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164-465: Authors are eligible to join the RWA if they are actively pursuing a career writing romance novels . According to the RWA, the main plot of a romance novel must revolve around the two people as they develop romantic love for each other and work to build a relationship together. Both the conflict and the climax of the novel should be directly related to that core theme of developing a romantic relationship, although

328-408: A "decency code", and rejected more sexually explicit material that Mills and Boon submitted for reprinting. Realizing that the genre was popular, Richard Bonneycastle finally decided to read a romance novel. He chose one of the more explicit novels and enjoyed it. On his orders, the company conducted a market test with the novel he had read and discovered that it outsold a similar, tamer novel. Overall,

492-464: A 90–100% sellout rate each month. A 1982 survey of romance readers confirmed that the new styles of writing were attracting new readers to the genre. 35% of the readers surveyed had begun reading romances after 1977. An additional 31% of those surveyed had been readers for between 6 and 10 years, meaning they had become interested in the genre after 1972, when Woodiwiss' revolutionary novel was published. This means that two-thirds of those surveyed joined

656-410: A book of letter templates. Richardson accepted the request, but only if the letters had a moral purpose. As Richardson was writing the series of letters turned into a story. Writing in a new form, the novel, Richardson attempted to both instruct and entertain. Richardson wrote Pamela as a conduct book , a sort of manual which codified social and domestic behavior of men, women, and servants, as well as

820-567: A city with zoning that flooded." On May 16, 2024, a strong derecho caused widespread damage across the city and surrounding metropolitan area. Houston is 165 miles (266 km) east of Austin , 88 miles (142 km) west of the Louisiana border, and 250 miles (400 km) south of Dallas . The city has a total area of 637.4 square miles (1,651 km ); this comprises over 599.59 square miles (1,552.9 km ) of land and 22.3 square miles (58 km ) covered by water. Most of Houston

984-545: A commercial center, forming a symbiosis with its Gulf Coast port, Galveston. Landlocked farmers brought their produce to Houston, using Buffalo Bayou to gain access to Galveston and the Gulf of Mexico. Houston merchants profited from selling staples to farmers and shipping the farmers' produce to Galveston. The great majority of enslaved people in Texas came with their owners from the older slave states. Sizable numbers, however, came through

1148-424: A couple who fights for and believes in their relationship will likely be rewarded with unconditional love. Bestselling author Nora Roberts sums up the genre, saying: "The books are about the celebration of falling in love and emotion and commitment, and all of those things we really want." Women's fiction (including " chick lit ") is not directly a subcategory of the romance novel genre, because in women's fiction

1312-624: A day of groundwater. Houston has four major bayous passing through the city that accept water from the extensive drainage system. Buffalo Bayou runs through Downtown and the Houston Ship Channel , and has three tributaries: White Oak Bayou, which runs through the Houston Heights community northwest of Downtown and then towards Downtown; Brays Bayou , which runs along the Texas Medical Center; and Sims Bayou , which runs through

1476-447: A different imprint. The Board began to focus more on diversity and inclusion efforts, leading to a backlash from some of its white members. In summer 2017, founding RWA member Linda Howard posted on an internal forum that "'Diversity for the sake of diversity is discrimination'". The resulting furor led Howard to leave the organization. Many authors pointed to the RITA awards as evidence that

1640-508: A finalist for the Best Inspirational Romance RITA, was accused of antisemitism . The hero of her novel, For Such a Time , was a Nazi concentration camp commandant, and the heroine was an imprisoned Jew who later converted to Christianity. At the same conference, an editor for a major publisher admitted that they did not purchase any books by non-white authors or featuring non-white characters; those were instead segregated to

1804-515: A floodplain, a flowing flood-water stream termed a floodway runs through the development area, a most dangerous place to encounter during any future flooding event. Harris County , like other more rural counties, cannot direct developers where to build or not build via land use controls such as a zoning ordinance by Texas law, and instead can only impose general floodplain regulations for enforcement during subdivision approvals and building permit approvals. The 2020 U.S. census determined Houston had

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1968-586: A large and growing international community. Houston is the most diverse metropolitan area in Texas and has been described as the most racially and ethnically diverse major city in the U.S. It is home to many cultural institutions and exhibits, such as the Houston Museum District and the Houston Theater District . Present-day Houston sits on land that was once occupied by the Karankawa and

2132-561: A love story between a beautiful and talented maiden and a handsome young scholar. Some examples of these novels include Ping Shan Leng Yan , Haoqiu zhuan , Iu-Kiao-Li , Huatu yuan , Qiao Lian Zhu , Wu Mei Yuan , Bai Gui Zhi , Jin Yun Qiao , Ting Yue Lou , Wu Jiang Xue , Lin er bao , Ying Yun meng , Tiehua xianshi , Shuishi yuan , Jinxiang ting , Erdu mei quanzhuan , Dingqing ren , Qingmeng tuo and Zhuchun yuan . They feature themes influenced by

2296-480: A more sensitive man. Despite the broadening of some aspects of the plot, other taboos remained, and publishers discouraged authors from writing about controversial subjects such as terrorism, warfare, and masculine sports. Romance novels began to contain more humor beginning in the 1990s, as Julie Garwood began introducing a great deal of humor into her historical romances. The romance novel began to expand in other ways as well. In 1989, author Jude Deveraux became

2460-441: A mortgage were $ 1,646, and $ 536 without a mortgage. Houston's median gross rent from 2015 to 2019 was $ 1,041. The median household income in 2019 was $ 52,338 and 20.1% of Houstonians lived at or below the poverty line . Houston is a majority-minority city. The Rice University Kinder Institute for Urban Research, a think tank , has described Greater Houston as "one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse metropolitan areas in

2624-492: A narrative in order to provide a more morally concerned literature option for young audiences. This conduct book genre has a long history. The Romance novelist, Maria Edgeworth , influenced Victorian era motifs and authors with many of her works including Belinda (1801) and Helen (1834). An admirer of Edgeworth, Jane Austen, further influenced the Romance genre and Victorian era with her novel Pride and Prejudice (1813), which

2788-545: A new style of writing romance, concentrating primarily on historical fiction tracking the monogamous relationship between a helpless heroine and the hero who rescued her, even if he had been the one to place her in danger. The covers of these novels tended to feature scantily clad women being grabbed by the hero, and caused the novels to be referred to as " bodice rippers". Cover arts of this style are referred to as clinch covers . A Wall Street Journal article in 1980 referred to these bodice rippers as "publishing's answer to

2952-449: A population of 2,304,580. In 2017, the census-estimated population was 2,312,717, and in 2018 it was 2,325,502. An estimated 600,000 undocumented immigrants resided in the Houston area in 2017, comprising nearly 9% of the city's metropolitan population. At the 2010 United States census , Houston had a population of 2,100,263 residents, up from the city's 2,396 at the 1850 census . Per

3116-574: A population of 2,314,157 in 2023, Houston is the fourth-most populous city in the United States after New York City , Los Angeles , and Chicago , and the sixth-most populous city in North America . Houston is the southeast anchor of the greater megaregion known as the Texas Triangle . Comprising a land area of 640.4 square miles (1,659 km ), Houston is the ninth-most expansive city in

3280-476: A shelter to more than 150,000 people from New Orleans, who evacuated from Hurricane Katrina . One month later, about 2.5 million Houston-area residents evacuated when Hurricane Rita approached the Gulf Coast , leaving little damage to the Houston area. This was the largest urban evacuation in the history of the United States. In May 2015, seven people died after 12 inches of rain fell in 10 hours during what

