Love and Romanpunk by Tansy Rayner Roberts

Thousands of years ago, Julia Agrippina wrote the true history of her family, the Caesars. The document was lost, or destroyed, almost immediately.


(It included more monsters than you might think.)


Hundreds of years ago, Fanny and Mary ran away from London with a debauched poet and his sister.


(If it was the poet you are thinking of, the story would have ended far more happily, and with fewer people having their throats bitten out.)


Sometime in the near future, a community will live in a replica Roman city built in the Australian bush. It’s a sight to behold.


(Shame about the manticores.)


Further in the future, the last man who guards the secret history of the world will discover that the past has a way of coming around to bite you.


(He didn’t even know she had a thing for pointy teeth.)


The world is in greater danger than you ever suspected. Women named Julia are stronger than they appear. Don’t let your little brother make out with silver-eyed blondes. Immortal heroes really don’t fancy teenage girls. When love dies, there’s still opera. Family is everything. Monsters are everywhere. Yes, you do have to wear the damned toga.


History is not what you think it is.

Some times when you read a new author, you just know that you are going to enjoy their books because you enjoy their voice! Tansy Rayner Roberts is one of those authors. She is a new author to me this year. I first read her story Relentless Adaptations in the Sprawl anthology, and then she guest posted for me, and finally, on the strength of loving this short story collection I have also now purchased the first book in her Creature Court trilogy, Power and the Glory.

Before I talk any more about this particular collection, I wanted to talk about the series that this is part of.

Love and Romanpunk is the second book in the Twelve Planets series that is being published by a small Australian publisher called Twelfth Planet Press. Here is their description of what this series is all about:

The Twelve Planets are twelve boutique collections by some of Australia’s finest short story writers. Varied across genre and style, each collection will offer four short stories and a unique glimpse into worlds fashioned by some of our favourite storytellers. Each author has taken the brief of 4 stories and up to 40 000 words in their own direction. Some are quartet suites of linked stories. Others are tasters of the range and style of the writer. Each release will bring something unexpected to our subscriber’s mailboxes.

I was going to wait for this book to come out in ebook before ordering but then I saw that the cover was purple and had to have a physical book! And seeing as I was getting this one, I also ordered Nightsiders by Sue Isle (which I have read and enjoyed) and then upcoming release by Lucy Sussex which is titled Thief of Time. Other authors who are going to be included in the series include Margo Lanagan, Rosaleen Love,  Deborah Biancotti, Kaaron Warren, Cat Sparks, Kirstyn McDermott, Narrelle M Harris, Thoraiya Dyer and Stephanie Campisi. The vast majority are new to me authors so not only will I get some good spec fic short stories, but I will also be fulfilling my personal challenge to read more Australian authors.

Anyway, that's enough about the series. What about this book?

I mentioned above that Tansy Rayner Roberts voice really works for me, and that is really embodied in my reaction to this book. Roberts has taken her love of spec fic and of Roman history and combined them with the paranormal to come up with something that is totally unique (or at least I haven't read anything like it) and so much fun! And I must give a huge congrats to whoever wrote the cover blurb because I do think that the humour and fun that is present in the book is very much reflected in the blurb!

Within Love and Romanpunk, there are four connected stories that take us in time from ancient Rome to the future. The first story is Julia Agrippina's Secret Family Bestiary where the title character tells us all about the strange goings on within the Roman imperial family. Julia was the daughter of Agrippina Major, widow of Tiberius Claudius Nero, wife and niece of Emperor Claudius and mother of Emperor Nero, and she gives us a glimpse into a family filled with paranormal strength (which can be a good and a bad thing) and the special powers that have been bestowed on the Julias. And the creatures - they are legion. Well actually they aren't, but there are a lot of them - from werewolves to lamia, to harpies and dragons, and so much more.

The second story is Lamia Victoriana, and is set in the Victorian era. It features two young girls who run off with a debauched poet and his sister. There are elements of forbidden love and passion, and a willingness on the part of the participants as to the type of people the poet and his sister really are. Somewhat fittingly seeing as it is inferred that there is a connection to Mary Wollstonecroft this story is somewhat darker, more gothic in tone than the others that make up the collection.

