Welcomome to LOVE ON THE LINE TV CONVERSATIONS: Episode 1. Behind the Book

Finally, I get to welcome you to my new venture: LOVE ON THE LINE TV CONVERSATIONS on YouTube. I have been planning to start a YouTube project for quite some time.

This has been one of those things that has been nagging at me but due to some unidentified fear factor has only manifested itself after some help from good friends and friendly professionals.

The final impulse to getting my new channel out was a 7 day video Facebook challenge I took part in just a few of weeks ago with Rachel Dunn and Michael Hole and their Girl Director Company. It is just  little things that make all the difference. My friend Janet Blake has been a marvel in supporting and helping me to get over the live. She has promised to make conversation videos with me on regular basis which means that there is much to look forward to. There are also lots of other wonderful people who have said yes to conversing with me about many issues concerning us today in relation to LOVE ON THE LINE.

There are many topics that come under this flag, so to say. There are also other subjects in the planning. One of them being my SAGA HEALING JOURNALING AND RECREATING YOUR STORY FOR RECOVERY eCourses that are in development. My head is just spinning with all the new things I need to learn.

It is all for the good cause, I say. The goal is to highlight HOPE, RECOVERY and HAPPY ENDINGS possibilities for trauma recovery. Of course, all this stems from me becoming a target of a romance scam and writing a book about it. It has developed into a lot more that I thought possible.

So, now it is over to you. Please enjoy Episode 1 of the LOVE ON THE LINE TV CONVERSATIONS with Janet Blake and I. It is the so called behind the scenes approach. I have included the full script here so that you may also read the conversation if you so prefer.

Thank you for reading, listening and watching.

FULL SCRIPT OF THE CONVERSATION Episode 1 LOVE ON THE LINE TV CONVERSATIONS: Behind the Book.

This be our trial one, taking about where we are at and talking about book launches and LOVE ON THE LINE, even if it is in the tree.

Welcome to the LOVE ON THE LINE TV Conversations with Janet Blake and Elina Juusola

Janet: And Elina is the author, in case you haven’t heard about it somewhere along the line. In the, shall we say, momentum, leading up to this, of Love on the Line
Elina: Here’s the book
J: Her first book.  Before we just have a bit of a chat. You have just written a book
E; I have, and it’s actually been published
J: And you know what, from listening to you. Congratulations on that. This book, you are welcome, has been what twenty something, maybe longer in the making or incubating?
J: And this whole process has been nurtured by a number of people?
E: Yes

J: Including, perhaps, finally, coming to terms with yourself and honouring and respecting that deep inner sacredness of what was deep inside of you, what would come out.

E: Yes, it was. It was like.

