A couple months ago, I asked you to rename a book genre.
Well, not exactly. Actually, I asked if you'd heard the existing name of the genre, and to weigh in with counter-ideas if you didn't like it.
As it happens, most of you have heard of gaslamp fantasy romance, which has historical-ish settings that can range a fair bit in time but are often inspired by the period when gaslamps were used: the 19th and early 20th centuries.
And interestingly, even more of you think it's a decent name for those sorts of books, which include the Stariel series, The Paper Magician, Court of Tricksters, Half a Soul, A Marvellous Light, A Coup of Tea and my Clandestine Magic series.
The breakdown:
- Just under 70 percent of you had heard of gaslamp as a genre, with another 10 percent having a hazy "maybe" recollection
- 80 percent think it's a good name. (Once some of you who hadn't heard of it before got an explanation of what it actually is, in any case.)
Only 3 percent of you thought it was a bad name. The rest are on the maybe/unsure fence about its goodness or lack thereof.
Now, a word about this survey: I was asking you, a group of people who more likely than not have heard me say "gaslamp" before. A bunch of other authors who write at least partially in this genre shared the survey, too.
So this isn't a random sample of the reading public. Or even the romance reading public.
But it was still quite interesting for those of us who wondered if any readers at all had heard of gaslamp.
(Answer: A resounding yes.)
The alternative names you offered ranged quite a bit, from a particular era (Victorian fantasy romance, Edwardian fantasy romance, Gilded Age fantasy romance), to ones with a particular vibe (Art Nouveau fantasy romance, fantasy romance of manners).
A few of you thought we should just merge into steampunk romance, which admittedly has a fair bit of overlap but is on the tech side of fantasy (flying machines! clockwork automatons! steam-powered ... everything!) rather than the magic side.
Oh, and "why not just historical fantasy romance" came up several times.
I mean ... fair point. 😂
I shared these suggestions with the gaslamp author crew. We all appreciated you sharing your thoughts, and that kicked off a rousing discussion about what's in a name and whether ours should change.
And you know what? Going through this exercise with you made us appreciate gaslamp as a name.
The old-timey feel is baked in, since we're not using gaslamps these days. It's not super-specific like Victorian or Edwardian, nor does it suggest a certain part of the world (e.g. England), which allows a good bit of historical fantasy romance to fit in.
If I can say my alternate timeline books are gaslamp—set in a 2020s America a century behind on women's rights, with the corsets and coverture to go with it—you know it's a flexible tent.
And yet it's a little more drilled down than historical fantasy romance as a whole to give people a sense of the vibes therein.
If you were hoping for Beowulf feels or a fantasy romance with a 1970s gas crisis backdrop, you'll know to look elsewhere.
(Is there a fantasy romance with a 1970s gas crisis backdrop? Now I'm curious. Send me your closest recs.)
In any case, I sure am glad you're here, pondering bookish things with me and sending me your ideas.
I'll give the final word to a survey respondent who made me grin:
"Honestly I think it would just become confusing to try to change it now. I’m 44 and still can’t figure out if I’m a xennial, elder millennial, geriatric millennial (my favorite, lol), Oregon Trail generation, or Goonie (which is what I’ve been campaigning for). We probably should have picked something and stuck with it."
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More cool & bookish things
Because you can never have too many books, gaslamp or otherwise: Find an enchanted warrior, a lonely orc cowboy and more intriguing characters in these free fantasy romance reads here ⬇️
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