Vampires and Witches and Werewolves, OH MY!

I won't deny being a sucker for supernatural creature lit. I have already admitted to being a big Twi-Hard and getting swept up in all the Twilight Hype. I may or may not have mentioned that I am also in the Harry Potter fan club. (not literally, but you get the idea) I just plain love fantasy and magic in a good story!

That being said, I had somehow until recently completely failed to take note of the fact that these characters have entirely taken over popular literature. You can't miss it in the Young Adult section. It dominates, which is unsurprising considering the success of Harry Potter and Edward Cullen. What I hadn't expected was the extent to which it seems to have infiltrated that mainstream adult section of popular new fiction. All of the sudden it is everywhere from Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse collection to the plethora of retellings of the old classics with the addition of vampires. I am especially curious about Sarah Grey's Wuthering Bites. If you want to sell these days, it appears that you must work with vampires, witches, werewolves, or even fallen angels, which was an addition that surprised me. What is happening here?

However, I won't say I don't like it! As mentioned, I tend to like this sort of story, so I realized there might be some good stuff in here for me. I tend to think that most of what we were seeing in this phenomenon is spin off lit, riding the fast wave of what J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer have created. However, it must be acknowledged that a) some of this stuff was written before those two started writing and is now coming back to popularity as a result, b)many of these have been considered strong enough to become movies or television series in their own rights, and c) if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

So in light of the upcoming Halloween holiday and working up until the release of the latest Harry Potter film, I decided to explore this supernatural explosion. I will read at least the first book in as many of these series as I can lay hands on, both in YA and Adult lit, as well as several of the classics gone supernatural conversions, and, if possible, some of the originals, like Anne Rice. We will see how far I can get. For most of these, I will be giving a grade A-F based on what value to this booming supernatural genre I see the work having.

So, let the bewitching begin!

Sarah