Black RomCom Books, Romance Tropes, Gilmore Girls and Leap Day!

Leaping into February with an eye on romance this Black History Month

Feb 01, 2024

Romance & Black History | rmrk*st | Remarkist Magazine

January 2024 is officially behind us, and we are LEAP-ing (see what we did there?) into February! Yes, it’s a leap year, and what’s better than an extra day 🗓 in your year to catch up on important things–like that second season of The Bear you still haven’t watched yet, or your 78th rewatch of Gilmore Girls Season 3.

Last month, we got back to basics: Basic games 🎲, that is. We celebrated tabletop gaming in all its forms: Role playing games, cards, board games, and more. It was so much fun to explore the relationships between board games and movies, as well as our favorite fandom editions of classic board games. While some folks love a marathon game of Monopoly 💸 or The Marvelous Maisel-themed Game of Life, others are into dice, cards, and tiles–gaming that dates back centuries. Women who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s will fondly remember the Mall Madness and Dream Phone 📞 games of their youth. And since the Remarkist ecosystem is a place where fans are encouraged to create their own content, our editors put together a guide for creating your own fandom board game!

In February, we decided to show our love–for love! 💘 More specifically, the romance genre. February is a month always devoted to Valentines and Galentines, but romance is a genre appreciated year-round, of course. From exploring romance tropes in fiction across media from books 📕 to films 🎞, to taking a look at the five love languages as expressed in Gilmore Girls, we can’t wait to bring you content around one of the oldest and best storytelling devices. From first flirts to HEAs (Happily Ever Afters), romance is a genre that has something for all kinds of fans regardless of whether you love comedy, action, mystery, reality (The Bachelor, anyone?), and more.

Also, it’s Black History Month! So you better believe we are celebrating at rmrk*st. We’ll take a look at Black fandom creators who cover TV 📺 shows and more that are essential to fans’ podcast-listening 🎙 and YouTube-watching repertoires, highlight Black romance authors 📚, and more!

We’ll be updating the Table of Contents below with links as we publish pieces throughout the month. Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and Tumblr, and find other fans like you in the fandom forums on our Discord!