Hello!

This is the page explaining why I am launching another Spotlight series and what it will be about, and asking for involvement from both authors and readers! You will also be able to find the entire series up-to-date at the bottom of the page.

I recently received a Discord invite and got an introduction to a new term for fiction called ‘noblebright’. The idea is basically stories that are framed around hope and are intended to be encouraging.

A bit earlier, I was talking to a friend on Twitter (Yasmine, looking at you! – and for the record, you started the conversation, or was it someone else, but it wasn’t me) about how there’s a lot of marketing for books with toxic relationships, but not so much for books about wholesome relationships. Both need to be written and read – sometimes by the same people, sometimes by different people – but if grimdark and toxic relationships are getting lots of attention, what good do I do by creating a spotlight for that? But perhaps I can do some good by creating a spotlight for noblebright!

Here’s the definition of noblebright we’re using as a starting point on the Noblebright Alliance Discord:

Noblebright fantasy is about how hope, courage, integrity, generosity, and kindness are not silly, pointless, and naive, but rather courageous choices that make the world a better place. Actions have consequences, and even good characters can make terrible mistakes, but in a noblebright story, even villains are not without hope. Redemption is possible, and justice is expected. Noblebright stories remind us that good is worth fighting for. -C.J. Brightley

If that sounds interesting to you, I encourage you to read on and share your input, and come back every week (though I might not have one ready next Tuesday) to be introduced to another noblebright author and book or series.

Disclaimer: not everyone has the same idea of what makes noblebright. A lot of noblebright books tend towards being ‘clean’, but it is not a requirement for the genre, and some of them can be the next thing to grimdark. What makes it noblebright is a conviction that doing the right thing isn’t naive or hopeless, and that there is at least the possibility of redemption. Or that’s Raina’s current understanding. Pardon me here, since I am the person who hates labels. This is actually quite ironic….

I digress. I want to do a spotlight for noblebright authors and books. This means that if you have a noblebright book published (or are an author with an expected release!) you can contact me to request a spotlight. Depending on how many I get, things may go slow, since at first I will be publishing up to one spotlight per week, on Tuesdays, but I may expand that!

And if you are a reader …

Let me know what you want to see from authors. You can put it in the public comments, or you can use the contact form added below.

PS. As far as I have been able to tell, it seems that hope punk is a close cousin or a subdivision of noblebright. If you consider your books to be hope punk, you are just as welcome to participate!

PPS. I mentioned a Noblebright Discord server. Here is the invite, for all fans or creators of noblebright who are interested. Click here to join the Noblebright Alliance

Noblebright Spotlights (nothing here yet, but there will be soon, and hopefully I remember to update this when there is!)