Welcome to the Monster Mash!

In my post of this past Thursday I commented briefly on the healthy state of paranormal publishing, vis-a-vis the report that Hachette owed its second great year to Stephanie Meyers and the ongoing "Twilight" phenom. When the last Harry Potter novel was released lo those coupla years ago, everyone in publishing held their collective breath. Could the book survive the boy wizard's finale? What was the next great book/writer just over the horizon?

Well, along came Stephanie, and the rest is very recent history.

But that's not all, folks.

Every time the discussion rolls around to genres and trends, there are a few comments that vampires are (pardon the pun) dead, and that paranormal is waning as a genre. There's the discussion of a "new" monster that's all the rage. Whether the talk is of YA, or romance, or paranormal fiction, everyone has an opinion on this genre.

Mine? Well, my opinion is that it is here to stay. Evolving, for sure. But the wealth of writers out there each putting their own spin on the genre are creating a monstrously great selection.

Just this week's edition of Publishers Weekly (print, I'm talking, not online, where there's even more), there were the following stories, blurbs and announcement:

The "Pick of the Week" is the new M. J. Rose paranormal, "The Hypnotist" (Mira).

The aforementioned story of the Hachette success, led by the ka-ching engendered by Ms. Meyer.

The Hardcover Bestsellers/Fiction list includes J. D. Robb' latest, "Fantasy In Death" at 3 and "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter" at #4 - with the notation that Abe may be headed for the movies - via Tim Burton. And another paranormal title on the list? "Black Magic Sanction" by Kim Harrison. And the Paperback Bestseller lists the Dresden creator, Jim Butcher, with the latest wizard installment, "Turn Coat". And PW goes on to note that the late and much lamented Dresden TV series, canceled over vociferous complaints from his fans, is out on DVD.

Then there's the major story on a "The Passage" (and an 800 page one at that). The first paragraph says "Every few years a book comes along that seems destined for bestsellerdom." The book is the first in a trilogy by 47 year old Justin Cronin, from Texas. And he's not just your everyday author - he's a PEN/Hemingway award winner for a literary fiction novel. But when was the last time you heard about a literary novel garnering a $5.5 million three-book deal AND film deal ($3.7 mill for the boook and $1.75 million option deal by Ridley Scott)?

Moving on to the story, "London Briefcase: What the Big Six Are Bringing to the Fair" (referring to the 2010 London Bookfair). Penguin touts their title, "Blood Oath: The President's Vampire". Macmillan's Thomas Dunne imprint has "The Demon Trapper's Daughter", first in a new YA series. And HarperCollins has the indominatable and prolific Meg Cabot with her "Insatiable", a sequel to the paranormal grandaddy, "Dracula", which has already gathered a slew of foreign rights sales.

In the reviews section we get 6 varying reviews including one on a fantasy world (Bertrice Small's "Crown of Destiny"), a dark horror novel, ("Katja From the Punk Band" by Simon Logan), "Climate of Change" from Piers Anthony, his latest Geodyssey novel, "The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories", a short-story collection encompassing alternative history, hi-tech sci-fi, psychological fantasy and more including several Nebula winners. A "sword and sorcery yarn" by Michael Ehart ("The Tears of Ishtar"), and, but of course, Sookie's next adventure, "Dead in the Family" by Charlaine Harris.

The "Soapbox" column end-page by Andrea Jones discusses a painful incident involving her title, "Hook & Jill" - which is a retelling of Peter Pan for adults.

But Publishers Weekly does not corner the market on paranormal news. I'd mentioned the positioning of the new release, "Angelology" on the Boston Globe bestseller list. Daily Variety reported on the new TV series, the animated "Ugly Americans" from Comedy Central where monsters, mythical creatures and more will abound. And "True Blood"'s third season package was announced, including the mention of their still exemplary Nielsen numbers.

What else is in the paranormal news? Theatre doesn't escape the lure of the supernatural either, and the sequel to Phantom of the Opera, "Love Never Dies", is poised for a launch.

USA Today (and everyone else) ran a story on the new "Twilight" graphic novel, the first of only many to come, I'm sure.

Publishers Marketplace's Daily Deals reports on foreign rights sales for the "Twilight" graphic. The Publishers Lunch Delux weekly reports sales for a new L. A. Bank's fallen angels series ("good deal" = $100,000 - $250,000), Sylvia Day's new trilogy (book one "Angel Enchained") which has fallen angels, vampires, and lycans - at auction to NAL (and we all know what "at auction" means!). Carol Nelson Douglas's "Silver Zombie" plus a second title, sold to Juno, and it has a paranoraml investigator in Kansas (?) and deals with "zombies, weather witches and demon drug lords". Under the "romance" sales is also announced 2 titles from Vivi Anna, featuring demon hunters, to Silhouette Nocturne.

Children's Middle Grade sales including "The Story of Liesl & Po", with its elements of magic and magicians.

YA sales: "Forever" by Maggie Stiefvater (3rd title in the trilogy), AND 3 new stand-alone fantasy titles to Scholastic, OR Melling's mythological adventure "The Celtic Princess", and William Hill's "Department 19", which is from a series about a government agency of vampire hunters, again at auction for a three book deal.

Okay, though I could go on and on, I won't. But these stories are all ones that I did not hunt up, but simply came across on one, that's right, ONE, day of reading my trades.

So, paranormal dying out? Vampires passe? Weres old hat? I think not.

