Kate Mosse: ‘Fairy porn is absolutely brilliant'

Telegraph

12-07-2025

Award-winning novelist Kate Mosse has hailed the popularity of 'fairy porn' books as 'absolutely brilliant'.
The Labyrinth author said that while the Romantasy 'ship has sailed' for her at 63, she thinks that its rise is a 'great phenomenon' thanks to BookTok – the corner of TikTok in which books are shared and discovered by millions.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Mosse – the founder of the prestigious Women's Prize for Fiction – said: 'I think it's absolutely brilliant.
'You cannot have it both ways. You can't be wringing your hands about a decline in children reading for pleasure, and then when there are younger people or different communities reading stuff that is maybe... like fairy porn.. you can't then make judgement about it.'
The best-selling author, who is famed for her multimillion-copy selling historical fiction Languedoc Trilogy, added: 'Don't forget that this tension between what is good literature and bad literature has always existed.'
The literary subgenre of Romantasy spans both romance and fantasy, creating stories where romantic relationships are central to the plot, set in mystical and supernatural worlds.
The hybrid genre, sometimes also referred to as 'fairy porn', was revealed to make up half of the most popular audiobooks on Spotify last year, with Sarah J Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses (Acotar) – a modern fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast – topping it.
Other popular releases include the Fourth Wing series, which are Rebecca Yarros's young adult novels about a war college filled with dragon riders. The two bestselling series have notched up tens of millions of TikTok posts between them.
Mosse added: 'I don't have very much patience for people to go, 'Yeah, but it's just a BookTok book.'
'If young people are buying these books and loving them, then good for them. Not every book is for everybody and there are different books that will bring different people in.'
Her comments come after new research from The National Literacy Trust found that only one in three children aged eight to 18 enjoy reading in their free time. Romantasy, in contrast, is predominantly read by young women.
The Chichester-based novelist clarified that she does not use TikTok, despite the promotional lure, but will look at it 'every now and again' to see what is taking off.
One such instance, for example, might include checking how her latest work of historical fiction, The Map of Bones, will fare on the video sharing platform.
Its release later this month marks the fourth – and final – novel of The Joubert Family Chronicles.
A family of novelists
Meanwhile, her husband Greg Mosse is also preparing to release the final book of his thriller trilogy The Coming Darkness, which he began working on at the start of the pandemic.
Discussing the coincidental double release, and whether the shared profession ever becomes competitive, Greg told The Sunday Telegraph: 'It would be really foolish to compete with somebody who has a novel that sold eight million copies.
'I always say she is the wave which I surf. It's incredibly helpful. It's helpful because Kate is a brilliant creative imagination and a wonderful editor.'
The pair, who first met in their teens, don't allow each other to read their work until a formal first draft has been completed, but after that, they are free to comment and critique.
'We don't discuss ideas or work things out [until then], because for both of us, having our own absolute, unique voices, and the vision of the first draft is really important,' Mosse said, adding that she likes to keep her work 'very close'.
She added: 'I don't talk about my work in progress at all…because I think it's very easy to be knocked off track...And even if you talk to somebody as brilliant as Greg – you don't want anybody else's voice or ideas in your book.'
However, Mosse added that they are never competitive with one another, explaining that she is 'proud and thrilled' when her husband 'does brilliantly'.
'That's always been the case, and therefore, the idea that one of us might sell more or less, or whatever, it just doesn't really come into it,' she said.
However, Greg revealed that they broke their first draft policy with one of their two children – Felix – who is also preparing to release his own book.
'We have both provided editorial support,' he said, but insisted that their son 'goes home, like every other writer, and sits on his own to do that work himself.'
'In the end, it's one person's creative brain and one person's editorial consciousness shaping the work that finally appears, whether it's mine, whether it's Kate's, whether it's somebody else's,' he said.
Publishing more meritocratic than Hollywood
Mosse explained that she doesn't believe in literary nepotism, explaining that in the publishing industry 'there isn't a nepotism that works in quite the same way' as in Hollywood, for example.
'[It's] because there's still so much agency within publishing,' she said, adding: 'It's about an agent liking a particular book, not the fact that [they are] somebody's sister or husband or whatever.'
'If Greg hadn't got his agent or the publishing deal, there was nothing I could have done... you get your agent and your publishing deals on the basis of your work being fantastic.'