If Monster, why hot?: In defense of Horror Romance and the rise of Monster Smut
"Ma'am, the mothman isn't real." "He is, and he's my husband."
Author’s note: If you know me personally, please know this essay is a Very Serious Matter. It definitely isn’t an excuse to use a Bill Hader gif and talk about kissing monsters.
If you were on the internet during the height of the pandemic, you might be familiar with the rise of BookTok, or the subset of users on TikTok who shared their current reads. In that group, a smaller one formed — readers who combed through Kindle Unlimited (a book borrowing subscription service) and read self-published titles like Ice Planet Barbarians and Morning Glory Milking Farm.
What did these titles (and others similar) have in common? They’re romances, specifically focused on one of the parties being non-human. Whether that’s aliens, minotaurs, vampires, werewolves, or the literal mothman — monster romance is creating a buzz that’s burst forth in the reading industry.
But, there’s a problem — the love of monsters isn’t new — we’ve always been here.
Need I remind all the people getting the ick right now:
You’ve read monster romance before.
The rise of teen fiction in the early 2000s also brought with it a slew of romances that contained nonhuman entities, Cassandra Clare brought us nephilim (angels), Stephenie Meyer brought us (mormon) vampires, and Sarah J. Maas was already prepping the world for her series about fae — teen fiction was rampant with the allure of the unknown, the inhuman.
And I ate it all up.
If I could pinpoint my own dive headfirst into the realm of fantasy and fantasy romance, I’d put a pin in Twilight. I feel like it can also be the reason behind a lot of other readers’ love of romance that doesn’t necessarily adhere to the guidelines we were raised with. If you put Twilight next to a Disney movie, you’ll see two very different depictions of romance focused on a younger audience. Arguably, you could say that while Disney focuses on the fairytale and the fantastical — Twilight does too, it just does it through a lens of feeling seen and, inherently, that the main character doesn’t feel a sense of belonging, or of being the Other.
Monsters have been a popular focus of media for decades. From the beginning of storytelling, we have had monsters — they serve as allegories for so much, from the explanation of human behavior, to the literal embodiment of human fears, to depictions of othered communities.
The "Other" has been a metaphor for a lot of real-life issues, from queerness to minority groups. In context, each genre handles the Other in different ways, from Horror tackling its character as a way to comment on social issues, to monster romance using it as a way to escape fully from expectations of real life dating experiences.
Horror, as a genre, often plays on fear and tension by layering metaphors on top of it’s monstrous entities or concepts. Murder is frequently used as a metaphor for sex. Aliens (in the Alien franchise) resemble genitalia and, at its heart, it is a story about the fear of pregnancy. Clive Barker's Hellraiser series is completely built around the rise of kink culture in the 80s (chains, whips, leather, etc). While other media like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho, and Halloween all play on desire colliding with murder. The recent film It Follows is a supernatural STD — the entity follows people because it’s been transferred during romantic encounters.
What does this have to do with monster romance? Well, a lot, actually.
Monsters in traditional media serve as a way for the world to explore taboo topics. They function in the same way in monster romance. Non-human romance, and monsters, in essence, give a reader both a way to escape modern dating, and explore the ways they might like their own real life relationships to resemble. It completely removes the real-world issues that plague human romance; these monsters are not a human man who might deny a woman their bodily autonomy, or turn around and gaslight their partner about perceived gender roles.
Monsters bring an element of fantasy to the romance genre that, in my opinion, can’t be beat. Romance is already a genre that spans both realistic scenarios (surprise pregnancy, workplace romance) to fantasy (fake dating, 23 year old billionaires). Monster romance often features plotlines of the human partner discovering how the community and culture operates in their non-human partner’s world — and many times it’s a marked difference from our reality.
In Tiffany Robert’s Ensnared, an alien resembling a spider (work with me here) comes from an entirely matriarchal society, which bears its own issues, but is a complete surprise to the human woman who suddenly finds herself on their planet. In Ruby Dixon’s Ice Planet Barbarians, the aliens on Not-Hoth cannot fathom a world where their new human wives are treated unfairly.
Monsters serve as the ultimate way for a reader to step away from real-world expectations placed upon them from centuries of political, social, and economical unrest.
For a reader wishing to feel safe - what's safer than an eight foot tall minotaur, hellbent on making sure you eat breakfast and don't overwork yourself? (Morning Glory Milking Farm by C.M. Nascosta) Or for the reader feeling insecure in their need for connection, what’s better than a giant werewolf fated to be with you, through the good and the bad? (A Wolf in the Garden by Allegra Hall) Or how about the reader who is scared their desires are too much, what's better than an orc hired for the very purpose of being the perfect match? (Games with the Orc by Kathryn Moon)
I have a friend who studied international relations and loves alien romance. Another studied cultural anthropology and adores fantasy politics. Personally, I studied journalism, and adore reading books that focus on the real world reaction (and sometimes fall out) of what would happen if monsters truly existed.
All of these are extremely specific reasons why someone might love a genre. I, actually, encourage you to pause reading this for a moment and think about the books that have resonated the most with you. Do they contain a common thread throughout them? Is there a genre, or trope that you continue to come back for seconds of? Is there a specific book that makes you hungry for more in the same vein?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with exploring desires through the media we consume. Desire can be so much more than what it’s often attributed as (meaning romance). Desire can be an urge for representation (in whatever way that means for the individual reader), a wish for escape, or a want to explore worlds that are similar to ours and explain the real-life issues that the collective society might be facing.
