Books sort of lose their edge when they are filled with predictable characters, the same meant-to-scintillate plot devices over and over, and thrill-filled climaxes with little to no emotional resonance.

Stephen King should know, since he's up there with Danielle Steele in number of formulaic books churned out. But of course, King's critiques are not about his own work, but the number of chick-lit writers on the best sellers list. What happened to all the books for manly dudes (like, one assumes, Stephen King)?

Women like stories in which a gal meets a handsome (and possibly dangerous) hunk on a tropic isle; men like to imagine going to war against an army of bad guys with a Beretta, a blowtorch, and a submachine gun (grenades hung on the belt optional).

And current manfiction certainly gives women a better deal than they got in the pulps of yesteryear, when most were presented as barracuda debs in frilly negligees.

Haha, yes, you are so right Stephen King! Women are like this, guys are like that. Did you hear the one about the way white people drive as opposed to people of African-American descent?