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alanajoli
(Personal note from Alana: I was introduced to CG’s work when I edited her really excellent space opera, Static Over Space: Gravity and Lies. I’m so excited to see this new, chaotic project coming from one of my favorite writers!)
The Cursed Reliquaries and the Power of Choice
By CG Volars
When I first began writing The Cursed Reliquary Chronicles, I thought it would be simple: dust off an old Supernatural fanfic from years ago, reset it in the Middle Ages, add a splash of gothic tension, a dash of dark magic and—voilà—the dark gothic romantasy of my dreams.
Stories are rarely as cooperative as early confidence suggests. After finishing the first draft—a story of devotion, danger, temptation, and a devastatingly gentle Warlock—I shared it with family and friends. My niece—my amazing, hilarious, intelligent, very gay niece—absolutely loved it. She was especially taken with the quick-witted, world-weary heroine with the mysterious past, Irish accent, and Celtic attitude.
“She’s the full package!”
Sure, I quietly agreed.
“It’s such a unique character, especially for an FMC. You think you might eventually write something with her,” she asked casually, “for someone like me?”
It was a small question, but it quietly rearranged everything.
The truth is, most modern stories don’t follow rigid gender or pairing rules anymore. Girls can be masculine, boys can be feminine. Heroes can be shy, villains can be sympathetic, and the demigod of land and sea can have unresolved abandonment issues.
Gender doesn’t determine personality. It hasn’t for a while. But personality definitely determines plot. In my world, that conflict looks something like…
The Devoted Worrier—blessed, stressed, and trying their best. Devoted and noble, torn between duty and personal desire, utterly forbidden from kissing any and all mysterious strangers, regardless of any gender…
Falls in love with…
The Beautiful Disaster—hot, haunted, and wholly unrepentant. Tragedy with a heartbreaker’s face. Beloved by chaos. Cursed by fate. Impossible to ignore…
And already claimed by…
The Tender Villain—powerful, possessive, devastatingly polite. Patience of an immortal. Confidence of a minor god. Believes control and love are basically interchangeable.
Put these three at the edge of a medieval forest, the story writes itself: Temptation. Redemption. Danger. Stakes. It all flows the same regardless of anyone's gender. The outfits might change; the dynamics do not.
Archetypes are universal because they’re emotional forces. Not physical ones. They create conflict and chemistry—and, by result, choice. And choices drive stories.
Once I locked in on that, the rest seemed easy.
At least, that was the idea—until I actually sat down at my computer.
Writing one novel is hard enough. Writing multiple parallel editions of the same novel is organized chaos. Each version has to feel intentional, not incidental. Pronouns affect rhythm. Emotional beats land differently depending who’s speaking. A moment that feels restrained in one version may feel repressed in another.
Then there were the details: What’s the female version of Father Aldric? Sister Audrey. What’s the female version of a warlock? Hmm. Would a nun be allowed to travel alone in the Middle Ages, same as a priest? …yes. What’s the difference between a nun and a scribe? Suddenly I was neck deep in research and rewatching the first third of The Sound of Music for reasons that felt increasingly transcendental.
When it was all said and done, the stories were different (especially the spicy parts). But they worked the same.
Why don’t more people do this?
The answer became obvious fairly quickly after that.
Because it’s a logistical and publishing nightmare.
First there are the titles (same) and subtitles (different). Covers (different, and expensive). Tagline (same). Blurbs, metadata, categories, subcategories (different). Front matter (different). Back matter (sometimes different). And once everything is finally done?
Formatting. Formatting. Formatting.
None of this was efficient, or what I originally imagined I was signing up for. But the chaos was intentional. And, as my Irish FMC/MMC Immortal would say, “Maybe there’s a touch o’ martyr in it.”
Choice was always central to The Cursed Reliquaries. Both main characters fight to define themselves against systems that try to control them. Both resist other people’s rules. They refuse to let others take their choices. So it made sense to let readers choose their own version of that story—their own individual canon.
In the end, my niece’s question wasn’t really about romance. It was about belonging. It was about whether stories of forbidden longing, danger, and devotion can include her without asking her to rewrite herself to fit into someone else’s fantasy.
I say they can.
—
Romantasy often focuses on destiny—prophecies fulfilled, fated mates, inalterable paths. But I’ve always been drawn to unexpected choices, the ways people break out of what they’re supposed to do, and do what they want.
What they’re willing to sacrifice and fight for.
My name is CG Volars. I am the author of The Cursed Reliquary Chronicles, a dark gothic romantasy series centered around temptation, longing, and the dangerous cost of falling for the forbidden. It treats every pairing with the same sacred care.
My debut romantasy, The Warlock’s Light, is currently available in:
That may be a bit daft. But it’s deliberate. And it’s my choice.
