Season 4 Ep. 77 Romance Language with guest Tiffany Reisz 2-10-21

This coming Sunday, February 14, is Valentine’s Day, and we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to talk about the genre of romance.

If you are of a certain age, you may most associate romance novels with Fabio, the long-haired king of Romance novel covers. But romance is a very wide umbrella. There are historical romances like the books that inspired the Netflix series Bridgerton, classical romances (think Jane Austen books), and queer romances. Some romances are just about the emotional aspects of love, while others venture into the erotic beyond just a little kiss.

Our guest this week, Tiffany Reisz, is a Louisville-based erotic romance writer who started writing her first romance novel while a seminary student. She left seminary, though, to follow her love of writing and is now a USA Today bestselling author of over 28 books including the Original Sinners series and The Red. She has a dedicated fan base all over the world. I recently saw a FB fan club for her based in Italy.

Tiffany gives us a “romance for dummies” crash course on the differences between romance, erotica, and smut. She also talks about how her preference for fantasy books as a child morphed into writing a different kind of fantasy, why she doesn’t let preconceived notions against her genre bother her, and why being married to another writer is a “two heads are better than one” situation.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
2- A Cricket in Times Square by George Selden
3- The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
4- Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
5- Star Trek: The Next Generation novels
6- Return of the Jedi (novelization)
7- Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
8- Lives of the Mayfair Witches by Anne Rice (series)
9- Sleeping Beauty series by Anne Rice
10- The Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Knox
11- The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox
12- The Siren (The Original Sinners series) by Tiffany Reisz
13- Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
14- Love Story by Erich Segal
15- The Story of O by Anne Desclos (pen name Pauline Reage')
16- The Chateau by Tiffany Reisz
17- The Lucky Ones by Tiffany Reisz
18- The Red by Tiffany Reisz
19- The Bourbon Thief by Tiffany Reisz
20- The Pearl by Tiffany Reisz
21- The Auction by Tiffany Reisz
22- Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
23- Nothing Lasts Forever (Die Hard) by Roderick Tharp
24- The Whisper Man by Alex North
25- The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans
26- Sea People: The Power of Polynesia by Christina Thompson
27- A Polar Affair by Lloyd Spencer Davis