Well, this book, particularly, LOVE ON THE LINE is about Internet Romance Scams and because I was a victim of one, although I don’t call myself a victim. I call myself a survivor, or I was involved in one of these scams as a target. So, that woke me up to that I needed to do what I needed to do
And so, I mean, the shock of being a victim, or a target of this kind of scam when I was not even able to believe that it would be happening to me, because I am pretty knowledgeable about things. Or, I mean, as I said before, I’ve researched pornography, prostitution, violence against women for over 35 years. You would think that, you know how these things go, but they don’t, you don’t.
J: Listening to you and you know, the time we share before, life perhaps has positioned you as an expert in this field and with the hindsight. Do, you think that that has actually created a huge blind spot
E: Yes. I think because, as a person I am still, even though that I have been doing a lot of research for a number of years, I still look at the world with a very, very blue eyes, maybe. And I still think the best of all the people. So, I am not suspicious, so I am probably exately one of these people who would fall into a scam. Because, I would read an email and say, OK this is a nice person. I wouldn’t go on expecting this person to be a scammer. There are a lot of people who do, but I don’t. So, I mean. It can take you unaware.
J: Remember, I think, it was Albert Einstein who said that one of the fundamental questions we have to come to terms with, and this isn’t the exact quote whether the Universe is a friendly place or not.
E: Right, and in my mind Universe is a friendly place and in my mind, humanity is better that what we think.
I look at it as a lesson and I look at it as if this is probably why I was able to feel that now I have to look into this scamming, I have to research and see the bigger picture and see what was my relationship to the scam and how it came about and that’s why, for example, I started journaling and I started writing down my experience in the way. And then, like you know, the book became a narrative healing experience and from there on it has developed even more, because I am now writing the sequel.
J: So, when you dream, do you dream in different languages
E: Yes. People speak the language I know them from.
J: So, when you write your narratives. What language you write them in?
E: English
J: Because?
E: Because, that’s the language they will be published in.
J: Haa
E: And then I need to have somebody who is a skilled person, who understands me. Like I had Chris Henderson, from Women Howling at the Moon
J: And she is fantastic
E: Yes, and she took me in, and she has interpreted and she changed the structure because I might be writing in English, but it still might have a Finnish syntax. And not only her, but before the book was published, I still had the context editing.
First I write. Sometimes, I plan in Finnish, whatever happens. And then I plan and I write and it comes, quite a lot from my, automatically, what I write and I write very much as I speak. And then I have a person who looks at my language and changes it and maybe come out with some words which I think I knew but I didn’t remember
And then the second tie, is the context editing and then there is the product. Perfect product.
J: Which just happen like that! J
E: Exactly! It did take nearly one and half years.
J: Yes, and all that time leading up to it, incubating.
The word scamming is used a lot. So, here is a question for you. And maybe it’s in another language, I am not sure. What would be another word or a string of words that you would use to describe the picture of scamming?
E: I would say, when you are thinking in the bigger picture. And that we live in… First of all we live in a society where we don’t always know what’s happening where the thought forms and the thought patterns of this society, they have been ingrained in our brain, so that that we, actually, automatically, behave in a certain way.
J: Like Pavlovian dog
E: Yeah, we are very, very predictable as people
So, we have our culture, we got our language. We have our environment, where we are.
And some people can also use these kind of thought patterns and though forms against us. And so the scammers do that. People who are trying to, trying to get something from us for their own behalf.
J: Do you think there is also an aspect or, in terms of scammers and us, that they see the wound that is crying out to be healed?
E: Yes, the scamming is all about emotions and it is about catching that weak, vulnerable moment of the target.
J: Aha
E: So, let’s say that in my case, I was really ill, already, because my mom had died,
E: and I had developed fibromyalgia, so I was so ill that I even thought that my life is going to end at 60 instead of 110 which I had already predicted that I would be.
J: uhyy J
E: Thank you, that’s my plan
J: Part of your ongoing bigger narrative
E: Yes, exactly. So, I was caught in that very, very vulnerable moment and what happens in your brain is that you then go from this rational thinking into your emotions and I was having, just marvellous time. I tell you.
It’s incredible to have this kind of emotional high. And I had not, honestly, felt like that in a long time. And what I realised with this scamming experience is that I could change myself. I could live in my emotions. Deeply. I could go, without any drugs, like enhancing it. That I could do it myself. I could make myself happy and the oxytocin and the, what else, the hormones just start flowing your brain. And I realised that this is the kind of thing what happens with scammers. They want you to be in that moment so that you automatically work in that way. And then they ask for money and when they ask for money, at least the first couple of times, it comes unaware and you automatically help because it’s in your nature. But what happened with me was that the moment I pushed the button, when I sent my first money, I knew that there was something fishy about it.
J: Ah, did you, but you still did it.
E: Well, after I sent it, I went like, ah this is something I’ve done. What did I do! J And then I went and I sent an email to my son and he found that it was a Ghana scam and then he said to me. Well this is what he said: well here are all the links but do not click on these links because you don’t need to read all that crap that there has been about this person. Just keep the good memories and particularly the romantic memories. And this is how writing this book came about
J: Yes. So, for me, just watching the process unfold, in terms of launching your book and what you have been talking about the editing and pulling together. And the story actually has evolved even during that process and it has evolved even earlier as were talking earlier over tea and coffee
E: Yeah
J: One of the keys or, if you like, the highlight of the book was when your son told you, just to hang on to, hold on to. It was a bit more than just a good bits, but the bits where he made you feel alive, awake, and fantastic and it was even a bit more than that, because it was enhanced awareness and those things. So hold on to that state and you didn’t say it in so many worlds but remember that the messenger is not the message.
E: What happened there was that J we actually started making, having ideas of what kind of documentary we would do. Like you know a documentary about the scammers who are working in Ghana, in their call centers pretending to be the military in Afghanistan as a militant. And then you have this person, this this person, who is actually the target, the romantic person that is there and we had so much fun. Not only with my elder son but also with my younger son. You know. So, it became like a sort of an inspiration and a muse.
J: M-U-S-E so the essence of that whole, what shall we say, event.
E: Exactly!
E: Exactly, and from there we can go into storytelling and If you would be looking at your life from the deep dept. You could be tracing your emotions from one place to the other. You could be journaling. How could I say it? At this stage, we have this new kind of consciousness coming in, where. we are now being able to create our own world.
J: AHA
E: like the quantum theory says.  And the quantum thought patterns, they now are telling us that we are not stuck in our own ways, we are not stuck into these thought models. We can actually create our own life. So, this is like my storytelling that we could create a happy ending
J: Yes.
E: to our story.
J: And we could create lots of endings
E: Exactly. That it’s not the same. The happy ending is as likely as a bad ending. So, like you now, we can be part of the creation of our own story.
J: cool
E: And in that way we can break this generational victim idea.
J: And we can rewrite our scrips in terms of our life story, can’t we? (The book falls)
And that might be the end of it because the book fell off our wonderful bookshelf.
E: Yes, and thank you very much for listening to us. This was the episode one of our conversations with Janet and Elina and we aim to do more. So, just keep up, subscribe
J: Once a week. The subscribe button might be down there.
E: Yeah, do it. Once a week, we will have a new conversation about
J: Life, the Universe and everything
E: Yes, and about Love on the Line. And it is called LOVE ON THE LINE TV CONVERSATIONS
J: OK, so magic week for all of you in your life and explorations of
E: LOVE ON THE LINE
J & E Goodbye

