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I can’t believe I forgot to mention this when Candy and I were writing about it earlier, but I have a definite theory about why paranormals are so very hot and the market is almost oversaturated, as white raven said, especially in the vampire romance department.

I think this stems from the hyper awareness we carry now of terrorism, and how, unlike in prior wars where we knew who the enemy was (Germans! Russians! Japanese! Canadians! No, wait, not Canada - sorry), we don’t know who the enemy is, and we can’t place them in one convenient location. Terrorists don’t walk up to you and say, ‘Hi! I’m a terrorist and I hate your capitalist agenda. Pull this string on my jacket, would you?” Terrorists are among us and we have no idea who or where they are, and it’s really freaking scary.

Now I could be feeling this more acutely because I live near and work in Manhattan, and it’s generally something I’m aware of, but I think it’s somewhat a national trend- and the reason paranormals are popular right now, along with monster stories and creepy crawly mysteries in general, is that it’s comforting to visit a world where the enemy is very, very easy to spot, and at the end of the story, the obvious evil is vanquished or neutralized. I think paranormals and monsters specifically are attractive as fantasy-relief for readers because supernatural evil is a sort of uber-evil - about the only thing MORE scary than wondering if any of the people on the train with you today are terrorists, and dude, it’s 70 degrees, what’s up with the heavy down jacket? Seeing fangs or claws or watching them molt into a hairy thing at the full moon is a big clue: yo. Dude is baaad news.

Being able to identify and vanquish an evil that is so powerful it’s not even human, or, better yet, to tame and accept that supremely powerful and scary creature with the Healing Power of Luuuuv (tm) is enticing, and helps assuage the fears that a good number of people might carry around. Psychologically, we know we can’t return to a time where terrorism was something that happened somewhere else, but if we look at alternate universes, somehow the uber-scary isn’t so scary anymore when compared with present day life. 

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