And Now For More Of The Same!

[bloodyrosemccoy]

Following up loosely on my last entry, I finally came up with a perfect way to describe Urban Chick Lit Fantasy: It's not so much Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as it is Sex & the City & Mothman.*

Yeah, it's another subgenre that irritates the hell out of me, but I really can't take the high road on this one because I am a fan of Tamora Pierce's pioneering genre of Law & Order: Special Pigeons Unit myself. I just can't deny my visceral reaction to pretty much any form of Sassy Chick Lit, and when they start snagging stuff I like, such as magic systems, I get territorial.


*Although unlike the other remixes done purely for gags, I feel that the addition of Mothman would be a serious improvement on that Let's Go Shopping And Be Horny bullshit.**

**Unless it's Mothman Prophecies Mothman. "Richard Gere, is your refrigerator running?" should not be a giant urban legend hellmonster's entire repertoire.

Comments

[renshai.livejournal.com]

"Tamora Pierce's pioneering genre of Law & Order: Special Pigeons Unit"

A+, would LOL again. (So, when does Mastiff come out, again?)

My enjoyment of Urban Chick Lit Fantasy seems to depend heavily on the ratio of sex/relationship!drama to werewolves (occasionally other supernatural taxa, but mostly werewolves).

For example: Patricia Briggs' Mercedes Thompson books = low sex to werewolf ratio, therefore I like.

Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan books, or Laurel Hamilton's Anita Blake books = high sex to werewolf ratio, therefore I didn't make it past the first chapter.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I mostly get bugged by the extremely self-conscious level of Sass they try to cram into the narrative voice; it rings false. I don't object to "fantasy" at all, and "urban" can still snag my interest, but the "chick lit" part is asking too much.

Although I must admit, I've never had as much interest in the dead aspects of fantasy. Ghosts are okay, but vampires, zombies, and werewolves leave me, well, cold.

I am glad to find someone else is not particularly thrilled by a high percentage of sex in books. I myself dislike sex scenes somethin' fierce.

Also, I haven't been paying attention with Mastiff, but I am definitely looking forward to it. Hell yeah, high medieval fantasyland crime fiction!

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

Another vote for Patricia Briggs and the low sex:werewolf ratio. I also like her Alpha/Omega books, which are related to the Mercy Thompson stuff by being some of the same characters. She has plot and character development and not a lot of sex and when it does happen it isn't very explicit either and doesn't detract from the general flow of the narrative.

[willowistari.livejournal.com]

Ditto on the whole dead thing. Ghosts can be spiffy if they're done right but everything else is just so...fanfic, you know? D:

I always hate sex scenes because 90% of the time they're totally forced. There's no build up to the romantic encounter, it's like HERE HAVE SOME RANDOM SEX!

[stormteller.livejournal.com]

Hell, the real Mothman is even cooler. He gave teenagers conjunctivitis and once abducted a bloodmobile. (Seriously. Read the book) I'd like to see him thrown into some literature.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

This. Mothman is one of the creepiest and coolest supernatural things in the US, and I thought the Movie sounded really cool until I heard, y'know, anything about it past the title. It's another one of those "wait, HOW did you manage to fuck that up?" instances.

My 2¢

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

Werewolves can be cool when done right.

Zombies are almost completely played out. The current zombie fad is a zombie fad; it's still lurching along long after all life has left it.

Vampires need to be fixed in the worst way. Twilight is the final stage in the de-fanging that Anne Rice kicked off by making the monster a figure of sympathy* in Interview. What was once creepy because it looked human but was menacingly other has been reduced to whining about having superpowers and needing a high-iron diet. Vampires need to be reinvented as monsters again. Re-vamped, if you will.

*Though to be fair, even Dracula had a brief moment of self-pity early in the novel. It's kind of out of place and doesn't really affect the plot.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Mothman is pretty awesome. I really was looking forward to a good creepfest movie, and all I got was menacing telephone calls. Mothman doesn't talk! Mothman doesn't have to talk! All he has to do is loom and flap!

Re: My 2¢

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and neither version of vampires really interests me. I admit I don't mind the idea of making monsters sympathetic, or at least trying to imagine what it's like inside their heads, but the results always seem to lean toward emo with vampires. I think a lot of authors of vampires don't believe that audiences can identify with bad guys. I wish they'd take a page from the writers who work on serial killers--it's possible to root for Dexter Morgan or Hannibal Lecter even though they're pretty nasty bastards.

I also firmly believe that the whole point of zombies is to be the Final Boss's mindless army of murderous minions--because that way Our Hero can plow through them with wild abandon, secure in the knowledge that it's not wanton murder, but rather a release of lost souls from their unfathomable and unnatural torment.

[shadesofmauve]

I recently read a new york times article calling most of chick-lit 'priv-lit', and I think it hit the nail on the head. Finally, words to describe my disgust with the genre.

That being said, I like werewolves, but not all the undead things. I've always been fascinated with the idea of transforming into an animal (and being able to run, and jump huge distances, and and and...) but the rest of it doesn't do much for me.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

That is my new favorite literary term. It is painfully accurate.

I never quite grasped how werewolves got lumped in with the undead in the first place--vampires, okay, zombies, definitely, but werewolves? They always seemed pretty alive to me.

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

MQ'd!

[matthias-wave.livejournal.com]

You know what I think? I think we need to get some of the people who worked on the War of the Spider Queen books in on the vampire thing. Yeah, I know, it's Forgotten Realms, but we need people who can write characters who can be evil and people at the same time, like that series usually managed to do fairly well with the drow.

Failing that, get roleplayers in there. Preferably the ones who view it as fun and realize it doesn't have to be high art, but still enjoy being their characters.

I have a feeling that if the "I Hate You Vampire Dad" quotient was as high in any realistic vampire!universe as it is in some series, that would very rapidly cease to be a vampire!universe. If you're going to complain about being given superpowers, complain about the goddamn weaknesses! Have a religious person get vamped and now they can't go to church anymore. Not showing up in mirrors can actually be a major hassle, especially if they don't show up on film either - no driver's license, no passport, no ID of any kind. Inability to eat garlic causes all the hassles a food allergy does - and that's assuming they can eat normal food anymore at all. Hell, on average you can't even go outside half the day, and that's in universes where vampires don't have to sleep in the daytime anyhow!

Vampires have problems. But they're not insurmountable ones, and people have vampires complaining about the superpowers instead of the weaknesses.

Re: My 2¢

[stormteller.livejournal.com]

Yup. In troper terms, Vampires have just about reached their peak decay level and are ready to begin their deconstruction cycle. This has already started to a degree- 30 Days of Night seemed like an example, though I didn't see it and can't be sure. The grues or whatever in Descent may also count.

Zombies are harder to do. They're a good idea, but one without much meat on it. You can only do so much. For me, though, the most interesting thing about a zombocalypse is the effect it has on human society. If I were to do a zombie story, it would be more about politics than revenants chewing on people. But, Max Brooks has covered most of that angle already as well.

If I may plug it so shamelessly, this page is based on my view of where vampires and such monsters are heading at the moment.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I do it all for You, The Reader!

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

See, all those could be a lot more interesting than WOE IS ME FOR I AM TOO AWESOME.

And yeah, what you need are some good dedicated hacks on board with the vampire stuff. The hacks who write vampires right now seem just to be cashing in, but I think some of my favorite kind of writing comes from hacks who are having a damn good time coming up with shit, and who are willing to make real characters and scenarios. Basically, I want hacks who care enough to do it right!