The third story, The Patrician, was my favourite. I loved this story from the relationship between the two main characters to the concept of having a theme town that is built in country Australia called Nova Ostia, built with some of the original bricks from ancient Rome. If you think about historical villages but instead of showing what life would be like in the old west or frontier life the enactment is of Roman life and you would be close to the concept. It is all very well for the tourists who come and visit but for the people who have to live there and appear as authentic as possible it can be a drag.

When we meet Clea Majora when she is a teenager who is growing up in Nova Ostia. Her life is changed when she meets Julius. I can't tell you too much more about Julius without spoiling too much but I can probably say that over the years he disappears and reappears in Clea's life, their relationship changing and redesigning itself as Clea gets older, but Julius doesn't!

The fourth and final story in the collection is called Last of the Romanpunks and is set further into the future and features as it's main character Clea's grandson Sebastian and a very feisty young waitress. When Sebastian is deceived into attending the launch of a new airship that has been converted into a floating Roman themed taverna, he doesn't realise that for him and for some monsters, it will be a matter of life and death.

Whilst these stories could be read as standalone stories, I think it is a collection that begs to be read in order. Not only does the author manage to take us on a journey through time, we also wend our way through subgenres including historical and urban fantasy, with a touch of the gothic, and a little romanpunk as well (if romanpunk isn't already a subgenre it totally should be).

I thoroughly enjoyed my foray into Love and Romanpunk and can't wait to read more of the Twelve Planets books, and more from Tansy Rayner Roberts.

This post is posted as part of the Short Story Quest for the Once Upon a Time V channel, and because I just had to tell you all about this book!

Rating: 4.5/5

Relentless Adaptations by Tansy Roberts Rayner (short story review)

When I was thinking about what I could do for Aussie Author month there were a couple of options. I could write at least some of the reviews that I have in draft for books by Aussie authors (which may still happen), or I could try something new to me - short stories. That option also seems like a really good way to expose myself to lots and lots of new to me Australian authors.

Luckily I had recently bought Sprawl, an anthology that fit the criteria perfectly that was published late last year by Twelfth Planet Press, a small publishing house based in Perth!

I am not sure why I don't read more short stories. I will read novellas, especially if they are part of a series, but the short story form seems to have passed me by. So far though, I have been pleasantly surprised at how much I have enjoyed the ones that I have read.

The first story I read from Sprawl was Relentless Adaptations by Tansy Roberts Rayner.

I think the thing that surprised me most about this story was that despite the fact that the story was only 12 pages or so, there was still time for a gradual unveiling of the world. This story is set in suburban Hobart, in what initially feels like the not too distant future. We start with a group of friends who meet regular for coffee in a bookstore with their young children in tow. They are asked "coffee or books" as they enter, but this is a world where that mean print on demand, and if you don't like something, even in the classics, then you can order your changes before it is printed. You may for example want to add a vampire or have a same sex relationship. Whilst there are differences between the world of Relentless Adaptations and our current world, and these differences are developed the further the story goes along, I also loved how recognisable things from our world today were incorporated and developed in the story, like the evolution of Twitter!

As someone who doesn't really like the classics mashups that have been so prevalent over the last couple of years, I loved where this story went, and the humour that was prevalent also worked for me! I actually read this story on the train on the way home from work one night, and I smiled the whole way through, to the point that I probably worried a few of my fellow travellers, and I was still smiling as I walked to my car and drove home.

I teased from this story a couple of weeks ago, and I participated in the Mighty Slapdash Blog Tour last week for her new release The Shattered City, book 2 of the Creature Court trilogy, and even in that short post I could hear an authors voice that definitely made me want to read more! 

This story has been nominated for an Aurealis Award in the Science Fiction Short Story category and even with my limited exposure to short stories, I can definitely see why. Sprawl was also nominated in the Best Anthology category and there was at least one other short story nominated in the same awards which gives me something to look forward to as I read more! The Aurealis Awards were set up in 1995 "to recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror writers".

Sprawl is available from Smashwords, and until April 15 is available for the reduce price of $4.99 (using the redemption code LY79G ).

This short story counts towards my Short Story Quest for the Once Upon a Time V challenge.

The Long and Short of It (guest post by Tansy Rayner Roberts)

For the launch post of Aussie Author Month, I am pleased to present a guest post from Tansy Rayner Roberts. In my last post, I mentioned that I am focusing on short stories, and Tansy is the author of one of the stories that I read and thoroughly enjoyed (Relentless Adaptations from the Sprawl anthology). When I heard that she was looking for hosts for her Mighty Slapdash Blog Tour, I volunteered straight away, and my suggested topic - shorts stories v novels!