3444-431: A single U.S. print run, remaining on a bookseller's shelves until they are sold out or until the next month's titles are released and take their place. Writers for the largest publisher of category romance, Harlequin/Mills & Boon , can find their novels translated into 26 languages and sold in over 100 international markets. Houston Houston ( / ˈ h juː s t ən / HEW -stən )

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3608-567: A specific category of romance (e.g., Long Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense) is inducted into the RWA Hall of Fame. The first inductee was Nora Roberts. Other authors honored include Jo Beverley , Julia Quinn , and Jennifer Greene . After controversies concerning the lack of diversity in RITA winners , the RITA Award was replaced in 2021 with the Vivian Award. The Romance Writers of America

3772-593: Is also home to buildings designed by noted architects I. M. Pei , César Pelli , and Philip Johnson. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a mini-boom of midrise and highrise residential tower construction occurred, with several over 30 stories tall. Since 2000 over 30 skyscrapers have been developed in Houston; all told, 72 high-rises tower over the city, which adds up to about 8,300 units. In 2002, Uptown had more than 23 million square feet (2,100,000 m ) of office space with 16 million square feet (1,500,000 m ) of class A office space . Houston's climate

3936-607: Is classified as humid subtropical ( Cfa in the Köppen climate classification system ), typical of the Southern United States . While not in Tornado Alley , like much of Northern Texas , spring supercell thunderstorms sometimes bring tornadoes to the area. Prevailing winds are from the south and southeast during most of the year, which bring heat and tropical moisture from the nearby Gulf of Mexico and Galveston Bay. During

4100-556: Is known as the Memorial Day Flood. Eight people died in April 2016 during a storm that dropped 17 inches of rain. The worst came in late August 2017, when Hurricane Harvey stalled over southeastern Texas, much like Tropical Storm Allison did sixteen years earlier, causing severe flooding in the Houston area, with some areas receiving over 50 inches (1,300 mm) of rain. The rainfall exceeded 50 inches in several areas locally, breaking

4264-599: Is not Romance Fiction. However, both scholarly analysis and the conversations between Gabaldon and her publisher about whether to market the books as romances, reveal that the discourse about genre labels is more nuanced. In 2022, it was announced that the best-selling "cult" Winston Brother series by self-published "smart-romance" author, Penny Reid , has been optioned for a television adaptation by Tomorrow Studios. Romance novels are divided into two sub-sets, category romances, also known as series romances, and single title romances. Many authors write only within one of

4428-501: Is on the gulf coastal plain , and its vegetation is classified as Western Gulf coastal grasslands while further north, it transitions into a subtropical jungle, the Big Thicket . Much of the city was built on forested land, marshes, or swamps, and all are still visible in surrounding areas. Flat terrain and extensive greenfield development have combined to worsen flooding. Downtown stands about 50 feet (15 m) above sea level, and

4592-588: Is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the Southern United States . Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico , it is the seat of Harris County ; as well as the principal city of the Greater Houston metropolitan area, the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the second-most populous in Texas after Dallas–Fort Worth . With

4756-522: Is the 64-floor, 901-foot (275 m)-tall, Philip Johnson and John Burgee designed landmark Williams Tower (known as the Transco Tower until 1999). At the time of construction, it was believed to be the world's tallest skyscraper outside a central business district. The new 20-story Skanska building and BBVA Compass Plaza are the newest office buildings built in Uptown after 30 years. The Uptown District

4920-488: Is the largest city in the United States without formal zoning regulations, it has developed similarly to other Sun Belt cities because the city's land use regulations and legal covenants have played a similar role. Regulations include mandatory lot size for single-family houses and requirements that parking be available to tenants and customers. In 1998, Houston relaxed its mandatory lot sizes from 5,000 square feet to 3,500 square feet, which spurred housing construction in

5084-631: Is the only metropolitan area with less than ten million citizens where such a CO 2 dome can be detected by satellites. Because of Houston's wet season and proximity to the Gulf Coast , the city is prone to flooding from heavy rains; the most notable flooding events include Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 and Hurricane Harvey in 2017, along with most recent Tropical Storm Imelda in 2019 and Tropical Storm Beta in 2020. In response to Hurricane Harvey, Mayor Sylvester Turner of Houston initiated plans to require developers to build homes that will be less susceptible to flooding by raising them two feet above

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5248-418: Is the tallest structure in Texas, 19th tallest building in the United States, and was previously 85th-tallest skyscraper in the world, based on highest architectural feature. In 1983, the 71-floor, 992-foot (302 m)-tall Wells Fargo Plaza (formerly Allied Bank Plaza) was completed, becoming the second-tallest building in Houston and Texas. Based on highest architectural feature, it is the 21st-tallest in

5412-515: Is ubiquitous in Houston; in 1981, annual spending on electricity for interior cooling exceeded $ 600 million (equivalent to $ 2.01 billion in 2023), and by the late 1990s, approximately 90% of Houston homes featured air conditioning systems. The record highest temperature recorded in Houston is 109 °F (43 °C) at Bush Intercontinental Airport, on four occasions: September 4, 2000; August 27, 2011; and August 24 and August 27, 2023. Houston has mild winters, with occasional cold spells. In January,

5576-405: The 500-year floodplain . Hurricane Harvey damaged hundreds of thousands of homes and dumped trillions of gallons of water into the city. In places this led to feet of standing water that blocked streets and flooded homes. The Houston City Council passed this regulation in 2018 with a vote of 9–7. Had these floodplain development rules had been in place all along, it is estimated that 84% of homes in

5740-468: The American Lung Association rating the metropolitan area's ozone level twelfth on the "Most Polluted Cities by Ozone" in 2017, after major cities such as Los Angeles , Phoenix , New York City , and Denver . The industries along the ship channel are a major cause of the city's air pollution. The rankings are in terms of peak-based standards, focusing strictly on the worst days of the year;

5904-696: The Atakapa indigenous peoples for at least 2,000 years before the first known settlers arrived. These tribes are almost nonexistent today; this was most likely caused by foreign disease, and competition with various settler groups in the 18th and 19th centuries. However, the land then remained largely uninhabited from the late 1700s until settlement in the 1830s. The Allen brothers— Augustus Chapman and John Kirby —explored town sites on Buffalo Bayou and Galveston Bay . According to historian David McComb, "[T]he brothers, on August 26, 1836, bought from Elizabeth E. Parrott, wife of T.F.L. Parrott and widow of John Austin,

6068-536: The Battle of Galveston . After the Civil War, Houston businessmen initiated efforts to widen the city's extensive system of bayous so the city could accept more commerce between Downtown and the nearby port of Galveston. By 1890, Houston was the railroad center of Texas. In 1900, after Galveston was struck by a devastating hurricane , efforts to make Houston into a viable deep-water port were accelerated. The following year,

6232-465: The Big Mac : They are juicy, cheap, predictable, and devoured in stupefying quantities by legions of loyal fans." The term bodice ripper is now considered offensive to many in the romance industry. In this new style of historical romance, heroines were independent and strong-willed and were often paired with heroes who evolved into caring and compassionate men who truly admired the women they loved. This

6396-550: The Houston Dynamo soccer team was formed. In 2017 , the Houston Astros won their first World Series . Flooding has been a recurring problem in the Houston area. In June 2001, Tropical Storm Allison dumped up to 40 inches (1,000 mm) of rain on parts of Houston, causing what was then the worst flooding in the city's history and billions of dollars in damage, and killed 20 people in Texas. In August 2005, Houston became

6560-703: The Houston Ship Channel , and the Texas oil boom . In the mid-20th century, Houston's economy diversified, as it became home to the Texas Medical Center —the world's largest concentration of healthcare and research institutions—and NASA 's Johnson Space Center , home to the Mission Control Center . Since the late 19th century, Houston's economy has had a broad industrial base in energy , manufacturing , aeronautics, and transportation . Leading in healthcare sectors and building oilfield equipment, Houston has

