Guest Author: Rae Lori

I would like to welcome Rae Lori, author of two great new series, to Literary Escapism today.  The first novel in her Ashen Twilight series, A Kiss of Ashen Twilight, comes out February 2nd.  The first novel in her Awakening series, Nocturnal Awakening, comes out May 15th.

Make sure you stick around because we’re giving away an ARC of Rae Lori’s new A Kiss of Ashen Twilight.
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Much thanks to Jax for allowing me to hop onto her wonderful blog!

2008 was definitely the year of the Paranormal. Out of the boom came an explosion of paranormal romance, mysteries, suspense and urban fantasies all crossing genres at times to explore the worlds of vampires, ghosts, witches, werewolves and other shapeshifters. The sci-fi genre was slowly overtaken by fantasy, both high and urban, and new worlds were created. Some thought it was a phase that would soon pass but being a paranormal lover since I was a teen, I think this is an evergreen that is here to stay. It probably won’t be as mainstream and everywhere as it has these past few months. And especially with the current downward spiral of the industry everything is most likely suffering. Much of the readership was already there looking for paranormals that have now become much easier to buy than in the past. Sure they’ll get tired of it after awhile due to saturation, but if there’s anything about readers it’s that they know what they want and they know their favorite genres. If they are a paranormal genre lover they will always come back to discover new worlds never presented before, especially when the world is bleak and a wonderful escape is offered between the pages.

Part of that is the reason I started my Ashen Twilight Series and my Nocturnal Awakening Series. The former dealt with a group of fairies named the Aziza I’ve never read about before until I did some research into African Mythology. Fairies have always been my favorite type of creatures next to vampires so naturally I wondered what would happen if I tossed these two together. How would a benign fairy race that exists to aid hunters deal with falling in love with an unlikely hunter like a vampire? How would this fairy group (who believes that when one dies their spirit moves on to another being to live again) deal with creatures who are undead and, in a sense, trapped spirits? Lots of ideas came to me that helped me formulate the series to deal with my fairy heroine, Ariya, and my vampire hero a former Scottish Highland nobleman (and art lover) named Jace.

With the latter series I got to dive into Skinwalker lore. I loved the ideas of immortals living on the outside of our world with their own hierarchies, politics and culture. With Nocturnal Awakening, I got to explore how a young woman who uses her powers to assist police in catching baddies comes into her own strength and love as she learns of her royal birthright in the tribe. Many human and Skinwalker dynamics were at play and I got to use some of the mythology as well as make up much of my own.

I think that’s what makes paranormals so enticing. Much of it is apart of our history in defining how we lived and currently live as humans. Much of it can be about how we relate to one another and that clash of immortals with mortals in touch with humanity makes this a genre one I see as only remaining steadfast as time moves on.

Readers, what makes the paranormal genre so attractive to you? When did you first fall in love with it?

Rae Lori

You can find Rae Lori at her website, blogging away at A Writer’s Dream, on mySpace, twitting away over at Twitter or on Facebook.

A Kiss of Ashen Twilight is coming February 2nd 2008
Nocturnal Awakening is coming May 15th 2008
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Thank you Rae Lori!  I have to agree with you, I love paranormals because they are not what we find in our everyday lives.

Contest Time! We’re giving away an ARC of Rae Lori’s upcoming novel A Kiss of Ashen Twilight to one lucky commentary and it’s very easy to enter. All you have to do is answer this one simple question: what makes the paranormal genre so attractive to you? When did you first fall in love with it?

As always, if you want more chances to win, you can post about today’s contest on your blog, social network, or anywhere you can. Digg it, stumble it, twit it, share it with the world. Wherever you share it, make sure you add a link to it along with your answer (yes LE is now on Twitter as well!).

Join the Literary Escapism blog group and/or Page over on Facebook and you’ll get an additional entry. Only new readers to the group will be considered.

I’ll determine the winner with help from the Research Randomizer. All entries must be in by midnight on Jan. 20th.

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.

