Lucynka
@lucynka.bsky.social
Of the blog “Lucynka Reviews Obscure Bullshit.” Girls don’t want boys, girls want feminist analyses of Cornell Woolrich stories. Currently also reviewing stories from the romance pulps.
lucynka.wordpress.com
Books: lucynka.wordpress.com/en-prise-press/
lucynka.wordpress.com
Books: lucynka.wordpress.com/en-prise-press/
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Lucynka
@lucynka.bsky.social
· 28d
The Best of All-Story Love: 1929
Amazon.com: The Best of All-Story Love: 1929 eBook : Staron, Lucynka: Kindle Store
www.amazon.com
It's here!!! THE BEST OF ALL-STORY LOVE: 1929, a first-of-its-kind anthology of #pulp #romance stories from that magazine's first year. It took long enough, but I'm ever so happy I can bring at least a fraction of this forgotten part of romance history to light. 💕 #romancelandia #booksky📚💙
Reposted by Lucynka
Exhausted Stable Boy Clearly Just Going Through Motions Of Tearing Open Bodice https://theonion.com/exhausted-stable-boy-clearly-just-going-through-motions-of-tearing-open-bodice/
November 20, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Exhausted Stable Boy Clearly Just Going Through Motions Of Tearing Open Bodice https://theonion.com/exhausted-stable-boy-clearly-just-going-through-motions-of-tearing-open-bodice/
Oof, already at almost 3K words for this review. Definitely won't be able to finish it before my busy weekend, and I hope that—combined with all the holiday stuff NEXT weekend—my brain won't get totally fried and I'll be able to pick up wherever I end up leaving off.
November 20, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Oof, already at almost 3K words for this review. Definitely won't be able to finish it before my busy weekend, and I hope that—combined with all the holiday stuff NEXT weekend—my brain won't get totally fried and I'll be able to pick up wherever I end up leaving off.
Reposted by Lucynka
Tired: Kidnapping a woman because you have no sexual self-control and a fuck-ton of Daddy Issues.
Wired: Kidnapping a woman because you can make her wealthy relatives pay through the nose (possibly in an attempt to offset their colonialist, capitalist exploitation of your local working class???).
Wired: Kidnapping a woman because you can make her wealthy relatives pay through the nose (possibly in an attempt to offset their colonialist, capitalist exploitation of your local working class???).
November 19, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Tired: Kidnapping a woman because you have no sexual self-control and a fuck-ton of Daddy Issues.
Wired: Kidnapping a woman because you can make her wealthy relatives pay through the nose (possibly in an attempt to offset their colonialist, capitalist exploitation of your local working class???).
Wired: Kidnapping a woman because you can make her wealthy relatives pay through the nose (possibly in an attempt to offset their colonialist, capitalist exploitation of your local working class???).
Reposted by Lucynka
Solange Knowles’ Saint Heron has launched a free digital archival library of literature by Black and brown authors, poets, and artists. Readers can borrow rare and out-of-print books for up to 45 days
Solange Opens Free Digital Library Of Rare Black Books
Solange has launched a digital library archive of Black and brown authors where readers can borrow books at no cost.
peopleofcolorintech.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Solange Knowles’ Saint Heron has launched a free digital archival library of literature by Black and brown authors, poets, and artists. Readers can borrow rare and out-of-print books for up to 45 days
Anyway, "Ellen Hogue" was the pseudonym of Eleanor Kerkhoff (née Stinchcomb). SERENADE is dedicated to her grandmother, whose name was…wait for it…(Mary) Ellen Hogue (née Singleton).
November 18, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Anyway, "Ellen Hogue" was the pseudonym of Eleanor Kerkhoff (née Stinchcomb). SERENADE is dedicated to her grandmother, whose name was…wait for it…(Mary) Ellen Hogue (née Singleton).
I love physical books, but a big downside to them is that one can't easily do a search for a specific word. 🫠
November 18, 2025 at 6:49 PM
I love physical books, but a big downside to them is that one can't easily do a search for a specific word. 🫠
I don't read enough modern romance (let alone romantasy) to really comment on this, but it's nevertheless a very interesting observation. 🤔
Today, Ingrid's talking about shorter attention spans and even shorter sentences.