6724-525: The Interstate 610 loop . The "Inner Loop" encompasses a 97-square-mile (250 km ) area which includes Downtown, pre–World War II residential neighborhoods and streetcar suburbs , and newer high-density apartment and townhouse developments. Outside the loop, the city's typology is more suburban , though many major business districts—such as Uptown , Westchase , and the Energy Corridor —lie well outside

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6888-616: The New York Times' s 100 Notable Books of the Year, an honor that is exceedingly rare for a romance. Many authors began to debate whether the RITA Awards were truly representative of excellence in the industry. The Board released a statement "“apologiz[ing] to our members of color and LGBTQ+ members for putting them in a position where they feel unwanted and unheard.” At the conference in July 2019, two of

7052-461: The Romance Writers of America , the main plot of a mass-market romance novel must revolve about the two people as they develop romantic love for each other and work to build a relationship. Both the conflict and the climax of the novel should be directly related to that core theme of developing a romantic relationship, although the novel can also contain subplots that do not specifically relate to

7216-475: The capital of the Texas Republic in the late 1830s, Houston grew steadily into a regional trading center for the remainder of the 19th century. The 20th century brought a convergence of economic factors that fueled rapid growth in Houston, including a burgeoning port and railroad industry, the decline of Galveston as Texas's primary port following a devastating 1900 hurricane , the subsequent construction of

7380-596: The 100-year and 500-year floodplains would have been spared damage. In a recent case testing these regulations, near the Brickhouse Gulley, an old golf course that long served as a floodplain and reservoir for floodwaters, announced a change of heart toward intensifying development. A nationwide developer, Meritage Homes , bought the land and planned to develop the 500-year floodplain into 900 new residential homes. Their plan would bring in $ 360 million in revenue and boost city population and tax revenue. In order to meet

7544-551: The 1950s, the company began offering the books for sale through newsagents across the United Kingdom. A Canadian company, Harlequin Enterprises , began distributing in North America in 1957 the category romances published by Mills & Boon. Mary Bonneycastle, wife of Harlequin founder Richard Bonneycastle, and her daughter, Judy Burgess, exercised editorial control over which Mills & Boon novels Harlequin reprinted. They had

7708-498: The 1960s, Downtown Houston consisted of a collection of mid-rise office structures. Downtown was on the threshold of an energy industry–led boom in 1970. A succession of skyscrapers was built throughout the 1970s—many by real estate developer Gerald D. Hines —culminating with Houston's tallest skyscraper, the 75-floor, 1,002-foot (305 m)-tall JPMorgan Chase Tower (formerly the Texas Commerce Tower), completed in 1982. It

7872-586: The 1974 publication of Woodiwiss' second novel, The Wolf and the Dove and two more sexually graphic novels by newcomer Rosemary Rogers , Sweet Savage Love and Dark Fires . The latter sold two million copies in its first three months of release. By 1975, Publishers Weekly had reported that the "Avon originals" had sold a combined 8 million copies . The following year over 150 historical romance novels, many of them paperback originals, were published, selling over 40 million copies . The success of these novels prompted

8036-432: The 1980s, many plot lines that were once thought to be taboo by the romance publishing industry have become much more accepted into the mainstream of romance fiction. For example, in the 20th century it was rare to find a book with a hero who was in the military or professional sports. In the 21st century, however, such characters are relatively common and even have their own sub-genres within the romance category. By 2000,

8200-447: The 2019 American Community Survey , Houston's age distribution was 482,402 under 15; 144,196 aged 15 to 19; 594,477 aged 20 to 34; 591,561 aged 35 to 54; 402,804 aged 55 to 74; and 101,357 aged 75 and older. The median age of the city was 33.4. At the 2014-2018 census estimates, Houston's age distribution was 486,083 under 15; 147,710 aged 15 to 19; 603,586 aged 20 to 34; 726,877 aged 35 to 59; and 357,834 aged 60 and older. The median age

8364-671: The 21st century. In 2000, the Houston Astros opened their new baseball stadium, Daikin Park , in downtown adjacent to the old Union Station . The Houston Texans were formed in 2002 as an NFL expansion team, replacing the Houston Oilers , which had left the city in 1996. NRG Stadium opened the same year. In 2003, the Toyota Center opened as the home for the Houston Rockets . In 2005,

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8528-497: The Board rescinded the punishment. Eight members of the group's Board of Directors, all women of color, resigned as a block. RWA President Carolyn Jewell also resigned. There was significant backlash to the sanctioning of Milan. The annual RITA awards were cancelled after many judges resigned and hundreds of authors withdrew their books from consideration. Most of the major publishers in the industry announced they would not attend or support

8692-536: The Golden Medallion was replaced with the RITA Award . Named for the RWA's first president, Rita Clay Estrada , the award signifies excellence in one of 12 categories of romantic fiction. Authors and editors submit published works for consideration near the end of the year. A few months later, finalists are announced. The winners are presented with a statuette . Authors who have won at least three RITA Awards within

8856-410: The Houston area. In 2001, Enron Corporation , a Houston company with $ 100 billion in revenue, became engulfed in an accounting scandal which bankrupted the company in 2001. Healthcare has emerged as a major industry in Houston. The Texas Medical Center is now the largest medical complex in the world and employs over 120,000 people. Three new sports stadiums opened downtown in the first decade of

9020-529: The Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez received critical praise for his romance novel Love in the Time of Cholera . Arthur Schopenhauer held that, if poets and novelists across continents have not stopped producing romance novels since millennia, it is because no other topic is more relevant and so the theme never gets old. According to Schopenhauer, romance/love is more important than other topics because it affects

9184-499: The North ; this resulted in an economic boom and produced a key shift in the city's economy toward the energy sector. The increased production of the expanded shipbuilding industry during World War II spurred Houston's growth, as did the establishment in 1961 of NASA's "Manned Spacecraft Center" (renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in 1973). This was the stimulus for the development of

9348-435: The RITA winners, M. Malone and Kennedy Ryan, were black women, and one woman, Nisha Sharma, was the first winner of South Asian descent. In August 2019, many authors participated in a Twitter discussion about racism and gatekeeping within the romance publishing industry. Courtney Milan , a Chinese-American author, joined the discussion and critiqued a book written by a current acquiring editor, Kathryn Lynn Davis. Milan labeled

9512-420: The RWA also honored unpublished authors with a Golden Heart Award. The first round was judged by a panel of RWA members. One hundred manuscripts are chosen as finalists. The finalists' manuscripts are judged by acquiring editors from romance publishing houses. Generally, about 30% of Golden Heart finalists find their work accepted by print publishers. The award itself is a gold medallion in a heart shape. In 1990

9676-579: The RWA announced that it was replacing the Rita Awards with the Vivian Awards, named after Vivian Stephens , the organization's founder, a black editor, "in an attempt to move on from the controversy" and to recognise that "happily ever afters are for everyone”. In May 2024, the RWA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy , stating that it owed millions of dollars in contracts to convention centers for hotel rooms. An 80% decline in membership since 2019, described by

9840-405: The RWA as "predominantly due to disputes concerning diversity, equity, and inclusion issues between some members of a prior RWA board and others in the larger romance writing community", and a corresponding decline in membership revenue were contributing factors to the bankruptcy. Romance novel A romance novel or romantic novel is a genre fiction novel that primary focuses on

