The great Twilight merchandise industry

I probably will never criticize Twilight. I’ve picked up the books several times and have been unable to get past the first page. I’ve read about Edward’s ‘huge, steel-like’ grip and been unable to continue. It’s safe to say that I won’t read Fifty Shades of Grey either. I can’t trash something I won’t read.

But these books sell like mad. I heard an interview with EL James on Q-radio (a great Canadian culture show on CBC radio), and she said that women write to her and tell that they haven’t read a book in twenty years, and yet they’re reading her books. It’s not really productive to call EL James a terrible writer: after all, the world is full of terrible writers and none (well, few anyway) of them have become millionaires. The world is full of bad erotica, and yet James is raking it in. Stephanie Meyer and EL James have, like Dan Brown, stumbled onto something vital that many far finer writers have failed to discover. Stephen King once said that stories are in the ground; you just have to dig them up. Perhaps James and Meyer just dug farther. They’ve both tapped into something that lies in the mysterious heart of women, that great and misunderstood demographic.

At any rate, here is the tribal and physical by-product of Twilight, with a tiny bit of Game of Thrones thrown in for variety.

Some Khal Drogo underwear, for the woman who likes her guys *really* alpha.

This is a the end result of a perfectly logical procession. I’d prefer that they sparkle, thought.

This actually looks like it might be quality.

For those of you who like to think different

I hope this wasn’t too expensive.

I’m going to have to confess that this is a novelty item. But it made me chuckle.