Romantasy or Trying New Things

This is going to be a ridiculously upbeat post where I report on trying new things.

Last month, I facilitated a panel for the Louisiana Book Festival. Nothing new there. I’ve loved leading writing conversations forever. What was totally new for me was the genre of book I would be moderating. I had zero experience with romantasy. I didn’t even know there was a genre called romantasy. In case you’re the same, romantasy is a combination of romance and fantasy. I had so much fun.

I’m fortunate my introduction to this genre was through authors Meredith R. Lyons and Juliette Cross. Juliette is a New York Times best-selling author, and Meredith is a much-recognized author with an Amazon Editors’ Pick for Best SciFi Fantasy and IPPY Gold Winner for Best First Book Award. The books Meredith and Juliette and I discussed–Dagger of Lightning and Firebird, respectively–were both wonderful. Great characters you could relate to and absorbing plots. Meredith’s was full of humor, Juliette’s a full-blown fantasy.

With all their accolades and accomplishments, both authors were personable, warm, and friendly to me and their readers. This scores high with me. Call me wrong-headed, but I want to like my authors as well as their work. Not naming names, but I’ve been known to abandon an author when they turned out to be a jerk. Too many well-written works to waste time with a known asshole. Plus, you know, my taste in authors is as peculiar to me as is my taste in writing. We all get to decide this for ourselves.

If you’re looking for something new, check out these two romantasy novels. Please note that Juliette’s novel addresses dark themes, including slavery and sexual assault (not between MCs) and comes with cautions. Both are series, so feel free to fall into these stories with strong female leads, building romance, and wild adventure.