Thursday, March 19, 2009

"They're all alike; they're all just rich vampires who own nightclubs and sleep on designer sheets,"

Urban Fantasy author Stacia Kane bemoans the homogenization of the genre and hopes readers do a little digging for themselves (Amazon's recommendations are worthless) to find those really great reads that are still out there. Although she writes in a genre I've seldom pursued, I can't help but sympathize with her concerns. I've never been much for these modern vampire novels. They're always too hip, too clever; it feels forced and very much rehashed. And don't get me started on the whole hot and brooding - but, like, TOTALLY misunderstood - vampire and the human girl who reluctantly succumbs to the thrall of a demon genre. There aren't enough trash cans to contain my vomit. I also don't care for genre-for-the-sake-of-genre novels. Stories, in my humble opinion, should have strong characterization and universal themes. A good story can be translated into a western or sci-fi epic and still retain its integrity. So, if you too have feared an attack of the hipster vampires, Stacia makes some recommendations for shaking things up.

4 comments:

judygraham said...

I SO agree! I've written about this, too. I am completely turned off by stories of silly women who fall in love with tragic vampire heroes, who for some reason find the silly woman fascinating (like silly women aren't a dime a dozen). Really, something has been lost in translation.

Little Gothic Horrors said...

I don't like this type of vampire story either, but I don't think it will be going away any time soon.

The idea of a gorgeous man who will be eternally and obsessively attentive, to the exclusion of all other women, plays spectacularly on the insecurities of teenage girls in particular!

Cullan Hudson said...

Oh, no doubt that's the appeal. I've got a solution in the works though: a vampire story that will make vampires revolting and fearful again. It's slated to be among the short stories in my Dark West collection next year.

Little Gothic Horrors said...

Excellent! Vampires need to claw back their former respectability in the horror genre!