Authors continue to discover new twists to old favorites, from vampires to shifters and weres. Witches, fae, demons, gargoyles, zombies are being joined by the latest craze - the fallen angel. Dark and appealing, just check out your local bookstore for the covers with the tell-tale wings. With ingenuity, creativity and in some cases sheer genuis they tweak and twist and reform ideas and creatures and keep the genre expanding, growing and moving forward.

Television, film and even theatre are all on the paranormal bandwagon in a big way.

But so much of that comes from the books themselves. From the whimsical to the wacky (Dakota Cassidy's "Accidental" series, anything by Nina Bangs, for example, who populates some of her worlds with everything from the vamp and the were to the cosmic troublemaker and Gods), to the dark and horrific (both Laurell K. Hamilton series, Anita Blake and Merry Gentry), to the darkly comedic (Jim Butcher and Simon Green), to the sexy romances filled with gods from Atlantis, darkhunters and dreamhunters (Sherilyn Kenyon), the hot and steamy (J. R. Ward) and the historical gothic ("The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker" by Leanna Renee Heiber, first in a Victorian gothic series to be followed by "The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker").

There are romances, mysteries, YA, kids books and picture boooks all romping merrily in the paranormal world. Futuristics, time-travel, historicals, erotic romances: there's no end to the genres and sub-genres that are embracing paranormals.

So I think we can safely assume that, for now, all those things that go bump in the night, all the something wickeds that this way come, well, they're here to stay!

December 22, 2008

Well, looking back I see that I have been remiss for 2, count 'em, 2 weeks. Due to all manner of home appliance and system SNAFUs (car breakdown, plumbing nightmare, oil burner disaster which is on-going forcing us to keep the heat at the lowest possible setting of 59 degrees which, in NYC, means things are getting pretty nippy in the house).

But there's good news to be spread! So here I am, frostbite and all.

I spotted on Galleycat that, apparently, Nielscan's book numbers for fantasy and romance are UP the week of December 15, contrary to just about every other aspect of publishing (although I understand that children's books are still selling...). Galleycat quotes Juno Books editor, Paula Guran who says "fantasy mass market paperbacks sold 102,660 units last week..." compared with "62,781 units" in 2007. Romance, she says "always the industry leader in mass market paperback, sold 202,667 for the week in 2007..." and this year "310,689".

Although they report further that overall for the year, fantasy sales are down, but they report that "overall romance sales are up 83 percent, with mass market paperbacks alone experiencing a 50 percent boost".

Wha-hoo! Some good news. And if you aren't keeping up with all the news that GalleyCat has to offer, check out their site (see link at right).

There are still lots of deals being announced, especially in the romance genre, which bolsters the belief that they are strong sellers. Kelly Mortimer at Mortimer Literary is responsible for numerous romance sales in recent weeks. Check out this agency. Could they be for you?

Charlaine Harris is also hot with sales of both mystery titles and anthologies via JABerwocky Literary.

The likewise popular genre of paranormal continues in YA with a recent mother/daughter Cast sale of three additional titles in their House of Night series.

Simon & Shuster reported (Publishers Lunch; Publisher's Weekly) on their end of year with similar news to their NY brethren in "a challenging year". As with Random House, however, S&S has indicated they will "nearly quadruple eBook salse this year". And they'll be digitizing another 5,000 titles. Additionally they are relaunching their website in January, so check it out for upgrades.

Despite an on-going debate among Romance Writers of America members over the legitimacy of e-published titles, S&S' latest news seems to support my contention that, as far as the e-book is concerned, authors better get on this train or be left in the station! When the traditional NY houses embrace the format, you know it's on its way.

Exciting news for literary and film fans. PL reports that Baz Luhrmann has optioned The Great Gatsby. That's a big WOW as far as I'm concerned. The Aussie-born director of the fantastical and lush Moulin Rouge, as well as the romantic epic, Australia starring (sigh) Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, cannot help but do justice to the story of ill-fated love, money, beauty and the picturesque Gold Coast of Long Island. Now, who will he cast? Who can possibly outdo the perfection of Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby? And what about Daisy?

Another book to film story is that of Robert Harris' The Ghost. The contemporary international thriller by the author of Fatherland and Enigma, the latter of which was also turned into film, will be the next project of Roman Polanski. Say what you will about old Roman, but the guy sure has a way with film.

In the gossip news (sort of), Sumner Redstone and his daughter Shari, facing a deadline to repay $800 million in debt, are feuding.

Publisher Cumberland House is folding and Sourcebooks is "taking over the rights to almost a hundred titles". Cumberland founder Ron Pitkin is "seeking publishers to take on rights to 400 previously published titles not included in the Sourcebooks deal". Cumberland specialized in non-fiction titles, especially history and quirky subjects.

Several posts ago I mentioned the Tools of Change conference and provided a link to the registration site. Booksquare blogger Kassia Krozser has also made the argument that this conference is a must. She says "I've long encouraged publishing folk to setp outside of traditional book conferenes to get a sense of where technology - particularly social media - is heading." Check out Booksquare (see the link) for complete details on the panels for this conference, which include Speaking the Same Language: Universal Technology Standards in Publishing and Bookselling; Where Do You Go with 40,000 Readers? A Study in Online Community Building; New Reading Habits, New Distribution Models; and Smart Women Read eBooks.

And on a wonderful note for all fans of words, President Barak Obama has selected Elizabeth Alexander to write and read a poem at his inauguration. Find out more about this fellow word lover at her site (see at right).

For tonight, that's all folks, as I head home to watch over my laboring oil burner until our 2nd visit from the folks I hope will fix it (this time) so we can dispense with the thermal underwear while inside!

I leave you with a poem of my very own.

Write happy,
Write true.
It's the best thing there is,
And it's all you can do.