The Long and Short of It

Have you ever noticed that it’s easier to run late sometime if you’re just going around the corner, than if you’re travelling somewhere at a greater distance? The further away you are when you start, the more opportunity you have to hurry up... but if it’s five minutes away, you’re already late.

That’s pretty much how I feel about short stories.

A novel is a long, glorious stretch of road, and I don’t have to worry about what’s behind the curve of that bend not yet. I have time to pay attention to the scenery and my travelling companions, and my brain doesn’t have to fling me all the awesome ideas and snappy bits of dialogue straight away. It can burble away in the background, hurling me tools and stray bits of string (to hold the cart together, have I overworked this metaphor yet?) as and when needed.

A short story, on the other hand, hardly has time to get started before I’m panicking about word count, and do I have enough story yet, or is there too much story, and there’s a brick wall hurtling right at my face and OMG IT’S A NOVELLA, PULL UP, PULL UP...

With a short story, there is nowhere to hide.

In case it’s not immediately obvious, I am a touch more intimidated by the short story form than I am by novels. I don’t claim to have mastered either, but I came to an understanding with novels far earlier than shorts, probably because I read more of them! I feel like I have only started hitting my stride with shorts in the last few years, which coincides with my participation in the Not If You Were The Last Short Story on Earth project, which involved me reading and critically evaluating huge quantities of world class short stories.

I like the opportunity to experiment and be brave that short stories affords me, even if my initial reaction is often to hide behind the sofa instead. I also love being forced to pare every indulgence out of my writing, and that does make me look at novel writing with a touch more discipline. Also there’s the deliciousness of getting something finished in a limited time frame, even if short stories always take me longer than I think they will.

Ultimately, though, my heart belongs to novels: fun though it is to capture a character voice or moment in a small and elegant box, I much prefer having the space and leisure to get to know that character, and their world. Luckily, I don’t actually have to choose between the two writing forms, though of course I do: I spend a fraction of my writing time on short stories and tend only to write one when I am actively being begged for a contribution (and sometimes not even then) because my latest novel is calling loudly to me.

It’s calling to me right now... and you know what? It used to be a short story.

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Tansy Rayner Roberts is the author of Power and Majesty (Creature Court Book One) and The Shattered City (Creature Court Book Two, April 2011) with Reign of Beasts (Creature Court Book Three, coming in November 2011) hot on its tail. Her short story collection Love and Romanpunk will be published as part of the Twelfth Planet Press “Twelve Planets” series in May.

This post is brought to you as part of Tansy’s Mighty Slapdash Blog Tour, and comes with a cookie fragment of new release The Shattered City:

She became slowly aware that everything hurt, her spine and ribs and skull, as if someone had been pounding her bones with a mallet. Somewhere along the way, she had lost her dress. They were all looking at her, the Lords and Court, hovering in an uneven circle around her, in their naked ‘people’ bodies. They were - not awed, exactly, but impressed with her. Some of them were wounded, their skin scratched and punctured in places by those spikes of ice. Livilla licked a smear of blood from a scrape on the back of her hand, gazing thoughtfully at Velody.

Too late, Velody remembered her duties, to honour the Creature Court for their efforts. “You fought well,” she said, finding her voice. Her throat ached as if she had been coughing up her lungs for hours.

“I’m not entirely sure we needed to,” said Poet.

Teaser Tuesday: Relentless Adaptations by Tansy Rayner Roberts

I don't read a lot of short stories, but today's teaser comes from Relentless Adaptations by Tansy Rayner Roberts which was published in the Sprawl anthology published by Twelfth Planet Press.

During the upcoming Aussie Author Month, I am planning on talking about quite a few of the short stories in this anthology, but this was the first one I read out of the collection, and I really, really enjoyed it! This teaser comes from page 10 of Sprawl:

The last tweet I read is from a bookseller who cites being forced to dress up as a vampire as an example of unreasonable workplace conditions. A call to arms: Take up the fight. Are you with fiction, or against it?

I am currently reading the ebook version of this, but I noticed that if you buy the print book there are illustrations. If I enjoy the other stories anywhere near as much, I am going to have to splurge for the print version I think!

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading. Head on over to find out all about it, and how to join in!

Don't forget to check out my current giveaway of the upcoming Geraldine Brook's release Caleb's Crossing. Read more...