I used to think I’d know I’d made it as a journalist when I got invited to speak at some fancy event in Louis Vuitton heels, sat front-row at New York Fashion Week, or had my article splayed across the front page of a newspaper (do they still have those?). I was wrong; the moment I knew I’d made it was as I entered a Zoom conference call to interview the one, the only, Scarlett St.Clair. And if I didn’t already know the NYT bestselling author was a big deal, it would’ve been confirmed by the fact that four other people are on the call — muted the entire time but omnipresent. I dream of being important enough that extra people hang onto the call to make sure I don’t say anything that could get me canceled. Not that Scarlett ever could — yeah, I think we’re on a first-name basis by now.
Over the course of our yapping sesh, I learn that Scarlett is crazy humble, has a master’s degree in library science (hot), only wants one bed in the inn, and is (in her own words) “a big fan of Betches.” Here’s the down low on everything romantasy — from her newest novel, writing sex scenes, and fan culture.
Talking Greek Mythology With Scarlett St. Clair
Many of us (this writer included) know Scarlett from her bestselling Hades x Persephone series, which started in A Touch of Darkness. As a Greek mythology lover and all-around thirsty gal, I am obsessed with these books. It’s basically a retelling of the original myth, but Persephone is a journalist as well as the Goddess of Spring (I can relate), Hades runs a gambling empire, and they’re so fucking hot together.
Greek mythology is def having a comeback in culture, such as with recently-canceled (sob) KAOS. It was certainly a big part of Scarlett’s college years as an English major, which led to incorporating mythology into her own writing.
“We read a lot of Greek ethics, and the thing that stuck with me was that no matter how powerful these women were, they were always, like, you know, oppressed,” she tells me. “So you could be a goddess, but you were still under the thumb of the gods.”
Her reaction to reading Dido killing herself because Aeneas leaves in the Aeneid? “I was like, that is so stupid — she is the Queen of Carthage,” she says. “She did all these great things, and she is going to die on a sword — I think it was a sword or a pyre, I can’t remember — because this man leaves her, and I was just so irritated about it, and I think that really spurred my interest.
“Like, how do you adapt these myths that consistently oppress women into something that’s a lot more empowering?”
When I tell Scarlett that I particularly enjoyed the agency she returned to Persephone in her retelling, she tells me she loves that (*praise kink activated*), and admits to always being intrigued by that particular myth. “Because if you read the original hymn, she did read very young — probably about 14 when she was abducted.” But, Scarlett points out, the hymn isn’t even about Hades and Persephone. “It’s about Demeter and losing her daughter and all these men telling her, ‘It’s okay, Hades is a good husband,’ but I thought, wouldn’t it be more interesting if Demeter was a narcissistic mom to, you know, a college student? And what would that look like in the long run? And then we got Hades and Persephone. So I really loved working on the series and can’t wait to explore more characters in the New Greece world.”
We can expect more??? SCREAMING.
Are Fans Getting Too Involved?
It’s wild to be a fan nowadays. As a Swiftie, you’re expected to dissect an Instagram photo for what her nail polish color means and recite the entirety of “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version).” As a romantasy reader, you’re expected to take 800-page novels more seriously than AP English and find threads of storyline that span 10 different books and three series. The books don’t end on the last page; there are TikTok explainers, fanfiction, Etsy merch, tattoos (guilty), and more.
I ask Scarlett how she feels about the madness. “It’s wild,” she agrees. “I remember meeting this one reader, and I sat down beside her at an event, and she said, ‘I read your books, and I made them my entire personality.’ And she had, you know, all these tattoos for my books, and it was really cool. I was told that when your work becomes a tattoo, it’s when you know your brand has really made it, apparently.”
(FYI, the first one to get a quote by me tattooed will get to pick the name of my firstborn son because boys names suck anyway.)
Readers will be thrilled to know Scarlett teamed up with Eventbrite to create immersive romantasy events, like The Shadow Daddy Speakeasy, where she consulted on cocktails, actors’ costumes, and chatted with fans. IDK about you, but my TikTok has been filled with ACOTAR balls and men dressed as the Bat Boys (hate them, love them), so it was about time that the Touch of Darkness and Fairy Tale Retellings series received similar treatments.
“It’s almost like something out of one of my fantasy novels or any romantic novel come to life,” she says.
