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Musings: Racism in Genre Fiction Is Everyone’s Problem

Courtney Milan

Recently, romance author Courtney Milan was censured by romance writers’ professional organization, the Romance Writers of America (RWA). Milan, who is half-Chinese, called out racist stereotypes of half-Chinese women in a romance novel by Kathryn Davis on Twitter. In return, Davis filed an ethics complaint that the criticism was unfair and caused her to lose a three-book deal. Suzan Tisdale, Davis’ employer, also filed an ethics complaint that Milan asked her how many authors of color she had published and was critical of Tisdale’s answer, and that she had called Davis a racist. Milan called Davis’ book a “racist mess,” but there’s a difference between personally attacking an author and criticizing her book (if honest reviews are important to you, I hope you can tell the difference). None of this was a violation of the RWA’s ethics code, but the board suspended her for a year and banned her from holding leadership positions. Milan has worked to increase diversity and inclusion in the romance community, which is majority white, cis, and heteronormative, and that appeared to have had a positive effect on the RWA. The lack of transparency in making this decision led to outrage from many in the romance community, and many officers, committee members, and paid members of the organization resigned. If you subscribe to any major newspaper, there has probably been a mention of this controversy in it this week (here’s the Washington Post’s take, and the New York Times).

Beyond the individual support for Milan, a larger problem has come to light, and that is institutional and systemic racism in the RWA and the romance community. Bestselling authors, such as Nora Roberts, have condemned the racism and homophobia that have come to light while all of this has been unfolding. For those people who don’t follow romance or know who Nora Roberts is, she’s close to being the romance genre’s equivalent to Stephen King.

I am writing about the out-of-control events in the romance writing community because racist, bigoted, and homophobic behavior and writing is not limited to one genre writing community. It’s everywhere. The horror genre and the people who participate in it do not get to wash our hands and say “well, what does racism there have to do with us?” Like it or not, one of the greats of the horror genre is well-known for racist, xenophobic vitriol. That is not opinion, it’s fact. Just because he wrote a century ago doesn’t mean we can’t criticize Lovecraft’s work. It’s even productive to do so. Some really great horror fiction has been published that critique his racism and xenophobia, like Victor Lavalle’s The Ballad of Black Tom, Matt Ruff’s Lovecraft Country, and Ruthanna Emrys’ Winter Tide.

Let’s not pretend, either, that those are things of the past and we’re too enlightened to have them appear in the horror community, or horror fiction, today. It doesn’t have to be related to your personal politics, any of us can trip over a stereotype or a dog whistle (I certainly can’t claim to know them all).  I’m pretty sure we’re all writers, reviewers, educators, librarians, or at least readers here, and that means we all know that words matter. It’s not a personal attack to point that out, it’s not being “too sensitive,” it’s an opportunity to do better for the horror genre and for ourselves.

 

Dear Ms. Cadwalladr…

I loved your interview of Nora Roberts. I really did. But I think you misunderstand the place of horror in the world of genre fiction. You describe romance as “lower than crime, lower than horror, lower, even, than sci-fi.” Let’s take a look at that, shall we?

How many romance imprints are there, Ms. Cadwalladr? How many mainstream publishers devote entire lines to romance fiction? There are major publishers, like Harlequin, that produce ONLY romance. There is a well-oiled professional organization devoted to promoting romance fiction and romance author (including me). According to the Romance Writers of America, almost 75 million people read at least one romance novel last year.

Romance is not a stepchild of genre fiction. It’s a STAR.

Let’s compare this to horror. How many horror imprints are there in the mainstream press? Most mainstream publishers will do almost anything to avoid calling a book “horror”. Literary “supernatural fiction”; dark fantasy; urban fantasy; dark science fiction; paranormal thriller; YA paranormal; paranormal romance; ANYTHING but horror.

Let me ask you- Do you know the names of any horror authors besides Stephen King, Anne Rice, Clive Barker, and Laurell K. Hamilton? Did you know that when you browse for subjects on Amazon.com, you can find mysteries, thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, and (yes) romance, but not horror? What’s the demographic for horror readers? I doubt you can find that out(if you can, I’d love to know), because nobody has collected that information. Romance fiction is a tidal wave in genre fiction, compared to horror fiction’s tiny ripples.

That doesn’t mean we aren’t here. Horror readers and writers are everywhere, and they’re terribly under-recognized and underserved. That’s exactly why MonsterLibrarian.com exists. It’s just that most people have decided it’s a genre that doesn’t matter. RWA, the same organization that reported nearly 75 million readers in its genre, didn’t even bother to compare its market share to horror. Mystery, science fiction and fantasy, literary fiction, and even religious fiction, sure. But to miss out on an entire genre?

It doesn’t get any lower than this.

But, thanks, at least, for noticing that the horror genre exists.