Launch of Author Elina Juusola Book Tour of Libraries

                                          Picture by Aila Peteri


The year 2016 has been very exciting for me as many people know. Firstly, my book Love on the Line. How to Recover from Romance Scams Gracefully and without Victimisation was published in January with the hugely successful book launch at the Avid Reader Bookshop in Brisbane. There was another launch at my local Gympie Library in February. I was also able to speak about the book in my mother tongue Finnish a few times, at some of our community events, the largest being the Suomipäivät (The Finnish Festivall This was not only in Queensland but also in Sydney with the Sydney siskot (Sydney sisters).We know that romance scams are the top #1 fraud crime in the world. It is a huge issue and we need to talk about it as much as possible.

I am really proud to say that my book has gotten a wider audience lately. All the reviews have been very positive. I am now launching a Library Tour first in Queensland and then interstate to further fraud prevention and specifically to help the people who have been targeted by romance scams.

My tour will start on the 6th of May at the Hervey Bay Library at 10 am. Everybody is welcome. Just remember to register. In June I will be at the Victoria Point Library on Friday the 24th of June and then at the Logan North Library on Friday the 15th of July, both at 10 am. Then after an overseas trip, we start again in September in Logan and Gold Coast. The schedule will be on my Website. I am also planning on new ways to spread the word about love and fraud prevention and recovery from targeted through LOVE ON THE LINE TV on YouTube and online eCourses on Narrative Healing Journaling. So, look for them on my website as well. For now here are some very interesting resent links about me and my book:

ABC Wide Bay Radio interview with Trudie Leigo aired on the 3rd of May at 10.13 am. It was also aired on 612 Brisbane State-wide later in the Drive program and there was a very nice article included in the ABC Local Top stories as well. Please, enjoy them and comment on them. Links are also posted on my Facebook page.