10004-673: The RWA's magazine, the Romance Writer Report . Every summer, the RWA holds a national conference. In 2007, approximately 1,900 members attended the conference in Dallas , Texas , participating in workshops and attending lectures designed for both published and unpublished authors. A Librarian's Day started the conference, and, in 2007, over 150 librarians attended presentations by some of the more popular romance authors, including Jayne Ann Krentz , Suzanne Brockmann , Nora Roberts , Shana Abe , and Susan Elizabeth Phillips . Each year, some of

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10168-468: The United States (including consolidated city-counties ). It is the largest city in the United States by total area whose government is not consolidated with a county, parish, or borough. Though primarily in Harris County, small portions of the city extend into Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, bordering other principal communities of Greater Houston such as Sugar Land and The Woodlands . Houston

10332-401: The United States. The majority of rainfall occurs between April and October (the wet season of Southeast Texas), when the moisture from the Gulf of Mexico evaporates extensively over the city. Houston has excessive ozone levels and is routinely ranked among the most ozone-polluted cities in the United States. Ground-level ozone, or smog, is Houston's predominant air pollution problem, with

10496-491: The United States. In 2007, Downtown had over 43 million square feet (4,000,000 m ) of office space. Centered on Post Oak Boulevard and Westheimer Road, the Uptown District boomed during the 1970s and early 1980s when a collection of midrise office buildings, hotels, and retail developments appeared along I-610 West. Uptown became one of the most prominent instances of an edge city . The tallest building in Uptown

10660-508: The annual RWA conference because they questioned the RWA's support of diversity and inclusion. The Cultural, Interracial, and Multicultural Special Interest Chapter of the RWA, which hosted authors whose local chapters were not perceived as welcoming to women of color, started a petition to recall new President Damon Suede. Suede and the RWA Executive Director resigned on January 9, 2020. More board resignations followed. In May 2020,

10824-441: The average ozone levels in Houston are lower than what is seen in most other areas of the country, as dominant winds ensure clean, marine air from the Gulf. Excessive man-made emissions in the Houston area led to a persistent increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide over the city. Such an increase, often regarded as "CO 2 urban dome", is driven by a combination of strong emissions and stagnant atmospheric conditions. Moreover, Houston

10988-475: The book and its portrayal of a half-Chinese heroine as racist. Davis and the publisher for whom she works, Suzan Tisdale, filed RWA ethics complaints against Milan, who was at the time the chair of the Ethics Committee. In late December 2019, the Board voted to suspend Milan for one year and ban her from leadership for life; within a few days, after questions were raised about the process used to sanction Milan,

11152-727: The book industry characterize books dealing with same-sex relationships as F/F, and M/M. Many famous literary fiction romance novels end tragically. Examples include: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë , Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy , The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough , Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami , Atonement by Ian McEwan , and The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller . The genre of works of extended prose fiction dealing with romantic love existed in classical Greece. The titles of over twenty such ancient Greek romance novels are known, but most of them have only survived in an incomplete, fragmentary form. Only five ancient Greek romance novels have survived to

11316-540: The books. An early American example of a mass-market romance was Kathleen E. Woodiwiss ' The Flame and the Flower (1972), published by Avon Books . This was the first single-title romance novel to be published as an original paperback in the US. Nancy Coffey was the senior editor who negotiated a multi-book deal with Woodiwiss. In the UK, the romance genre was long established through

11480-524: The books. The romance genre has sometimes generated criticism. Some critics point to a lack of suspense, as it may seem obvious that the hero and heroine will eventually resolve their issues, and wonder whether it is beneficial "for women to be whiling away so many hours reading impossibly glamorized love stories." According to fiction author Melissa Pritchard , a romance novel "perpetuates something slightly dangerous, that there's this notion, that there's this perfect love out there, and it can distract you from

11644-484: The business of publishing. PAN is the Published Author Network. Approximately 2,000 members qualify for PAN. These authors have seen their novels published in print and have earned a set threshold from royalties or advances. Authors who use vanity publishers who offer little or no editing or promotional help do not qualify for PAN. Members may also join local or online RWA chapters. These provide writers with

11808-454: The by-laws should be changed to define romance as between a woman and a man. Nora Roberts, one of the most prolific and famous romance authors, wrote a letter of protest that the question had been included. The then-president of the board of directors responded in an email that she was worried "the lesbians were going to take over" the RWA. There was a community uproar, and the matter was dropped. Another uproar ensued in 2015 when Kate Breslin,

11972-403: The city dramatically. Such restrictions have had mixed results. Though some have blamed the city's low density, urban sprawl , and lack of pedestrian-friendliness on these policies, others have credited the city's land use patterns with providing significant affordable housing, sparing Houston the worst effects of the 2008 real estate crisis . The city issued 42,697 building permits in 2008 and

12136-435: The city have a high risk of localized flooding due to flat topography, ubiquitous low- permeability clay-silt prairie soils, and inadequate infrastructure. During the mid-2010s, Greater Houston experienced consecutive major flood events in 2015 ( "Memorial Day" ), 2016 ( "Tax Day" ), and 2017 ( Hurricane Harvey ). Overall, there have been more casualties and property loss from floods in Houston than in any other locality in

12300-601: The city in addition to Downtown , which include Uptown, the Texas Medical Center , Midtown , Greenway Plaza , Memorial City , the Energy Corridor, Westchase , and Greenspoint . Houston had the fifth-tallest skyline in North America (after New York City, Chicago , Toronto and Miami ) and 36th-tallest in the world in 2015. A seven-mile (11 km) system of tunnels and skywalks links Downtown buildings containing shops and restaurants, enabling pedestrians to avoid summer heat and rain while walking between buildings. In

12464-571: The city's aerospace industry. The Astrodome , nicknamed the " Eighth Wonder of the World ", opened in 1965 as the world's first indoor domed sports stadium. During the late 1970s, Houston had a population boom as people from the Rust Belt states moved to Texas in large numbers. The new residents came for numerous employment opportunities in the petroleum industry, created as a result of the Arab oil embargo . With

12628-419: The city. Land in some areas southeast of Houston is sinking because water has been pumped out of the ground for many years. It may be associated with slip along the faults; however, the slippage is slow and not considered an earthquake, where stationary faults must slip suddenly enough to create seismic waves. These faults also tend to move at a smooth rate in what is termed " fault creep ", which further reduces

12792-483: The company almost 10% of the market for paperback books. That year the company began distributing its own books in the United States instead of through Simon & Schuster 's Pocket Books . In 1980 Simon & Schuster formed Silhouette Books to publish its own romance novels, beginning what The New York Times called "perhaps the most bitter war in American book publishing history." The company sought to take advantage of

12956-498: The context of rape. In this novel and those that followed, the rape was depicted as more of a fantasy; the heroine is rarely if ever shown experiencing terror, stress, or trauma as a result. The popular, mass market version of the historical romance, which Walter Scott developed in the early 19th century, is seen as beginning in 1921, when Georgette Heyer published The Black Moth . This is set in 1751, but many of Heyer's novels were inspired by Jane Austen's novels and are set around

13120-536: The covers had begun to evolve from featuring a scantily clad couple to showing a view of the landscape featured in the novel. In the earliest Harlequin romance novels, heroines were typically nurses and secretaries, but as time has passed and women have entered the workforce in larger numbers, romance heroines have spanned the career spectrum. Modern romance novels now feature more balanced relationships between men and women. Some important literary figures received critical acclaim for their romance novels. For instance,

13284-538: The discovery of oil at the Spindletop oil field near Beaumont prompted the development of the Texas petroleum industry. In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt approved a $ 1 million improvement project for the Houston Ship Channel. By 1910, the city's population had reached 78,800, almost doubling from a decade before. African Americans formed a large part of the city's population, numbering 23,929 people, which

