Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The New Vampires

Vampires:
TWILIGHT, HOUSE OF NIGHT, VAMPIRE ACADEMY, SOOKIE STACKHOUSE, VLADIMIR TOD, UNDEAD AND UNWED, SOULLESS, NICE GIRLS DON'T HAVE FANGS, etc.

Werewolves:
TWILIGHT (again), SHIVER, FULL MOON, KITTY AND THE MIDNIGHT HOUR, MOON CALLED, ALPHA AND OMEGA, and the rest of the pack.

(Fallen) Angels:
HUSH HUSH, STRANGE ANGELS, FALLEN--more in the details.

Fairies:
WICKED LOVELY, LAMENT, WINGS, and the list goes on.

Magic and/or Immortality:
NICHOLAS FLAMEL, EVERMORE, BLUE IS FOR NIGHTMARES, THE MAGICIANS, REVEALERS, VICIOUS CIRCLE, and we're all still wild about HARRY.

Future Distopia:
HUNGER GAMES, UGLIES, and on and on.

Not all of these are YA, but a lot of them are.
So, what's the next trend?

If you've read this blog before, you know that I hope it's telepathy.

Psychic/Telepathic:
WAKE/FADE/GONE, MINDER and the rest of the GANZFIELD series?

I'm thinking of having buttons made up:
TELEPATHS ARE THE NEW VAMPIRES.

What do you think? Is YA paranormal going to stay popular? Where do you think it's heading?
How many times do people have to say it before it's true?

And did I miss any books that deserved a mention?

9 comments:

Disgruntled Bear said...

Yeah, sometimes I listed only the first book of a series (e.g., SOULLESS), while I identified others by main character. (e.g., SOOKIE STACKHOUSE).

Coffee alone is insuffiecient to jump-start my brain this morning.

Krystalyn Drown said...

LOL I'd love a button like that. While my MC isn't exactly telepathic, she does hear ghosts and spirits, and is telekinetic. =)

Disgruntled Bear said...

I have a telekinetic, too. It's a fun skill to play with. :)

T-shirt idea:
Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand. — Kurt Vonnegut

Apparently, the coffee has kicked in enough for me to see typos now: "insufficient."

Theresa Milstein said...

I've heard that it's going to be time travel.

Michelle Stockard Miller said...

Under werewolves...The Dark Divine

Under telekinetics...Shadow Hills

What about witches? Or would that be under magic?

Disgruntled Bear said...

Thesesa,

There are some adult books with time travel themes that have done well recently, such as TIME-TRAVELER'S WIFE and Connie Willis' work--although BLACKOUT ended mid-story, which annoyed me greatly, since the second half isn't due out until this Fall. That's not a sequel; it's a two-book novel! I don't care if major arcs run through multiple books in a series, but you can't just leave characters stuck in the middle of a war with no way to get home and an impending logic-of-time-travel deadline in which one of them will cease to exist.

Grrr...

If I'd known about the lack of cloure, I wouldn't have started reading it until the second book had been released.

But I digress.

The thing about time-travel is that it's wicked hard to get the logic right. It's too easy to come up with unintentional "kill your own grandfather" paradoxes. The movie BACK TO THE FUTURE actually played with that. Connie Willis and Orson Scott Card have done a great job keeping the logic, as did (pause to check the spelling of her last name) Audrey Niffenegger.

Thanks for the additions, Michelle. I did put witches under "Magic." And I have a friend whose book MUST MUST MUST appear in this category, once it is published.

I'm impressed with how much the concept of "witch" has changed in the past two decades. Now it means "magic user" to the younger generation, while the "evil magic user" connotation has strongly lessened.

Thanks to the magic of Jo Rowling. :)

Disgruntled Bear said...

Hey Michelle -- SHADOW HILLS hasn't been released yet. Do you know Anastasia Hopcus? If I can get an ARC, I'll review it on this blog.

Disgruntled Bear said...

How could I have left off BEAUTIFUL CREATURES? Awesome magic book!

Disgruntled Bear said...

Want that button?

http://www.cafepress.com/Telepaths