Writing Style and Attention Span
Something is happening to our books. It’s not anything obvious; this isn’t a trend starring the sudden and overwhelming appearance of blue aliens or shadow daddies. No, it’s something subtle. Something sneaky. Something that creates an undercurrent or a feeling. It took me a long time to put my finger on it, but during my Romantasy Binge Fest of 2025, I finally figured it out.
smutreport.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:54 AM
I don't read enough modern romance (let alone romantasy) to really comment on this, but it's nevertheless a very interesting observation. 🤔
Reposted by Lucynka
Bringing this back, bc it's worthwhile & probably the closest thing to genuine #romance scholarship from the #pulp era: Hortense McRaven's "The Love-Pulp Heroine Steps Out," from THE AUTHOR & JOURNALIST, Aug. 1935. (McRaven, coincidentally, studied literature for 3 years in college.) #romancelandia
Vintage Article: “The Love-Pulp Heroine Steps Out”
It’s time for another vintage article, this time by fave pulp author Hortense McRaven, originally published in the August 1935 issue of The Author & Journalist. (I do actually have a real revi…
lucynka.wordpress.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Bringing this back, bc it's worthwhile & probably the closest thing to genuine #romance scholarship from the #pulp era: Hortense McRaven's "The Love-Pulp Heroine Steps Out," from THE AUTHOR & JOURNALIST, Aug. 1935. (McRaven, coincidentally, studied literature for 3 years in college.) #romancelandia
Bringing this back, bc it's worthwhile & probably the closest thing to genuine #romance scholarship from the #pulp era: Hortense McRaven's "The Love-Pulp Heroine Steps Out," from THE AUTHOR & JOURNALIST, Aug. 1935. (McRaven, coincidentally, studied literature for 3 years in college.) #romancelandia
Vintage Article: “The Love-Pulp Heroine Steps Out”
It’s time for another vintage article, this time by fave pulp author Hortense McRaven, originally published in the August 1935 issue of The Author & Journalist. (I do actually have a real revi…
lucynka.wordpress.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Bringing this back, bc it's worthwhile & probably the closest thing to genuine #romance scholarship from the #pulp era: Hortense McRaven's "The Love-Pulp Heroine Steps Out," from THE AUTHOR & JOURNALIST, Aug. 1935. (McRaven, coincidentally, studied literature for 3 years in college.) #romancelandia
Reposted by Lucynka
Finished my reading (and live-blogging) of Ellen Hogue's SERENADE (1931). It had some flaws (many of them owing to the publishing culture of the time), but overall I really enjoyed it! If I were to give it a rating it would be a solid 4/5, which is pretty high for me. #pulp #romance #romancelandia
Official live-blog thread for Ellen Hogue's Western kidnap romance SERENADE, from 1931. Check out the attached thread (it's a small one) for the full premise and some background. #pulp #romance #romancelandia
And away we go!
And away we go!
November 16, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Finished my reading (and live-blogging) of Ellen Hogue's SERENADE (1931). It had some flaws (many of them owing to the publishing culture of the time), but overall I really enjoyed it! If I were to give it a rating it would be a solid 4/5, which is pretty high for me. #pulp #romance #romancelandia
Finished my reading (and live-blogging) of Ellen Hogue's SERENADE (1931). It had some flaws (many of them owing to the publishing culture of the time), but overall I really enjoyed it! If I were to give it a rating it would be a solid 4/5, which is pretty high for me. #pulp #romance #romancelandia
Official live-blog thread for Ellen Hogue's Western kidnap romance SERENADE, from 1931. Check out the attached thread (it's a small one) for the full premise and some background. #pulp #romance #romancelandia
And away we go!
And away we go!
November 16, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Finished my reading (and live-blogging) of Ellen Hogue's SERENADE (1931). It had some flaws (many of them owing to the publishing culture of the time), but overall I really enjoyed it! If I were to give it a rating it would be a solid 4/5, which is pretty high for me. #pulp #romance #romancelandia
Reposted by Lucynka
In case you missed it: My post on LOVE MIRROR, my new fave #romance magazine. Featuring female characters who dare to have premarital sex and yet still get an HEA. 😱 (Also, upper-class heroes/heroines GTFO.) ❤️ #pulp #romancelandia #toogoodforthisworld
Some may remember me posting about the obscure, short-lived (Nov. 1931 - Apr. 1933) LOVE MIRROR a couple months ago—welp, I've now written a whole post about it!
In short, it's the feminist, leftist, Depression-era romance magazine you never knew you wanted. #pulp #romance #romancelandia
In short, it's the feminist, leftist, Depression-era romance magazine you never knew you wanted. #pulp #romance #romancelandia
Love Mirror: The feminist, leftist, Depression-era romance magazine you never knew you wanted.