19 Comments

  1. I first got into paranormals and urban fantasy with the grandmother of the paranormal, Anne Rice – I read The Vampire Lestat in 1988 and was hooked. During the mid-1990s, I discovered Charles de Lint, who is a master of urban fantasy. In the late 1990s, I discovered Laurell K. Hamilton (back when the Anita Blake series still had a plot). I think the Dresden Files were the next series I discovered.

    About a year and a half ago, I was in my local new/used scifi/fantasy bookstore, Uncle Hugo’s, and was laughing because their “Hot Shelf” (recently received used books that are very popular) was truly HOT as it was mostly paranormal romance. I picked up a couple out of curiosity and that was that.

  2. I began reading paranormal books after beginning J.D. Robb’s In Death series. It is one of my favorite series and I started looking for more like it. Then I joined a paranormal reading group on Yahoo and haven’t looked back since :)

  3. A friend introduced me to paranormals a few years ago. I’d never read anything like them before… and now I have a hard time reading anything but! I love everything about them, and vampires are my fave, hands down! I love their “worlds!”

  4. Hi Rae Lori! I have to agree with you, I love paranormals because it is uniquely responsive to audience desires, tells us more about women’s needs, feelings, and fantasies than any other genre of the fantastic. I love to read anything that deals with werewolfes, vampires, and shapeshifters mainly. I got hook into the skinwallker lore when I was younger and doing reasearch on different Native American tribes. I was trying to learn some facts about my grandfather’s heritage. I got hooked on vampires from watching Dark Shadows. I don’t remember which author got me hooked on paranormal romances for sure, but I think it was Rebecca York and Susan Krinard.

  5. Growing up with TV shows like “Bewitched” and “I Dream of Jeannie” I was always into magical things and that love continued to grow (I so wanted to Samantha Stevens), but there weren’t a lot of movies or books back then to feed that obessession. The first paranormal books I read were Linda Lael Miller’s Vampire series back in the late ’80’s (and I still have those books). I think that was before the genre was defined, and I kept looking for other books like that but couldn’t find any and my desire for them waned. Then I got hooked on the Regency and Victorian periods in historical romance and pretty much read those exclusively. Every once in awhile I would buy a paranormal book, but never read it, and then one of my historical authors wrote a paranormal, which I read and loved, I was hooked and had to find more. There are just so many possibilities that exist in it and there are so many stories waiting for readers to discover, and each one is unique. And now, even some of the historical authors and throwing in a touch of paranormal to their stories, and I love those as well.

  6. I became addicted to reading the Paranormal genre when a friend introduced me to Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter series!

  7. Paranormals are fun reads for me because they bring you into a whole new world, filled with fantasy and magic. And I have even more appreciation for those tales that include folklore from different cultures, like the Native American culture. Although I am not much of a researcher, I admire authors who can add authenticity to their tales with background details you may never learn anywhere else. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Rae and I thoroughly aniticipate the release of both of your series.

  8. Got hooked on paranormal stories when I picked up my first LKH book about ten years ago. Love the excitement, magic ,and imagination in this genre and am always either reading a paranormal romance story or have one waiting on my wish list.

  9. Chris, hello to a fellow Anne Rice reader! I keep hearing great things about Charles de Lint and he’s definitely on my ‘to check out’ list. Same with the Anita Blake series, well early series hehe. It’s strange how paranormal romance came with a boom and then UF slide up next to it. I wonder if it’s because of the more intricate worldbuilding much like fantasy itself while the other focuses on the steamy relationships? Interesting!

    Samantha, good deal! That’s another big plus about the rise of paranormal. So many great groups for authors and readers opened up to help focus on the genre. :-)

    ErinW, I hear ya! Vampires are my fave as well and lately I keep reading one paranormal after another in my pile lol. So many goodies to try.

    Becky, hello! That’s pretty awesome. I love Native American culture myself and there’s much mythology in the different tribes! Dark Shadows is another I have on my list to check out. I notice they’re making a big screen remake with Johnny Depp? Should be interesting to see how it turns out!

