Jennifer Stevenson (born October 6, 1955, in Waukegan, Illinois)[1] is a Chicago-based American fantasy and romance author who mixes romantic comedy with magical realist, regional (usually Chicago-set), working-class, and sex-positive storytelling.
[5] Trash Sex Magic was praised by American critic Jessica Crispin, founder of the literary-publishing newsblog Bookslut, for its non-patronizing portrayal of poor characters and of the lives of lower-class Chicagoans.
Stevenson also writes "Backstage Boys," a non-magical novel series about the comic adventures of sexy stagehands,[11] turning men who typically perform working-class labor and own union cards, into romantic leading characters.
[13] With speculative-fiction storytelling becoming legitimized by academic institutions and scholars, creating university-based centers for science-fiction studies,[14] Northern Illinois University's collection signifies a growing number of American research-university libraries that archive print-literary (and new-media) works by science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other fantastic-genre writers, filmmakers, and artists.
At ICFA and other fantastic storytelling community venues, she frequently organizes panels on how the current state of the publishing industry might inform practical strategies for working writers.