Authentically passionate writing

I've had one of my periodic 'I despair' moments again recently.  I was reading the blurbs and endorsements of some of the female SF writers' books that are currently being published.

"The work of a smart and sexy novelist having smart and sexy fun" one endorsement read.  And that quote alone was enough to turn me away from reading the book.  That might be totally unfair to the author, but 'smart and sexy' ain't where it's at for me.  And there is the danger in accepting such endorsements.  The book may be something totally different, but those two words disqualify it to for me.

Having reached mature years, I find that my Inauthenticity Meter is finely-honed these days.  And two of the words that send the IM off the scale are 'smart' and 'sexy'.  I have no idea what either means, but it seems that they're descriptions people like.  Not me.

But that makes me worry that this is the type of female SF author that publishers think is bankable.  A woman who keeps the social structures in her novels nice and familiar.  A woman whose ideas are safe and unchallenging to the editor's personal beliefs and way of living.

But the thing is, that ain't the authentic me.  I cringe when I read books where wonderfully talented female characters still get married at the end of the story.   If we're writing about a century hence, why are we still supporting today's flawed institutions?

My stories have many childfree characters who aren't fussed about sex either.  I have women presidents of human interstellar unions, women responsible for the security of that union, and women  starship captains busily making their fortunes using their talents as traders.

I cannot write 'smart and sexy'.  Those things are inauthentic for me, and I simply won't do them.  That might mean that it takes more time for the publishing industry to accept my authentically passionate writing, but I'll wait until it does.

I'm too old to do anything inauthentic these days.  The only words I want out there attributed to me are those that reflect the authentically passionate me.