Take Oscar award winning director Guillermo Del Toro — he has been a champion of the Other for his entire career. When The Shape of Water swept through the awards season, it won well-deserved accolades for it’s narrative ability to not only depict queerness, disability, and political unrest — but by doing it through the lens of a sentient water monster that falls in love with a human. It was a story that many people could resonate with. It was a story about humanity.
Del Toro’s other films also tend to explore creatures and their relation to the world at large. Crimson Peak, mismarketed as horror, is actually a gothic romance, which is a genre that originated as a way to explore class cultures and societal expectations via the lens of the grotesque.
Nonhuman romance really isn't all that different from human romance, and that's a hill I'll camp out and die on. I think every individual wants to feel seen and wanted. Whether that’s through a story that has a fantastical element or not — we all want to feel a sense of belonging.
At the end of the day, these stories are about the humanity at their heart, real experiences and real emotions being processed by the characters in their pages.
But let’s talk about the elephant in the room — it’s taboo.
The allure of reading about something taboo comes from the fact you're not actually experiencing it - from something as innocuous as a professor/student relationship (we've all had hot teachers, let’s be real) to something as taboo as dark romance that tackles topics of rape or assault.
It’s the same as sexual assault survivors taking their power back by watching Law and Order: Special Victims Unit - they know by the end of the 50 minutes, the abuser will be arrested and shamed for their actions. These stories exist not only as an escape, but as a version of the world where the bad guys get their dues. These stories exist as a way for the consumer to confront their demons (literal or figurative) in a space that is safe to process the outcome.
One of the greatest sci-fi authors of all time, Ursula K. Le Guin, popularlized an entire genre of speculative fiction that sought to explore and explain the world as we know it through the lens of unexpected worlds and creatures.
Media has always existed as a way for those making and consuming it to process real-life.
Of course, in dark romance sometimes the actions aren't denounced; but that’s also okay. Oftentimes the story will rationalize behavior that is a red flag, framing it for the reader to process in a healthier manner. There is no direct or straightforward guideline for how to depict heavy topics. Often each creator and consumer will have their own preferences and bring their own biases and experiences to the table.
But that’s the point of art.
Art is meant to be consumed differently by every single person who experiences it.
What I'm getting at is — monster romance, horromance, and dark romance are just like any other literature published; its meant, at its core, to make the reader feel seen in whatever aspect they feel insecure. Add in the extra security layer of the romance genre, which requires a happy ending, then you receive a book where you can read a reflection of yourself, finding joy and happiness despite struggles or insecurities.
I won’t lie, I'm very tired of the frame that monster romance is to be giggled at. Romance, as a genre, has constantly been belittled for years. But it’s the romance genre that constantly pushes boundaries and welcomes all types of representation, whether that’s skin color, racial background, disability, or sexuality.
When mainstream publishing approaches monster romance with cautious curiosity, I want to scream — because its been publishing the genre for ages but not calling it that. Every popular vampire, werewolf, or fairy book is a monster romance. Ali Hazelwood's Bride is a love letter to a slew of paranormal romance authors that came before her (who were often self-published in some capacity). The Fake Mate by Lana Ferguson is just a wolf shifter omegaverse that happens to be a paranormal Grey's Anatomy. And I’m extremely proud of Ruby Dixon’s pioneering of Ice Planet Barbarians from self-published to traditionally published.
The top of the bestseller lists have always contained some kind of monstrous romance.
At the end of the day, I'm not telling anyone to abandon their favorite genre and only read monster romance. Instead, I'm asking for readers who side eye, scoff, or laugh at the readers of monster romance to take a step back and look at why they, themselves enjoy their favorite genres.
Is it the escapism that comes with fantasy? The rewriting of history with historical fiction? The exploration of the unknown with science fiction? Or is it deeper than that - do you read crime fiction because you feel validated when the bad guys get caught? Do you read memoirs because you seek to read someone else's experience that mirrors your own and is proof that things get better?
Why, if I might ask, can monster romance readers not also see themselves in stories about the mothman?
If nothing else, reading is a hobby, done for the love and joy of experiencing new stories in vast worlds. Let others read whatever they want, and maybe pick up a recommendation here or there. You might find you enjoy it.
I think this essay has made my stance on monster romance pretty clear — I love it.
It’s certainly not a genre for everyone, but I do feel like it contains such a massive amount of representation across hundreds of thousands of stories, that it’s likely there is something out there that you will enjoy.
It only felt fitting for me to explore the world of monsters for October’s essay! I hope you all enjoyed this essay, and I’m ready to recommend any niche monster romance I can to introduce someone to the genre. Monsters have always been here for the world to process themselves via them, and they’ll continue to do so — maybe just with a little more kissing.
Now go pick up that monster book you’ve been eyeing, you know you want to.
Hi! Just casually wondering if we're the same person...? bahahaha in all seriousness though, this essay is amazing and I'm inspired to read more monster romances now. Kudos!
When I finally come out to my friends and family as a Monster Fcker, I'll send this post to them.