Vampires!  Witches and Ghosts!  They’re everywhere, especially at the local bookstore.

 At the Barnes and Noble near our hometown, my 13 year old and I are looking in the childrens/teen section for summer reading.  Alas, he cannot remember the name of the recommended 8th grade book or the author’s name.  Something about a girl’s memory being erased; the sales clerk gives a perplexed shake of the head. So, my boy wanders off to Manga, while I peruse the selection of new teen books on display.  One after the other, vampires, ghosts, all aspects of the paranormal, many in the sci-fi/fantasy vein, of course, while a whole host of others have to do with forbidden love.

 I already know from my recent association with Romance Writers of America that adult paranormal is big.  That, along with erotica, followed strongly by Christian romance, if you can believe it. No more chick lit – past, past, past. I know, too, of course, about the Twilight series, books and movie, that feature teen-age vampire/human love, written, interestingly enough, by a Mormon author.  Apparently, there is no sex, but the lead up to the kiss and all it symbolizes, is tremendously…blood pounding.

No one was more engaged with vampires and their lot than I was during the the original Dark Shadows TV show.  The Gothic mansion, the cursed Collins family, practioners and victims of the black arts.  Daphne, Quentin, Barnabas, even the names evoked that dark, romantic past.  But, however, there were no hormonal teens, as I recall.  Poor old Barnabas was passing out of midde-age, and getting tired of the whole gig. His lady-love, Angelique, was a mature lady.  

 So, what gives with today’s vampires?  I haven’t read the books myself, but can’t help but speculate. The idea of eternal youth, perhaps, with emphasis on youth?  And, then, the idea of forbidden love, facing social, familial and personal barriers to forge a relationship with someone so different than yourself.  In a society where so many of the young, female readers have access to so much, more freedom and opportunity than ever before, it may be necessary to create the barrier that produces the tension.  Education, jobs, birth control, marriage across race and religion, the choices are wide and endless.  With choice come the conflicts and responsibilities of trying to make something work. For instance, raising biracial children, or celebrating holidays with cross-cultural in-laws: real life considerations. Maybe not so exciting, plot-wise.

 On the other hand, perhaps the loss of freedom? So many young women protected from the larger, dangerous world have a yearning for adventure, to break the rules and find out for themselves.  The hysteria of the Salem witch trials, they say, stemmed in part from the repressed sexuality of the young women with so few outlets. 

 I’m all for erotica, the suggestion of sexuality rather than the graphic illustration of body parts intersecting. It’s the taboo, forbidden qualities that I wonder about. And, if eager to break through barriers, why not press through the social, economic, racial and religious barriers that divide one human from another, rather than looking to the paranormal?

 Meanwhile, I ponder. Is there room for a vampire in my current manuscript? How about a ghost that haunts the New York subways?  How’s this for a title: Paranormal Spanish Soap Operas? Whatever works…