I just realized that I made a bit of a boo-boo, heh, a breach of good manners if you will, in the Dear Author thread about Samhain wanting to refocus its business model to favor romantic fiction of various types. Everyone is pretty much lauding the move, and Angela James mentioned wanting more urban fantasy romances.

Silly, silly me, I sort of forgot that we are supposed to be celebrating and feeling idealistic about the whole new year and new enterprise thing, that I jokingly chimed in to Emma Petersen's query about what urban fantasy is with a flippant "anything that sells at the moment - Christine Feehan, JR Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon" remark. Of course, this earns me a 101 of sorts on what urban fantasy really is.

Really, I'm just being flippant and cynical here. But sometimes, clearly, being cynical is not exactly the thing to do, sort of like showing up in the middle of a feel-good corporate New Year party with pessimistic predictions about the stock market.

Ultimately, I feel that the result - in this case, the books that Samhain Publishing will put out - will speak for itself. For all the wonderful slogans and platitudes tossed about - it's all about the story, et cetera - I'd prefer to sit back and see for myself what is actually being put out. I've read my share of books from this publisher that feel as if the author has compromised her story for the sake of sex scenes, but that doesn't mean that I don't believe in the Samhain party line. It's just that, like all company lines, this one has my cynicism rising up to the forefront, especially when the happiness that is going on feels somewhat like damage control to me. See? I'm being cynical again.

As I've told Angela, if Samhain starts putting out not-so-formulaic stuff under the urban fantasy umbrella, that will be wonderful. But given that Samhain has decided to focus on what sells, excuse me if I'm not too sure that Samhain is interested in diversifying and taking in more experimental works.

But I really shouldn't have tried to even hint at what I'm feeling in a thread where every other person is patting each other in the back so much about Samhain as the best publisher ever. That's quite rude and I don't think I'd appreciate it if someone shows up in the middle of my party to roll up her eyes at me while I'm working myself up into an optimistic high. I like Samhain, I really do, but you know me. I'm like Daria. Like I've said, I'm sometimes too cynical for my own good. How did they say it again? Oh yes. Shutting up now.

In other news, what on earth is the hero doing on the cover of LA Day's Zarius (below)? I think he's violating a sea shell although that doesn't explain the strategically placed shiny star-burst thing at the tip of the... thing.