Apparently, I write porn...

Well, that's what Fred Head thinks.

According to the Democratic candidate for the state of Texas' comptroller's office, romance novels equal porn.

Here's the deal. The Republican candidate, Susan Combs, published a romance novel under the Kismet line in the early 1990's. And, in order to sully her name, Mr. Head has taken the position that Ms. Combs writes "pornography" and has even compared her to disgraced Congressman Mark Foley.

I wonder if his competition had written a horror/slasher novel, if he would be blamed for the rash of school shootings that have taken place over the past month? Or, if his opponent had written a legal thriller, would he have been likened to the Enron or World Comm executives? If a romance writer is considered to be in the same boat with a pedophile, then surely the same goes for those who write about embezzlement, right?

Needless to say, angry romance writers took Mr. Head's words as a personal attack, this romance writer included. Mr. Head has received tons of emails, and has lost many more votes than he realizes.

Due to the overwhelming response from RWA members, and romance readers in general, The Houston Chronicle published the following story:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4267264.html

To read more about the backlash from Fred Head's statement, search the various romance writer websites and blogs. Romance has been unjustly clouded by this horrible image for far too long. I encourage all romances readers to let Mr. Head know the difference between a romance novel and porn.

posted by Farrah Rochon @ 12:17 PM Comments: 3