How life imitated this art (to my astonishment)

Art imitates life constantly. But sometimes it goes the other way around, and speaking from personal experience: Gah.

Well, OK, I'm sure that can be a good thing. It's just a lot more unnerving when the art is a romantasy with dystopian elements.

The Clandestine Magic series is set in a 2020s America a century behind on women's rights. I started writing it around 2012, when that seemed like an interesting premise rather than a conceivably possible future.

Then 2016 rolled around, and it occurred to me that the president and vice president in my series had names that started with T and P, respectively, and I'd better change that because it might sound like commentary I wasn't intending because I'd been there first, darn it.

That, I was sure, would be the only bit of synchronicity.

But then the topic of women struggling to win equal rights from a federal government determined to squash them started to seem rather less historical.

Same with the conversations the characters have about difficult reproductive decisions in a restrictive environment.

Also, Canada.

Look, one reason I picked Canada as the country the Clandestine-Magic U.S. is at odds with is because I thought it would be mildly amusing and emphasize the alternate-reality-ness of it all.

(Am I doing this? Have I accidentally written us all into an alternate reality?)

I suppose the real test is whether we end up with magic and silver-haired wizards wearing impressively swoopy coats.

Let me know when you see them.

Personally, I think we're overdue for that part.

P.S. If the thought of reading (unexpectedly) topical books stresses you out right now, remember this utterly awesome aspect of fantasy romance: It all turns out well in the end.

Now that is the magic I want most.

But in the meantime, you can bring me joy by hitting reply and telling me about other life-imitating-art moments. ❤️

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More cool & bookish things

I love A.J. Lancaster's books, so it will not surprise you that I read her new romantasy, How to Find a Nameless Fae, at a speedy clip. It's delightful. The premise is a chef's-kiss Rumpelstiltskin retelling, and it only gets better from there.

Princess Gisele was bargained away to an evil fae sorcerer before she was even born. Forty years later, he still hasn’t shown up to claim her. And the bargain magic is warping her ability to live a normal life.

So she sets off to confront him with a poisoned knife for leverage ... and discovers he's not at all what she expected.

Grab it!

Meanwhile, on the topic of fairy tales: Find intriguing books inspired by tales as old as time, including my own Rumpelstiltskiny book ⬇️

You made it to the end! You're awesome. (Of course.) And oh hey, here are my latest books and here are all my book gifts to you.

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