13448-570: The domestic slave trade. New Orleans was the center of this trade in the Deep South, but slave dealers were in Houston. Thousands of enslaved black people lived near the city before the American Civil War . Many of them near the city worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those in the city limits had domestic and artisan jobs. In 1840, the community established a chamber of commerce, in part to promote shipping and navigation at

13612-598: The early 2000s, though, more books in the romance genre featured heroes and heroines with physical and mental impairments. Mary Balogh 's Simply Love , published in 2006, features a hero with facial scarring and nerve damage who overcomes fears of rejection due to his physical appearance to enter a romantic relationship and family unit by the end of the novel. This was a substantial shift from past narratives where disabled characters were "de-eroticized" and not given storylines that included sex or romantic love. Additionally, autistic characters have gained more representation in

13776-480: The elements that modern women could relate to, and soon began to touch on themes such as single parenthood, adoption, and abuse. The 21st century brought additional changes to the genre that included diversifying main characters and plots to incorporate identities that had not previously been represented. Scholars of romance novel history have observed that characters with disabilities have been largely underrepresented in mainstream media, including romance novels. By

13940-530: The erosion of the Rocky Mountains . These sediments consist of a series of sands and clays deposited on decaying organic marine matter, that over time, transformed into oil and natural gas. Beneath the layers of sediment is a water-deposited layer of halite , a rock salt. The porous layers were compressed over time and forced upward. As it pushed upward, the salt dragged surrounding sediments into salt dome formations, often trapping oil and gas that seeped from

14104-455: The event raised almost $ 60,000 for literacy charities. The RWA funds several scholarships for members to attend the national conference. The scholarships pay for travel, lodging, and registration fees. The RWA holds an awards ceremony during the annual conference. In 1982, the RWA presented its first award, the Golden Medallion, in four categories. The categories expanded to six in 1983, eight by 1989 and eventually twelve. For many years,

14268-415: The finalists for RITAs. Some authors of color, including RWA Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Beverly Jenkins and popular novelist Helen Hoang , refused to enter their books at all. In other cases, the books were entered but did not score highly enough to become a finalist. At the annual conference that year, Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Suzanne Brockmann gave a speech denouncing white supremacy within

14432-516: The financial and critical success of the adaptations of two successful series of novels: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon , and Bridgerton by Julia Quinn , by paid television network, STARZ and streaming service, Netflix . Debates about whether these novels fall inside or outside the contemporary romance genre, and the extent to which they transcend the genre to be multi-genre, has received mainstream media attention in part due to Gabaldon's frequent and prominent assertions that her Outlander series

14596-440: The firm requirement for a happy ending; some readers admit stories without a happy ending, if the focus of the story is on the romantic love between the two main characters (e.g., Romeo and Juliet ). While the majority of romance novels meet the stricter criteria, there are also many books widely considered to be romance novels that deviate from these rules. The Romance Writers of America's definition of romance novels includes only

14760-553: The first futuristic romance, combining elements of traditional romance novels and science fiction. The relationships had also modernized: by the 1990s, it was rare to see a book that featured a man raping his future wife. In the mid-to-late 1980s, contemporary romances began to feature women in more male-dominated jobs, such as offshore oil rigs and the space program. The age range of heroines also began to expand, so that books began to feature women who had already reached 30 and even 40. Heroes also changed, with some authors veering towards

14924-469: The first romance author to transition from writing original mass market paperbacks to being published in hardcover. Her novel, A Knight in Shining Armor , "became a natural bestseller." Several authors found success writing single-title romances set in contemporary times, and publishing houses began to encourage the growth in the genre. Because the novels were set in modern times, they could include more of

15088-494: The first time that May. The Republic of Texas granted Houston incorporation on June 5, 1837, as James S. Holman became its first mayor. In the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County (now Harris County). In 1839, the Republic of Texas relocated its capital to Austin . The town suffered another setback that year when a yellow fever epidemic claimed about one life for every eight residents, yet it persisted as

15252-500: The focus on a developing romantic relationship and an optimistic ending. Escapism is important; an Avon executive observed that "The phone never rings, the baby never cries and the rent's never overdue in romances." There are many publishers, libraries, bookstores, and literary critics who continue to go by the traditional definition of romance to categorize books. A romance novel can be set in any time period and in any location. In recent years, romance novels have even expanded into

15416-417: The focus on a developing romantic relationship and an optimistic ending. The RWA has struggled with diversity and inclusion. More than 80% of its members are white, as compared to about 61% of the population of the United States. As the industry changed, there was resistance to including authors of romance novels which featured homosexual love stories. A 2005 poll in the Romance Writer Report asked members if

15580-455: The formats, but others, including Jennifer Crusie and Jayne Ann Krentz , have achieved success in both formats. Category romances are short, usually no more than 200 pages, or about 55,000 words. The books are published in clearly delineated lines, with a certain number of books published in each line every month. In many cases, the books are numbered sequentially within the line. These novels have widespread distribution—often worldwide—and

15744-458: The galaxy. There are no specific restrictions on what can or cannot be included in a romance novel. Even controversial subjects are addressed in romance novels, including topics such as date rape , domestic violence , addiction , and disability. The combination of time frame, location, and plot elements does, however, help a novel to fit into one of several romance subgenres. Despite the numerous possibilities this framework allows, many people in

15908-440: The genre after it had begun to change. The number of category romance lines increased at a rapid pace, and by 1985 there were 16 separate lines producing a total of 80 novels per month. The sudden increase in category romance lines meant an equally sudden increase in demand for writers of the new style of romance novel. This tight market caused a proportionate decrease in the quality of the novels that were being released. By 1984,

16072-400: The genre has additional restrictions, from plot considerations such as the protagonists meeting early on in the story, to avoiding themes such as adultery . Disagreements have centered on the firm requirement for a happy ending, or the place of same-sex relationships within the genre. Some readers admit stories without a happy ending, if the focus of the story is on the romantic love between

16236-559: The gothic novel and Elizabethan drama , and "demonstrate[s] the flexibility of the romance novel form." While the literary fiction romance continued to develop in the 20th century, the new subgenre of genre fiction, which first developed in the 19th century, started to become more popular after the First World War . In 1919, E. M. Hull 's novel The Sheik was published in the United Kingdom . The novel, which became hugely popular,

16400-406: The heroine typically wins, sometimes overcoming great odds so that she is no longer a victim. Peer-reviewed academic scholarship examining romance novels has increased enormously in the last few decades. Scholars are analysing the significance and impact of the genre, increasingly from a feminist , gender and equity studies perspective. The profile of the romance genre has also been raised by

16564-486: The heroine's relationship with her family or friends may be as important as her relationship with the hero. There is a lot of controversy among romance authors about what should and should not be included in plots of romance novels. Some romance novel authors and readers believe the genre has additional restrictions, from plot considerations (such as the protagonists ' meeting early on in the story), to avoiding themes (such as adultery ). Other disagreements have centered on

16728-436: The highest point in far northwest Houston is about 150 feet (46 m) in elevation. The city once relied on groundwater for its needs, but land subsidence forced the city to turn to ground-level water sources such as Lake Houston , Lake Conroe , and Lake Livingston . The city owns surface water rights for 1.20 billion U.S. gallons (4.5 Gl) of water a day in addition to 150 million U.S. gallons (570 Ml)

16892-616: The increase in professional jobs, Houston has become a destination for many college-educated persons, most recently including African Americans in a reverse Great Migration from northern areas. In 1997, Houstonians elected Lee P. Brown as the city's first African American mayor. Houston has continued to grow into the 21st century, with the population increasing 15.7% from 2000 to 2022. Oil and gas have continued to fuel Houston's economic growth, with major oil companies including Phillips 66 , ConocoPhillips , Occidental Petroleum , Halliburton , and ExxonMobil having their headquarters in

