Storytelling, Sarcasm and Steam

Now that I’ve been writing for a few years I’m discovering more and more that definitions are far too fluid to be able to set in stone. What one person considers terribly racy and suggestive barely makes another person yawn. With the recent increased exposure for erotic stories, I’m still thinking about this—what makes one person say that a book had “oh my gawd hawt sex” and the next person simply says “meh”?

Expectations have a lot to do with it. If I hear something is awesome, great, incredible, I’m going to compare to what I’ve already experienced that meets that criteria for me. And then I’m going to make a judgment call. Bottom-line, it still comes back to OUR expectations, and our past experiences. Which means the old axiom of “You can’t please everyone” still remains truth.

So, in a seemingly total change of topic—but not really—what do you think about paranormal stories? I ask because here too there are expectations and past experiences that colour our thoughts. I will admit it: I’m not a vampire fan. I’m also a wimp, and dark, frightening stories put me off. So for many years when people talked about loving a paranormal series, I didn’t pay any further attention. I’d TRIED reading a paranormal. Someone got killed in the first three pages, their soul sucked away to the eternal abyss of pain, and the hero was wiping blood from his mouth and—**shudder**

Okay, let’s think about rainbows and ponies for a while. Better? Me too.

Not that dark books are bad—they can be beautifully written, with exquisite plotting and character development. But they aren’t for ME. And that experience coloured all my thoughts of paranormal. Until one day…

I read a Shelley Laurenson book.

Paranormal? Yes. Well written? Yes. But most important to me, it was funny as spit. I got kicked out of bed for giggling so hard I was shaking the bed and woke my husband. That book changed the way I thought about paranormal series, because while some are dark and full of vamps, some are sheer out fun and full of people I’d like to meet in real life.

Just like the steam level in sexy books can will be judged on what you’ve already read, there are a wide variety of paranormal stories that have different elements. Darkness, sexy alpha males, complex world building. Or…there’s the Takhini Wolves and Granite Lake Wolves, my version of stepping into the ‘other’ side. Shifters with sarcasm and steam. Also powerful Alphas, but they’re more likely to be involved in a bar brawl after shooting moonshine than a bloodletting.

Next Tuesday SILVER MINE releases. If you’re not a huge paranormal fan… (because the darkness scares you? You’re not into weird world rules?) …this is a different kind of book to try.

Who knows? You might find something totally unexpected. You will find sex—although of what heat level, you’ll have to be the judge.

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Silver Mine:
 Takhini Wolves, Book 2

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