I wish you all the best. Especially I want to thank a Sydney artist Aila Peteri for the lovely picture.
Looking forwards to seeing you around in the library near you.

Imaginary or Real Life Relationships? That is the Quiestion.

  Why is it so hard to build a relationship in real life? What happens when we meet someone and feel the attraction? Does it go both ways and if it does, how long does it last? What is the attraction of Apps like Tinder? And what does Twitter and texting has to do with our rewards system in the brain? To start to answer these questions here is a picture I found from Scammer Mimes Facebook page that got me thinking. It states:

    “You were much more interesting when you were online.” Does that sound about right?

   I recently met a man through an online dating site. He was perfect. His picture was perfect. His profile was perfect and in our messaging and texting, he insinuated that he was truly interested in the same things that I am. He was also very supportive to my writing career. I had written about scamming and he thought that it was appropriate. He said that he did not want losers, he wanted for us to support each other in whatever we wanted to achieve in life. It all sounded wonderful and I allowed myself to think and imagine what we could do together. And that in its turn was a great turn on for me. It was as if I had actually met him and as if we had already built our relationship. My dopamine hormone got me high just thinking about it. I am good at that. We messaged for a good two weeks and then decided to meet in person. We would meet at a popular café, about half way from each other. And that we did.

   When we met, it was like instant connection. It was as if my expectations were thoroughly met by this man walking down the street to meet me. He was handsome, and he walked in a manner a confident man walks. The moment he said hi and smiled produced a high in my brain. Wow, this was going somewhere and fast. Instant attraction, instant connection and I knew it was mutual. And we had not met through Tinder, so I thought that it was not about sex, at least not entirely. So, we talked and walked and cuddled and after I left, I crashed. I got stressed, depressed and anxious and felt like running away and very quickly at that. So what happened?

   My brain suddenly reacted by increased production of the stress hormone cortisol as well as the fight-or-flight hormone adrenaline, which caused a mental fog. I got thoroughly confused about what I should do. My decision-making capabilities were at cero. So, I went home and soothed my brain by checking on Facebook and then on Twitter. I checked all my emails and deleted most of them, so that I would feel like I had done something worth mentioning. And then I saw that someone had posted an article about what happens in your brain when you multitask. And it all clicked into place. Once again, I had used my literary, imaginary capabilities to make my dream date perfect and could not see the forest from the fog afterwards.

This article explains it:
                    “[By] asking the brain to shift attention from one activity to another causes the prefrontal cortex and striatum to burn up oxygenated glucose, the same fuel they need to stay on task. And the kind of rapid, continual shifting we do with multitasking causes the brain to burn through fuel so quickly that we feel exhausted and disoriented after even a short time. We’ve literally depleted the nutrients in our brain.”

   But what happened, I ask. Why did I react the way I did in the first place?
Well, I wrote that pink book called Love on the Line. How to Recover from Romance Scams Gracefully and without Victimisation. And my rational mind recognised the signs although my emotional brain went on producing the high and enjoying the ride as well. So, I sort of baked the cake and ate it as well.

  It is good to know that I have learned something from my own mistakes and experience. However, that has not yet resulted in my brain building all new neural pathways that would immediately prevent me from making bad decisions. I still do make them and afterwards I regret. The man I met wanted just sex, after all and when he got only reluctant kisses and cuddles during our walk, he turned nasty. He insulted me and my mother, my daughter and couple of other well-chosen words came out of the same mouth that had previously told me how beautiful I looked and how attractive he found me. Luckily, the situation ended there and he did not follow when I turned around and walked to my car and left. So, what should I do?

