Romantasy is quite possibly the hottest topic in fiction right now. A mashup of (hot!) romance writing and fantasy involving steamy romance with - err - faeries, furries and enemies, these books are bursting with bodices, leather, weaponry, magic and dragons.
With lines such as "Her name was a caress on his lips," these authors are making waves all right: waves of passion.
What makes these stories such a drawcard? Authors Ashley Andersen, Stacey Broadbent A.J. Lancaster, H.G. Parry, and Darianne Schramm , joined globe-trotting actor Lizzie Tollemache for a truly revealing session at WORD Festival Christchurch, complete with a dress-up crowd.
All Things Romantasy
Ashley Andersen is a tik tok book reviewer who has just published her own smouldering romantasy, Malachite: a story of enemies to lovers, set in a military style magic academy. Stacey Broadbent wears many hats, self-publishing steamy romance novellas and LGBTQIA reads. A.J Lancaster is an award-winning fantasy writer creating faerie realms with sizzling 'will they/won't they' romance, while H.G. Parry writes historical heartbreak with magical themes. Darianne Schramm has just released a swoony tragi-romance for teens, 72 Hours of You, with humour and heartache in equal doses.
After a spicey warmup of moans and swoons that echoed through the library, Lizzie Tollemache was ready to get down to business.
What have these authors read in relationship to the genre of Romantasy?
AJ Lancaster reads epic fantasy authors Tamora Pierce, Juliet Mariller (NZ) and Mercedes Lackey. She writes her slow burning fairy romances because she wanted more females, and more romance in the book world. Hannah (HG) Parry says, 'A lot of it was around already, but the name is new.' She cites the Stephenie Meyers Twilight Series, Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games and the William Goldman's Princess Bride (swoon!) along with paranormal romance as early influences.
Darianne Schramm says she had read the genre but didn't realise its label. She's a millenial, she says, influenced by Veronica Roth's Divergent, and Twilight. Ashley Andersen read Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy, and Twilight (a common denominator!) - her spice level 'aged up' as she did. Stacey Broadbent was influenced by Princess Bride (weren't we all?) and found Twilight a real doorway - the first series that gave her a book hangover.
So if Romantasy was a thing before the genre was brought together under this label, how does the author's work maintain a presence in the genre?
Stacey Broadbent, who writes under five (!) different pseudonyms, shares her own reading and writes book reviews on Tik Tok and Facebook, and likes readers to know who she is. Ashley Andersen, herself a book influencer with 200, 000 followers, is on BookTok and Bookstagram. Reading Sarah J. Maas after having a baby led her to find an online community, while reviewing these books led her to writing her own book.
Darianne Schramm has a thousand followers on Insta - a great way to connect with readers, who are sharing their reactions to her book with her as they finish it. HG Parry is also on Insta, and no longer on Twitter 'for reasons'. She doesn't use it for marketing but for connecting with readers online, and to share pet photos. Of course. Readers can find AJ Lancaster on Insta and Tik Tok, where she says reading has become a community activity, which has driven the need for a term to bring genre books together for people looking for the same thing.
The panel of authors cover a range of genres from fantasy, romance and romantasy - how important are these tropes to them? Do they use them?
Stacey doesn't really think about it until its time to publish: then she figures 'where she sits in all this.' Her themes are 'forced proximity' and 'friends to lovers'. Ashley says she too doesn't think on it until marketing: she feels that you must label and market accordingly, so that readers can find more of the books they enjoy. The Romantasy trope is a good tool for this. Her themes in Malachite are 'enemies to lovers' and 'brother's best friend', and includes mystery, dark academia and builds tension to what she calls 'one buff situation'.
Darianne says that 72 Hours has 'grumpy girl and sunshine boy' - he's an avid reader - and an 'only one bed' conundrum. Hannah Parry doesn't consciously write in tropes but worries she's writing in the wrong one. Primarily a fantasy writer, with a little time-travel romance, she googles her tropes (fantasy, magical libraries, dark academia and animal companions) to list them for her publisher - so useful for readers to find their 'why'.
AJ puts random things into tropes online to make new ones such as 'pathetic wet cat man' who's also cool, with outraged. offended dignity and a bit of emo - a bit like the character from Howl's Moving Castle - to which the audience dissolved into giggles.
Reads that make you go 'oooh' ?
Ashley: the kinds of books with taking off corsets, the lover plaiting her hair, doing things for her, treating her wound... the sort of thing you'd find in Pride and Prejudice.
Stacey: the lingering looks and smouldering passion of the Princess Bride. Darianne: the wtf very uncool sex scene in Twilight. AJ: the slow burn... you have to... eventually... deliver.
Hannah: the brushing of hands in Princess Bride: 'Hand me that picture.' The hand around the waist in the dance; Cinderella. And Cranford series two with Tom Hiddleston and Jodie Whittaker: separated for months, she drops crumbs down her front and he - gently - brushes them off for her. Phwoar!
Lizzie adds the 'L Word' where two women are in 'forced proximity' in a jail cell after an art protest - trying not to touch each other. 'Delayed gratification is the greatest!'
What isn't a trope but should be?
AJ: 'Pathetic Wet Cat Man!' Darianne: 'We should let more boys be perfect. Men that can do no wrong.' Ashley: 'Dad Bod!'
Where's the line between Romantasy and Fantasy? Would some readers be turned off by smut?
Apparently, hotness was measured in chilis. Ashley: 'It's called Romantasy because there's a big emphasis on romance.' Romance readers might not, for example, like High Fantasy. AJ: 'The subjective label enables readers to find 'their' books.'
Don't knock it till you've tried it, I say - I was on the fence about How to Find a Nameless Fae but now i'm hooked.
Gateway books without smut?
The 'romantic virgin' in books such as Heather Fawcett's Emily Wilde series, which also features 'the charming academic'. Heavenly Bodies, say Ashley, is 1.5 chili peppers - with some 'unaliving', soft moments, and emo-flavoured trauma. Wooing the Queen rates one chilli from AJ. Darianne says 72 Hours of You passes the test as its written for young adults.
Ashley Andersen's Malachite rates two chilli peppers. There are three quite hot scenes. AJ's The Lord of Stariel is a low chilli book. It's all yearning in the first book: pining, with 'friends to lovers'. Lizzie adds Tamora Pierce's Young Adult book Song of the Lioness - a medieval tale of growing feelings.
Who's your favourite character of all your books?
Hannah Parry: 'That's like picking your favourite child!' Stacey Broadbent: 'Dallas Mahoney, the silver fox in Deep Heat'. AJ: 'Marius, the gay botanist in A Rake of His Own.' Darianne Schramm: 'The book boyfriend in 72 Hours of you. He reads Emily Henry!' HG Parry: 'It changes all the time, but the 'found family' in Magician's Daughter - the rabbit, the Magician and his daughter.' Ashley Andersen: 'Jed in Malachite. He's sassy, unalives for fun, and Tilly, Arianelle's best friend. She's tiny, petite, but will have your back.'
If this event left you wanting... more, check out Lizzie Tollemache's A Court of Horny Roses at Laf Lyttelton: A Court of H*rny Roses : Christchurch City Council
Looking for your next read? Try our Fantasy Fiction Genre Guide: Fantasy fiction genre guide | Christchurch City Libraries Ngā Kete Wānanga o Ōtautahi
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