Do You Go With Them?

I've been discussing on my message board a bit about Karen Moning and where she might be going writing-wise when the Fever series is done. The recent news that has kind of put me in a tailspin of upside-down smile is there will be no more romances.

From her message board, June 21, 2008 (paraphrased here):

Karen M. Moning has said on her board that she isn't sure she can write another mainstream romance. She knows this will be a disappointment for some fans, but romance alone is not enough to fulfill her. There would need to be a "whole lot of other stuff going on, too".

I have to interject here that isn't it possible to write romance with a whole lot of stuff going on? And it still be a romance? Hell yeah. Why not simply say a change in genre is in order? Hmmmmm, color me huh? on that one.

She does go on to to leave open, slightly, the possibility of going back to Highland romances one day and says "never say never". For now, though, it definitely seems, by her admittance, that urban fantasy, or dark fantasy, is where she will be and who knows, maybe other genres too. I'm sure though that this is still not the whole story behind her feelings on the matter.

Before I go on, I want to make clear that I do understand the need of an author to grow/move in a new direction. It is their work and ultimately they are entitled to do what they want with their career. In no way do I think that personal reader wants should dictate how an author writes. It might sadden me to read that Moning has no foreseeable plans to write romance again, but I can definitely respect her decision and excitement at doing something else entirely. In fact, she has always had my respect for her frank admission that what she is now writing is not strictly a romance series, instead of playing to those that want romance and telling them it's something it's not. Likewise, it takes guts to move on and admit to some die hard fans that they'll no longer get what they were hoping for from her. I have enormous respect for her for being honest.

This is not about "fandom". I simply do not believe that if a fan of an author's work (their WORK mind you, it's their work we're fans of...right?) is not willing to ride whatever roller coaster the author does, that they are not truly fans. It's a bogus assumption that "true fans" are the only ones that would be happy at any career decision an author makes. Indeed, I am very happy for authors, no matter what they might do career-wise, but the thought of no more Moning romances, a genre she excels at, admittedly makes me a bit sad on first impression.

I love urban fantasy. It certainly appears to be on the rise and I say great. I love a kick-ass heroine or hero, magic, monsters and enough smart alec wit to sink a battleship. Give me fangs, give me fur and wrap all in a magical tortilla of action and adventure. I love and love again the "nitty gritty" that Moning does in the Fever books. I may very well check out whatever new books she has published one day.

But if you were a favorite romance writer of mine that can't see writing them again? Yeah, I'll be sad. I'll be happy for you, but I'll be sad for me. And then I'll move on and read someone else's romances, wishing you all the luck while I'm at it and a happy, healthy career. Your past romance titles will become classics on my shelf and I'll likely take them out to revisit once in a while.

In the end, what else can we do? It's either that, or follow and read whatever new genre they write, no matter what it is. Now that, I would not blindly do. If it's not my taste, it's not my taste and I can't see me spending the money if that's so. In which case, it's time to take a lesson from Happy Chair's book:

So new poll time:

If an author you've read for years decided to move on to a different genre, would you follow them? Would you give their new work a chance? Would you refuse to and feel slighted? Check out the poll on the upper left column to vote and feel free to discuss in comments here.