Have you been to Barnes & Noble or Amazon online lately? Scrolled through the endless lists of paranormal books coming out this year? Holy moly.
Take a look at the covers. Then read the blurbs. I'm a fan, don't get me wrong. I wonder, however, when enough will be enough. I'm done for a while. I love Ward and Keri Arthur and lots of writers. But I'm ready for something new.
The blurbs are starting to morph for me into the same one: "She doesn't know that the man she's come to love is the demon she's sworn to destroy..." or some such.
Companies seem to be running out of image ideas as well. Some are lovely, but if you squint, well... there's a guy, he's shirtless and has shoulder-length dark hair, maybe a sword or something, with a city behind him. I counted about ten of those.
What's new in paranormal? I mean, really, really new? A very fresh idea, a very fresh voice? I'm dying for something different! Any suggestions?
5 comments:
My book, A SPELL FOR SUSANNAH, is definitely different, but it isn't out until 2008 and it's more along the lines of a fantasy romance than a paranormal. That being said, I think Carolan's mermaid book is different than a lot of the stuff on the shelves. It has a more fantasy feel--I just finished it. I'll be watching the comments here to get some more recommendations!
Is there anything new? The Harry Dresden books are pretty cool but mainly because his voice is so different rather than a different subject/plot.
I guess this really is more of a challenge for the authors to make their story, though similar to hundreds of others, stand out by dint of its style and readability.
Going to be quite a tough one I think.
*Looks at own vampire epicology*
Hmmm.
S.J.
The general buzz at this year's RT was that now that New York is "on" to paranormal, the market is glutted and will soon begin shrinking.
I'm not so sure about the shrinking part, but the sheer number of books they're putting out means that they're publishing a lot of not-so-high-quality stuff along with the good stuff. That makes it harder to find the good stuff!
The next big thing is reportedly going to be "urban fantasy". Now, I couldn't find anyone who could define exactly what that is! LOL I get the general impression that it's dark paranormal/fantasyish in a city setting. Think Sin City and Blade Runner.
[And thanks for the comments on Abhainn's Kiss, meankitty!]
Yeah, I can see paranormals morphing quite easily into urban fantasy.
I'm not sure what that will mean for me, since I'm not quite gritty enough for UF, but I'm willing to see where the market leads us.
And I'll second The Dresden Files. I'm working to catch up on all the books in the series. Loving them so far!
Oh, and did I mention that I think Stuart Townsend played the best Lestat EVER?!? He was perfect.
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