I put some blame on Laurell Hamilton. Not that she's the worst of it (well, aside from a few books at her lowest ebb, and even then her monsters were still capable of being monsters) but when her books started hitting it big, it's like a floodgate opened, and every two-bit no-talent romance writer figured out that wallpapering in werewolves/vampires/witches/etc as characters tripled their sales.
It used to be damned near impossible to find any books with those sorts as protagonists, now it's a flood of crap and dross with occasional nuggets of quality bobbing along in the foam.
I concur, but I would also mention Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Forever Knight, and other such television shows that painted vampires and werewolves in romantic themes.
Litterature today is terrible. And while Laurell Hamiltno might have open the gates to bad writers , Stephenie (not Stephanie because she's Speshull) Meyer made it worse by convincing young girls and their mom that you can write a bestseller in 6 months.
So TONs of crappy books where abusive relationships between sparkly people are considered "romance" are eventually going to hit us in the future.
I think Anne Rice has more to do with it than Laurell Hamilton. But oddly enough, the blame really goes back (in my mind, at least) to my beloved Universal Monsters, and especially Frankenstien, which were some of the earliest "mass culture" appearances of the "monster-as-sympathetic" idea. It made them brilliant ... but it also was the tiny crack that becomes a huge rift...
Vampires have always been pretty though. (Except for the nosferatu family, who were monsters)... it's part of their magic to have people invite them into their homes! :)
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Date: 2009-11-10 01:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-10 01:28 pm (UTC)Yes I do and I want it back :(
Freakin' Twilight -_-;;
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Date: 2009-11-10 02:08 pm (UTC)It used to be damned near impossible to find any books with those sorts as protagonists, now it's a flood of crap and dross with occasional nuggets of quality bobbing along in the foam.
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Date: 2009-11-10 02:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-10 03:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 07:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 02:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-10 03:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-10 03:57 pm (UTC)And while Laurell Hamiltno might have open the gates to bad writers , Stephenie (not Stephanie because she's Speshull) Meyer made it worse by convincing young girls and their mom that you can write a bestseller in 6 months.
So TONs of crappy books where abusive relationships between sparkly people are considered "romance" are eventually going to hit us in the future.
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Date: 2009-11-11 08:05 am (UTC)-- Ghostbusters (1984)
Dr. Ray Stanz: I thought you said print was dead.
Dr. Egon Spengler: I wish.
-- Ghostbusters (2009)
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Date: 2009-11-10 09:07 pm (UTC)-TG
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Date: 2009-11-10 04:46 pm (UTC)http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=WIGU-EDWARD&Category_Code=WIGU
And I really need to do something with vampiresdontsparkle.com.
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Date: 2009-11-10 05:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-10 09:07 pm (UTC)-TG
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Date: 2009-11-10 05:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-11 06:46 am (UTC)So basically BRAIN SLAVES.
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Date: 2009-11-11 01:22 pm (UTC)