(paul otero garcia / Pexels.com) All right, here’s a topic I’ve wanted to look at before: the self-styled monsterfuckers and the fiction they love. The terms have recently come to prominence, entering not-quite-mainstream parlance, and there is a host of media catering to them. What’s with the sudden popularity? What’s with the appeal? Let’s take a look at what’s driving this trend in romance...
I recently saw someone shorten “omegaverse” to “OV,” which I think means the trope has made it. Also known as alpha/beta/omega dynamics or a/b/o, omegaverse has become an incredibly popular and ever-more mainstream worldbuilding trope in romance. (Anne-Marie Gionet-Lavoie / Pexels.com) What is omegaverse fiction, and why bother writing it? I can’t give you insights for anyone else, but I can tell...
I’m back on social media enough that I’m seeing bad takes, and whew, do y’all have some bad takes. I want to leave aside the general state of everything—lots of bad takes to be had there—and focus on more bookish things. Specifically, I want to take to task a bad take I saw the other day. Let’s start by saying people are allowed to enjoy what they enjoy and dislike what they dislike. That’s fine...
Some recent discussions got me thinking about something I’ve known to be true for quite some time. A lot of the m/m romance readers out there are … pretty problematic people, when it comes down to it. Don’t mind me, just reading this m/m fic and posting homophobic takes on social media, like you do. (Andrea Piacquadio / Pexels.com) That got me to thinking: how is it that there is so much...
Romance novels get a lot of flak. Sometimes, there are good reasons—a lot of them are run-of-the-mill or even bad smut. I’ve seen books with cardboard characters and even flimsier plots. Does a rose by any other name truly smell as sweet? (Dario Fernandez Ruz / Pexels.com) Some of the criticisms levied against romance novels stem from other, less magnanimous areas. Romance novels as a whole are...
This post is about exactly what the title says: I wrote a book on parental leave. And it sucked to do it. Managing Time Time management has never truly been a challenge for me, in the sense that I’m very good at it. The problem, more or less, has always been that I’m overly ambitious. I always think I can get more done than I can. As a result, I tend to bite off more than I can chew. In turn, I...
We’re clearly in a hyper-conservative backlash against what has been billed progressive politics. In the US, we’ve seen attacks against trans people and queer people more broadly, against mixed-race couples, against women’s rights—and it’s getting worse. We’re seeing people pushing to get rid of not only abortion but access to birth control. We’re seeing the curtailing of internet access to not...
A lot has happened since this blog was last regularly active. I had a baby. My father passed away. The United States of America voted in the Republican candidate for a second term. Plenty of people are legitimately concerned for a wide variety of reasons. (Kaboompics .com / Pexels.com) As a queer person, a queer writer, and a romance novelist, I can see there’s a lot to be worried about. Even...
I have a new book out today: Host Club on the Pleasure Planet! It’s part of a shared world with a bunch of other awesome authors. The series is set in a dystopian sci-fi world, where Kateria, the pleasure planet, operates outside the bounds of the law. The planet offers all kinds of pleasures, but in doing so, it has also become a haven for criminality. Humans are rare and incredibly sought...
Last year, I had a baby. It was full of ups and downs. Parenting is one of the more challenging roles I have taken on in my life. As an mpreg reader and writer, though, going through pregnancy, birth, and now parenting, has had an interesting impact on what I prefer to read and write. What my writing looked like for months after I had my baby. (Jessica Lewis 🦋 thepaintedsquare / Pexels.com) I...
Coming January 28! Get set for more intergalactic hijinks when a monk inherits a HOST CLUB ON THE PLEASURE PLANET!