What is romantasy? And who is the Scottish author leading the way?

A Fate Forged In Fire is the first in a planned series of novels drawing heavily on Celtic and Irish mythology and exploring the world of Erisocia, a collection of competing islands and territories, each with its own culture and belief systems. There’s Tìr Uisge and Tìr Ùir. There’s Tìr Sgàile and distant Tìr Adhair. There’s the Sunset Isle with its castle of Penryth. And there’s Tìr Teine with its settlements of Fyndhorn, Strathaven and Atholl and its capital of Aird Lasair. And yes, the book does contain a map, as well as a glossary of Gaelic pronunciation.

A Fate Forged In Fire (Image: Delacorte Press)

This is a world of magic too. Dùileach, or magic bearers, are able to harness one or other of the four elements and also strengthen their powers by bonding consensually with animals – or, even better, dragons, though only three are thought to remain in Erisocia and they are bonded to the ruling Daercathian family.

This grasping clan has upended the long-established tradition of matriarchal rule and goddess worship by failing to produce female heirs for decades and – worse – is now coming under the pernicious influence of a sect calling itself the True Religion. It is overseen by priests known as the Chosen and backed by militias known as Covenanters. Think John Knox dropped into the Gilead of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.

It’s in Aird Lasair that we first meet our heroine, feisty blacksmith’s daughter Aemyra, though as the novel unfolds her true lineage and the fate it has in store for her are gradually revealed. Adding the all-important romance is Aemyra’s female lover Sorcha, and comely Daercathian prince Fiorean, though that second relationship is best described as a slow burn: the couple spend most of the novel trying to maim each other.

For McBride, the appeal of the fantasy genre goes deeper than just a love of the work of JRR Tolkien or George RR Martin, on whose novels her early fan fiction was based.

“I’m autistic and I think fantasy worlds in general have been a huge safe space for me my whole life,” she explains.

“Growing up I read Enid Blyton books all the time, and books in general were an escape for me. Lord Of The Rings was and is my big love. If Tolkien wrote it, I got my hands on it and dove in.”

As a teenager she moved on to fantasy series such as Christopher Paolini’s The Inheritance Cycle quartet, which tells the story of farm boy Eragon. “I’ve always loved mythical creatures and dragons so that was like a natural progression for me. And obviously as an adult Game Of Thrones was a big one and now House Of The Dragon as well.”

She’s more than happy with the romantasy label too.

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“I am so happy to wear that tag,” she laughs. “I love romance, specifically historical romance. The tension and the angst! As a genre it hits so hard. I feel like fantasy and historical romance are two genres that really get high stakes romance, so for me as a lover of both, putting those things together has created this new genre. I don’t care how similar stories are or how many are written, I will eat them up every time.”

She also offers a robust defence of the genre for those who sneer at or demean it. And there are some.

“It’s a genre that is primarily written and read by women, and I think sometimes it can be belittled because of that,” she tells me. “I mean when men write about war and dragons, it’s epic fantasy. When women write about war and dragons, it’s dragon smut. So there is definitely some discrimination there. We don’t need to belittle the genre just because there happens to be a romance storyline in there too.”

There’s no set route to authorship, but Ms McBride’s is less conventional than most. Following a degree in Psychology at the University of Glasgow she became an animal trainer at Blair Drummond Safari Park near Stirling, then took the skills learned there to first the Dominican Republic, then the Canary Islands, then the south of France. Finally she settled in the Netherlands.

Unsurprisingly she’s equally defensive of fan fiction as a genre, pointing to the ‘fan fic’ beginnings of blockbuster fantasy writers such as Ali Hazelwood, Victoria Aveyard, author of the Red Queen and Realm Breaker novels, and Cassandra Clare, whose sprawling series The Shadowhunter Chronicles is now a bona fide media franchise with offshoots in the world of cinema, television and graphic novels.

“Some of the fan fiction I have read have been spectacular pieces of literature,” she says. “I think we need to recognise that sometimes publishing requires a certain amount of privilege and a huge dose of luck and a lot of hard work, and not every writer – not every talented writer – has all of that. So there’s a lot of fan fic writers who just do it for the love of writing. They have a passion and they just want to tell a story. At the end of the day fan fiction is a gift – it’s written completely for free.”

Beneath the fantasy and the romance there are other forces at work, however. As a bisexual female author and a practising Catholic there’s a tension in Ms McBride’s own life which finds expression on the page in terms of themes – and palpable anger.

Hazel McBride used to work at Blair Drummond Safari Park near Stirling (Image: PA) “Existing in our own world as a woman can come with so many obstacles,” she says. “Thanks to so many other women speaking up, and me potentially learning from them, I’ve realised how much of a disadvantage we can actually start at, and all the things we have to face in our own lives, especially with regard to patriarchal religions … I’ve personally sat in a pew every Sunday being told you need to be obedient, you need to obey your husband, you need to listen to your family and know your place. Women wouldn’t have to be reminded to be subservient if it came naturally.”

And so she has created a character who fights for the rights of women against a patriarchal regime which seeks to oppress them.

“I ended up with something which is unfortunately very poignant given what’s going on at the moment in the real world,” she notes. “It’s very sad that it’s so relevant but now I’m even more glad that I wrote it the way I did. It was very cathartic. I definitely poured a lot of female rage into the pages. But I also think there are moments of light and hope, so I hope any reader, whether they’re queer or neurodivergent or a woman, will be able to latch onto those moments of joy and hope and realise good will triumph over evil in the end.”

The second novel, currently in the final stages of editing, will see the the story of Aemyra and Fiorean “wrapped up nicely” but will also give readers “a little hint as to where we’re going to be moving in Erisocia for duology two, which is going to be the same world but different characters.”

There’s a sense, however, that saying goodbye to Aemyra may be not be easy for her creator, even as she leaves her on the page as a gift for her readers.

“As a bisexual author myself, Aemyra is the character I wish I could have read about as a young teenager growing up, someone who is unapologetically bisexual and confident in it and happy to be that way and loves herself for it. I think that would have helped me accept that side of myself faster. So if there’s any other readers out there who can potentially take something positive from the way I’ve written that character, I’ll be incredibly happy.”

A Fate Forged In Fire is out now (Renegade Books, £20)