17056-402: The largest segment of the global book market. The genre boomed in the 1980s, with the addition of many different categories of romance and an increased number of single-title romances, but popular authors started pushing the boundaries of both the genre and plot, as well as creating more contemporary characters. Women will pick up a romance novel knowing what to expect, and this foreknowledge of

17220-451: The main characters' romantic love. Furthermore, a romance novel must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Others, including Leslie Gelbman, a president of Berkley Books , define the genre more simply, stating only that a romance must make the "romantic relationship between the hero and the heroine ... the core of the book." In general, romance novels reward characters who are good people and penalize those who are evil, and

17384-500: The mainstream press claim that "all [romance novels] seem to read alike." Stereotypes of the romance genre abound. For instance, some believe that all romance novels are similar to those of Danielle Steel , featuring rich, glamorous people traveling to exotic locations. Many romance readers disagree that Steel writes romance at all, considering her novels more mainstream fiction. Mass-market or formulaic romance novels are sometimes referred to as "smut" or female pornography , and are

17548-448: The market was saturated with category lines and readers had begun to complain of redundancy in plots. The following year, the "dampening effect of the high level of redundancy associated with series romances was evident in the decreased number of titles being read per month." Harlequin's return rate, which had been less than 25% in 1978, when it was the primary provider of category romance, swelled to 60%. The genre continued to expand in

17712-432: The men were not, and both members of the couple were described as beautiful. Category romance lines were slower to react to some of the changes that had swept the historical romance subgenre. Despite the fact that the former Mills & Boon lines were now owned by a North American company, the lines did not have any American writers until 1975, when Harlequin purchased a novel by Janet Dailey . Dailey's novels provided

17876-570: The metro area, and an event on December 7, 2017, which precipitated 0.7 inches (2 cm) of snowfall. Snowfalls of at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) on both December 10, 2008, and December 4, 2009, marked the first time measurable snowfall had occurred in two consecutive years in the city's recorded history. Overall, Houston has seen measurable snowfall 38 times between 1895 and 2018. On February 14 and 15, 1895, Houston received 20 inches (51 cm) of snow, its largest snowfall from one storm on record. The coldest temperature officially recorded in Houston

18040-440: The mid-to-late 1980s, as publishers realized that the more popular authors were often those who stretched the boundaries of the genre. A 1984 novel by LaVyrle Spencer featured an overweight, middle-aged hero who had to make drastic changes to his lifestyle to win the heroine, while a 1987 Dailey novel involved an ugly hero and a heroine who was searching for her birth mother. Jayne Ann Krentz 's 1986 novel Sweet Starfire became

18204-536: The most popular form of modern erotica for women. While some romance novels do contain more erotic acts, in other romance novels the characters do no more than kiss chastely. The romance genre runs the spectrum between these two extremes. Because women buy 90% of all romance novels, most romance novels are told from a woman's viewpoint, in either first or third person . Although most romance novels are about heterosexual pairings, there are romance novels that deal with same-sex relationships , and some participants in

18368-611: The national record for rainfall. The damage for the Houston area was estimated at up to $ 125 billion U.S. dollars , and was considered to be one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the United States , with the death toll exceeding 70 people. Houston's lack of zoning laws allowed unregulated building of residential homes and other structures in flood-prone areas. However, it also resulted in more concentrated development in already urban areas than in wetlands and suburbs. Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted of Hurricane Harvey that "zoning wouldn't have changed anything. We would have been

18532-461: The new floodplain regulations, the developers needed to elevate the lowest floors two feet above the 500-year floodplain, equivalent to five or six feet above the 100-year base flood elevation, and build a channel to direct stormwater runoff toward detention basins. Before Hurricane Harvey, the city had bought $ 10.7 million in houses in this area specifically to take them out of danger. In addition to developing new streets and single-family housing within

18696-483: The newly created port on Buffalo Bayou. By 1860, Houston had emerged as a commercial and railroad hub for the export of cotton. Railroad spurs from the Texas inland converged in Houston, where they met rail lines to the ports of Galveston and Beaumont . During the American Civil War, Houston served as a headquarters for Confederate Major General John B. Magruder , who used the city as an organization point for

18860-423: The normal mean temperature at George Bush Intercontinental Airport is 53 °F (12 °C), with an average of 13 days per year with a low at or below 32 °F (0 °C), occurring on average between December 3 and February 20, allowing for a growing season of 286 days. Twenty-first century snow events in Houston include a storm on December 24, 2004 , which saw 1 inch (3 cm) of snow accumulate in parts of

19024-532: The notional town in honor of Sam Houston, who would become President later that year. They successfully lobbied the Republic of Texas Congress to designate Houston as the temporary capital, agreeing to provide the new government with a state capitol building. About a dozen persons resided in the town at the beginning of 1837, but that number grew to about 1,500 by the time the Texas Congress convened in Houston for

19188-417: The novel can also contain subplots that do not specifically relate to the main characters' romantic love. Furthermore, a romance novel must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Authors are divided into two tracks, PRO and PAN. The PRO network is for authors who have completed a manuscript but not yet published it. Once a PRO member, they are able to view online workshops and booklets about

19352-671: The novels of Jane Austen . Austen inspired Georgette Heyer , the British author of historical romance set around the time Austen lived, as well as detective fiction . Heyer's first romance novel, The Black Moth (1921), was set in 1751. The British company Mills & Boon began releasing romance novels for women in the 1930s. Their books were sold in North America by Harlequin Enterprises Ltd , which began direct marketing to readers and allowing mass-market merchandisers to carry

19516-500: The novels point out the heroine's eccentricities, such as wanting to marry for love. Heyer was a prolific author, and wrote one to two historical romance novels per year until her death in 1974. During the Ming and Qing dynasties in China, there was a mass circulation and flourishment of a type of printed romantic novels called caizi jiaren ("scholar and beauty"), which typically involves

19680-730: The novels were short and formulaic, featuring heroines who were sweet, compassionate, pure and innocent. The few heroines who worked did so in traditional female jobs, including as nurses , governesses and secretaries . Intimacy in the novels never extended beyond a chaste kiss between the protagonists. On October 1, 1971, Harlequin purchased Mills & Boon. By this point, the romance novel genre "had been popularized and distributed widely to an enthusiastic audience" in Great Britain . In an attempt to duplicate Mills & Boon's success in North America, Harlequin improved their distribution and marketing system. By choosing to sell their books "where

19844-438: The opportunity to meet, share critiques, and learn the art of writing. With this practice, "romance writers are the only authors who train their own competition and pride themselves on sharing what they know." Industry professionals, as well as aspiring authors who have not completed a manuscript, can join as non-voting associate members. Booksellers and librarians can join as non-voting affiliate members. All members receive

20008-523: The organization and the industry. In an effort to address the controversy, the Board changed some of the contest rules, including by tracking scores by individual judges to attempt to detect bias. They also required that some of the judges in each category be librarians or booksellers, and that at least one judge should be a person of color or a queer person. Of the 80 authors who were finalists in 2019, three were women of color. The finalist list excluded author Alyssa Cole , whose submission had been named one of

20172-410: The organization did not take diversity and inclusion seriously. Any author could pay to nominate her books. Entrants can then elect to judge other nominees. Judges were not provided with training on scoring or avoiding bias. An RWA analysis of the previous 18 years of RITA finalists and winners showed that less than 0.5% of the finalists were black authors, and no black woman had even won. Jennifer Prokop,

