Quicksilver Author Callie Hart Talks the Rise of Romantasy
TikTok pulled the self-published romance writer out of obscurity and into a Netflix deal. Now she’s releasing Brimstone, the sequel to her 2024 smash hit.
The shelves at Lovestruck Books, a romance bookstore. The romantasy subgenre has become big business.
Photographer: Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesAuthor Callie Hart describes her 2024 self-published novel Quicksilver as her “Hail Mary.” The California-based writer had penned dozens of dark romance novels over the years, but this was her first foray in the world of romantasy. The genre combines the epic plots and magical lore of fantasy with the grand star-crossed-lovers storylines of romance novels.
“My last couple of releases [had] not done well financially, so the pressure was on to have a win and make sure that I could keep writing full time to support my family,” says Hart. “I was very much at war with myself to keep writing what I know and maintain the status quo, or roll the dice and cross my fingers and hope that this romantasy thing worked out.”