Imagine a beast constructed solely of energy or a beauty kidnapped by incomprehensible aliens.Īlmost always in this story type, the monstrous character is paired with a more socially conventional character, their differences usually emphasized by a power imbalance between the two. Imagine a beauty and the beast trapped on an isolated mining asteroid, or in a decaying habitat deep beneath the sea. The couple’s isolation, whatever the reason for it, heightens narrative tension. Speculative monstrousness can include aliens, supernatural beings, or artificial intelligences, as well as humans changed by magic.

I would argue that it is almost a duty of romantic SFF to show how empathy can develop between wildly differing personalities beauty and the beast provides a splendid canvas. In a recent Nature article, Sibylle Erle and Helen Handry discuss how monsters “disrupt and unsettle,” but also encourage readers to feel empathy. The core idea, being forced into an isolated situation where the goal is learning to live with a monstrous being, generates a compelling plot with built-in conflict. The basic story type can be traced even further back to “Cupid and Psyche” (Greek) and “The Woman Who Married a Snake” (Indian). One of my favorite romantic sub-genres is beauty and the beast, a very old story archetype popularized in Europe by French author Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve.

Magical secondary worlds, alien planets, and far future empires can all include romantic relationships as the primary or secondary plot.

ROMANCING SFF: Romancing the Beast – Embracing Monstrousness in Romantic SFFīecause the romance genre is based on plot structure, it can easily be merged with a speculative fiction setting.

Beast by judith ivory