romance

摘要

Not that historical romance is creepy, unless, of course, you're talking about a par-ticularly sinister gothic. Yet the subgenre is expanding its reach, creeping into decades previously considered off-limits or at least marginal (e.g., not old enough or romantic enough) or viewing traditional time frames from a variety of perspectives. For exam-ple, the first half of the 20th century is now considered fair game by most authors (see Amanda Quick's The Girl Who Knew Too Much), and the Civil War has a very different look when seen through the eyes of a freedwoman-turned-spy (Alyssa Cole's An Ex-traordinary Union). Despite these changes in direction, current favorite eras remain the British Regency and the Victorian periods, with many authors incorporating modern-day values and concerns into their stories. The relevance and popularity of those older settings are likely to continue even as the entire subgenre grows.