Saucy fantasy novels are nothing new, but ones lavished with specifically Welsh mythological themes are all the rage. Some people aren't so happy about the proliferation of fairy-themed literature packed with local specifics. Crudely appropriated for the crudest purposes by American authors—at least as The Guardian reports it—the Welshness is wildly popular on Tik Tok.
Yes. Professor Dimitra Fimi, who lectures in fantasy literature at the University of Glasgow, recently told the BBC that "fairy porn books" cherry-pick from Welsh mythology so extensively that they misrepresent it. "What worries me is a particular perception of Wales developing within fantasy, which is that it's this magical, rural, romantic place," she said. "It can be pretty patronising. It creates an image of the country which isn't realistic. That's not all that Wales is."
The answer to this conundrum is surely more authentic Welsh fairy porn. For starters, they would surely not be fairies at all, but perhaps ellyllon or tylwyth teg or whatever. You could either represent the lore more authentically, or with a weather eye to parody? Maybe some spicy drama with rich elves from Lloegr gentrifying the cwm with their holiday homes. I'm not helping. In any case, there's clearly a gap in the market for something that gets it right while it gets you off. The Guardian jokes about "exhausted coalminers" being a more accurate representation of sexual life there, but that is just a different kind of Welsh mythology and stereotype—the mines are closed—though it might suggest a more modern or urban fantasy milieux ripe for the literary… plucking?
Readers from beyond the Atlantic Islands baffled by my headline might be enchanted to learn that Cymru, the Welsh word for Wales, is prounounced "Cumry." As for the other word, the respectable dictionary has it in English as "rejoice."
