Love and Romanpunk

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.

LOVE AND ROMANPUNK

Table of Contents

    Introduction by Helen Merrick
    Julia Agrippina’s Secret Family Bestiary
    Lamia Victoriana
    The Patrician
    Last of the Romanpunks
    Afterword

"The Patrician" - Winner Washington Science Fiction Association Small Press Award 2012, Winner Best Short Story Ditmar 2012, Shortlisted Best YA Short Story, Aurealis Award 2012,

"Julia Agrippina's Secret Family Bestiary" - Nominated Best Novella/Novelette Ditmar 2012

Shortlisted for Best Collection, Aurealis and Ditmar Awards 2012

Connie Willis meets Gail Carriger over more than a cup of tea. – Helen Merrick

In less than 120 pages, Tansy Rayner Roberts has not only told a kick-ass series of interlinked stories in Love and Romanpunk , she has also, quite possibly, kicked off the next historical period for writers to mine. For such a slim volume, it packs a wallop…

The obvious comparison for Rayner Roberts’ work here is Buffy the Vampire Slayer . They both have vampires, slayers, and meaty relationships. But Love and Romanpunk is its own, self-contained vision, one that turns the wit and heart up as much as any story could sustain. Rayner Roberts’ lean prose draws you in from the first few paragraphs and keeps that pace going straight through. - Locus