Nota bene: The following brief opinion by romance writer Aminka Ozmun may be controversial and does not necessarily reflect any official stance of this website. It is being provided purely for purposes of human interest and should not be construed as anything other than the viewpoint of the author herself.
It’s the 21st Century and has been for over a decade now. So what’s become of the African-American romance?
I’m a voracious reader of such books — or was, until I outgrew the otherwise limited focus of this sub-genre. In an age of globalization, I’m more interested in exploring, through fiction, how the black experience has evolved past its history in America to embrace a brave new world outside it, particularly in the East.
That’s why I’m writing African-American romance novels for black women with Asian male leads. I think this is a market that’s underserved by present literary efforts and, frankly, in need of its own presence on the mainstream cultural map. For me, African-American romance novels have become just a little too familiar in their themes and plotlines, in the very situational premises within which their otherwise captivating stories develop. For me, as with for many in our times, opportunities lay in Asia and things and peoples Asian!