This coming Sunday, February 14, is Valentine’s Day, and we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to talk about the genre of romance.
If you are of a certain age, you may most associate romance novels with Fabio, the long-haired king of Romance novel covers. But romance is a very wide umbrella. There are historical romances like the books that inspired the Netflix series Bridgerton, classical romances (think Jane Austen books), and queer romances. Some romances are just about the emotional aspects of love, while others venture into the erotic beyond just a little kiss.
Our guest this week, Tiffany Reisz, is a Louisville-based erotic romance writer who started writing her first romance novel while a seminary student. She left seminary, though, to follow her love of writing and is now a USA Today bestselling author of over 28 books including the Original Sinners series and The Red. She has a dedicated fan base all over the world. I recently saw a FB fan club for her based in Italy.
Tiffany gives us a “romance for dummies” crash course on the differences between romance, erotica, and smut. She also talks about how her preference for fantasy books as a child morphed into writing a different kind of fantasy, why she doesn’t let preconceived notions against her genre bother her, and why being married to another writer is a “two heads are better than one” situation.
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
1- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle 2- A Cricket in Times Square by George Selden 3- The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis 4- Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder 5- Star Trek: The Next Generation novels 6- Return of the Jedi (novelization) 7- Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice 8- Lives of the Mayfair Witches by Anne Rice (series) 9- Sleeping Beauty series by Anne Rice 10- The Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Knox 11- The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox 12- The Siren (The Original Sinners series) by Tiffany Reisz 13- Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey 14- Love Story by Erich Segal 15- The Story of O by Anne Desclos (pen name Pauline Reage') 16- The Chateau by Tiffany Reisz 17- The Lucky Ones by Tiffany Reisz 18- The Red by Tiffany Reisz 19- The Bourbon Thief by Tiffany Reisz 20- The Pearl by Tiffany Reisz 21- The Auction by Tiffany Reisz 22- Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James 23- Nothing Lasts Forever (Die Hard) by Roderick Tharp 24- The Whisper Man by Alex North 25- The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans 26- Sea People: The Power of Polynesia by Christina Thompson 27- A Polar Affair by Lloyd Spencer Davis