I was in Forbidden Planet this afternoon and I happened to notice this...
Within five years there'll be a section like this in every average sized book-shop in the country. I actually had to ask a couple of people to stand clear so that I could take this photo. It would be incredibly exciting were it not for the fact that the genre seems to be totally devoid of anything likely to engage the higher brain functions. At the moment it seems to be a blend of bad contemporary fantasy with porn marketed at teenaged girls who need to be reassured that they're sensitive intellectuals before they can start flicking themselves off.
However, having said that I would love to be proved wrong, and I'm sure that in time I will be.
History has a way of repeating itself when it comes to art and there is nothing worse than when some mainstream literary type looks down his nose at SF without ever trying to come to grips with what it's all about. So while my current experience of the paranormal romance genre has not been good, I'm sure that in time something interesting will come out of it.
Not sure I know much about this genre at all. However, I do know that the Wheel of Time books are very popular with women and they have a large dollop of romance. Or is this genre just shagging in space?
Posted by: Liam Hemmings | November 28, 2007 at 08:44 PM
No, this is more vampire porn than anything else. Imagine Buffy with all of the clever bits removed. Evidently it's doing so well that they can't get books on the shelves quick enough.
Posted by: Jonathan McCalmont | November 28, 2007 at 09:09 PM
Ah well perhaps reading shit is better than watching shit on TV?
Posted by: Liam Hemmings | November 28, 2007 at 09:14 PM
Liam asked:
"Ah well perhaps reading s**t is better than watching s**t on TV?"
Let's put it this way: Watching TV proves that you possess enough intelligence to switch on the set -- perhaps not even that.
Reading proves that you possess enough intelligence to be able to learn to read -- and you can go a long way from there, if you choose to.
Posted by: A.R.Yngve | November 29, 2007 at 02:17 PM
Liam asked:
"Ah well perhaps reading s**t is better than watching s**t on TV?"
Let's put it this way: Watching TV proves that you possess enough intelligence to switch on the set -- perhaps not even that.
Reading proves that you possess enough intelligence to be able to learn to read -- and you can go a long way from there, if you choose to.
Posted by: A.R.Yngve | November 29, 2007 at 02:18 PM
What will be the next development in Paranormal Romance: I Was A Teenage Kami-Spirit?
Because that would be awesome. Vampire porn however is not my cup of tea. Bram Stoker was right in making the erotic elements of Dracula subtle.
Posted by: Jacob Martin | December 02, 2007 at 05:25 AM
I think that any genre could particularly produce great works. I doubt that anyone seeing the spaceships and capes adventures serials of the 1930's would have predicted the rise of the new wave and literary SF.
To be honest though, I really have no idea how the genre could evolve. Ultimately it's all about relationships and if there's one aspect of human life that has had wall-to-wall dramatic coverage it's relationships. I can't see paranormal romance producing any great fiction just yet. I hope I'm wrong though.
Posted by: Jonathan McCalmont | December 02, 2007 at 09:13 AM
Perhaps a great work of Paranormal Romance would use fantastical elements as a metaphor for the sheer abnormality of relationships as a whole, the nature of a romantic relationship is so irrational that it boggles the mind why one person completely different to another would fall in love. Plus a Paranormal Romance exploring the male side of relationships in a meaningful manner may shift the perception of such a genre, even if it does have Werewolves or Aliens as a symbol for mixed-race relationships, a construct of what Anthony Giddens calls "late modernity", not "post-modernism". I for one would like to explore why people would be drawn to paranormal romances: is it because we need an element of wonder and excitement in our lives that cannot be fulfilled by rational science? Or is it because we would like our life partners to have interesting personalities, and have more imagination than most people?
I think we have a thesis in the making.
Posted by: Jacob Martin | December 02, 2007 at 11:52 AM