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Popular Culture Review
series about an ever-widening cast of characters, but past and future
protagonists show up as the supporting cast, which both satisfies readers
and entices them to continue reading. This same tactic is used by popular
authors: Jim Butcher, Nalini Singh, Laurell K. Hamilton, Kim Harrison,
Charlaine Harris, Kresley Cole, Faith Hunter, and Katie McAllister, to
name a few. In addition to appealing to adult readers, the Young Adult
audience is also drawn to series like Stiefvater’s Shiver books, the
Matched trilogy by Ally Condie, not to mention the love-it-or-hate-it
Twilight series and the grittier Hunger Games books, gaining readership
early, in much the same way that romance novels of bygone days did.
Serialization, however, is not the only explanation for the genre’s
popularity with today’s readers.
The stories hold familiar patterns for readers, thereby fulfilling
the desire for a story they can predict, but which has just enough mystery
to maintain reader interest. Archetypal characterization still takes place.
In fact, Byronic paranormal heroes often swoop in to save the now-asskicking heroine, usually by recognizing that she is his soul mate
(although not all series are limited to the male being the paranormal
character), a conflict ensues, he pursues, she flees, they both conquer a
common enemy, and true love can continue eternally. Rinse and repeat in
the next book. This romantic trope, along with the quest model where the
hero or heroine is on a quest (often one involving magic) is one familiar
to readers who seek entertainment that does not offer too much of a
challenge to follow.
Along with the promise of longevity, paranormal literature offers
theories to answer many unknown questions. Things-that-go-bump-inthe-night are no longer mysteries: they are the characters in these novels,
be they fighting for good or for evil. Answers beyond those offered by
traditional Abrahamic religions about the state of the soul, about heaven
and hell (or Sheoul), angels and demons, are provided in novels by JR
Ward and Sherrilyn Kenyon, for example, where the ancient gods and
their helpers are alive and continue to fight their ancient wars on an
alternate plane. In the same way that Creation Myths of old explained
natural phenomena, paranormal novels explain “truths” to the readers
who long for answers beyond those that continue to dissatisfy. While
readers know that these “truths” do not really answer questions, and that
mythical creatures are not real, they function in a way that allow readers
to become comfortable with the questions that have no answers.
In Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series, answers about the
existence of beings such as pixies and other faerie creatures are revealed.