I want to make something perfectly clear: I write romantic fantasy, NOT fantasy romance. Don't know the difference? Read on.

What is Fantasy Romance?

In fantasy romance, the emphasis is on the romance, and the world and plot are more of a backdrop or window dressing for the couple’s path to getting together. It’s aimed at romance readers who want to escape to a different world. Themes CAN be meaningful, but they are ROMANCE themes, and focus on the values of love and belonging.

What is Romantic Fantasy?

In romantic fantasy however, the emphasis is on the fantasy, and the romance serves to significantly raise the stakes for the quest, war, or political machinations that carry the plot. World-building elements are significant, and must stand up to pressure-testing. It is aimed at fantasy fans who enjoy emotional turmoil throwing a huge spanner in the works, and changing the decision matrix for characters. Themes tend to be more about SURVIVAL, but if the love was taken out, it would be a very different book.

What About Romantasy?

Romantasy is an umbrella term for both fantasy romance and romantic fantasy - which is where the confusion comes in. It is a neutral term, and there is certainly clean romantasy and Christian romantasy out there, but it has started to give me the ick because of how it is associated with smut. It doesn’t have to be, but it often is. It’s also used to degrade books, and stick them in a ‘not-serious-fiction’ or ‘only-for-women’ box.

AND IT’S JUST NOT TRUE.

Romantic fantasy has actually been around for a long time, WAAYYYY before it was called that.

The Pern series by Anne McCaffrey is romantic fantasy. My teen years were practically defined by that series.

The Wars of Light and Shadows by Janny Wurts is another fantasy that has love as central to the plot, but remains firmly grounded in the fantasy domain. The world building in that series is insane, akin to Tolkien depth.

There are many other examples.

So, if you are looking for fantasy romance, DO NOT BUY MY BOOKS. You will likely be disappointed. There won’t be enough witty banter or ‘only one bed’.

But if you wish Arwen and Eowyn had been more prominent in the Lord of the Rings, if you didn’t mind the addition of Tauriel in The Hobbit movies because it made the ending hit harder, if you love a good action/romance movie like Die Hard or Avatar, then you already like romantic fantasy.

My books are for you if you like it when romance is central to the plot, but it’s not THE plot. When you love the romantic tension, the almost-kisses, the resistance, the inner turmoil–but you want it to mean something more in the greater scheme of things.

Check out Son of Osivirius, my romantic sci-fi novella if this sounds like you.