The Devil Went Down For Gigi

(Originally published October 1, 2021)

[I’m dedicating October to adult content creators who make appropriately Halloween-themed inappropriate content.]

If you google romance or erotica book covers and scroll for a bit, you’ll notice some similarities. There are a lot of muscled shirtless men. Their shirtlessness isn’t their only commonality. Most of them are white. And if a woman is featured on the cover, she’s very likely going to be just as white. While there are always exceptions, the romance world leans homogeneously white, cis, and able-bodied. In the past few years, it’s gotten slightly less uniformly heterosexual, but it’s still a work in progress.

Gigi Kiersten sees a lot of the work that still needs to be done.

The book community, especially the explicit book community, should be a place where everyone is welcomed no matter your gender, sexual orientation, or race. Yet, that is often not the case. For me, BIPOC are constantly being told that not only are you not welcomed, but your own stories don’t have a place in this space.

Gigi seeks to change that and writes romance under the pen name Georgina Kiersten and erotica using Rian Fox. Whichever name they are using, Gigi is unapologetically Black and queer and writes unapologetically Black and queer stories because:

The book community is very white cishet-abled. This is not speculation but fact, and as someone who has spent a great deal of their adult life moonlighting in the community, it’s a fact that has always rubbed me the wrong way.

Gigi knows what they are talking about. They quite literally grew up reading the genre. “I started consuming adult content when I was 15. I remember stealing my Aunt’s badly written erotica book that she purchased from a local sex shop.” Even if it wasn’t the highest quality writing, Gigi still enjoyed it. “I actually took that book to school and read it in detention! I hid it in between the textbook I was supposed to be reading.” And “that grew into reading explicit romance novels from Harlequin and Mills and Boons to close to twenty years in queer fandom spaces.”

When Gigi quit their job as a graphic designer and became a professional author, it was a conscious decision to change the genre. “I knew that I could not settle for writing white cishet-abled stories. I would write Black-centered stories, from a Black perspective, with Black people on the cover come hell or high water.”

And as far as the hell part, Gigi is also leaning into that with their new book set to be released on October 4th, The Devil’s Bargain, available for pre-order. The short story is written under the Rian Fox pen name. While Gigi’s stories published under Georgina Kiersten are more fluffy lighthearted romances, the Fox books tilt more towards the dark side. “All of those dark impulses and kinks really get their time to shine.” Gigi says the Fox books, in addition, to being darker, also “pushes the envelope with consent, while using horror aspects.”

The Devil’s Bargain follows Silas Cromwell, a highly skeptical, Black, gay antique dealer. Cromwell, who absolutely does not believe in magic, acquires an ancient grimoire and accidentally summons the demon Bazaduill. Bazaduill tries to convince Silas to give him his soul by trying to seduce him.

This isn’t Gigi’s first erotic work. That title belongs to Crave. Written in 2019, Crave features a Black vampire king and an Icelandic hunter. But The Devil’s Bargain will be their first professionally published story.

Going through the process to prepare for publication taught me so much about myself as an author. There were times where I thought I would never get my manuscript to the printing stage, but I had so much help, so many people (especially on Twitter) who rooted for me.

When starting out, Gigi had a bit of a learning curve for writing explicit depictions of sex. “If you can believe it, I used to suck at writing sex.” But they rose to the challenge. It started with reading a ton of books, fiction featuring sex scenes and non-fiction sex guides. Then it came down to practice, practice, practice. “Then gradually over time, I was able to write good sex scenes.” Readers can look forward to the fruits of that labor.

The sex scenes in ‘The Devil’s Bargain’ are by far some of the best sex scenes I have ever written and the filthiest. Those scenes really made me write beyond my boundaries and challenged me as a writer.

And they have no plans of stopping any time soon. “Lately, I have gotten into the whole Monster Fucking trend.” Gigi was tight-lipped about an upcoming paranormal erotic romance, only saying it “actually crosses the line from paranormal to outright horror romance. And it’s super creepy.” If all goes according to plan, the mystery project should come out sometime next year.

While the details on the story may be a little light at the moment, given Gigi’s dedication to diversifying the genre, it’s sure to feature more Black and queer characters. “I am constantly pushing for diversity in the explicit book community and to emphasize it in my own books.” Gigi sees the necessity because “especially in a society that is constantly doing its best to tear Black people down, they deserve to have a space to feel sexy, beautiful, wanted, and desired.”

You can preorder The Devil’s Bargain and review it on Goodreads. To find out more about Gigi and their other projects, you can visit their website, sign up for their newsletter or follow them on Twitter and Instagram.