Romance writers shape the American dream… so tell me, is hyper-wealth truly that sexy?
Cherished historical romance author (and reader!) colleagues, Something has been niggling at me for a while, and I wanted to share and ask what you think. One sexy attribute of historical heroes that seems nearly mandatory in our genre is “great wealth and a title.” A lot of authors of the stories set in Byron’s time also seem to enjoy playing with the irresponsible reputations some heirs had. Drinking. Carousing. Spending money. Not caring about their estates. My question is this: In a world where the 8 people at the top are holding more wealth than 3,600,000,000 people at the bottom, hasn't the acquisition of hyper-wealth become a bit of a sign of mental illness? Is hyper-wealth truly that sexy, or is it just a sign of someone who is unbalanced and can’t see what’s going on around him? In light of our current world’s problems, when we're describing a hero being sexy, saying something like “he owns half the county of Sussex” has started to turn ...