Articles about Romance History

I’ve got a new podcast project!

Earlier this summer, I sat down with the always delightful Katrina Jackson to talk about what we were both up to. As it always does with us, the conversation inevitably got off course and turned towards romance genre scholarship and when was I going to write a book, etc, etc… I was talking about this…

A Sunday with 3 Amazing Authors! (and me!)- UPDATED with video link!

This Sunday, March 17th on Zoom, I’ll be moderating a panel of three amazing authors; Kelly Link, Beverly Jenkins, and Sandra Kitt. Inspired by the romance author character of Maryanne Gorch in Kelly’s new novel The Book of Love (which is not a romance, to be clear!), we’ll be talking about the journey of Black…

Writing in Black and White

While I like to use Black History Month as an opportunity to share stories of Black love, there’s another aspect of the romance industry that I think is worth highlighting to give context to the experience of Black authors in the genre. As the 1980s began, shorter “category” romances served as the main vehicle for…

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I’m Steve.

For more than a century, romance fiction has served as a mirror for societal ideas of gender, class, and race. I explore the stories behind the books to shed light on how authors, publishers, and editors shaped the genre.

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