On this week's Downtown, Mark Harmon & Leon Carroll, Jr. tell us about their book, GHOSTS OF SICILY, University of Maine professor @jessicatripler.bsky.social discusses BRIDGERTON & PHILOSOPHY, and we talk Boston sports with @chadfinn.bsky.social richkimbally.podbean.com

With the news that S5 will feature Francesca/Michaela, I'll note we have an essay on the question of queerbaiting in BRIDGERTON AND PHILOSOPHY, wrt Benedict in particular. #Bridgerton #romancelandia #booksky

It was really a mistake for me to leave all the Oscar nominated international films to these last few days. They are not...a barrel of laughs. #academyawards #oscars

I tried to listen to Star Shipped (via Spotify) but I couldn't vibe with the narrator, so I am reading it on Kindle this weekend instead! #romancelandia #starshipped

Awesome feature in the NYT about Cat Sebastian! (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/b... #romancelandia

Working on my PCA presentation today. So fun to be able to talk about books I enjoyed! This slide references two novels that explicitly address attitudes towards nonhuman animals. #romancelandia

Shoot! The two authors I was most interested in meeting at this Maine romance book signing event have pulled out - Rachel Reid and CM Nacosta. #romancelandia

Listening to Christina Applegate's memoir which is good. She gives names to her painful/uncooperative body parts (she has MS). Helps her cope. But she names her right leg "Meghan Markle." Every other part has a generic name not tied to a living person (AFAIK). Like, why?

In Elle magazine this week, Nicola Coughlan spoke about #Bridgerton and body shaming. We have a terrific essay in BRIDGERTON AND PHILOSOPHY, "Examining Assumptions About Love and Fatness" by Cheryl Frazier and Jeremy Fried that dives into this topic in the show and fandom. #romancelandia

"Because I also have high self-esteem in addition to low self-esteem." Lindy West, channeling my inner self in this NYT piece. (which happens to be about nonmonogamy)

So, Cat Sebastian recc'ed a sapphic romance, THE DUKE, by Anna Cowan and I'm like wait, I know that name, and then I realized her last book was in 2013 (the fab UNTAMED)! How exciting! Out 4/28. #romancelandia

OMG! All my interests in one show! Heated Rivalry showrunner Jacob Tierney's series based on Aristotle and Alexander the Great's relationship coming on Netflix!! #romancelandia #heatedrivalry deadline.com/2026/03/jaco...

Queer historical romance author Cat Sebastian is a guest on Culture Study, a great pod. #romancelandia www.patreon.com/posts/just-t...

Thanks, Laura! In this piece, I discuss romance novels by Chloe Liese, Tia Williams, and Talia Hibbert. #romancelandia #romance #medhum

If you're enjoying #Bridgerton today, consider adding some philosophy!

Really enjoyed Adriana Anders' Dom-Com. Fave part: when the MMC tries the old "I'm just not a relationship guy," the FMC, instead of slinking away, pretending not to care, shouts at him: "“Are you kidding me? You are being so unserious right now!"

Oh First-Time Caller will be a movie! Really liked this book. variety.com/2026/film/ne...

BRIDGERTON AND PHILOSOPHY is out now! Available at all the usual retailers. 22 chapters connecting the show (and books) to philosophical concepts and problems. Loads of quotes and Easter eggs, a fun read (I promise)! #romancelandia #Bridgerton #Netflix #Booksky #Romancebooksky

You can read my essay, on Bridgerton and the Happily Ever After, from the forthcoming Bridgerton and Philosophy, online here: andphilosophy.com/2026/02/06/b...

Excited to let folks know my edited book BRIDGERTON AND PHILOSOPHY (Wiley Blackwell) is out soon. 22 essays taking a philosophical look at the Netflix show and books. www.wiley.com/en-us/Bridge...

My gosh, what a lost book collection! 20k books! (and vinyl!). Glad everyone is ok.

