Flame & Fable, a new fantasy and romance bookstore, recently hosted its grand opening celebration at 13439 Detroit Ave. in Lakewood, Ohio. Cleveland Scene reported that as "Northeast Ohio's first bookstore focused solely on romance and fantasy, a stage was properly set. Red roses and chocolates festooned the front windows. Shelves of scented candles neighbored those displaying books by the likes of Brandon Sanderson. Patrons ate branded sugar cookies while holding novels centered on sex-craved dragon flyers."
"We had 600 people show up throughout the weekend. I'm talking a two-hour-long line out front," said owner Nickie Lui. "It's a movement."
Lui, who became a romantasy genre aficionado during the past five years, told Cleveland Scene that opening up Flame & Fable "in the thick of an American romantasy craze isn't just some capitalistic grab. It's also, she said, a method of growing community around an ethos that's undeniably political."
"There's a movement among women in the millennial age group in particular, where we're kind of like reclaiming romance for ourselves," she observed. "Because romance has historically been a very attacked genre. It's predominantly women [that] publish romance.... And especially in today's political climate? There are some issues with, well, certain books being sold."
She added: "That's why it's really important for readers in this particular space that the romance and the fantasy romance space to have community like this. It's really hard to be excited about books that are under attack all the time."
Her goal for the bookshop "is to leverage the romantasy craze into that communal push: hosting book signings of local and touring authors; starting book clubs; maybe hosting readings one day," Cleveland Scene wrote. "And, above all, ensure that Lakewood gets its fix."