Episode 118 -- The Romantasy Boom
In Bed With The Right
Adrian Daub and Moira Donegan
4.8 • 661 Ratings
🗓️ 27 January 2026
⏱️ 71 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For this episode, Moira and Adrian are joined by Abby Kluchin from the Ordinary Unhappiness podcast to discuss a recent publishing phenomenon and its implications for gender politics: romantasy, a genre that's been emerging over the last 10 years with renewed force. Series like Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses and the Empyrian-novels by Rebecca Yarros mix fantasy tropes with costume drama and pretty explicit sex scenes -- and they rely on a very particular kind of trauma heroine, and what seems to be a very particular understanding of gendered trauma.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Adrienne Dob. |
| 0:08.8 | And I'm Weirond again. |
| 0:10.2 | Whether we like it or not, we're in bid with the right. |
| 0:13.8 | So, Adrian, today, we are going to be talking about a genre of fiction that is captivating women readers, inspiring passionate fan communities online, and quietly keeping the entire publishing industry afloat. |
| 0:31.1 | That's right. Today, we are talking about Romanticy. |
| 0:35.3 | That's right. Not books about 1933. Romanticy is what's keeping the book industry afloat. |
| 0:40.3 | No, I think this genre, it's a combination, as the portmanteau implies, between romance fiction |
| 0:47.3 | and sort of fantasy genre fiction, and it really took off during the pandemic and is now this |
| 0:53.3 | like commanding force in our cultural life. |
| 0:56.9 | And I think the easiest thing in the world to say about these books |
| 1:00.6 | is that they're wish fulfillment fantasies, right? |
| 1:03.1 | They're transporting, they're sexy, |
| 1:06.3 | they involve these like women heroines |
| 1:09.3 | who are stand in for the readers |
| 1:10.7 | who are beloved and capable |
| 1:14.4 | in some ways and also sort of like rescued in others right so it's very easy to say like yeah |
| 1:20.3 | people read these because it represents something that they desire but I think what's a little |
| 1:26.6 | more compelling a question and a little bit more up |
| 1:29.2 | in Bed with the Rights Alley is a question of like what kinds of wishes are the Romantici books fulfilling? |
| 1:36.0 | Where do these desires come from? And what does a fantasy about their fulfillment in fiction |
| 1:42.5 | achieve for the readers? And to answer that question, |
| 1:46.7 | I think we kind of needed to call in the big guns. So we're thrilled today to welcome |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Adrian Daub and Moira Donegan, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Adrian Daub and Moira Donegan and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.