Ten Questions about YA Paranormals
One of the reviewers over at bookfails is doing something called the Sparkle Project--reviewing a ton of YA books featuring human girl/stalkerish paranormal boy-shaped-being-who's-hundreds-of-years-old. None of them so far have been any good (which doesn't surprise me, considering that most of them sound like they're ripping off a series that sucks on toast
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I'd want to read about that. But that's not what sells. Apparently pointless angst and stalking are de rigeur these days.
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I think the St. Germain series takes that tack, but I can't think of any other that does.
Pointless angst and stalking are bloody BORING.
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The most recent vampire book that I found entertaining was Gail Carriger's Soulless, but that was primarily because it's set in an alternate steampunk universe and the world is just so much fun. Even if my threshold for anachronism in Victorian fiction is really high and she occasionally slips.
It does make me wish I had any interest in writing vampires, though. Apparently that's where the money is!
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Chelsea Quinn Yarbro writes the St. Germain series. Here's the list. It's quite long.
I like vampires better when they're creepy monsters (as in, intended to be creepy, rather than being accidentally creepy as in the above examples). I'm not fond of immortal angstmuffins. (Probably one reason I like Methos. He could be a bastard and had been a monster in his past--but he never whined or angsted, and was never boring.)
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However, Anne Rice's vampires weren't immune to the sun -- Louis and Claudia narrowly escaped death by sun, and if I recall correctly, Armand committed suicide by sun.
But the "in love with a serial killer" thing -- I wish that I could say that women and girls wouldn't really allow that BS storyline to affect their real lives but I used to have a friend (who I later realized was unbalanced) that actually tried to justify her relationship with a murderer by comparing him to Spike. I told her that Spike was FICTIONAL but apparently she had issues separating reality from fiction. Oi vey!
I think the only decent YA vampire novel is Vivian van de velde's Companions of the Night. The protagonist neither falls in love with or ends up with the vampire and she is very strong and does things to save herself and her family.
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Eep! You're right. I'll fix that.
I wish that I could say that women and girls wouldn't really allow that BS storyline to affect their real lives but I used to have a friend (who I later realized was unbalanced) that actually tried to justify her relationship with a murderer by comparing him to Spike. I told her that Spike was FICTIONAL but apparently she had issues separating reality from fiction. Oi vey!
That's...seriously stupid.
I think the only decent YA vampire novel is Vivian van de velde's Companions of the Night. The protagonist neither falls in love with or ends up with the vampire and she is very strong and does things to save herself and her family.
Oooh. I'll have to look for that one! I've never run into a heroine in a vampire novel who actually has strength and courage. (And that's rather sad, actually.)
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What about Mina Murray in Bram Stoker's Dracula? I realize that she's somewhat problematic for a lot of readers because of her idealization as the epitome of a dutiful Victorian woman (albeit something of a New Woman), but she doesn't succumb to Dracula to my mind; she fights his hold over her and uses the link between herself and him to track him. Especially given the time period and cultural expectations for her, I'd call her courageous.
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I wish that more heroines in vampire novels being written nowadays had the determination and will and sheer guts of the woman from a novel PUBLISHED IN 1897.
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I'd agree with this, but there's usually a scene where the vampire and the human kiss and the heroine realizes that:
a) his body is cold;
b) he doesn't have a pulse;
c) he doesn't have a heartbeat;
d) he isn't breathing.
All of which should freak the girl out. It would certainly bother me if the guy I was hugging was freezing cold and wasn't breathing. But the realization never seems to faze these girls at all.
One - to perfect your disguise. If you are going to prey on the herd it's a good idea to have an idea of what is common knowledge, what slang is used and how your supposed peer group behave. Second - it's a great way to find prey, who's the kid of the neglectful parents who wouldn't notice if they went missing, which girl/guy is so desperate for attention that they'll do whatever you want to them.And you ( ... )
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I am always disturbed by the 'reincarnation' idea. Even if you believe in reincarnation - the soul might be the same but the person around that soul is completely different. How can you love someone who views you as the oyster around the pearl he actually loves?
Yeah, that's creepy. It's a complete negation of who you are. (Of course, this trope was used in the old monster movies, but it was SUPPOSED to be creepy there.
At sixteen thought of being sixteen forever would have horrified me. I wanted to GROW UP already so I could do all the things I wanted. Not to mention the idea of having to go back to school over and over again would have been horrifying.
That would have been my reaction--"Being stuck being a teenager forever? Are you out of your MIND?"
I would love to see a book where the heroine is...maybe when I'm twenty five. That seems a good age to spend eternity.Oh, me too. And you know, it would make a difference, because the guy you like at sixteen isn' ( ... )
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A. Vampire romance novels sell! Or, from the story point of view,
B. Falling in love with another human being is an extremely common thing for humans to do, and the human partner in the novels generally falls in love with the vampire while still thinking it is a human. The vampire at one point was human and so most likely falls into the "falling in love with humans is not unusual" mindset if a "good" vampire who gets all conflicted about eating people, etc. It's the naughty, naughty bad vampires who don't suffer moral crises and at most sleep with humans for shit 'n giggles (which would indeed count as playing with their food, I guess).
On vampiric weaknesses, I'm rather fond of the vampires in RH Plus (one of whom is in my icon) - they're not bothered by sunlight, but are oddly effected by the moon; they can live on foodstuffs other than blood, but find blood vastly preferable; most vampires (it's implied) don't kill their victims, but a cosy human-donor/vampire relationship ( ... )
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one of whom is in my icon) - they're not bothered by sunlight, but are oddly effected by the moon; they can live on foodstuffs other than blood, but find blood vastly preferable;
See, as long as they've GOT weaknesses, I'm happy. Flawless characters are boring.
- the college-student main character may have been in college for some considerable time, though, given his book collection);
Given my book collection, I'd look like I'd been around for a considerable time too. Maybe he just likes buying books on sale?
at least one human who falls in love with a vampire character does so explicitly because she's a vampire fan - the vampire characters find this mortifying.
See, I like that. And I like the fact it doesn't take itself completely seriously.
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Also, just because the heroine is dumb, that doesn't mean that the author has to be. She should show other choices through the heroine's friends, family, doubts and so on.
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And I just threw up in my mouth a little after having typed that. Ewww.
But basically, that's not death. Death is when you're not there anymore, you're not able to talk to people or move or exist as you are now. We know that a vampire is a dead body that can still walk around, but stupid teenage girls would think that the vampire is still alive, and all they need is love in order to continue on with unlife.
Ugh. Eww. I'm stopping here. *hork*
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