I am a genre writer, when it comes right down to it. I like beats. I like pulses and plans and fulfilling the expectations I create. Whether it’s romance or SF, I like having an agreement with the reader and working within that to surprise and delight them.
Fortunately, I know that doesn’t mean being inconsequential, ignored, or disrespected…at least, not across the board. I read Snow Crash for the first time in a 400-level Frontiers in Literature course at University of Washington. An excellent gender studies teacher introduced me to Patrick Califia in a course on Outsider Lit. My Chivalric Romantic Literature course might have started with the French lais and English Breton lays and ended with Chretien de Troyes, but I knew that Nora Roberts was continuing to present heroic figures who prioritized love and honor over practicality. And now I’ve found Bold Strokes Books.
I’m glad to be writing erotica, romance, and science fiction. Whether or not my books “transcend” their genres, I find plenty of respect, attention, and consequence in exploring lives within these frames.
Thank you, to all the genre fiction readers out there. May I continue to surprise you while fulfilling our agreement and delight you with the creativity I bring to the art and craft of writing.