Why Romance?

Upon this month of February where hearts are all aflutter and chocolates and flowers abound, I wanted to explore why, after all these years, I still have strong romantic elements in my books. Why Romance? Why not just monsters and murders and mayhem, oh my!

I LOVE crafting the love story for my characters almost as much as I love crafting the demons they have to defeat. I look at their insecurities, their hang, ups, their flaws that have prevented them from becoming a hero already. Finding someone who loves them in spite of all this what really inspires me. And then I put them together, throw a bunch of obstacles in the way, and see what happens.

I write with the truth that love is seeing the inner, ooey-gooey
marshmallow center of another person and embracing it in a graham cracker and chocolate hug. It is seeing what the other person hides from the world and accepting it. It’s knowing yourself enough to understand how you fit perfectly with another person. Add a little heat and, Voila! 

Even after twenty years of writing romance, I still am as head over heels with love as I was in the beginning. I want everyone to experience this type of truth in their life. That is what I’m going for, informing that experience of finding love, of rekindling love. Finding all the paths, and shapes, and tastes of love to hopefully help you find the one person who really understand and supports your spirit.

The only thing that has really changed is how much real estate that love story takes up in my books. The first series, Diaries of an Urban Panther, was a true romance in the sense that the main push of the story was “How are shy Violet and a warrior Chaz ever going to get together?” It was the driving force of the whole series- everything got in the way of their relationship.What does love look like when you are fated to save the world?

Nowadays, I like the world saving and mystery solving to take a front seat, while the romance becomes a supporting factor in the hero’s quest. She can’t go it without him, but it’s not driving the story like it used to. In The Merci Lanard Files, our main man Rafe is there and helpful and supporting, but the real dramatic question is usually “Who killed all these people?”

So when you pick up your next read, think about how the romance fits into the book. Is it a true romance, like Pride and Prejudice? Or is the romance a side plot that helps or hinders the main plot, like in Raiders of the Lost Arc? Or does it just seem thrown in there, like in The Hobbit (the movie)?

After all the books with all the romance, I am still falling in love with love all over again with every couple I read/watch. I probably always will. 

What are you all's favorite couples? Favorite love stories?

As always your faithful writer, 

Amanda Arista

www.amandaarista.com

facebook/Insta/Threads: @pantherista

From The Backlist: "Why Do People Like to Read Scary Stories?" by Merrie Destefano

 .
We love our Supernatural Underground backlist -- and it's very hard to go past this fun post from the fabulous Merrie Destefano!

Why Do People Like to Read Scary Stories?

by Merrie Destefano

The sun goes down, the sounds of the city grow quiet, and the rest of the family nestles, safe and sound in a world of incandescent light. Meanwhile, one person huddles alone in a darkened room, face turned toward a screen, eerie blue light carving shadows on her face while her fingers slowly tap out a message, letter by letter.

A writer is writing.

Wind blows outside her window, leaves gather in shadowed corners of the yard and nearby trees sway, branches creaking.

The writer is writing a scary story. 

Why do some writers always return to the dark side of literature, spinning out tales that make readers sit on the edge of their seat? Perhaps an even better question, and one that I’d like to discuss here, is why do some people love to read scary stories?

While, I can’t answer this question definitively, I can offer some suggestions.

1. ADRENALINE RUSH:
This is my favorite answer, although many of the others are just as good. We read scary stories so we can experience artificial situations of “fight or flight.” These scenarios, whether real or imagined, get your body ready for action by giving you an extra dose of adrenaline. Your heart beat speeds up, your breathing increases and your blood pressure increases—in other words, it’s like an instant dose of caffeine combined with heavy exercise. You’re ready to leap over tall buildings in a single bound, although you may be screaming “Mommy!” all the way.

2. FAMILIARITY:
You’ve been here before and you liked it. You’ve been reading scary stories for years, you have a list of favorite authors and you’re waiting in line, with sweaty palms, when his/her next book releases. You stay up late (reading these stories is always better at midnight, right?), turning pages while everyone else is asleep. But the truth of the matter is you can’t sleep, can you? Not until you know what happens next…

3. A VISCERAL REACTION:
The desire to feel something strongly—no matter what the emotion is—can drive readers to these books. Detailed descriptions of eviscerated body parts in zombie stories may not get you excited, but there are plenty of readers out there who live for this stuff.

4. TO FEEL ALIVE:
Similar to the answer above, books that put you on the edge remind you that you are alive. You’re not watching some soap opera at lunch time; you’re hunched over a novel wondering if the heroine is really strong and smart enough to survive that demon horde that’s been chasing her for the last twenty pages.

