New Year, New Genre. Sort of.

I've done a lot of thinking about my blog. And the long hiatus I took after letting a particular Stephen King book get to me. A month ago, I made a New Year's resolution about this blog. (And a few personal ones for my personal life. Woo Personalness!)

This blog is not a Stephen King blog. I know because when I looked at the web address, it did not say "Talk Stephen King" (I didn't actually read much of this, I merely Googled, but damn if the layout doesn't look good and worthy of Stephen King). So, since this is not tailored for just Stephen King, I am free to read other authors, like Richard Matheson and Ray Bradbury. But I'm still limiting myself. I need to try new things. Twilight, and The Hunger Games, and 50 Shades of... actually, no, just the first two. Well, they're popular romance novels that combine love stories with sci-fi, horror, &/or fantasy elements. Sort of. Maybe one better than the other. And the one I prefer doesn't actually focus on the romance all that much (yeah, child murder! ...That would be an awkward sentence for someone who doesn't know what The Hunger Games is about. And first one to say Battle Royale gets the "Congratulations on making an observation NO ONE on the internet has made before" medal.)


Well, anyway, paranormal romance doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon so why not read some of those? I'll tell you why. Because I'm not really a huge fan of romance novels. I do enjoy romantic things when written well. Heck, the sexual tension and developing love story in The X-Files is the only thing that kept me going back long after the convoluted mytharc screwed with my mind. Stephen King can write good stories but, and I think I've said this before, his female characters are very hit and miss with me. How am I supposed to enjoy the romantic elements of a horror story when I usually can't stand one half of the couple?


I think I might enjoy romance more if it were written by someone who was good at it. I considered Anne Rice then remembered my "someone who was good at it" criteria. Yes, yes, I'm judging a vampire book by its fangs but I don't really want my first paranormal romance novel to be vampire related. That's so cliche. I gave it a shot with Buffy and the broodyness turned me off after a while (both Buffy/Angel and Buffy/Spike were meh. Only Willow/Oz got me interested but of course, that had to be put down like a rabid weredog.) So yeah, I like romance if it's a good addition to an already good plot. I just need to find a good transition author. (I actually have one or two in mind... next time I post something, I may just have the Stephen King equivalent of fantasy/paranormal romance stories. And just in time for Valentines Day. Awww yeah...)