20336-820: The organization has grappled to identify its core purpose; for example, is the organization primarily a social club or a place for professional networking. There have also been discussions within the membership about whether it is meant for published or unpublished authors, and which types of published authors should count. Part of its mission has been to advocate for authors. The RWA persuaded Harlequin books to register copyrights for authors' works and to allow writers to own their own pseudonyms. Previously, authors were forced to leave their pseudonym behind if they switched publishing houses, making it more difficult for their fans to follow. The RWA has also assisted members to escalate issues they have experienced with various technology platforms. Some romance novel authors and readers believe

20500-415: The perspective of the heroine. Unlike many of the novels of the time, Pamela had a happy ending, when after Mr. B attempts unsuccessfully to seduce and rape Pamela multiple times, he eventually rewards her virtue by sincerely proposing an equitable marriage to her. The book was one of the first bestsellers, with five editions printed in the first eleven months of release. Richardson began writing Pamela as

20664-485: The port decreased and shipping activities were suspended; however, the war did provide economic benefits for the city. Petrochemical refineries and manufacturing plants were constructed along the ship channel because of the demand for petroleum and synthetic rubber products by the defense industry during the war. Ellington Field , initially built during World War I , was revitalized as an advanced training center for bombardiers and navigators. The Brown Shipbuilding Company

20828-448: The postwar years. In 1945, the M.D. Anderson Foundation formed the Texas Medical Center . After the war, Houston's economy reverted to being primarily port-driven. In 1948, the city annexed several unincorporated areas, more than doubling its size. Houston proper began to spread across the region. In 1950, the availability of air conditioning provided impetus for many companies to relocate to Houston, where wages were lower than those in

20992-421: The present day in a state of near-completion: Chareas and Callirhoe , Leucippe and Clitophon , Daphnis and Chloe , The Ephesian Tale , and The Ethiopian Tale . Precursors of the modern popular love-romance can also be found in the sentimental novel Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded , by Samuel Richardson , published in 1740. Pamela was the first popular novel to be based on a courtship as told from

21156-404: The primary readers of romance novels, but according to the Romance Writers of America , 16% of men read romance novels. A thriving genre of works conventionally referred to as "romance novels" existed in ancient Greece. Other precursors can be found in the literary fiction of the 18th and 19th centuries, including Samuel Richardson's sentimental novel Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740) and

21320-440: The reader is very important. When the hero and heroine meet and fall in love, maybe they don't know they're in love but the reader does. Then a conflict will draw them apart, but you know in the end they'll be back together, and preferably married or planning to be by page 192. One definition of the word "romance" is: "the feelings and behavior of two people who are in a loving and sexual relationship with each other." According to

21484-449: The relationship and romantic love between two people, typically with an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. Authors who have contributed to the development of this genre include Maria Edgeworth , Samuel Richardson , Jane Austen , and Charlotte Brontë . Romance novels encompass various subgenres, such as fantasy , contemporary , historical romance , paranormal fiction , and science fiction . Women have traditionally been

21648-505: The risk of an earthquake. The city of Houston was incorporated in 1837 and adopted a ward system of representation shortly afterward, in 1840. The six original wards of Houston are the progenitors of the 11 modern-day geographically oriented Houston City Council districts, though the city abandoned the ward system in 1905 in favor of a commission government , and, later, the existing mayor–council government . Locations in Houston are generally classified as either being inside or outside

21812-547: The romance genre since the turn of the century. The year 2010 saw Christine Feehan 's novel, Water Bound , featuring a heroine with autism as a significant plot point including a detailed and compassionate portrayal of living and coping with autism. Helen Hoang 's 2018 novel The Kiss Quotient , for example, focuses on the heroine's Asperger's syndrome . However, it is still rare to find romance novels in which there are characters with cognitive disabilities, and they are most likely to be included as secondary characters. Since

21976-647: The romance genre's "first look at heroines, heroes and courtships that take place in America, with American sensibilities, assumptions, history, and most of all, settings." Harlequin was unsure how the market would react to this new type of romance, and was unwilling to fully embrace it. In the late 1970s, a Harlequin editor rejected a manuscript by Nora Roberts , who has since become the top-selling romance author, because "they already had their American writer." Harlequin sold almost $ 70 million of its paperback romances in 1979 through 100,000 supermarkets and other stores, giving

22140-448: The romance genre." The romance industry boomed in the 1980s, and the RWA grew rapidly. In 2000, the RWA had an operating budget of over $ 1 million, the largest of any professional genre writers' organization. As of 2007, the organization had over 9,000 members and over 150 chapters. These include chapters arranged geographically as well as special-interest online chapters that focus on themes such as medical romance. As membership has grown,

22304-463: The romance reviewer for Kirkus Reviews , analyzed 60 books that were finalists for the 2019 RITAs and discovered that white authors overwhelmingly created worlds that were populated with white, cisgender, heterosexual characters, regardless of the time frame or setting of their novels. This was true even for paranormal stories that featured fictional creatures such as vampires. In 2018, several critically praised books by authors of color were not among

22468-483: The romantic Tang dynasty chuanqi fictions such as Yingying's Biography , The Tale of Li Wa and Huo Xiaoyu zhuan , as well as the popular works of Song and Yuan playwrights such as Bai Renfu , Zheng Guangzu and Wang Shifu . These novels reached their peak of popularity in the late Ming and early Qing periods, during the 17th century, when a myriad of novels of this type were sold and distributed. The overwhelming prevalence of this type of romance novels

22632-481: The second-most Fortune 500 headquarters of any U.S. municipality within its city limits. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled and second in total cargo tonnage handled. Nicknamed the "Bayou City", "Space City", "H-Town", and "the 713 ", Houston has become a global city , with strengths in culture, medicine, and research. The city's population comprises various ethnic and religious backgrounds, as well as

22796-634: The signs that readers appreciated novels with more explicit sex scenes, and in 1980, several publishers entered the category romance market to fill that gap. That year, Dell launched their Candlelight Ecstasy line with Amii Lorin's The Tawny Gold Man , becoming the first line to waive the requirement that heroines be virgins. By the end of 1983 sales for the Candlelight Ecstasy line totaled $ 30 million. Silhoeutte also launched similar lines, Desire (sexually explicit) and Special Edition (sexually explicit and longer stories, up to 250 pages), each of which had

22960-506: The south half of the lower league [2,214-acre (896 ha) tract] granted to her by her late husband. They paid $ 5,000 total, but only $ 1,000 of this in cash; notes made up the remainder." This was financed by assets inherited by Augustus's wife, Charlotte Baldwin Allen . The Allen brothers ran their first advertisement for Houston just four days later in the Telegraph and Texas Register , naming

23124-475: The south of Houston and Downtown Houston. The ship channel continues past Galveston and then into the Gulf of Mexico. Houston is a flat, marshy area where an extensive drainage system has been built. The adjoining prairie land drains into the city, which is prone to flooding. Underpinning Houston's land surface are unconsolidated clays, clay shales, and poorly cemented sands up to several miles deep. The region's geology developed from river deposits formed from

23288-420: The species (not only the individual), in the sense that romance and partner choice is generally a prerequisite to have offspring and continue maintaining the human species in future generations of humankind. Despite recent rehabilitation and merging of the genre with other genres, there is sometimes a negative stigma with the romance novel. Some dedicated readers are embarrassed to admit to buying or even reading

23452-421: The summer, temperatures reach or exceed 90 °F (32 °C) an average of 106.5 days per year, including a majority of days from June to September. Additionally, an average of 4.6 days per year reach or exceed 100 °F (37.8 °C). Houston's characteristic subtropical humidity often results in a higher apparent temperature , and summer mornings average over 90% relative humidity . Air conditioning

