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This week, we're joined by @stegan to talk about Vivian Stephens and how she redefined and created category romance in America. https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/7/6/s0245-vivian-stephens-acquisitions-with-librarian-steve-ammidown
In this episode, we did a couple of different things.
First, We talked about Vivian's impact on romance with help from Steve, who is the Manuscripts and Outreach Archivist at the @BGSU_PopCultLib. He shared some fascinating info from the archives.
First, We talked about Vivian's impact on romance with help from Steve, who is the Manuscripts and Outreach Archivist at the @BGSU_PopCultLib. He shared some fascinating info from the archives.
Steve described how category romance came to America and Vivian's work to bring more sensual romance to America. He shared some scans of early interviews with Vivian that are in the library! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VXl-yjmB4VdYv030Qk73Wr3-V_lWVTbO/view?usp=sharing
Here's a short excerpt that describes how Vivian created the Candlelight Ecstasy line... and her belief that readers would be interested in books that were "a little racier." https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BzBYXXm_C7T3NESY3NbdunZFRxzpXAPG/view?usp=sharing
Then, we talked about those books, because we read three of them!
The first book Vivian acquired was MORNING ROSE, EVENING SAVAGE [1980] by Amii Loren (Joan Hohl). It's been digitized, although we read paper copies.
Whew.
![Then, we talked about those books, because we read three of them! The first book Vivian acquired was MORNING ROSE, EVENING SAVAGE [1980] by Amii Loren (Joan Hohl). It's been digitized, although we read paper copies. Whew.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ec9qSrSWAAEDakl.jpg "Then, we talked about those books, because we read three of them! The first book Vivian acquired was MORNING ROSE, EVENING SAVAGE [1980] by Amii Loren (Joan Hohl). It's been digitized, although we read paper copies. Whew.")
The first book Vivian acquired was MORNING ROSE, EVENING SAVAGE [1980] by Amii Loren (Joan Hohl). It's been digitized, although we read paper copies.
Whew.
We also read GENTLE PIRATE [1980] by Jayne Castle (Jayne Ann Krenz), which led to a really interesting discussion of the post Vietnam generation and what these books might have been telling us about American society at that time.
![We also read GENTLE PIRATE [1980] by Jayne Castle (Jayne Ann Krenz), which led to a really interesting discussion of the post Vietnam generation and what these books might have been telling us about American society at that time.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ec9qj-AWsAUOVtA.jpg "We also read GENTLE PIRATE [1980] by Jayne Castle (Jayne Ann Krenz), which led to a really interesting discussion of the post Vietnam generation and what these books might have been telling us about American society at that time.")
Finally, Sarah read TOMORROW'S PROMISE [1983] by Sandra Brown, which was the first of the Harlequin American series, another category line created by Vivian.
![Finally, Sarah read TOMORROW'S PROMISE [1983] by Sandra Brown, which was the first of the Harlequin American series, another category line created by Vivian.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ec9rQ-KXYAAwFV_.jpg "Finally, Sarah read TOMORROW'S PROMISE [1983] by Sandra Brown, which was the first of the Harlequin American series, another category line created by Vivian.")
At the end, we also talked a little bit about the racism that Vivian faced and how Harlequin changed after she left. Here's a great thread from Alexis Daria about Marisa De Zavala, an early Latinx romance author. https://twitter.com/alexisdaria/status/1262844967002742787?s=20
We loved talking to Steve and sharing this fascinating, vital, and foundational story of romance history! Show Notes have some links to more items from the archives, and we will continue to update this thread throughout the day because I'm sure there are things I forgot!
We hope you enjoy this--our last official episode of season 2 of Fated Mates. We loved talking about romance's history with all of you and we are happy to see that RWA's new award will honor Vivian Stephens!
