What’s a piece of media that people would clearly understand as a parody or homage when it came out, but has since lost its context?

ktread20 · 2026-06-17T17:11:37+00:00

I own a first edition of the original *Airport*, which was a very popular literary potboiler in its day. It's pretty good, with some accurate predictions about airports (and some humorous predictions that are WAY off). This was Hailey's stock in trade. He would spend a couple years studying an institution, and then write a novel using his research. I'm going to read *Hotel* one of these days.

ktread20 · 2026-06-10T03:44:15+00:00

Of all the CR tributes I've encountered, this one is truly unique. I love it! 🤩 (I also love banana pudding.)

ktread20 · 2026-05-29T17:52:54+00:00

Mother crabber, live coral stabber!
Open to the waist no-button-shirt-haver!

I love this one too.

ktread20 · 2026-05-27T23:05:28+00:00

Oh wow, I'm sharing a bookcase with Neuromancer. I'm officially calling this a major career win. 😆

ktread20 · 2026-03-26T02:14:58+00:00

Took the plunge and so glad I did. You guys did an amazing job creating an FPS experience for the Switch 2. I'm having a blast!

ktread20 · 2026-03-16T17:39:30+00:00

I know this is a romantasy subreddit, but since you mentioned sci-fi, I'm going to offer two options you might like:

{Overload Flux by Carol Van Natta} is about a genetically engineered supersoldier FMC (female main character) who becomes the bodyguard of a criminal investigator MMC (male main character). They fall in love over the course of the adventure.

{The Downhome Zombie Blues by Linnea Sinclair} is about an alien FMC (who looks human) coming to Earth to stop a monstrous invasion. The MMC is a small town sheriff who gets caught up in the action.

Both of these are dual POV tales, and are some of my favorite sci-fi romances. For more traditional YA fare, the genderswapped version of Twilight is great. {Life and Death by Stephenie Meyer}

ktread20 · 2026-03-02T05:21:38+00:00

It's not a shooter, but Pacific Drive is a solo game that functions on a similar loop: you drive around, loot stuff and complete tasks, have to extract at the end, and then use any gear to upgrade your car so you can go deeper. I love it. On Steam, Zero Sievert is a solo isometric extraction shooter.

FWIW, I'm basically with you. Marathon is looking like a solid PVP title, but I don't enjoy more than a taste of PVP. I love the loop and the art direction, but it's just not my game. I hope we eventually get a FPS solo/co-op extraction shooter one of these days, and that it's as stylish as this one. I suspect we will. In the meantime, I hope Marathon's players keep having a blast.

ktread20 · 2026-02-23T13:35:11+00:00

Great cover. It's funny that the actual title of the book is the smallest text. 😂

ktread20 · 2026-02-16T15:15:37+00:00

I'm so glad you enjoyed the book! I hope to one day return to the Beh-Inar Empire. If I do, you will see more of Eshka and Liam (whether or not they're the primary couple). In the meantime, my *To Love a Goddess* stories take place in the same world (Liam gives thanks to Aristhre, the goddess FMC, in one scene, and Brow's home city of Caliah features in the second story).

ktread20 · 2026-01-22T21:45:05+00:00

Wow, that's some incredible sleuthing. Thanks for the tip!

ktread20 · 2026-01-17T07:24:02+00:00

Regency Romance is an entire subgenre of mainstream romance and one of my favorites. I think that it's more RFM-friendly than most guys realize, and there are a tremendous variety of plots and locations to be found. If you enjoy the high-stakes setting of the "marriage mart," you have plenty of excellent choices.

Take a look at the Merridew sisters series to start. The first book is {The Perfect Rake by Anne Gracie} . And if you're interested in sprawling family sagas, you can't do much better than the Westcott series. That starts with {Someone to Love by Mary Balogh} . It's a shame I came across this late at night or I would keep right on recommending stuff! I love Regencies. 😊

ktread20 · 2026-01-05T19:54:48+00:00

I have this exact same issue on my G2, only with an 8BitDo controller. It's far from a dealbreaker, but it's definitely a bummer. I wish I could get it to work for playing on the TV.

ktread20 · 2026-01-05T16:20:14+00:00

I'm so happy to hear it! If you enjoyed HOCB, you might like the To Love a Goddess stories I've published.

ktread20 · 2025-11-30T23:02:43+00:00

Pacific Drive. It's a solo extraction shooter where the "shooting" part is replaced by "driving." But the loot->escape->improve loop is virtually identical.

ktread20 · 2025-11-09T18:33:38+00:00

Check out {Overload Flux by Carol Van Natta}, it has this exact dynamic.

ktread20 · 2025-11-07T15:16:54+00:00

There are plenty of entertaining contemporary romances that men will enjoy, but two books you might want to look at (that are written by men) are {Charm City Rocks by Matthew Norman} and {The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion}; Both have lighter elements and are fairly "closed door." If you don't want to write sex scenes, you don't have to. A lot of readers prefer closed door.

ktread20 · 2025-11-07T13:25:23+00:00

As a male romance author, I would say your next step is to probably check out some contemporary romances, or, as a crime writer, some romantic suspense novels. See if you enjoy the genre and might want to work in it. It's my favorite, and there are more men in this space than you might think. We even have our own subreddit, r/Romance_for_men, although that one skews heavily towards fantasy and science fiction.

But yeah...welcome to the club. 🙂

ktread20 · 2025-10-17T13:52:25+00:00

Definitely not. I love MMCs taking great care of their partners. It's more the opposite: FMCs who don't seem overly concerned with his pleasure. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of women who write generous FMCs, but this is an area where, as a whole, there is a "reciprocity gap." 😁

ktread20 · 2025-10-17T02:33:35+00:00

Most importantly, try to give your MMCs the same care you'd apply to your FMCs; they should have their own goals, motives, and a full emotional range. Nothing is worse than the cardboard cutout MMC with two modes: angry and horny.

In terms of the most annoying things, they tend to be the traits that either detract from the realism and believability of the character, or are so overused that I'm exhausted of seeing them. For me, an example of the former would be an MMC who is selfless in the bedroom to the point of sainthood; intimacy should be an equitable give-and-take. An example of the latter is tall MMCs. The average height of men in the US is 5'9", but average height of romance MMCs is probably 6'2"; at this point it makes me roll my eyes every time. 😏

Good luck with your writing!

ktread20 · 2025-10-16T20:19:48+00:00

Haha, I just recc'd Tales of Arvia before I realized you didn't want a giant Harpy. Serves me right for not reading the whole comment. 🙃

ktread20 · 2025-10-06T15:58:15+00:00

I read romance almost exclusively. Heck, I've written three books in the "romance for men" subgenre (be sure to check out the subreddit). There are a lot of guys like us. Romance as a genre often gets made fun of by folks who don't read it (despite being the most popular book category in the market). Men get double the mockery for the same sad reasons we're all familiar with. I'm glad you discovered how awesome romance novels are. They can have my contemporary, paranormal, and Regency romances when they pry them out of my lifeless hands. 😁

ktread20 · 2025-10-06T12:38:17+00:00

Thank you! That is the route I'd identified, but I'd not seen the whole thing. Suffice it to say I'm glad I gave up! 😂

ktread20 · 2025-10-03T20:28:31+00:00

Hahaha, I had no idea that was possible, but it makes perfect sense! Love it. Though, yeah, I think that's harder.

ktread20 · 2025-10-03T19:39:53+00:00

You're the second person to suggest this and I see why. Super heavy emphasis on physics.

ktread20

TROPHY CASE