Hi,
UK romance fiction hit a record £69m last year – topping even the Fifty Shades peak. But while the genre’s exploding, queer characters in mainstream romcoms are still mostly playing the sassy sidekick. Gay novelist Mo Fanning wants to change that.
His new romcom, Lisa Doyle is Absolutely Fine (out 18 June), puts a GBFF at the heart of the story – not as comic relief, but as a complicated, loyal friend who actually drives the plot. It’s a workplace friends-to-lovers story set in Manchester, sharp and funny, in the vein of Mhairi McFarlane.
Mo has five novels out, won the Page Turner 2025 Best LGBTQ Winner, writes for QX, and has a piece running in The Bookseller’s LGBTQ+ June Edition. He’s speaking at Queer the Shelves in Nottingham on 27 June.
Happy to set up an interview, or Mo could write a lifestyle piece on the romcom boom and why queer joy belongs in funny books – not just literary fiction.
Best,
Adrian Bedford
ABC Book Marketing
07881 925376