   Should I stop looking for love and believing in the good in everyone or maybe just keep reading romance books, like I have always done? It is a hard question and in this new instant digital world we live in, a valid question as well. Building real relationships in the instant gratification real life is hard. Particularly, when the other party only wants what he thinks he is entitled to get after pretending to be nice online. That is why he is more interesting there. And I might leave him there, at least just for now, while I gather my positivity after the crash and find the things that I should be grateful about, like that I once again survived, not an online dating scam but a real life personal treat.

   I recon we should think about that for a while and just stay on course to see what could be done to somewhat heal this broken world and the broken dreams it carries and offers to those who like to always think the best of everything.

Binocular Vision on 'Quintessentially Q' by Pepper Winters

"A society is not a static thing, an object, a single entity. It is a system, an ever-changing network of interlocking relationships wherein the whole is - and sometimes qualitatively different from - the sum of its parts." (Starhawk, 1982)


I just finished downloading the third book in the 'Monsters in the Dark' series by Pepper Winters. It is called 'Twisted Together'. I am actually stalling my eagerness to read it as I am still thinking about finishing this blog on 'Quintessentailly Q', which is the second book in the series. So, I better get into it before tangling the third one.

I must say that it is not very often that when you read a book in the genre of romance, although BDSM, you find yourself challenged to analyse the underlying culture that the book springs from.

Already her first book 'Tears for Tess', invited me to look closer to the popular culture behind the narrative than just entertaining myself. Just scroll back to a previous blog posting. This one is the continuation to it from a more literary angle.

In her second book, Pepper Winters (what an excellent name for an author) certainly is 'dreaming the dark'.

It starts from the attitude. That attitude might challenge the reader to reacquaint her/himself with the original Thomas Hardy classic about a maiden with a same name, in a controversial situation with her Victorian society. She was a good girls at that, just like our Tess. A girl with understanding of what is considered right action. A girl with a strong will.


I remembered very little of the book from my university days, except the fact that I failed the test question about the name of her son, Sorrow. I remembered it was Misery, which would have been quite fitting as our Tess certainly is in such a situation for the most of the 'Quintessentially Q'.

Quincy, on his part in on the hunt, like what we all enjoy the type A males are supposed to be, protecting their possessions, their women from other type A criminals. It reminds me of the 'Deer Hunter' or maybe the moose hunt, all blood and core.

I certainly remember what goes down on a hunt. It was part of my childhood in Lapland. The real life hunt, where men stalk the moose for hours, maybe days, even weeks, kill them with one shot and bond over letting and tasting the blood and cutting the meat. Our lust for primitive hunter instinct must come from that long gone excitement of hands on hunting and providing. Pepper winters can really make the reader react to that. It is fearsome.

The moral dilemma of the book is clear cut, a man's deeper instinct versus decency and high morals in acting the right way in our civilized society. It is also about the underlying system that is not so clear cut but more about what is the driving force at any given moment to get what you want.

In our society it is money and power. And what is the most profitable trade in our world today? It used to be prostitution and pornography but human trafficking has overtaken that dubious honor in the last decade. What is that saying about our world?

So, I got up and picked a few of my most favorite feminist non-fictional classics off the bookshelf.

'Dreaming the Dark' by Starhawk was one of my absolute favorites. The appendix of her book still presents the most striking academical analysis of the medieval society that produced the witch hunts as a way to qualify the rightfulness of the Church's violence against those who opposed it's power. It also was the way to illustrate the hate of women in a deeply sexual way as a system of power over and man representing the emerging rational scientific way of life over the natural organic way of women's lives.


'Malleus Malificarum', the book on how to recognise witches is a perfect example on how that violent practice lead to a violent culture supported by the majority.


In her book 'The Death of Nature', Carolyn Merchant dissects the medieval and through the renaissance society in changing from the natural order to the mechanical frame of mind which supported the modern power over cultural framework.

