Guest Post: Jennifer Povey, author of Daughter of Fire

Good morning lovely people! You’ve made it to the middle of the week, and that’s something to celebrate. For me, it’s been a bit of a rough one. Still, there’s nothing I look forward to more than sharing good stories and new authors with you!

Today Jennifer Povey, author of the standalone Fantasy novel Daughter of Fire, is here to share a guest post with you! I’m reading my way through this now and it’s stellar. I hope to have a review up for you soon. In the meantime, please enjoy her wonderful thoughts on romance in writing.

Find it on:

Goodreads | Amazon

Romance. It’s the most popular genre – and it worms its way
into all of the others. In fact, I was told as a baby writer that if my book
didn’t have a consummated romance involving the main character it would never
sell.

Fortunately, I’d already developed a thick enough skin to
ignore the writer saying this (I’m not going to name him, but it was a writer
with a solid mid list career) and write what I want.

In marketing my latest book, I’ve found a difference between
it and my four-book series. The series is
a romance. It’s more urban fantasy than paranormal romance, but there are
consummated romances involving the main character and a second romance between
secondary characters. There’s lots of romance.

But when I tell people my book “is not a romance”
I’m finding more and more readers perk up. Truth is?

Romance gets into everything, and sometimes you just want
gun fights or a story about friendship or fatherhood. So, when Jessica asked me
to do a guest post?

I decided to put out some recommendations for books that
are, or are close to, “Romance free zones.” Because as much fun as
romance is, sometimes you don’t need it.

Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere
(Urban Fantasy). While Richard’s relationship with Door is important, it’s
not romantic and the story is almost more about…I’d honestly call it an
analogy for becoming a fantasist.

Vernor Vinge’s Zones
of Thought series – A Deepness In The
Sky, A Fire Upon The Deep and The
Children of the Sky (Space Opera). This is one of my favorite space opera
series, deeply philosophical and with amazingly designed aliens. There’s a
teensy bit of romance in A Fire Upon The
Deep but it’s between aliens with a very different view of the world.

Alastair Reynolds’ Terminal
World (Unclassifiable Science Fiction). I say unclassifiable because I can
never tell whether to call this work post apocalyptic steampunk, planetary
romance, or…you have to read it. It’s brilliant and I wish he would come back
and write a sequel.

Elizabeth Moon’s The
Deed of Paksenarrion series – Sheepfarmer’s
Daughter, Divided Allegiance and Oath of Gold (Epic Fantasy). Not only
does this series come up with some interesting twists on classic Tolkeinian
fantasy, but the protagonist is one of the few explicitly asexual characters in
fantasy. And it proves paladins don’t have to be boring or, in gamer speak,
“Lawful Stupid.”

And I’m out of space. Thank you, Jessica, for letting me
borrow a piece of your blog!

As a fiction writer, Jennifer R. Povey has short fiction credits from a number of magazines including Analog, as well as publishers including Third Flatiron and Flame Tree Publishing. She is currently working on her fifth novel, the fourth book in the Lost Guardians series.

As a freelancer, she offers quality, human-readable web content and copy to individuals and businesses at reasonable rates. She also writes articles and guest blog posts on a variety of subjects, but specializes in material related to fiction writing, equestrian activities and travel. She also provides proofreading and basic copy editing services.

She also has a number of credits in the RPG industry, having written or co-written supplements for Fat Goblin Games, Rite Publishing, Dark Naga Games, Flaming Crab Games, Avalon Game Company, and others.

She also enjoys horseback riding, travel, role-playing games and hanging out with her highly supportive and wonderful husband, Greg.

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