the love you pour into your soul-mate. <BR/><BR/>Three weeks alone in the wilderness can equivalent to 30 years of living together in a suburban house -- you get that close, that far inside, and that dependent on another person just that quickly. <BR/><BR/>I've just read (and intend to review in my Monthly Aspectarian column) The King Imperiled by Deborah Chester (an ACE Fantasy).<BR/><BR/>It's not actually a "Survival Romance" -- but it has one plot thread that illustrates how activation of basic survival mechanisms in a human being can cause a lover's bond to form quicker than any other influence.<BR/><BR/>In "The King Imperiled" a Princess Royal (eldest child but not heir to the throne) has magical talent and is in training to use it. In the previous book, she had been kidnapped and magically molested so she is now obsessed with a magical quest. <BR/><BR/>She is dismissed from her school, and in defiance she reaches out for help from a legendary man of the distant past -- and instead gets a demon masquerading as the man she wanted. <BR/><BR/>Deborah Chester portrays the psychological state of a virgin being seduced by what she thinks is her one-true-love with chilling accuracy. <BR/><BR/>And she brings the young woman to her senses with an inevitable plausibility that I could only admire. <BR/><BR/>This sub-plot of this very complicated middle of a trilogy illustrates the psychological realities of how certain mental barriers go down under the twin assaults of an urgent inner need and an external threat -- coupled to being cut off from all human support. <BR/><BR/>I think you will find "Survival Romance" pervades many other sub-genres, and is almost always coupled to Intimate Adventure. <BR/><BR/>Have you read about Intimate Adventure at <BR/>http://www.simegen.com/jl/intimateadventure.html <BR/><BR/>That page needs an update this July -- for Jean Lorrah and I have discovered that Intimate Adventure actually is not a genre at all - but a plot archetype that has never before been identified. <BR/><BR/>That's exciting because I've been working on this theory for decades! <BR/><BR/>BTW: I loved THE GODS THEMSELVES also.Jacqueline Lichtenberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01613040740264804278noreply@blogger.com