What I remember from 'Gyn/Ecology', a controversial book by Mary Daly is my utter shock in realising the multilayered violent cultures in our world. She described it as a 'House of Mirrors', where the violence is reflected from each wall resulting in total confusion about what is right and what is wrong action.

So, what is the popular literature trying to say to us about today? How is the modern romance literature depicting our deeper fears? How is this mirroring our life? Is it just that while the deeper animal instincts are getting the better of us, we are trying to prove that in some cases this overwhelming violence can be overcome by decency and grace.

Well, that is what 'Quintessentially Q' is telling me in its way of handling the storyline. It is giving me hope in that someday it is possible to change the violent culture and heal the ever widening gap between right and wrong action. We might even need books like that to work through the real life confusion and the real fear about our own safety in this seemingly secure world.

I am still reluctant to start the third book. What if she is making it worse? Well, never mind, the show must go on and the authors must play by the rules.
So, see you at the other end of 'Twisted Together'.


References beyond Quintesentially Q:
Daly (1981) Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism.The Women's Press
Hardy (2013) Tess of the d'Urbervilles. iBooks. (First published in 1891)
Kramer & Sprenger (2011) Malleus Malificarum. iBooks ( fist published in 1437)
Merchant (1980) The Death of Nature; Women's Ecology and the Scientific Revolution. HarperCollins
Starhawk (1982) Dreaming the Dark: Magic, Sex & Politics. Beacon Press

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An Ardent Reader of Romance Books

Or How to Entertain Your Mind and Relax with Romance during Holidays

Ever since, as a young university student in early 1980’s, I did a study on the plotlines of Mills & Boon romance books for my literature studies at Umeå University in Sweden, I have been interested in what romance books represent to women of our times. Statistics say a lot about it.

Apparently somebody buys a Harlequin Mills & Boon book every five seconds somewhere in the world (Journalist, 2008) and even through tough economic times the sales figures stay steady, currently being over $10 billion each year and rising (US statistics). The best seller lists continue to be dominated by romance authors. According to Romance Writers of America’s industry statistics, romance books come second only after movie tie-in books in the favourite categories (2010). Poynter, another online source of book sales statistics, show that when it comes to book sales, the same is true all over the world (Poynter, 2008). Romance book sales hold up the book printing industry with their profit returns. So, why is it so hard to give romance books their due as a continuation of fairy tale tradition to adult literature?

The romance books genre has evolved since their introduction in early 1970’s with books by authors such as Catherine Woodiwiss and Rosemary Rogers. They inspired a whole new generation of writers to romance book writing. Since then the romance book genres have expanded to cover many types from fantasy and paranormal to strictly contemporary, the newest trends being the vampires and angels. There is something available for everyone’s taste .

Still romance books are dismissed basically as good literature and many feel guilty when indulging themselves in the pleasure of reading them, yet every third woman who reads books, reads romance (Lee, 2008).

I moved my favourite romance books next to my favourite Greek classics a long time ago in rebellion to the comments I received from some people who thought that reading them was not a suitable occupation for a serious educated person. On the contrary, in her article ‘Guilty Pleasures: Reading Romance Novels as Reworked Fairy Tales’, Lee (2008) states that 42% of those who read romance books hold “at least a bachelor’s degree”. This proves that I am not alone in my thoughts about the importance of romance books as women’s favourite literature. However, I attest to the fact that there has been a huge development and improvement in the quality of romance books since the 1970’s. I believe that one day some of them will be classics just like Jane Austen’s and Charlotte Bronte’s ‘trash books’ from the 19th Century are now considered to be.

