#21 Into the Unknown With Paranormal Romance

We tackled vampires, so now it's time to dive into the realm of the supernatural...werewolves and faeries and shifters OH MY! And maybe some sasquatches? In this episode your favorite librarians explore what exactly quantifies as a paranormal romance novel, favorite authors, and why we love to read about crazy monsters as our romance heroes. Jen also drops some major tea about Sherrilyn Kenyon, romance author extraordinaire.

(Also, what side of the fence are you on- do you believe in the 'Squatch?)

The infamous swan hat

Terms:

• Paranormal romance- a large subgenre of romance which includes elements beyond the range of scientific explanation, blending together themes from the genres of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Common hallmarks are romantic relationships between humans and vampires, shapeshifters, ghosts, and other entities of a fantastic or otherworldly nature.


• Shifters - Short for shapeshifters


• Wendigo - In the north woods of Minnesota, the forests of the Great Lake Region, and the central regions of Canada, there is said to live a malevolent being called a wendigo (also spelled windigo). This creature may appear as a monster with some characteristics of a human, or as a spirit who has possessed a human being and made them become monstrous. It is historically associated with cannibalism, murder, insatiable greed, and the cultural taboos against such behaviors. Known by several names — Windigo, Witigo, Witiko, and Wee-Tee-Go — each of them roughly translates to “the evil spirit that devours mankind”.


• Seelie/Unseelie - types of faeries/faery courts- "The Faerie Courts"


• Found-Family Trope - Involves two or more people choosing to treat one another as family in an emotional sense; can also be when multiple characters join together to create a "family" group even though they're not related by blood.

Authors we mention:

• Karen Marie Moning


• Christine Feehan


• Sherrilyn Kenyon


• Kresley Cole


• Ruby Dixon

Books we talk about:

• Fever series (Karen Marie Moning)


• The Price of Pleasure (Kresley Cole)


• Twilight


• The Chill (Scott Carson)


• The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires (Grady Hendrix)


• Devolution (Max Brooks)


• Night Hunters (Sherrilyn Kenyon)
  
  
  
  • Acheron
  
  
  
  


• Shadowhunter Chronicles (Cassandra Clare)

Articles read:

• "P is for Paranormal- Still" (Dyer, 2010)


• "Why We Read Paranormal Romance Stories—And Why I Write Them" (Holley, 2014)


• "Why Paranormal Romance?" (Dean, 2017)


• "The Wild power of paranormal romance: Why readers miss these stories when they fall out of popularity" (Field, 2018)


• "What is Paranormal Romance?" (Newitz, 2010)


• "Contemporary Paranormal Romance: Theories and Development of the Genre’s Feminism (Or Lack Thereof)" (Kollman, n.d.)


• "The Sad, Murky Story of Paranormal Romance Writer Sherrilyn Kenyon" (Faircloth, 2019)


• "Sherrilyn Kenyon said her husband poisoned her" (Shapiro, 2019)


• "Sherrilyn Kenyon drops 'Shakespearean plot' case against husband" (Flood, 2019)


• "Best-selling paranormal romance writer accuses her husband of 'Shakespearean plot' to poison her" (Stanley-Becker, 2019)


• "Dark-Hunter' Author Sherrilyn Kenyon Says her Husband Tried to Poison Her to Death" (Reinstein, 2019)