P is for Paranormal

It's difficult - for me at least - to be able to draw a solid line separating Fantasy and Paranormal. But regardless, I love them both. But I'm 99% sure Paranormal has to do with fantasy creatures but in a contemporary setting? Let's go with that.

I was in my mid-late teens when the paranormal craze swept through YA like a hurricane. And yes, I did read all the Twilight books. I know this is going to sound painfully hipster of me, but I totally read Twilight before it was cool. And in true hipster fashion, the more popular it got, the less I liked it. It was a pleasant, unchallenging read. It was the first series that I ever re-read, only to be matched so far by my re-reading of the Hunger Games trilogy. (This summer I plan to re-read Harry Potter, and the Artimis Fowl books but that's another topic!)

But I do genuinely like the paranormal. I think it stems from a love of all things a bit not quite right. By that I mean I was obsessed with ghosts. I used to watch all those bad late night ghost hunting TV shows and go to old houses and take photographs to look for 'unexplained' shadows.

I also loved some of the vampire movies that were out when I was younger. Interview with a vampire and Queen of the damned, two adaptations of Anne Rice - though I've never read her original books.

Stuart Townsend as Lestat in Queen of the Damned. I mean, just LOOK at him.
This movie is partially to blame for my goth phase... 

Holding my hands up, I also watch a lot of the TV series that were the result of the 00's Paranormal boom such as The Vampire Diaries, The Secret Circle (sob) and Teen Wolf.

There's an inescapable whiff of cheese that follows around paranormal and I know some people just can't hack it at all. But I like it for all it's cheesy goodness. But, like cheese, you can't have too much or it'll give you indigestion.

Paranormal, a good romp, or a sad fad?

Sarah x