So, just for the fun of it I have here composed a list of 50 of my favourite romance books of mixed genres. These books have been collected over the years and they remain in my bookself to be read again and again. Hopefully they can provide a starting point to someone who is looking for an enjoyable read over a holiday period just as I was doing over this Easter:


1. Fantasy:

Vampires:

J.R.Ward (2005-) The Black Dagger Brotherhood Series, Piatkus (9 books so far)*
Linda Howard & Linda Jones (2010) Blood Born, Ballantine Books*
Kathy Love (2006) Fangs But No Fangs, Brava Paranormal Romance (part of series of 4 books)

Paranormal:

Rhyannon Byrd (2008-) The Primal Instinct Series, HQN (6 books so far)
Linda Howard, Linda Winstead Jones & Beverly Barton (2008) The Raintree Trilogy, MIRA*
Nora Roberts (2006), The Circle Trilogy, Piatkus
Sharie Kohler (2008-) The Moon Chasers Series, Pocket Books Paranormal Romance (4 books)
Lora Leigh (2005-) The Breeds Series, Berkley Sensation Paranormal Romance (8 books so far)

2. Contemporary:

Linda Howard (1995), After the Night, Pocket Books Fiction*
-- (2001) Open Season, Pocket Books Fiction
-- (1996) Shades of Twilight, Pocket Books
-- (1997) White Out in Upon a Midnight Clear Anthology, Pocket Books (Novella)*
Nora Roberts (1998) Homeport, Jove Fiction
Rebecca Brandewyne (1996) Dust Devil, MIRA
Fiona Brand (2000) Cullen’s Bride, Silhouette
-- (2002) Blade’s Lady, Silhouette*
Miranda Lee (1998) The Boss’s Baby, Harlequin Mills & Boon
Emma Darcy (1999) Having Leo’s Child, Harlequin Mills & Boon
Suzanne Simms (1992) Not Her Wedding, Silhouette
Margit Sandemo (1982) Yli kaikkien rajojen, Oy Kirjaviihde*
Catherine Spencer (1998) The Secret Daughter, Harlequin Mills & Boon
Sandra Brown (1988) Slow Heat in Heaven, Warner Books*
-- (1984) Bittersweet Rain, Warner Books*
Jayne Ann Krentz (2000-2002) Eclipse Bay Trilogy, Jove Fiction
Peggy Moreland (1997) Rugrats And Rawhire, Silhouette
Susan Napier (1998) Honeymoon Baby, Harlequin Mills & Boon

Humourous:

Susan Mallery (2001), Married for a Month, Pocket Star Books*
Marion Lennox (2004) The Last-Minute Marriage, Harlequin Mills & Boon
-- (1999) Marrying William, Harlequin Mills & Boon*
Barbara Daly (1999) Great Genes! Harlequin Mills &Boon
Jennifer Labrecque (2000) Andrew In Excess, Harlequin Mills & Boon*
Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1997) Nobody’s Baby But Mine, Avon Romance
-- (2001) This Heart of Mine, Avon Romance*

3. Suspense & Mystery:

Elizabeth Lowell (2006) The Wrong Hostage, Avon*
-- (2001) Moving Target, HarperCollins
Nora Roberts (1998) The Reef, Piatkus*
Linda Howard (2000) A Game of Chance, Silhouette
-- (2005) Killing Time, Piatkus (Sci-Fi)
Jasmine Cresswell (2000) The Inheritance, MIRA
--(2000) The Refuge, MIRA

4. Historical:

Margit Sandemo (1997), Ritarin Tytär, Oy Kirjaviihde*
Jasmine Cresswell (1980) The Blackwood Bride, Harlequin Mills & Boon*
Sophie Jordan (2006) Once Upon A Wedding Night, Avon Historical Romance
Susan Sizemore (1994) My First Duchess, Diamond Books
-- (1992) Wings of the Storm, Diamond Books (Time travel)*
Linda Howard (1992) The Touch of Fire, Pocket Books (Western)
Kathleen Woodiwiss (1977) Shanna, Futura
Marlene Suson (1997) Scarlet Lady, Avon Historical Romance
Julie Garwood (1996) The Secret, Pocket Star Books*
-- (1997) The Wedding, Pocket Star Books

* = special

SO, WHY NOT ENJOY SOME ROMANCE FOR A CHANGE!