Mixing it up with a post less about a specific story and more about a magazine at large (you may notice that my little-used “Author Spotlight” category has now turned into “Author/Magazine Spotligh…
lucynka.wordpress.com
November 15, 2025 at 5:06 PM
In case you missed it: My post on LOVE MIRROR, my new fave #romance magazine. Featuring female characters who dare to have premarital sex and yet still get an HEA. 😱 (Also, upper-class heroes/heroines GTFO.) ❤️ #pulp #romancelandia #toogoodforthisworld
Still making my way through this, but just gonna say that I'm of the (potentially controversial?) opinion that if you feel you have to mention the size of the hero's dick (inevitably always huge, never even average), you're actually not that good at writing sex.
It's open access (i.e. free) and focuses on the lack of reality/real-world implications of "prioritizing of penetration" in romance sex scenes, assumptions around arousal and 'wetness', and genital size (in the case of MMC)/tightness (of FMCs).
Between the sheets: physiological sex acts in the contemporary romance novel
Sexual pleasure is a fundamental concern of the romance genre, and while romance novels do prioritize ‘women wanting and getting great sex from partners who know how to deliver’, it is important to...
doi.org
November 15, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Still making my way through this, but just gonna say that I'm of the (potentially controversial?) opinion that if you feel you have to mention the size of the hero's dick (inevitably always huge, never even average), you're actually not that good at writing sex.
In case you missed it: My post on LOVE MIRROR, my new fave #romance magazine. Featuring female characters who dare to have premarital sex and yet still get an HEA. 😱 (Also, upper-class heroes/heroines GTFO.) ❤️ #pulp #romancelandia #toogoodforthisworld
Some may remember me posting about the obscure, short-lived (Nov. 1931 - Apr. 1933) LOVE MIRROR a couple months ago—welp, I've now written a whole post about it!
In short, it's the feminist, leftist, Depression-era romance magazine you never knew you wanted. #pulp #romance #romancelandia
In short, it's the feminist, leftist, Depression-era romance magazine you never knew you wanted. #pulp #romance #romancelandia
Love Mirror: The feminist, leftist, Depression-era romance magazine you never knew you wanted.
Mixing it up with a post less about a specific story and more about a magazine at large (you may notice that my little-used “Author Spotlight” category has now turned into “Author/Magazine Spotligh…
lucynka.wordpress.com
November 15, 2025 at 5:06 PM
In case you missed it: My post on LOVE MIRROR, my new fave #romance magazine. Featuring female characters who dare to have premarital sex and yet still get an HEA. 😱 (Also, upper-class heroes/heroines GTFO.) ❤️ #pulp #romancelandia #toogoodforthisworld
Some may remember me posting about the obscure, short-lived (Nov. 1931 - Apr. 1933) LOVE MIRROR a couple months ago—welp, I've now written a whole post about it!
In short, it's the feminist, leftist, Depression-era romance magazine you never knew you wanted. #pulp #romance #romancelandia
In short, it's the feminist, leftist, Depression-era romance magazine you never knew you wanted. #pulp #romance #romancelandia
Love Mirror: The feminist, leftist, Depression-era romance magazine you never knew you wanted.
Mixing it up with a post less about a specific story and more about a magazine at large (you may notice that my little-used “Author Spotlight” category has now turned into “Author/Magazine Spotligh…
lucynka.wordpress.com
November 13, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Some may remember me posting about the obscure, short-lived (Nov. 1931 - Apr. 1933) LOVE MIRROR a couple months ago—welp, I've now written a whole post about it!
In short, it's the feminist, leftist, Depression-era romance magazine you never knew you wanted. #pulp #romance #romancelandia
In short, it's the feminist, leftist, Depression-era romance magazine you never knew you wanted. #pulp #romance #romancelandia
Blog post on LOVE MIRROR coming soon (perhaps today???).
November 13, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Blog post on LOVE MIRROR coming soon (perhaps today???).
Official live-blog thread for Ellen Hogue's Western kidnap romance SERENADE, from 1931. Check out the attached thread (it's a small one) for the full premise and some background. #pulp #romance #romancelandia
And away we go!
And away we go!
November 13, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Official live-blog thread for Ellen Hogue's Western kidnap romance SERENADE, from 1931. Check out the attached thread (it's a small one) for the full premise and some background. #pulp #romance #romancelandia
And away we go!