    Valarie P, well said! I love that aspect of the paranormal genre, it doesn’t lend itself to just one convention. You can touch on many genres under one umbrella (like historical paranormals sound awesome) which makes it fun for both the reader and author. And I loved those classics as well. Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie were some of the best hehe.

    Teresa W. Awesome! I checked out a recent release of hers and loved the characterizations and her voice. I can see why so many people enjoy her work! :-)

    Hey Melissa! I so agree. I love those tales that take you away from the current world and invite you to lose yourself in such great tales. Thanks so much for your kind words and support! :-D

    Cathy M, good deal! I couldn’t agree more. It’s so hard to just have one once you started! So many great series to dive into out there I can’t keep up myself lol.

    Thanks to everyone who posted! It’s great seeing how you guys got into the genre and how fast it’s risen over the past few years. Good stuff. :-)

  10. Hi Rae! I first fell in love with the paranormal while watching Dark Shadows, when I was young and have loved it ever since. I always found the tall, dark and deadly vamps or the muscular shifters a big draw ( Who wouldn’t ? ) but throw in a great love story and I’m hooked!!! Great Interview!

  11. Hi Rae Lori,
    Saw on your newsletter that you were blogging today.
    I have always been drawn to the unknown; hence my love for paranormals.
    Juile

  12. Hi Barb! Thanks so much! I completely agree about the vamps and big shifters. They add a little something extra fun to the reading, hehe.

    Hey Julie! Oh great! Thanks for stopping by. :-) I agree, I love how writing and reading experiences with the ‘otherworldly’ can offer up so many possibilities It’s wonderful!

    Hi Cindy, so true! That definitely adds to the pageturning elements of the story indeed. :-)

  13. Well, I have always been drawn to the paranormal. As a child, the school playground was right next to an old cemetery and I loved being near it. I watched Addams Family and Bewitched and Dark Shadows on TV probably around the age of 7. I wanted to be Wednesday so bad!! Then I discovered Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s Saint Germain and that was that! I had to search hard for paranormals in the nineties before the boom happened. Now I am pretty selective about what I read since there is so much. But I always look for a unique spin on things, new monsters, new creatures, etc. Even a new spin on an old favorite is a draw. I have found some wonderful books and there seems to be more coming all the time. It is a great time for paranormal (thank goodness)!

  14. Hmmm, where to start? I have always loved everything paranormal. I started out with just vampires probably and they are still my first love, but I also adore ghosts, werewolves, shifters, banshees, you name it.
    What I love about the paranormal genre is that anything is possible. There truly are no bounds to what can be written.

    Deidre

  15. My favorite thing about paranormals is that they are different from “real life”. They let you escape a least for a bit from everyday matters. Anything can happen and when it happens it takes you with it.

    I have been reading them for a number of years and its hard to say when I really started. I have always loved ghost stories, in print, on tv, in movies along with anything else that isnt quite real. I watched the Dark Shadows remake then went and watched the original and searched out books about vampires. I loved Forever Knight in its first seasons. I started reading with mysteries, then moved on to Dean Koontz and Stephen King which just started a cycle that lead me to all kinds of paranormal worlds and never looked back.

  16. I got into paranormal in highschool with the book “Carrie”, the movie “Excorist” (sp?) and I’ve always loved ghosts!!!
    Would love to have a chance to read this author!!!
    Thanks so much for the giveaway!!!
    Darby
    darbyscloset at yahoo dot com

  17. Some years ago I found one of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s books and have been reading paranormals ever since. I can’t decide if I like vampires or shifters more… I love to escape everyday life with my paranormals!

  18. Thanks so much to Leslee, Deidre, Darby and Eva for posting their firsts and faves in paranormals. I see some goodies to add to my TBR pile and some favorites of mine as well!

    I’d love to send out some Ashen Twilight bookmarks and postcards to everyone who commented here as a big ole thanks for entering and checking out the series. Definitely hang around after if you’re interested! :-)

    Hope everyone had a good weekend!

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