Imperialist Son or Amatonormative Daughter

2026.02.27

Amatormative daughter is the morally correct answer, without a doubt. I unfortunately, however, dislike it when romance plays a huge role in my high-stakes speculative fiction.

It doesn't matter if the romance is well-written (it often isn't) or if the male lead is a lovable green-flag himbo or if both parties are male or if there are more than two people consensually involved. Bro, I'm tired of this shit. Let me read my speculative fiction without banter cringe.

I don't intend to devalue romance as a genre simply because it is seen as a woman's genre; I am aware that much of this has to do with publishers finding a convenient category to shove the non-defaults into. However, as a reader, I admit I am frustrated with the mainstream selection of books. The price of reading speculative fiction written by non-defaults is having to slog through explorations of sexuality.

I enjoy reading self-publications. My favorite part of surfing the indie web is browsing webcomics, short stories, character information sheets, and other works of fiction. I am aware that I can find what I am looking for if I just look hard enough. Sometimes, however, I want to read something that's been looked at by an editor - something with polish.

I find myself picking up fantasy books written by the defaults many times. Here, at least any romance can be ignored. Now I can focus on swordfights and magic and- oh god, not another white savior.

At some point, these fantasy books all blur into one another regardless of how well they're executed. The bad apple rhetoric is rampant among these books, and most "philosophical" questions involve debating on the best way the benevolent dictator should govern. Or, if some new form of government is to replace the old through violent means, the book will throw a blanket statement about how both regimes are at fault without delving into their respective errors on a systemic level. Often they'll slap on a vague "violence is bad" message to the new regime and call it a day.

I give these books a shot regardless - and do enjoy them - but man does it get tiring turning my brain off for the political parts. Have I gotten too woke for this? Has the woke mind virus finally gotten to me? I haven't opened a single book on political theory! No manifesto to show for!

Speculative fiction is dreadful to sort through. I need to write my projects faster to satiate myself.