Because frankly, that’s absolutely what they were. (Yes, even the ones that didn’t reference sex or have relationships in them. Romance novels, every one.) I am of course referring to “adventure novels” which were also sometimes listed as “men’s adventure novels.” I am talking about series like Deathlands (various writers writing under the name James Axler), and titles like The Destroyer (multiple authors including, Warren Murphy, Richard Sapir, Molly Cochran, Will Murray, Jim Mullaney.)The Outrider (Richard Harding), and Traveler (D.B. Drumm and John Shirley).
If you recognize any of these titles, you’ll see that the majority of them are technically SF (I say technically because the science was usually Very Bad, Very Wrong and/or Pulpy) and have a post-nuclear war setting! This is because adventure novels of that type were a minor obsession of mine. (The Destroyer is also vaguely science fiction or science fantasy but is the only one that does not take place in an apocalyptic setting. This series was also extremely hilarious though I’m not entirely sure the humor was intentional.)
Now, I had a few reasons for referring to them as “men’s romance novels.” One of the first reasons is because at the bookstore I went to most frequently, Men’s Adventure was right next to the Romance section. And both genres involve idealized characters doing adventurous things, and also frequently sexy things! (Or absolutely romantic things, in Deathlands I adored the relationship between Ryan Cawdor and Krysty Wroth. A++ relationship goals.) So to my mind, it seemed reasonable to assume that if women’s romance could involve adventures with pirates and Vikings, then men’s romance would have more to do with blowing things up and having random girls to rescue and/or have sex with. (I will note that in my early (pre)teen years, I tended toward a certain gender essentialism. In my defense, I was raised/surrounded by people with strict ideas of what constituted appropriate behavior for a girl or a boy. Especially if they thought you might not be straight because you wanted Star Wars toys.)
A secondary reason was pure petty enjoyment of making Dude Bros uncomfortable with the idea that a girl-shaped person was in “their section.” (Because they were NOT comfortable with it, and I swear they would try to nudge me toward sections they thought I should be in. And yes, it would always somehow be the romance section, little knowing that romance novels are often Spicy.) Because these Dude Bros would absolutely approach me and question why I was in the “wrong” section I started saying things like “Oh, but I like reading men’s romance.” This would tend to catch them flatfooted! I would usually not be able to be more communicative than that–I had trouble talking to people, especially people who are men at that age and I had been extremely indoctrinated by my parents to Never Talk to Men Ever Because it Was Never Appropriate To Talk To Men. (This is a thing that would eventually backfire on them: my autistic brain took this indoctrination to its most absolutely ridiculous conclusion. I would often not talk to doctors or my male relatives. The latter would be hard to tell as I did not actually like talking.) But if I were able to, I would provide examples. (And then get in trouble for Talking to a Man if I got caught.)
Of course, they could have also been mildly appalled a preteen girl was reading books with inappropriate content for kids in general. I know I am very uncomfortable when I find out someone who’s been reading my more sexy fiction is a teen! And one time I had to explain to a librarian that a book with extremely graphic sex should probably not be in the young adult section! (I’m sorry but there are a lot of nasty eroticized rape scenes in S.M. Stirling’s Snowbrother. and also in most of his work. I’m just saying maybe a twelve-year-old should not be coming across an NC-17 book in the PG-13 section. They should go over to the adult section like the rest of us had to.)
Now, I do not today recommend any of the books I just mentioned. This is because they…will not have aged well. These books were often sexist and occasionally incredibly racist. (And homophobic and a bunch of other isms and phobics.) Also, remember when I said that for science fiction-related fiction, the science was really bad? In the Deathlands series, one of the characters is an albino. The writer who was writing him at the time did not know that a) lack of pigmentation in the skin does not mean you can’t tell when an albino blushes b) albinos tend to have bad eyesight c) human albinos don’t have bright red eyes. No, the character also being a mutant isn’t enough of an excuse. This is just one tiny example from one series. There are also some pretty severe geographic errors in The Outrider series and you possibly don’t want me to get started on what I remember of Traveler. (The end of the series is just an utter disaster and I remember I literally screamed and threw the book.)
Note: some editing and revision as of 8/31/2025
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