Hi, there, I'm Jenna, and I'm a Samhain Author. While that sounds like something from a 12-Step program, please, don't offer me a cure, because I won't accept it. I'm proud of the fact just as I am to be the one to pop Beyond the Veil's blog cherry.
As you can see from the lovely décor (thank you, Bianca), that as well as being Samhain authors, we're all paranormal authors too, which leads me to the subject of my blog. Hey, I'm doing pretty good, I got to it quick this time. Spooky huh?
The paranormal genre seems to be ever expanding and includes so many sub-genres; I'm not going to attempt to count them here. Many credit Bram Stoker with beginning our love affair with the things that go bump in the night by creating the most famous bloodsucker of them all, Dracula. His character spawned countless plays, movies, and books about him. Over the years though, he's gone from being a pale , demonic freak to a tall dark and deliciously sexy hotty that you'd beg to bite you. Now, that's progress or a good PR guy, take your pick.
However, you've heard the term, behind every man, there's a great woman, right? Well, time-wise, at least, that's true because before, Bram was born Mary Shelley wrote one of the most enduring monster stories of all times, Frankenstein. While she was inspired to write this while watching them reanimate frog legs with electricity. She also said she simply wrote what would scare her because that would scare her readers as well. As we know, her nightmare has captured and held the interest of readers and moviemakers for almost 200 years after it was written.
But, I think to find out the real beginnings, you have to look even farther back, perhaps even before written language to a time when people sat in the dark around a fire. A storyteller wove tales of curses from the gods turned men into beasts by the light of the full moon; ghosts of separated lovers that haunt certain rivers and mountain passes; beautiful mermaids caught in fishermen’s nets/or fishermen were caught by the mermaid’s song depending on how they were feeling that night. Fairies, dragons, skinwalkers, nymphs, and weres, oh my, the list is endless. From all walks of life, you have legends and myths that more than likely began as a great story over a fire. Or did they?
Paranormal can either been seen as a wonderful genre of fiction or it can be seen as a valid field of study. I myself like to take the middle road. While I know for a fact that the werewolves, dragons, vamps and freaks that I write about don’t exist outside of my own insane in the membrane mind, I can’t discount the existence of something out there that I can’t explain. Heck, I love surprises. Just let me know about them first, ok?
My question for the day is, how do you gentle and not so gentle readers think the paranormal genre has changed to reflect the changing world around us?
Step Into The Mists with our adventurous band of award-winning authors to otherworlds of paranormal, SF, fantasy and speculative romance. Nervous? Don't be. The creatures that live here are friendly. Most of the time... This blog is for age 18 and over only.
8 comments:
First..ever!
Hey, this is cool. I'm a Samhain YA author (2008 release) and I think there are only a couple of us, probably not enough to get our own blog.
But this is a great idea, and I hope someday we WILL have one :)
Awesome!
Fabulous look, and a great first column to set the tone of the blog site. Well done! Gia
Hello!
Great blog, and I love your work Jenna, you might say I am your biggest fan (Non-stalker, of course)
I think that there is a less sinister tone to the paranormal genre these days. It used to be that witches, vampires and weres (Oh, My! Sorry I couldn’t resist!) and the rest were treated as unredeemable evil. Now, with the ready supply of information on the realities of Wiccan traditions, Neo-paganism, Vampire Communities and others the veil of mystery is being lifted as is the fear or the unknown. So now we can get our romance with a fangs or a wand (ahem) and paranormal beings with their innate sexiness (rowl) are being allowed to come to the fore.
fourkids
LOVE the colors! Blue is my favorite color. Can't wait to see where this blog goes. I love paranormal. Nice cherry popping :)
First, you're setting the standard very high for the rest of us, Jenna! Great first blog!!!
Second, my opinion on the whole paranormal thing is that the definition keeps expanding as readers' tastes expand. Buffy brought a whole new generation to this genre and there's always something new around the bend. There's also a lot of crossover from the related fields of genre fiction - fantasy, sci fi, suspense, etc, and I think the intermarriage of genres is healthy and creative. (Which is good, since I write cross-genre all the time!) ;-)
Cool comments! I really think paranormal encompasses a lot of things too. Bascially anything beyond normal (though, that would include me if you wanna know the truth). I'm also as guilty as Bianca about crossing genres. Basically, as a reader, I go for the story, heck, I don't care what genre it is, just make it a good one. Add a fire in there, and you've got me sold. Oh, some marshmellows and chocolate wouldn't be remiss either.
I'm another new Samhain author. My first book, Dark Waters, a romantic suspense with paranormal elements, is out in the fall.
I only got hooked on paranormal recently. I think the genre has changed in many ways. The "creatures" we feared in the black and white films are now the heroes and heroines of today's novels. The genre has also expanded its territory. Its no longer vampires and werewolves. It's witches and faeries and demons and even made up species.
As a writer I think this is wonderful. As a reader I love the infinite variety available.
I think we're more willing to seek balance now than before, so we're willing to realize that things that may seem dark also have an element of light to them.
Great inaugural post!
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