References:
2010. 2009 ROMStat Report [Online]. Romance Writers America. Available: http://www.rwa.org/cs/the_romance_genre/romance_literature_statistics/industry_statistics [Accessed 25/04/2011 2011].
JOURNALIST. 2008. MIlls & Boons still Tomancing readers. Northern Territory News/Sunday Territorian [Online]. Available: http://web.ebschost.com.ezp01.libraru.qut.edu.au/ehost/delivery?sid=847709ee-a-564 [Accessed 24/04/2011].
LEE, L. J. 2008. Guilty Pleasures: Reading Romance Novels as Revorked Fairy Tales. Marvels & Tales, 22, 52-69.
POYNTER. 2008. Book Industry Statistics [Online]. Available: http://www.parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/statistics.cfm [Accessed 25/04/2011].

Celebrating Childhood Memories Contemplated in the Light of Sciences and History of Ideas Versus Modern Film and Literature.

“A history of science is rich in the example of the fruitfulness of bringing two sets of techniques, two sets of ideas, developed in separate context for a pursuit of new truth, into touch with one another.”
(J. Robert Oppenheimer)








For the last week on Facebook (FB) people have been celebrating childhood memories. FB users have been encouraged to change their profile to their favourite childhood characters, either from literature, art, films or cartoons and such. Many of my friends have taken up the challenge. I have had a number of interesting discussions about our memories with my colleagues and friends, starting from “I don’t remember any of my toys or characters” to “such a wonderful childhood we had!” My friends are displaying a variety of characters on their profiles. I am noticing some culturally bound adaptations, though. But apart from that, this great multiplicity just proves that as people are individual as personalities, so are their childhood memories as represented by the characters they choose.




Lately I have also been reading a lot about the function of the brain and neuroscience in how our worldview keeps changing in accordance of how we experience our reality. Applying my new knowledge on brain neurons and their effect on our development and the role of childhood memories on our lives I am asking myself how the childhood characters we grew up with have influenced what we have became as adults.

I would say that over the years of maturing I have moved from Astrid Lingren’s Pippi Longstocking and Tove Janson’s Little Myy (because of the Finnish voice of the actor) combined with Mary Poppins as a movie character as my most memorable figures to Moomin Mum’s contemplative approach and Mrs Banks’ determination to save the world. However, much of it is still in relation to yet another memorable character, namely their ‘bag of tricks’.




I distinctly remember that sequence of the Mary Poppins’ musical where Mary opens her bag and takes out the lamp and other furniture to decorate her room. This similar scene was nearly copied by Hermione, in the last instalment of The Harry Potter movie series, where she opens her small beaded handbag and takes out the whole tent and camping equipment. I particularly have always admired the Moomin Mom’s handbag, where she finds what is necessary to fix anything and everything from sorrows to fun. Pippi’s bag of gold coins given to her by her father is the strait forward, no nonsense, representation of the modern world where money can short-circuit a lot of efforts for survival. No magical trick needed except for perhaps the adventurous spirit to find a historical shipwreck full of treasure. This kind of endeavour might not prove to be an easy task any more in the world where everything is already mapped quite extensively.

However, the bag of tricks remains in my mind a metaphor for daring to reach into the subconsciousness and look for out of the box ideas for new approached to solving problems presented to the world we live in.

It was a wonderful week to focus on such things from the childhood memories point of view. Now that Christmas is coming we might find a new ways for compassionate attitude to spread around the world. Here are some references on Pippi Longstocking you might be interested in:



Gaare J and Sjaastad Ø. 2002, Pippi & Sokrates, Filosofiska vandringar i Astrid Lingrens värld. Smedjebacken, Sweden. Natur och Kultur

http://www.dannelseskaravanen.dk/int_conference/socrates_pippi.htm

http://www.paideia.org/docs/research/AnnPihlgrenDissertation.pdf

Enjoy!