23616-466: The surrounding porous sands. The thick, rich, sometimes black, surface soil is suitable for rice farming in suburban outskirts where the city continues to grow. The Houston area has over 150 active faults (estimated to be 300 active faults ) with an aggregate length of up to 310 miles (500 km), including the Long Point–Eureka Heights fault system which runs through the center of

23780-419: The time Austen lived, in the later Regency period . Because Heyer's romances are set more than 100 years earlier, she includes carefully researched historical detail to help her readers understand the period. Unlike other popular love-romance novels of the time, Heyer's novels used the setting as a major plot device. Her characters often exhibit twentieth-century sensibilities, and more conventional characters in

23944-409: The two main characters (e.g. Romeo and Juliet ). Others believe the definition should be more strictly worded to include only heterosexual pairing. While the majority of romance novels meet the stricter criteria, there are also many books that are widely considered to be romance novels that deviate from these rules. Therefore, the general definition, as embraced by the RWA and publishers, includes only

24108-518: The untapped talent of the American writers. They published several lines of category romance, and encouraged their writers to create stronger heroines and less dominant heroes. Authors were also expected to address contemporary issues where appropriate. Silhouette soon saw their market share expand, and in 1984, Harlequin acquired them. Despite the acquisition, Silhouette continued to retain editorial control and to publish various lines under their own imprint. Harlequin had also failed to adapt quickly to

24272-586: The urban core. In addition to Interstate 610, two additional loop highways encircle the city: Beltway 8 , with a radius of approximately 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown, and State Highway 99 (the Grand Parkway), with a radius of 25 miles (40 km). Approximately 470,000 people lived within the Interstate 610 loop, while 1.65 million lived between Interstate 610 and Beltway 8 and 2.25 million lived within Harris County outside Beltway 8 in 2015. Though Houston

24436-411: The women are," they allowed many mass-market merchandisers and even supermarkets to sell the books, all of which were exactly 192 pages. Harlequin then began a reader service, selling directly to readers who agreed to purchase a certain number of books each month. In the US, modern romance genre fiction was born in 1972, with Avon's publication of Kathleen Woodiwiss' The Flame and the Flower , which

24600-431: The work of loving yourself." Romance novelists attribute the stigma to the fact that romance is, according to some, a genre "written almost exclusively by women for women." Romance novelist Jennifer Crusie counters that in the modern romance novel "a woman is rewarded with unconditional love [only] if she remains true to herself," while novelist Susan Elizabeth Phillips believes that romance novels are popular because

24764-470: The works of prolific author, Georgette Heyer , which contain many tropes and stereotypes, some of which, have recently been edited out of some of her novels. In the 1950s emerging bestselling British romance writers included Catherine Cookson , followed in the 1980s, by Marion Chesney (pen name M.C. Beaton), who was known more widely for her detective series featuring Hamish MacBeth and Agatha Raisin . Strong sales of popular romance novels make this

24928-424: The workshops are business-oriented, focusing on how to pitch a novel or write for multiple publishers. Other workshops focus on creative pursuits, including how to use swords and sword fights in a story line, how to use firefighter lingo, or how to pick the cover art for your book. The annual conference features a literacy signing, where the public is invited to meet close to 500 authors and gain autographs. In 2007,

25092-481: Was 33.1, up from 32.9 in 2017 and down from 33.5 in 2014; the city's youthfulness has been attributed to an influx of an African American New Great Migration , Hispanic and Latino American, and Asian immigrants into Texas. For every 100 females, there were 98.5 males. There were 987,158 housing units in 2019 and 876,504 households. An estimated 42.3% of Houstonians owned housing units, with an average of 2.65 people per household. The median monthly owner costs with

25256-484: Was 5 °F (−15 °C) on January 18, 1930. The last time Houston saw single digit temperatures was on December 23, 1989. The temperature dropped to 7 °F (−14 °C) at Bush Airport, marking the coldest temperature ever recorded there. 1.7 inches of snow fell at George Bush Intercontinental Airport the previous day. Houston generally receives ample rainfall, averaging about 49.8 in (1,260 mm) annually based on records between 1981 and 2010. Many parts of

25420-558: Was adapted into a movie (1921), which established star Rudolph Valentino as the top male actor of the time. The hero of this book was an iconic alpha male who kidnapped the heroine and won her admiration through his forceful actions. The novel was one of the first modern works to introduce the rape fantasy , a theme explored in Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740). Although women were gaining more independence in life, publishers believed that readers would only accept premarital sex in

25584-668: Was called "the best romance novel ever written." In the early part of the Victorian era , the Brontë sisters , like Edgeworth and Austen, wrote literary fiction that influenced later popular fiction. While Maria Edgeworth introduced the orphaned heroine archetype in her Romantic works Belinda (1801) and Helen (1834), Charlotte Brontë later adapted the archetype for the Victorian audience in Jane Eyre (1847). Brontë's romance incorporates elements of both

25748-655: Was famously mocked in Cao Xueqin 's The Dream of the Red Chamber , where it ridicules: "There are thousands of such "caizi jiaren" ["scholar and beauty"] books, and yet they are all alike!". Moreover, these Chinese romance novels would also go on to have an enduring influence on both Eastern and Western literatures. In the 1930s, the British publishers Mills & Boon began releasing hardback romance novels. The books were sold through weekly two-penny libraries and were known as "the books in brown" for their brown binding. In

25912-446: Was founded by land investors on August 30, 1836, at the confluence of Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou (a point now known as Allen's Landing ) and incorporated as a city on June 5, 1837. The city is named after former General Sam Houston , who was president of the Republic of Texas and had won Texas's independence from Mexico at the Battle of San Jacinto 25 miles (40 km) east of Allen's Landing. After briefly serving as

26076-582: Was founded in 1942 to build ships for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Due to the boom in defense jobs, thousands of new workers migrated to the city, both black, and white people competing for the higher-paying jobs. President Roosevelt had established a policy of nondiscrimination for defense contractors, and black people gained some opportunities, especially in shipbuilding, although not without resistance from white people and increasing social tensions that erupted into occasional violence. Economic gains of black people who entered defense industries continued in

26240-502: Was founded in 1980 in Houston , Texas , by romance editor Vivian Stephens and 37 authors in the romance genre, including the original co-founders Rita Clay Estrada and Parris Afton Bonds , first President and Vice President, According to their by-laws, the organization's purpose is to “advance the professional and common business interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy and by increasing public awareness of

26404-430: Was in contrast to the contemporary romances published during this time, which were often characterized by weak females who fell in love with overbearing alpha males . Although these heroines had active roles in the plot, they were "passive in relationships with the heroes." Across the genre, heroines during this time were usually aged 16–21, with the heroes slightly older, usually around 30. The women were virgins , while

26568-400: Was nearly one-third of Houston's residents. President Woodrow Wilson opened the deep-water Port of Houston in 1914, seven years after digging began. By 1930, Houston had become Texas's most populous city and Harris County the most populous county. In 1940, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Houston's population as 77.5% White and 22.4% black. When World War II started, tonnage levels at

26732-417: Was ranked first in the list of healthiest housing markets for 2009. In 2019, home sales reached a new record of $ 30 billion. In referendums in 1948, 1962, and 1993, voters rejected efforts to establish separate residential and commercial land-use districts. Consequently, rather than a single central business district as the center of the city's employment, multiple districts and skylines have grown throughout

26896-503: Was the first of the modern " bodice ripper " romance novels to follow "the principals into the bedroom." Aside from its content, the book was revolutionary in that it was one of the first single-title romance novels to be published as an original paperback , rather than being first published in hardcover , and, like the category romances, was distributed in drug stores and other mass-market merchandising outlets. The novel went on to sell 2.35 million copies. Avon followed its release with

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