If you’re in LA, Chicago, or New York, these events will be happening throughout November. Where else can you wear fake pointed ears? (Except in the bedroom with me, obviously.)
Let’s Talk About Erotica In Romantasy, Baby
Anyone who claims they read these books for the plot is a liar (yes, I’m directly calling out my bestie with this one). Don’t pretend you skip the pages-long explanations of how he buries his face between her thighs or how she strokes his wings until he finishes. I have no time for liars and prudes. Scarlett gets it, obviously.
“I think it’s a safe space to explore sexuality, right?” she muses. “Because in our society, especially as women, we don’t have that opportunity to do that in a safe space.” Unfortunately, there’s a lot of judgment, even around romantasy. “People think that the books that we write are not worthy of praise, but they don’t realize that they are saving a lot of people’s lives, they’re changing a lot of people’s lives, and they are empowering women to explore the parts of them that really have been oppressed over time.”
My love of 500-year-old Fae men has certainly been oppressed over the years. But it’s true that many of the people I’ve discovered to be secret romantasy fans are not those yelling out their exploits at the brunch table (like me), which is why I’m initially surprised. Having that fantasy setting allows us to feel more comfortable reading sex.
“It’s so ironic because I think romance and romantasy, even set in a fantasy space, these are people who have real experiences, right?” she continues. “Real, everyday experiences that we relate to, and at the core of it, are about relationships. It’s about being loved and loving someone so deeply that you’d do anything for them. And people like to make fun of that instead.”
Scarlett reveals that she loves writing these X-rated scenes. “One of my favorite things to write is sex scenes,” she says with a smile. “They’re very difficult. They’re just as hard as writing a battle scene. But the payoff is worth it.” The payoff is worth it for me and my vibrator, too. Anyone who has read Scarlett’s books can agree: it is WORTH it.
Do We All Actually Have Wing Kinks?
I’ve previously expressed to my therapist that I’m terrified that I’m secretly a pervert, and that was before I fell in love with romantasy — the smuttier, the better. But do we all actually want to bring biting into the bedroom? Have a dude’s wings wrap around us while he rails us? Have sex in a mind bridge without ever actually touching? (iykyk). I ask Scarlett how seriously we should take our love for wing kinks and vampires (i.e., should I be very, very worried?!).
“I think there’s this long history of vampires being very sexual,” Scarlett reassures me. “Like the concept of biting and taking blood. And, you know, people have written articles forever about how the exchange of bodily fluids is sexy, right? Like with vampires. It’s an innuendo, essentially.”
She then considers these interests/kinks/my personal sexual to-do list on a grander scale and got hella wise for 10 am.
“But these are also characters who are very powerful,” she continues. “They’re always in a position of power. They always have some sort of element of magic, and that’s very appealing to us.” She recalls reading When God Was a Woman and the concept that women are so sacred to society that men have to be their protectors. “Sometimes I wonder if in our brains, in our biology, we’re very much attracted to that element of, you know, being protected because, at the end of the day, we’re sacred to these people, right?
“And that would be nice to find in real life, like to be so sacred to someone, to be so beloved by someone that we feel that protection.” (BRB simultaneously sobbing and texting my hook-up.)
Naturally, I have to ask about her favorite romantasy trope, which turns out to be a tricky question. For me, it was an obvious “Who did this to you?” (slurp), but Scarlett couldn’t quite pick.
“Man, I really love the enemies-to-lovers, and I love walking into a room and being like, ‘Yeah, there better be one bed or one cot or one horse like they’re just better be,’” she finally answers. “But I’m actually writing a friends-to-lovers right now, and I’m surprised by how much I enjoy it because I thought I would never really like friends-to-lovers, but I love the history. I love the how.”
Inspo Behind Scarlett St. Clair’s New Book Apples Dipped in Gold
Speaking of new books, Scarlett’s latest masterpiece hit the shelves on October 29. Apples Dipped in Gold is the second book in her Fairy Tale Retellings series, which takes place after the events in The Hand With The Knife by the Grimm Brothers.
“I like to critically analyze fairy tales and take all the themes and elements that I love, and then put them into a book with sex,” she says. “And yeah, it’s just a very fun, silly book that I absolutely love about true love.”
Okay, I have to go buy my copy. Bye!!!!
