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Drugged up with love…
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
I recently read a little article that made me laugh out loud. Apparently scientists in Atlanta have developed the world’s first real-life ‘love potion’ – one that they claim really works. Mmm-hmm… I know, where’s a pinch of salt when you need it? According the article, they have created a drug that alters the chemicals in a person’s brain, improving their ability to empathise with the other person and allowing them to form an emotional attachment similar to love. Can you imagine the potential for chaos if this ever came on the market?! It would be bedlam out there! But do not fear…those brainy boffins have made an antidote as well!
It set me thinking though… What would be the future of the romance novel if nobody bothered to fall in love
any more? Where would the suspense be if Romeo had simply injected his fair Juliet instead of wooing her on the balcony? What would teenage girls dream of if everyone bypassed the exciting ‘getting to know you’ stage and skipped straight ahead to full-on in-a-relationship love? We wouldn’t have the great romance books we have on our list, that’s for sure (check out our Women’s Reads).
OK, it’s all a silly load of nonsense and I’m getting carried away, I know, but reading that article brought out my soppy side (never very well hidden at the best of times). No matter what clever chemical concoctions the world’s laboratories create, there’s no substitute for the real thing so far as I’m concerned. OK, it can be hard-going and painful at times, but isn’t it incredible when it goes right? I would choose that over a drug-induced phantom any day. For the inspiration, empathy and perception needed to write and enjoy great romantic fiction, we all need a good dose of real thing ourselves. (Now, I apologise if you’ve begun to feel a little queasy with all this talk of love… Sorry!)
Louise Watson, Editor
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...reading
The Rose of Sebastopol, by Katharine Mcmahon Lara: Mariella is an interesting protagonist – so far, not your traditional heroine and still second fiddle to the beautiful, enigmatic Rosa. This is the author’s aim I suppose, but I’m still interested to see if Mariella does finally come into her own – or if as readers you’ll always wish the story was told from Rosa’s point of view instead.
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