And away we go!
Got my eBay purchase! Ellen Hogue's SERENADE (1931), which was maybe 1st serialized in CUPID'S DIARY in '30, as "Painted Skies"? #pulp #romance
It was listed for $65 (insane), but I got it for $41. Which is still probably overpriced, but it was tolerable and shipping was included.
It apparently…
It was listed for $65 (insane), but I got it for $41. Which is still probably overpriced, but it was tolerable and shipping was included.
It apparently…
November 12, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Reposted by Lucynka
Did you know Ethel M. Dell was a big influence on Georgette Heyer? Did you know that, while a lot of her shorter fiction was collected, 1929's "The Love Master" wasn't? Did you know it unusually features American* protags? You do now! Find it and more here! 👇 #pulp #romance #romancelandia
The Best of All-Story Love: 1929
Amazon.com: The Best of All-Story Love: 1929 eBook : Staron, Lucynka: Kindle Store
www.amazon.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Did you know Ethel M. Dell was a big influence on Georgette Heyer? Did you know that, while a lot of her shorter fiction was collected, 1929's "The Love Master" wasn't? Did you know it unusually features American* protags? You do now! Find it and more here! 👇 #pulp #romance #romancelandia
Did you know Ethel M. Dell was a big influence on Georgette Heyer? Did you know that, while a lot of her shorter fiction was collected, 1929's "The Love Master" wasn't? Did you know it unusually features American* protags? You do now! Find it and more here! 👇 #pulp #romance #romancelandia
The Best of All-Story Love: 1929
Amazon.com: The Best of All-Story Love: 1929 eBook : Staron, Lucynka: Kindle Store
www.amazon.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Did you know Ethel M. Dell was a big influence on Georgette Heyer? Did you know that, while a lot of her shorter fiction was collected, 1929's "The Love Master" wasn't? Did you know it unusually features American* protags? You do now! Find it and more here! 👇 #pulp #romance #romancelandia
Reposted by Lucynka
The real problem for Bond is also the problem for Batman, Doctor Who, and dozens of similar characters -- the idea that a melodrama hero must also be a dramatic protagonist. The two roles are fundamentally irreconcilable. I blame George Lucas and Joseph Campbell.
November 11, 2025 at 1:18 PM
The real problem for Bond is also the problem for Batman, Doctor Who, and dozens of similar characters -- the idea that a melodrama hero must also be a dramatic protagonist. The two roles are fundamentally irreconcilable. I blame George Lucas and Joseph Campbell.
Sometimes the ability to craft a practical thing you need/want really is something special, though. #iloseperspectivesometimes
November 11, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Sometimes the ability to craft a practical thing you need/want really is something special, though. #iloseperspectivesometimes
Omg, I can't believe I forgot to bring this back for October/Halloween. #vampires #ghosts #furniture
Wake up, babe, turns out our furniture is not only possessed, but possessed by the ghost of a vampire. 🪑👻🧛
(From MYSTERY MAGAZINE, June 15, 1926.) #pulp
(From MYSTERY MAGAZINE, June 15, 1926.) #pulp
November 10, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Omg, I can't believe I forgot to bring this back for October/Halloween. #vampires #ghosts #furniture
Reposted by Lucynka
Something something, short-form romance fiction used to be the norm before paperbacks (in the US, at least), something something, here's the proof? 😂 #pulp #pulpmagazines
Seriously, though, a fun listen, and a good, refreshing defense of the short story/novelette format in the genre! 💕
Seriously, though, a fun listen, and a good, refreshing defense of the short story/novelette format in the genre! 💕
November 8, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Something something, short-form romance fiction used to be the norm before paperbacks (in the US, at least), something something, here's the proof? 😂 #pulp #pulpmagazines
Seriously, though, a fun listen, and a good, refreshing defense of the short story/novelette format in the genre! 💕
Seriously, though, a fun listen, and a good, refreshing defense of the short story/novelette format in the genre! 💕
Sometimes I think there's a connection to be made between the confession stories of old (always written in 1st-person, as opposed to the regular romance pulps which were always in 3rd) and the prevalence of 1st-person in certain parts of the romance genre now, but I'm too lazy to actually do it.
November 9, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Sometimes I think there's a connection to be made between the confession stories of old (always written in 1st-person, as opposed to the regular romance pulps which were always in 3rd) and the prevalence of 1st-person in certain parts of the romance genre now, but I'm too lazy to actually do it.