Ah, Valentine’s Day ❤️ . The annual tradition where I think, I should really do some promotion to tie in, and then I decide to overthink whether I really write romantic enough romances in my fantasy books to qualify for it, and end up doing nothing.
Meanwhile, some joker writing tips for writing romance had the audacity to claim you don’t need a HEA. You can write an anti-romance all you like, my friend, just don’t list it in the romance genre!
ANYWAY, I did update my list of favourite queer romance trilogies for 2026:
https://wendypalmer.au/2024/02/11/books-favourite-queer-romance-trilogies/
![Theophilus Schweighardt, The Temple of the Rose Cross, 1618,
The representation was created around 1604 and was published in the Speculum sophicum Rhodostauroticum by Theophilus Schweighart. At the center of the picture is a wheeled, fortress-like building. Look at the picture from the OCCIDENS, i.e. from the west. The lower image caption provides us with an indication of this (it is difficult to recognize here in the picture). The entrance to this building, which is directly revealed to the viewer, is marked by a lettering. Above the archway you can read "VENITE DIGNI" ("COME HERE, WORTHY"). To the right of the archway you can see a cross and to the left a rose. Directly below the entrance you can read the word "MOVEAMVR" spread over two lines. Above the archway there are two windows along which the lettering "IESVS NOBIS OMNIA" ("JESUS [IS] EVERYTHING FOR US") runs along. It therefore becomes clear that, in addition to all the many other symbolic representations, it could be a rose cruiserical representation. The cross and rose can be clearly identified, but not presented united, as in today's form.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Templeofrosycross_highres.png](/proxy/post_attachment/992973/736d78bcb1.png "Theophilus Schweighardt, The Temple of the Rose Cross, 1618,
The representation was created around 1604 and was published in the Speculum sophicum Rhodostauroticum by Theophilus Schweighart. At the center of the picture is a wheeled, fortress-like building. Look at the picture from the OCCIDENS, i.e. from the west. The lower image caption provides us with an indication of this (it is difficult to recognize here in the picture). The entrance to this building, which is directly revealed to the viewer, is marked by a lettering. Above the archway you can read \"VENITE DIGNI\" (\"COME HERE, WORTHY\"). To the right of the archway you can see a cross and to the left a rose. Directly below the entrance you can read the word \"MOVEAMVR\" spread over two lines. Above the archway there are two windows along which the lettering \"IESVS NOBIS OMNIA\" (\"JESUS [IS] EVERYTHING FOR US\") runs along. It therefore becomes clear that, in addition to all the many other symbolic representations, it could be a rose cruiserical representation. The cross and rose can be clearly identified, but not presented united, as in today's form.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Templeofrosycross_highres.png")
