Wearing My Scarlet R in SFF Circles

Winter is an excellent time to discover the joys of curling up by the fire with a delicious book - either one we're reading or one we're writing.

Jackson, of course, is above both activities, as he needs to devote time to thinking Deep Thoughts.

I was having a conversation with a writer friend a bit ago about how I see my career, particularly as a cross-genre writer. For those who don't know, I have a Fantasy Romance series (Covenant of Thorns), one that's more solidly Fantasy, with romantic elements (The Twelve Kingdoms) and right now I'm working up a proposal for an Epic Fantasy with my agent. At the same time, I also write contemporary erotic romances (the Facets of Passion and Falling Under series). I also have a few books that even more gleefully blur these lines, being both erotic and fantastic (Master of the Opera, Petals and Thorns and the Blood Currency series).

Because of all this, I belong to both RWA (Romance Writers of America) and SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America). I've been in RWA much longer, largely because I could join as a newbie, where SFWA requires stiffer publication credentials. So, I'm still learning my way around the SFWA community. While most everyone has been wonderful and welcoming, I am sometimes aware of the scarlet R on my chest. Nobody has openly scoffed or insulted my Fantasy books, but people have kindly said that they don't read books like that or that they don't read romance. With one male fantasy writer I've long admired and read, I screwed up my courage to show him a copy of The Mark of the Tala, telling him it's up for Book of the Year with RT Magazine. He didn't even read the back cover copy - admittedly, this was at an RWA event, so my scarlet R was blazing bright - and he handed it to his wife, saying that it might be the kind of book she'd like.

Yeah, okay - that made me want to kick him.

Still, I know that I can't go around kicking everyone who so blithely dismisses my books because of my scarlet R. I'm pretty sure that doesn't build relationships. I'm really okay with people reading my books and not liking them (I might sulk a little and weep into my whiskey, but I'm reasonably Zen about it), but it irks me to have my books dismissed out of hand. So, while I nursed the hope that The Mark of the Tala might be nominated for a Nebula Award, I wasn't all that surprised that it didn't make the final cut. After all, I'm pretty sure not many SFWA voting members read it.

(The Nebula Awards are different in that we can't enter our books for consideration. They have to be nominated by other members, and then receive enough nominations to make the top six. Unlike RWA's RITA awards, where we pay to enter our books and judges receive a stack to read and score.)

So, as my friend and I sat and drank wine, talking about our writing careers, she suggested to me that I'd have an easier time of it if I downplayed the romance in my fantasies. Or took it out altogether. Believe me, I know plenty of women SFF writers who've done this, in order to be taken more seriously. Oddly enough, I don't know any male writers who've felt they had to do this.

And I think she's right. I could do that. But I'm not going to. People who know me well will tell you I'm stubborn. They'll say it with both love and exasperation. More than once it's been suggested to me that I should be less stubborn. I'm stubborn about that, too. Being stubborn means sticking to what I believe is right, to how I want my books and my stories to be. I see absolutely no reason why I can't have romance in my fantasies. I think men could read my fantasies and not have their masculinity or SFF integrity reduced. I think a man can do better than glance at my book and hand it to his wife before the girl cooties rub off on him.

Thus, I wear my scarlet R openly on the SFWA forums. I refuse to apologize for it, or even downplay that aspect of my work. Yes, it's a more difficult path, but I feel anything less is admitting to some kind of shame or embarrassment - or that romance is somehow a lesser genre. I know some people think that. I don't.

When I explained all of this to my friend, she said, "You should write a blog post about this."

So I have, here at Here be Magic - where romance and SFF meet, blend and have a helluva party. 

Crossing the Streams or Hey! You Got Paranormal in My Erotica

Many of you know that I’m currently publishing in a couple of genres.

Along with the TWELVE KINGDOMS fantasy romances, I also have a contemporary erotic romance series with Carina, the FALLING UNDER books. The newest in that trilogy, UNDER HIS TOUCH, released yesterday - yay!

I usually alternate books, writing a fantasy, then writing an erotic romance and this works great to keep me fresh and create distance between books.

However, as you might imagine, particularly with going back and forth on edits, I’m often working on both a fantasy and a contemporary erotic romance at the same time. And, yes, I get a bit of bleed.
What surprised me with UNDER HIS TOUCH was the form the bleed took. It turned out (I discover these things as I write) than my young heroine, Amber, is a fan of the Neil Gaiman Sandman graphic novels. And the hero, Alexander Knight, reminds her of Dream. He’s also known as the King of Dreams or the Dream King. (Tori Amos even references him in her song, Tear in Your Hand.) It ends up being a metaphor for the whole story in kind of a cool, profound way.

Alec Knight is older than Amber and it’s one of the obstacles they face. At 44 and a Brit with a classical education, he struggles with his infatuation with the 22 year-old Amber, who also works for him. He likens his obsession to the struggle with damnation in Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus. As the story progresses, Amber tries to get him to take on a different metaphor – that of the Dream King.

This works on a couple of levels. Both Faustus and Sandman deal with issues of damnation, guilt and innocence on paranormal levels. Both deal with supernatural, if not godlike, beings. The metaphors brought a layer of emotional richness to the story and also provide a way for Amber and Alec to connect across their generation gap.

In the end—without spoilering—Alec recognizes the ways in which Dream’s story is like his own, and how he needs to change to find a better ending.

All of this is by way of saying that, as writers of all kinds of paranormal and speculative fiction, we can employ these themes and metaphors in other genres, too. I didn’t necessarily plan this out, but once the thread emerged, I went back and layered it in throughout. I loved how it worked out, too.

Has anyone else tried something like this or have ideas now of what they could do?

***

Amber Dolors knows better than to get involved with her boss. Devastatingly handsome in his sharp suits and sexy beyond belief, he possesses an air of command that fuels her darkest fantasies. But she’s worked too hard to get this job, and keeping it will lead to a brilliant future. She won’t cross that line-even if his way of giving orders and demanding her best performance gives her delicious warm shivers. 
Alexander Knight prides himself on his integrity and self-discipline. After all, he hasn’t risen to the position he enjoys by indulging his whims over ambition. He also isn’t blind. He’s certainly noticed his sharp, young assistant is hot as hell. His self-imposed sexual hermitage doesn’t stop him from watching her. And endlessly fantasizing.
The day Alec’s cool reserve cracks and Amber catches a glimpse of something simmering beneath his apparent indifference is the day everything between them changes. Alec gives her what she’s been looking for sexually-as masterful in the bedroom as he is in the boardroom. He finds himself in the grip of an affair that tests even his boundaries, while Amber’s new role as willing student pushes them both past any consideration other than mutual longing. 

“Kennedy’s novel has all the addictive tension and high-stakes passion that fans crave. Her main couple’s interactions are intense from the start, and she doesn’t shy away from either realistic details or dreamy fantasies. Best of all, she moves beyond their overwhelming physical passion to the emotions that drive them both, including the achingly real fears that threaten their happiness. As a result, this book is as touching as it is torrid. “

-RT Magazine, 4 1/2 stars!

Available January 19, 2015

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