Hello, friends! This week, the week after Valentine’s Day, is Aromantic Spectrum Week! People on the aromantic spectrum may not experience romantic attraction at all, rarely, only after intense emotional bonds, or other differences from alloromantic (non-aro) people. Aro people can be asexual/ace-spectrum as well or they can be allosexual (non-ace)! Ace identities have been getting more attention in the last few years, but aromanticism still lags a bit behind.
If you didn’t know, I identify as gray-aromantic, which for me means that I rarely experience romantic attraction—to the point that throughout my life it caused me to feel “different” and even worry there was something wrong with me, before I knew what it was—and also often struggle to differentiate between romantic and platonic feelings. Having the word to describe myself and the community to be a part of has been crucial to accepting myself and knowing how to set boundaries and expectations in my relationships.
As such, I’ve had aro-spectrum characters in my fiction ever since my old webcomic Ignition Zero, which had Martin come out sometime near the end as aromantic. Currently, the Eternal Library series has many aro-spec characters, including main ones!
Eternal Library Aro Week Special
To celebrate, I’m putting both The Thread That Binds and The Tale That Twines on sale this week (Saturday February 15 - Saturday February 22) in both ebook AND paperback. I have ebook sales a few times a year, but hardly ever on the paperbacks.
Rhiannon in The Thread That Binds (book 1) is one of the three narrators and is aroace, and e’s in a queerplatonic partnership with Tabby. Since they’re polyamorous, Tabby also has a romance with Amane in the book, but eir platonic partnership with Rhiannon is just as central to the plot, if not more. At the start of the book, they’ve been together for six years and share a cozy home, life, and a cat named Egg. Some things test their relationship over the course of the story, but don’t worry—it has a happy ending.
June, Aeronwy, and Siobhan do all appear in book 1, but the fact that they’re aro-spec doesn’t come up as much. However, June is the narrator for book 2, The Tale That Twines, and the other two are super important as well. June is demiromantic, which means e only experiences romantic attraction after forming a strong emotional bond with someone.
Aeronwy is gray-aro like me, rarely experiencing those feelings, and Siobhan is straight up aromantic. Siobhan and Aeronwy enjoy a non-romantic sexual partnership, while June and Aeronwy’s romance takes…like 75% of the way through the book to even begin. Aromantic relationships come in all shapes and sizes, and I hope you enjoy some of the variety I’ve gone for in my books!
Click on the buttons to read more about each book, check out a sample, and find all the buy links. If you can buy directly from me instead of one of the other sites, I would love that, as I earn more from those sales! But if not, no worries 😊 I’m stoked about anyone reading my books wherever they get them.
Common Bonds 2 Anthology
Something else exciting for aro week: a second volume of the beloved Common Bonds Anthology!! The first Common Bonds, a short speculative fiction anthology, is literally my favorite anthology ever. It was just SO INCREDIBLY GOOD, so quality, so well put together! Common Bonds centers aro-spectrum protagonists and stories about platonic relationships, and is very beloved by the community.
As such I’m THRILLED to support and promote a second volume, and I encourage you to do so, too! Even if you’re not aro-spec, we all have platonic love in our lives and it’s something that should be recognized and celebrated in fiction. Check it out!
Happy Aro Week! I hope you all are staying safe and doing well 💜