5. TO CONQUER THE DEMONS:
We all have our demons, things we’re afraid of but don’t want to admit. Things like clowns (It), menacing dolls (Chucky), the end of the world (The Stand), rampant pestilence (Contagion), rabid dogs (Cujo), vampires (Interview with a Vampire) and serial killers (Darkly Dreaming Dexter). By vicariously facing your fears in a novel, you’re able to tame them, or at least, imagine that you’ve tamed them. Until they show up the next night, waiting for you in the closet.

6. TO EXPLORE THE UNKNOWN:
There are boundless supernatural realms, where wonder and horror walk side by side—realms where people rise from the dead or where someone learns the future in their dreams or where someone is giving an extraordinary power. There’s just enough enchantment and mystery to make you want to know more, and just enough danger to make you glad this is fiction.

7. TO FEEL STRONG EMOTIONS:
Anger—hatred—fear—love—surprise—terror—repulsion—empathy…Scary stories have all these emotions and more trapped between the pages, just waiting for an innocent reader to come along and release them. Before you know it, you’re experiencing the same emotions. Again, this is similar to Number Three, but I felt that it needed to stated again. (It is my list, no?)

8. TO PROVE WE CAN SURVIVE:
Isn’t that what it’s all about? You’re secretly taking notes, so if X, Y or Z ever really happens, you’re ready. Doesn’t everyone know what to do in a zombie/alien apocalypse by now? And if so, why? Because you’ve all been making a list and checking it twice while watching The Walking Dead or Falling Skies.

9. SATISFACTION WHEN TERROR IS OVERCOME:
There’s an unbelievably sweet moment when the heroine finally plunges a stake through the heart of the last vampire—almost instantly, your muscles relax, you slump backward in your chair and then breathe a well-deserved long sigh because, without realizing it, you’ve been holding your breath and sitting on the edge of your seat, ready to run.

10. TO PROVE THAT DRAGONS NOT ONLY EXIST, BUT THAT THEY CAN BE DEFEATED:
What? Scary stories can give you hope? To quote someone more knowledgeable on this subject than me: “Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”― G.K. Chesterton. Watching a character deal with the monster in the closet can give you the courage to face up to your own monsters. Yes, tales of terror can actually be uplifting, when written with that purpose in mind.

...

Fun, huh?! To read the original post, click here.

To discover more about Merrie and her writing, go here.

Above all -- enjoy!

Great Leaders in Speculative Fiction -- Where To Find 'Em & Why they Rock

 .
Well, here I am on February 2nd as promised last month -- which is not a huge shift, but still takes a bit of adjustment, having posted on the 1st of every month for so long. :-)

You may consider the adjustment made, though, as -- bright-eyed and full of verve ;-) -- I kick off a 2025 featuring Leaders and Leadership in speculative fiction. (That's fantasy and scifi, just in case you're wondering!)

In particular, I hope to highlight each leader's style and why others in the story follow them, starting with an enduring favorite: 

Mara of the Acoma in Daughter of the Empire

Mara is the lead character in the Empire trilogy by Raymond E Feist and Janny Wurts: Daughter of the Empire, Servant of the Empire, and Mistress of the Empire respectively. 

The story opens when a young Mara discovers that she is the sole surviving member of House Acoma, with its rulers and armies annihilated by treachery in a distant war. She has been training for a religious life, but if her clan are to survive, she must forgo that genuine calling and assume political leadership. So great a change would be daunting under any circumstances, but House Acoma has powerful enemies, bent on obliterating Mara and enslaving her clan. 

Rulership in the Empire is hereditary, so bloodline and rank are the initial basis for Mara leading the Acoma. She also chooses to accept the role, forgoing a religious calling when pursuing it would have preserved her own life. Yet without a hereditary ruler, everyone else in the clan would be either enslaved or condemned to outlawry, forgoing all honor. So the second aspect of Mara's leadership, demonstrated in that initial choice and reinforced throughout the story, is a strong sense of duty and service. In other words, it's never all about her. 

Mara's position, however, is extraordinarily weak. To survive, she must not only adapt, learn fast, and outwit her enemies, but think well outside the square. In an Empire hidebound by tradition, her ability to question custom and reshape social codes without breaking the laws, win Mara new followers and vital alliances. 

Mara's sense of duty and service inspire loyalty in others. Similarly, her acumen and success, particularly with the outside-the-square solutions, build confidence in her leadership. Mara also demonstrates considerable courage in the face of adversity -- but just as tellingly, she is merciful in victory. And it's the mercy, building on her other qualities, that eventually changes the Empire.

All in all, I consider Mara of the Acoma one of the great leaders in speculative fiction.

~*~

About Helen Lowe

Helen Lowe is an award-winning novelist, poet, and lover of story. With four books published to date, she is currently completing the final instalment in The Wall Of Night series.
.
Helen posts regularly on her “…on Anything, Really” blog, monthly on the Supernatural Underground, and tweets @helenl0we.

