What’s the difference between fantasy romance, romantic fantasy and romantasy?
I posed that question in the Fantasy Sub-Reddit recently, and the response was amazing. Aside from drawing 44,000+ views, the thread sparked a thoughtful and passionate discussion about those labels and how to define them.
Some Redditors framed the difference between the labels structurally: is the romance the engine of the plot, or does the fantasy stand on its own? Others focused on audience and intent, arguing that romantasy is written primarily for romance readers and follows romance rules, regardless of how elaborate the fantasy elements might be. There was also heated debated over whether or not the ‘romantasy’ tag was an indicator of the quality of world building.
The majority of Redditors generally supported the following broad definitions:
- Fantasy romance: A romance novel set in a fantasy world. The love story drives the plot; the fantasy elements enrich it.
- Romantic fantasy: A fantasy story with a recognisable romantic subplot. Without the romance, the fantasy plot would still stand on its own.
- Romantasy: A newer/colloquial term used by readers and marketers — often as another term for ‘fantasy romance’, but sometimes used to describe stories in which romance and fantasy are equally central. (This one is still very much a moving feast in terms of shared language.)
Labels in creative contexts are always problematic. But the argument above wasn’t about labels as such, rather what they create in terms of reader expectations.
That’s why it’s helpful to have common definitions and it’s important we do our best to get them right in our marketing. Otherwise, we risk readers being disappointed and frustrated when a book doesn’t deliver what they expect. (Based on the above simplified definitions, I put The Children of Verus Trilogy in the spectrum of romantic fantasy.)
I found the whole discussion/debate fascinating (and clearly one that is happening frequently). Here’s the full thread if you’re interested (feel free to add to the discussion!):
Fantasy Sub-Reddit
Meanwhile, on Instagram…
Author E.C Glynn and also I chatted about this question. She’s created an awesome Instagram post mapping fantasy sub-genres. The opening slides (and the one featuring The Shadow of the Eagle) are below and the whole post is here:
E.C. Glynn on Insta
What do you think? How do you define the different sub-genres of fantasy and what is your preferred level of romance and/or space?
Shadow of the Eagle launched!
I can’t begin to tell you how special it was to launch The Shadow of the Eagle at The Emporium in Kalbar last weekend (25 October 2025).
It’s been eight years since I last released a book and, honestly, I wasn’t sure if I would get to experience a launch event again. I almost didn’t have this one because – after so much time, and now publishing under my own imprint – I didn’t know if anyone would even show up aside from my trusty inner circle.
I was pleased (and then panicky) when Suzy Baines at The Emporium got excited at the idea of hosting the launch in her magnificent store in Kalbar. It’s only a few kilometres from my home and one of my favourite places.
To then have more than 50 people turn up was overwhelming in the best possible way. Suzy and I chatted up the front, and then I had a string of excellent questions from the audience (none of which were planted!).
I sold and signed a stack of books, drank some wine, laughed a lot, and remembered why it is I love these events so much.
Heartfelt thanks to everyone who came along, and especially to Suzy and Greg for their generosity as hosts, Annemarie for coming from Darwin for the event, Pam for keeping the wine and popcorn flowing, and Murray for, well, everything.
Thanks too to Winnie from (@Reading_at_Isaacs), Annemarie (@Annemarie.book.adventures), Anne (@Anne_Andrew_Writer), Sabrina and Rachel for the photos.
The launch was everything I hoped it would be, and I’m so grateful.
Playing around with character art
As part of re-releasing The Rephaim series in Australia and New Zealand, I’ve been playing around with character art to keep my promos interesting.
I don’t use AI for any form of written content generation, but I’ll confess I’m mildly addicted to the image generation function (which can be hit and miss – and some of the misses are hilarious). And even then, I’m only using it for social media. (I’ll blog separately on my thoughts on generative AI.)
What do you think of these? Any requests for scenes/moments/quotes out of any of the books?
Reflecting on a decade since The Rephaim series
This year, it’s 10 years since Burn, the fourth book in The Rephaim series, came out in Australia and New Zealand.
These books changed my life. Not in a throw-in-my-day-job kind of way, but in the way it enriched my life as an author. After many years of writing novels and amassing a daunting rejection pile, I was finally in print and connected to an audience. That meant writers’ festivals, school visits, meeting other authors and – best of all – interacting with readers.
It was awesome.
From 2012 to 2017, I had a blast – the four books of The Rephaim series came out, were on-sold to the US and UK and I followed it up with a stand-alone near-future thriller, The Undercurrent. It was my most critically successful novel , and I found new readers, but the fans who loved The Rephaim mostly didn’t embrace it (perhaps because Rafa wasn’t in it?).
That was seven years ago and I haven’t had a book published since. I haven’t stopped writing: a contemporary thriller a few years ago and, most recently, the first two books of a new fantasy trilogy. Granted, the thriller was not my best work. I wrote it in the final year of my mum’s life and it was a more of a distraction than a passion project. But the fantasy series is the one I was working on before The Rephaim, and I’m deeply invested. It’s in a very different shape to what it was a decade ago and I think it’s some of my best work.
The Rephaim books have always been close to my heart. I started writing Shadows to entertain myself after a near-miss publishing deal and – as naff as this sounds – I still enjoy reading the series. So, when the books were close to being out of print in Australia, my agent and I reached out to Text Publishing to see if I could get the local rights back. Text Publishing, to whom I’ll always be grateful for taking a chance on me, agreed to the request.
That happened in February this year and I’ve been on a very steep learning curve ever since as I’ve embarked on re-releasing them myself. I’ll blog more on that in coming weeks.
In the meantime, the new 10th anniversary editions of each of The Rephaim books are now available on Amazon Kindle. The new edition print versions (via Amazon and bricks-and-mortar stores in Australia/New Zealand) are not far away and ebooks on other platforms will follow later in the year. All other versions internationally are still available through the usual channels.
What’s particularly special about these new local editions is that the new covers feature original artwork by my talented brother-in-law (and watercolourist) Tony Weston and designs by my talented bestie (and graphic designer) Heather Scott.
I’m hoping the books can have a new lease on life and reach new audiences. Being back in this space has reminded how much I love my creative life – with all its ups, downs, frustrations and triumphs. I’m in the infancy of managing every aspect of publishing a book series myself, of course, and I’m leaning on the wisdom of many who have gone before me – not the least being Ellie Marney and Kirsty Eagar.
Meanwhile…
Meanwhile, the new fantasy trilogy is taking shape, I finally have thoughts on how to step back into the world of The Rephaim, and the TV option in Canada for Shadows is still live.
I’m cautiously optimistic about the future.
But whatever happens, I’ll keep writing.
There’s a better way to stay up to date
As you’ll see by the dates of posts below, I haven’t been great at regularly blogging.
If you’ve found this page, you’re possibly interested in keeping up to date with my writing projects, new releases, musings on life and creativity etc.
I’ve started a newsletter – which, to be honest, hasn’t been much more regular than my blogging. But that’s because I’ve been busy with a few book-related projects (and the day job, life etc.), but I finally have things to talk about, so the frequency will pick up. And by ‘frequency’, I mean every few weeks/once a month. Definitely no spamming!
If so, feel free to click on the button below, which will take you to a sign-on form.
Thanks. 🙂
