Swords, sorcery & smut

Fantasy elitism and why I chose to include scenes of open-door intimacy in my book.

There has been a lot of discourse in the past few years about the rise of fantasy romance, or romantasy. It is nothing but “fairy p0rn”, it’s poorly written, and it is nothing but a scourge stealing shelf space from “real” fantasy. I personally think a 300 page book with 10 pages of descriptive sex scenes cannot be considered p0rn by any stretch of the imagination, and terribly written books exist in any genre. Besides, who made you the taste police, Greg?

What I want to talk about is the “real fantasy” elitism. Much like metalheads (Sleep Token is metal, fight me), fantasy fans of all flavours (be it gamers, roleplayers, readers or all of the above) have such a strong tendency to look down on anything that dares to stray even a tiny little bit in the direction of That Which Shall Not Be Named. The dirty, the evil. The mainstream.

When I discovered fantasy books in my early teens, I was completely sold. Sure, I had to read classics for school, but anything I read for fun had to have dragons, magic, swordfights (or all three), to be worth my time. I read Shannara, the Wheel of Time, the legend of Drizzt (and anything Forgotten Realms), Riftwar, Realm of the Elderlings, and so on. If it was fantasy, I read it.

And even though I loved — loved — the classic fantasy books of the 80s and 90s (and my writing is hugely inspired by them), the hopeless romantic in me always felt there was something missing. You’re telling me this group of beautiful, emotionally repressed people are on a life-or-death quest together and no one is kissing? Be serious. Someone’s kissing.

So when romantasy got popular, I was excited. It felt natural to me that these kinds of stories included romance, and yes, sex. Sex and sexual attraction are such major parts of the human experience. Especially when people are thrown into situations of ‘forced proximity’ (a popular romance trope), romance very often follows. Take any reality TV show, even ones that aren’t centered around romance, and you’ll see people pairing up as they go along. (Is it real, long-lasting love? Maybe not, but it feels real in the moment.)

And apparently loads of other women felt the same way, because romantasy blew up like nobody’s business. The romance genre has been singlehandedly holding up the publishing industry for decades now (yes it has, Greg, look it up) but now, dying bookstores were suddenly opening up new branches. Just because hordes of women like me want to read love stories between humans and vampires and dark lords and the occasional dragon.

Cue the fantasy elitists: What do you mean, fantasy is popular now?! Are you suggesting my niche interests are no longer niche and special?

If there is one thing I despise in a fandom, it’s gatekeeping. So that pushback is exactly why I doubled down and wrote my book the way I did. Somewhere down the Ley Line is my contribution to bridging the two worlds: the D&D-esque fantasy I grew up with, and the love stories I wanted to add to them. It’s not just smut with a fairy sauce, it’s a fantasy story with a fantasy plot that also happens to include a love story.

Isolde and Felix fall in love the way I think real people in their situation would. And yes, they do end up having (loving, sweet, enthusiastically consensual) sex, because that is what people who fall in love (often) do, if they’re lucky.

The book is not just about two hot people making out though — it’s very much a story of growth and self-discovery, of learning that sometimes nobody has answers for you and you’ll have to make your own. But I firmly believe the romance makes the story stronger, and it would not have been a better or more highbrow book without it.

Want to see for yourself? Somewhere down the Ley Line is out now on KU and ‘zon. :)