From the Back List - Adapting to Survive

 

The transformative power of bacteria turns plastic into eco treasures. Science 2023

Once again we have a treasure of our own from the Sup back list. It runs along parallel with Kim Falconer's latest post - The Art of Adaptation - Films in 2025

Read the entire back list post here and let us know what you think of these crazy bacterium set to save the planet!

* * * 

Adapting to Survive

by Kim Falconer

 

Adapting a book to the screen has many names - remake, reboot, revision... But they all have one thing in common: the story is, in part or whole, rewritten to survive.

From the point of view of the book, this isn't always good, where 'good' equals accurate or in the spirit of.... As I mentioned once in The Down Side of Adaptation, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jeffrey Eugenides reminds us that the book's story radically changes once it becomes visual. 

"It's no longer a book, and to try to insist on it being a book will usually make it a poorer film." - Jeffrey Eugenides

In the world of storytelling, adaptation is about the book withstanding a translation to 'motion pictures' and in the wild kingdom, adaptation means exactly the same thing... Read more.

* * *

We would love to hear about your favorite adaptations, in the wilds and multi-media! See you in the comments.

The Art of Adaptation - Films in 2025

Adaptation to Social Environment No.2 Drawing
Jirasak Plabootong

Hello, Sup fans. 

Welcome to the fantastic year of 2025!

Since wrapping up my Choose Your Weapon series 2024, I've pondered what will be next, hoping for something, IDK, deeper, more diverse, less derived. The three Ds.

3D! 

The realization fueled the idea for The Art of Adaptation.

Let's Look Deeper

    ADAPTATION 

    1. a process of changing one medium to another. "She adapted the novel to a TV series."

    2. a physiological change to outer stimuli. "The cat's eyes adjust quickly to light."

    3. a response to external pressures. "It snowed so she put on her coat." 

In essence, adaptation is changing to make one thing suitable for a new or altered purpose. Sometimes we are compelled to adapt. Other times, it is part of the act of creating.

It's this second idea I want to explore today, ie, authoring a screen adaptation from a literary source. It's harder than it might seem. 

First of all, the 'property', the book or novella, has to have a producer interested in securing the rights to use the work. Usually, it is 'optioned' for a fee and the producer then has x amount of time (a year or ten?) to come up with the funding to go ahead.

Then, they need writers to create the script, hopefully sticking to the spirit of the original work. At that point, writers will want an essential understanding of the characters, plot and genre/feel. Face it. That's not always easy to grasp or even easy to agree upon. 

And Diversify

Finally, there is the logistics. Take this example from 5 Tips from the Pros for Adapting Books into Film Scripts by Jourdan Aldredge:

"Some tribes of American Indians had a word to describe those of their brethren who sat around thinking deep thoughts. Literally the word translated to The Disease of Long-Thinking. ... often lead characters in novels suffer from this disease. When essential plot information is presented only in a character’s thought or in the character’s internal world, one solution is to give this character a sounding board, another character, to which his thoughts can be voiced aloud. Either adapt an existing character from the novel or create a new one..." 

With these ideas in mind, look at a few anticipated Spec Fic adaptations to the screen coming in 2025.

Beyond the Derivative

The Midnight Library by Matthew Haig

I read Matthew Haig's The Midnight Library a few years back and though depressing at times, it was a powerful experience. What's not to love about a magical library that hovers between life and death. Imagine my delight to hear that it's being produced by StudioCanal and Blueprint Pictures, offering us a rendition of the main, Nora Seed, and her incredible journey. 

We are promised a glimpse of her introduction to the incredible library that allows her to live different lives... I can't wait!

Klara And The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

This is the first novel by Kazuo Ishiguro since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 2017. In Klara and The Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro looks at our rapidly changing world through the perspective of an A.I., specifically asking what it means to love.

From her place in the store, Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, watches carefully the behaviour of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass in the street outside. She remains hopeful a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change forever, Klara is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans. Amazon.com

The exciting news is that, not only will Klara and the Sun be adapted to film, it will be directed by Taika Waititi, with Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams starring! Ortega will play the A.I. "robot" that Adams' character buys "for her teenager."

I imagine the biggest challenge will be staying true to the unique narrative perspective of the non-human, sentient robot. How will they handle it?

The Electric State by Simon Stalenhag

From Amazon.com... Soon to be a Netflix film starring Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt.

A teen girl and her robot embark on a cross-country mission in this illustrated science fiction story, perfect for fans of Stranger Things and Black Mirror.

Like Klara and the Sun, we have another youngstee-with-compantion-robot story. Interesting trend, do you think?

In late 1997, a runaway teenager and her small toy robot travel west through a strange American landscape where the ruins of gigantic battle drones litter the countryside, along with the discarded trash of a high-tech consumerist society addicted to a virtual-reality system.

