2010/04/06

Paranormal Romance Revisited

When I began this web log, one of my first posts, in September 2008 was about the phenomenon of vampire romance fiction.  I had mentioned a symposium at Monash University in Australia, "Vampires, Vamps and Va Va Voom: A Critical Engagement with Paranormal Romance".  Now littleread, an Australian blogger and EngLit scholar, has let me know that a podcast for the symposium was made available late last year.

It's now obvious that the Twilight series is getting the full "Harry Potter" marketing treatment.  But it's not just vampires now, it's paranormal, with werewolf romances, and even a burgeoning genre of jokey zombie fiction, including a silly Jane Austen take-off.  What's next, Egyptian mummies?  How about vampire boy meets zombie girl?

I don't know, but I think the girl has to be normal, and the boy must be the forbidden thing, the vampire or the werewolf.  Surely zombie dudes lack sex-appeal, no?  If women are fantasizing about hooking up with zombies, then I give up.

♪ ♫ Everyone is always putting him down, (down, down), my misunderstood zombie from the wrong side of town ♪

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