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I'm going to ask this question on my romantic suspense panel at RT but I thought it'd be fun to hear your answers, especially for those readers who are into fantasy/urban fantasy/paranormal romance.
For example, vampires and werewolves are just old news. The market is saturated with vampire slayers and werewolve lifemates. There are now a slew of series that include "new" beings as heros, such as:
Demons (once the Big Bad, some are now actual heros, with some interesting greyness in their character make-up, of course)
Angels (and they aren't your mama's cherubic boys either. These angels are super beings who have sexual appetites)
Mages
Faes (the expansive mythology behind faes and fairies give lots of different twists to worldbuilding)
Norse myths (not quite saturating the market yet but in the last month, I've seen three books about Norse gods)
Greek gods/Greek myths (pretty standard for a while, actually)
Witches
Djinns
Zombies (iz the new black. Lotsa zombie books. Munch, munch, yum)
So what is next? I'm writing a time-traveling Viking with some Greek myth twist, but nothing to do with vampire hunters and daemons...I think. LOL, what can I say, I'm a pantser. I've no idea what's coming late in the book, except, of course, the Big Bad.
Maybe you can strike my fanciful imagination. What do you see as a different kind of hero or a different kind of Big Bad?
I know many readers and friends have suggested writing Chinese mythology as an aspect. I'm not opposed to it but to be honest, I haven't found the right combination of epic plot to make it work. Also, have you seen Chinese vampires? Argh. Green zombified hoppers. So not romantic.
Your turn.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Tell Me What Is The Next Uber
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18 comments:
Cade and Rydstrom, two hot demons, yummy. I have noticed some authors tweating the futuristic stories. Lori Foster's My Man Michael was set in the future and it was unexpected coming from her, specially since Michael is one of her SBC fighters and that story line is based in present times. Personally I didn't enjoy it as much as her other SBC books.
Anne McCaffrey's Freedom series is also a futuristic/space bound story. They are quite interesting.
I don't see good Epic stories anymore, with heroes, villains, knights, mages and princesses, etc. All the good writers are dying...sigh...David Gemmell is gone, Michael Crichton as well. Whatever happened to mystery writer Lilian Jackson-Braun?
I read any genre as long as I enjoy the story but Vamps/Weres and SEALs are always my favorites.
Don't forget mermaids! Or mermen or merwhatever. I've seen versions of them lately.
Oh yeah! Atlantis has become popular lately, well Atlantis has always been there I guess but now Atlanteans are hotties. Alyssa Day's Warriors of Poseidon, Gena Showalter Atlantis series and let's not forget our favorite Atlantean, Acheron....sigh....so hot in here.
personally I don't see the zombie appeal. I'm not sure I could take it seriously. I do like the whole Greek God or chinese zodiac thing. That could be really cool....and angels and demons always hold appeal in my opinion. But I dont read alot of fantasy books anymore.....oooo Mermaids! that could be pretty cool.
There's also lots of selkie stories, but they tend to come in bunches and then fade again, even within the genre. I'm a sucker for a well-told mage story (Mercedes Lackey has some great ones.)
But, I honestly think that where some of this *should* be going is not in the fantasy direction, but rather in the more futuristic direction - "Borg" or partly-mechanized heroes (a Liz Maverick's Kiss or Kill which I have not read but I really want to) or even something a la X-Men.
Another offshoot is Jeri Smith-Ready's totem magic which is kind of cool. Something more fantasy/shamanistic. I like that and it is an underused plot device, imo.
For existing mythos, I really do prefer to stay away from the tried and true and look for stuff with Asian and Middle Eastern backgrounds though it's pretty much impossible to find.
Gargoyles! There were some and then that sort of died. I guess it's tough to write about a stone ugly bird monster, LOL.
LadyZ, I agree with what you said about Lori Foster's My Man Michael. I too was surprised about it's futuristic setting and I didn't enjoy it as much as the other ones; I was disappointed.
I really like Gena Showalter's Lord of the Underworld series; it's an interesting twist of mythology.
It'd be interesting to see some kinda series with Chinese mythology/zodiac. I don't think I have read anything like that before. As for Chinese vampires, they give me the creeps. Even though those old movies didn't do a good job on hiding those fake teeth, I still got nightmares as a kid.
I think we're probably going to see a whole crudload of mythological/demi-god/demon/angel stories for a while. Until the market is as saturated as the shifter/vamp market. I really don't see the shifter trend lasting much longer. People are beginning to get burnt out on it. The vamps are here to stay. It's going to be a tough sale to win over a following on vamp stories, though. Unless they've got a whole new take and direction that no one else has thought of (and I can think of a few that haven't been done and at least one that will NEVER be done), I seriously doubt anyone except the top few series/authors are going to see bestseller status. Frankly speaking, I wish someone would tackle the lesser known mythological angle. Some of the most beautiful mythological tales I've heard have been asian/indian/african in origin.
Joy,
Ah the gargoyles. Marjorie Liu did a great novella where one of the principals was a gargoyle. It is the only thing I've read by her and I loved Charlie. :)
Mo,
You'll like Marjorie Liu's books. Some of her stories are very X-Men-like. Of course, she started with writing fanfic and now co-writes with some of the best X-Men comic writers. Wonderful, fine author (and friend).
Heather,
The angel-focused stories are really quite interesting. Nalini Singh's newest. The seraphs in Faith Hunter's Rogue Mage series. Meljean Brook's angels. I didn't think I'd enjoy any twisting of the angel theme (I went to a Christian school, so am rather blockheaded when it comes to concepts regarding angels and God and religion) but I've been pleasantly surprised.
J,
Yes! Nothing scarier than a bunch of green "kiong-si" hopping silently down a road!
I'm interested to see where the angel trend will lead, for sure. I too attended a Christian school. Private Catholic school, in fact. Overseas. Still have nightmares about rulers whacking me to this day. Speaking as someone that came within a whisker's length of ending up as a nun, the concept of turning angel mythos on it's head fascinates me. I'm just saddened that everyone seems to be sticking with what I refer to as the "Big Ten" of the angel pantheon. I'm also surprised no one has gone after the babylonian take on angelic hosts yet. According to many sources, the entire pantheon of greco-roman/babylonian gods and demi-gods WERE angels. Fallen angels. So yeah... Crossover market potential in that.
I think one of the Chinese mythology characters that might work in paranormal romance is the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas. That's one of the Chinese mythology that I can think of that is not derived from a real historical person. Other Chinese mythologies I can recall immediately are all related to historical history and events, and it's hard for me to imagine them in a paranormal romance setting.
hey genn just sent you an email re big bad wolf, hope you get
Rosemary
Jenn, I think the "Greek Gods" idea is pretty good. You did a good job with Hades in VirHis so I am thinking you should write a book about Hades and some mermaid. It would be good. Or maybe the mermaid is too much... well you can use your imagination and come up with something good.
Cindy,
Are you thinking "Hoi Lung Wong"? Interesting.
Actually, there is a lot of supernatural stuff in Chinese mythology. It's the romance part that is difficult since most of our myths end ambiguously or tragically. But I've been playing for years with a story about the building of the Great Wall and the historical/myth of the family of women who hid their last male from the King. Do you know that story? It's a good one.
Cara,
Hades and a mermaid? What would Persepone say?!
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