CROSSING
OVER
What
is Paranormal Romance? A romance novel, by definition (and yes,
the Romance Writers of America has one!) is one that has a story
centered on romance, with an emotionally satisfying and
optimistic ending. While Science Fiction and Fantasy (SFF) can
have either of the two, nothing in the genre requires either of
these things. Imagine an emotionally satisfying and optimistic
ending to
Ender’s Game! A Paranormal Romance will, then, have
that central love story with the fantastical elements to support
it and an emotionally satisfying conclusion. This makes it a
little like the red-headed stepchild of both genres. Romance
fans may not like the supernatural because it’s not “real”
(although that hot lawyer with the heart of gold and smoldering
eyes is?), and Fantasy lovers may dislike the centralized love
plot. However, for its fans, there seems to be a sudden push for
this subgenre over the last few years that has taken it to the
forefront of popular fiction. It’s actually a tradition going back centuries, carrying on through the likes of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; through the heroic tradition of Walter Scott, Lord Byron and all those magical Arthurian tales; through the Gothic tradition of Mrs. Radcliffe and the Brontës; and what is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein if not a paranormal romance?
When I was thirteen and reading every book I could get my hands on, it seemed that I couldn’t get this two-in-one in any contemporary tale. I went to one end of the stacks for Fantasy books and the other end for the Romance. Now, as I stated, Fantasy could have some elements of romance, but I rarely saw lots of romance novels with fantastical elements. In fact, this always made me associate Paranormal Romance novels with SFF rather than straight romance. Which was fine by my younger self: she was a snob that didn’t want people thinking that she might be reading something torrid. Although she was, oh yes, and enjoying every minute of it.
However,
in 2010, it really hit me that many of my favorite romance
authors were adding more and more fantasy to their books. Last
year, one of my favorite romance novelists, Jennifer Cruise,
came out with the book Maybe This Time, about a woman
who goes to live in a haunted house. Before that, she dabbled a
bit in the paranormal romance sub-genre with collaboration with
different authors. Joint efforts such as The Unfortunate
Miss Fortunes (2007) and Dogs and Goddesses (2009)
were definitely a coming out for her, but I suppose I never took
her seriously about the fantasy thing until the last two books
she wrote in 2010, which are about ghosts and demons.Then, to top it off, another favorite romance novelist, Janet Evanovich, finally gave over a whole novel dedicated to her one supernatural character, in a book also released last year. She made him explicitly supernatural (instead of just odd) and gave him a supernatural plot. Then it clicked: is this a trend that is going on with romance novelists? To suddenly go over to the Fantasy side? It certainly makes sense: romance is laced with all sorts of fantasies already, from the clichés we have written about here in this issue of Geek Speak to all the convoluted plots that our heroes so often fall into. It seems like an easy transition, because if you can convince your audience that these two improbable characters can fall in love, that heroes like the hero you’re reading about even exist, then it’s not much of a leap to get them to believe that hero is also a werewolf, or can read thoughts, or whatever magical thing happens.
It’s tough to tell if these authors are just now coming out with PR books because of Twilight’s success and the renewed popularity of vampires, werewolves and other supernatural creatures. It is tempting to believe that romance authors (who have the ability to churn out multiple novels a year) would be susceptible to the moneymaking opportunities paranormal romances provide. However, so many of them follow a familiar pattern that originated well before the current vampire craze.
There
have long been modern romance novelists who specialize in the
supernatural. Lynn Kurland is a great example of this, as her
earliest books dealt with ghosts and time travel. But for the
straight romance novelist, the slip into fantasy seems to come
gradually. For example, Nora Roberts began writing short fantasy
novellas for Silhouette in 1999, about six years into a
romance-writing career (and well before the full force of PR
popularity hit). It took awhile, until 2001, for her to write a
full Paranormal Romance. But now, when she does come out with
another novel (and she is very prolific), there is an excellent
chance it will be PR. Julie Kenner started out in category
romance, and now has several paranormal series to her credit,
including that detailing the adventures of her Demon Hunting
Soccer Mom. The many-named Jayne Ann Krentz used her Amanda
Quick alias almost solely for Historical -- mostly Regency --
bodice rippers since back in 1990 -- until she introduced us to
her Victorian-era Arcane Society (dealing with magic, alchemy
and "psychical energy") in 2006. Kay Hooper is another example: starting out a fresh
voice in the now defunct Candlelight and Loveswept lines back in
the 80’s (Loveswept, in fact, is where Evanovich also got her
start), Hooper has gone on to write a series of creepy gothic
romance mysteries, or “Romantic Suspense Thrillers”, as her
website has it. They are hardly alone.As I detailed earlier, Jennifer Crusie’s metamorphosis into a paranormal romance author happened slowly, with her writing only parts of romances that were supernatural in nature. Now, the first non-collaborative book she’s come out with in years is a straight up paranormal romance. Kurland has gone even further, now writing just straight Fantasy. (While the Nine Kingdoms novels have romance in them, the plot was far more centered on the fantasy and adventure than regular romance, in my opinion.) It seems like the supernatural is almost like the gateway drug that they warned us about in the DARE program: once your romance novelist starts on the paranormal, she’s not going back.
This
has come to the consternation of some fans. The previously
mentioned Evanovich PR book, Wicked Appetite, got more
1 star reviews on Amazon than 5-stars, with readers torn between
loving it and hating it. And while it got overall good reviews,
the biggest complaint for Maybe This Time -- also on
Amazon -- had to do with fans’ frustration that her first solo
book in years was about ghosts. I wonder then, if this is the
novelists’ way of moving into a wider audience or not. For very
prolific writers like Roberts, this may be the case. In fact,
Nora Roberts (a pseudonym) also writes futuristic mysteries
under the name J. D. Robb (likewise a pseudonym). However,
Evanovich and Crusie are pretty consistent with fewer books per
year, and they’ve always stayed to a specific formula. So, if
they can’t expand readership because they only write enough
novels to stay in one genre, why do they do it? It puts the fans
in a tough spot. If they don’t like fantasy, they will complain
about the lack of romance. If they like fantasy, there may not
be enough in there for them. I can’t imagine that the fans of
one subgenre can be so large as to make it worthwhile. However, I am not going to be the one on message boards complaining! Paranormal Romance is perfect for me: it gives me that emotionally satisfying ending while including all the geekery that I love to be immersed in. If this is the way romance novelists are moving, then maybe something is happening in the romance genre overall. If it is, then I (and my younger self) approve wholeheartedly.
-- Sara Paige
Visit our comment form!
HOME