Faculty romance book club still going strong! Last night's selection was The Most Wonderful Time by Jayne Allen. Two women at a crossroads in Chicago and Malibu swap houses for a week. Takes on some serious themes (racism, grief).

#Romancelandia, can we keep this GFM going? Robin is out of hospital, but the medical expenses and bills due have not stopped. Please chip in what you can, and share regardless; every $5 adds up. (remember: tip GFM $0, they charge fees to recipients)

I've read and enjoyed everything Ali Hazelwood has written, more or less, but I may have to DNF her latest, Deep End. I don't see how the MMC can redeem himself. #romancelandia #romancereaders

I was led to believe by R.E.M. that I would feel a lot better about this.

It’s my bookaversary! Happy three years to BLACK LOVE MATTERS, the book of my heart! I didn’t let the pandemic, cancer, or corralling 13 authors in ten states and two countries hold me down, and we got something magical in return! What are you reading this first day of Black History Month?

I spoke to a talented junior scientist who just got a good faculty job offer in the US and they told me “well I wouldn’t move to 1930s Germany either” so that’s how that’s going

It's been rough on campus. So many of my colleagues have had grant applications pulled, had to cancel fed funded funded conferences, and on and on. Just so scary and disheartening.

Imagine a world where you never learned or tried anything new, you just kept pushing the button for another pellet like a rat.

Agreed. All my subs are banning links to X and many are adding Meta links, too.

My one bit of hashtag-resist advice is to start a blog. I'm 100 percent serious. A blog, a newsletter, a tumblr - whatever. The blogging craze erupted largely in response to the Bush era & it's time for the people to reclaim their own platforms. Whatever you use social media for, put it on your blog

Julie Ann Long's My Season of Scandal is absolutely fantastic. How is it possible this woman is not a NYT bestseller? She is one of the best in historical romance and has been for many years!

@cethompson.bsky.social and I are so excited to share the cover for our book Do Less Harm out soon with @hopkinspress.bsky.social

Trying to create my bioethics syllabus, a course I haven't taught for years, and I am struggling mightily. I think I'll quit and read some more of My Season of Scandal by Julie Ann Long.

Please take care if you choose to read this. It is excellent. I feel sick.

Since GenAI in classes came up, here is a very interesting document on GenAI Refusal in Writing Studies: refusinggenai.wordpress.com

Yep, it's in-class written exams for me this spring (with appropriate accommodations for students who need them of course).

Friends, look look look! I got to see this live and in person for the first time ever at MLA yesterday. A HISTORY OF TRANSGENDER MEDICINE IN THE US—now at the @sunypress.bsky.social booth (and on the website here of course: sunypress.edu/Books/A/A-Hi...)

This showed up as a freebie with Amazon Prime, a "First Read", yay! II guess I get two free books a month? Is this new? Sonali Dev's There's Something About Mira. Coming out Feb 1.

For my fellow oldsters and young Yacht Rock fans: listened to Michael McDonald's memoir, What a Fool Believes, driving down to NYC and back -- it was great!

Forgot to mention which book I picked up at The Ripped Bodice. Make A Scene by Mimi Grace, a fake relationship for a wedding date romance.

Finally made time to visit The Ripped Bodice on a Brooklyn visit!

Just watched Conclave. I understand the praise for Fiennes but...this was not a good film and the ending made it a terrible film.

Half of writing is just saying, ‘I’ll deal with that later’ and then panicking because it’s later.

Been listening to last year's buzzy Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and BOY is this "sex scene" not written by a romance novelist: "She put her hand between his legs, wrapping her fingers around the cylindrical chamber of blood sponges that was his (and every) penis." #romancelandia

Writing is thinking. It’s not a part of the process that can be skipped; it’s the entire point.

Silo, I gave you a season plus. I'm sure the books by Hugh Howey are great but I'm so bored by this show.

what a wonderful writer, way ahead of her time in many ways #romancelandia

For more disabled authors to follow, check out my starter pack! If you want to be added, just let me know! go.bsky.app/NuhLqpf

Would buy