 As they approach the edge of the continent, the world outside the car window seems to unravel, as if somewhere beyond the horizon, the hollow core of civilization has finally caved in...

And more from Netflix - Millie Bobby Brown is breathing life into a new character in the movie adaptation of The Electric State! Starring alongside Chris Pratt, she'll team up with an unlikely anti-hero (Pratt) and a robot as they all search for something in this heartwarming movie about what could happen in a world where technology rules all.

I can't wait to see how this adaptation measures up!

See more in Sup posts from our backlist: Adapting to Survive and The Down Side of Adaptation, and let us know what you think! Fav adaptation? Most true? Most divergent? 

***

About Kim Falconer

Kim Falconer, also writing as AK Wilder, has released Crown of Bones, a YA Epic Fantasy with Curse of Shadows as book 2 in the series. Currently, she is working on the third book, out in 2025.

Kim can be found on AKWilder Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and KimFalconer.com. 

Throw the bones, read your horoscopes or Raise Your Phantom on the AKWilder.com site See you there!

Back from the dead with some big questions

 Hello Dear Readers!

Amanda here and back from the dregs that was 2024. Last year kicked my butt, but this year is starting off a little better? I made sure to open the front and back doors of my house at midnight on New years to let the old energies out and the new energies in, and I think it worked. 

As part of a life-refresh, I started asking myself why I do I write. Why do I stay up late and dream up characters and world? Why do I write paranormal? Why not romance or high fantasy? Why Shifters? Why not Elves or Angels?

And just to add to my imposter syndrome, why do I write about a creature that has been written about a million times before?  Especially when you’re working with the supernatural. Both my book series deal with primarily with shapeshifters (and maybe a few fairies and demons stuck in there too). 

When I started writing, I wanted to call them Shifters partially because there was something sexier about calling them shifters, and partly because saying were-panther tends to get a snicker in response. It’s all the same trope of magic. So in my mythos, the shifters are humans who harness magic to shift into an animal. Their animal is mostly determined by who bit them OR, fun turn of events, sometime called a soulshift when the animal matches their spirit and not their bloodline. The moon pulls at them and heirloom silver is their weakness.

But it all sounds pretty familiar, right? It’s hard to get something original about a creature that appears in every single culture across the world. So something about them must be appealing to our deeper self, right? Why do we find shapeshifters so damn alluring?

There's only one reason, right? We like the danger. Even with a human consciousness, those are still some damn big claws. That edge keeps us on our toes, ready to fight or flee. We like that it’s a wild animal trying to get out. We like that they can smell our fear. We like that they have basal core temperatures of 100 degrees (at least mine do) because it means for a lot of no-shirt time. It is a simple and universal attraction.

 But if you want to go deeper, I guess we could also look at this through a Jungian lens about  seeking to understand the animal side of ourselves. Our myths about were-creatures stemmed from a fear that our animal selves will take over and expose who we really are.  In Diaries and Truth, the animal only exposes who they really was, even if they wasn’t ready to be that yet.

So, if our animal selves expose who we really are and our attraction to them is based on our fear of knowing the truth about ourselves and others, what would your animal be? I know you’ve thought about it. Would you be the proud lioness who guards her pride fiercely? Would you be a black lab who is loyal until the moment of death? Are you a Panther?

Amanda Arista

Author of Diaries of an Urban Panther series and The Merci Lanard Files

www.amandaarista.com

@pantherista

From the Backlist: "Character Development and Pacing" -- by T Frohock

 .
T Frohock is the author of two fabulous Los Nefilim novella series. The first is a trio of linked novellas; the second a novel trilogy. And lookout for her standalone Miserere which is being rereleased on 21 January -- we think that rocks, too.

This post centers on The Second Death, the third of the linked novellas, but the ideas in terms of character development are gold for all writing, particularly (but not exclusively) in its longer forms.

Character Development and Pacing--Make Room for Quiet Moments

by T Frohock

... One thing readers seem very unified about is the relationship between Diago and Miquel, and the quiet family moments that involve Diago's son, Rafael. These are what some readers might call the boring bits, but I never do. I place these familial scenes within the story, not just for character development, but also to help the pacing.

When I worked in radio--many, many, many years ago--I was told to think of the musical segments as waves. Begin with a soft tune, then choose songs that gradually build the tempo until the third or fourth song was upbeat and fast before moving the pace back toward softer music.

The technique was all about pacing the music so that the sounds would be pleasing to the listener. We do the same thing in stories by making the action rise and fall in a logical manner.

Even in shorter works, such as novellas, readers need a little breathing room between the action scenes, or in cases such as The Second Death: Los Nefilim, Part 3, before the action takes off. Most often, I use these scenes as a break from the action, but every now and then, I start the story with them, especially in one like The Second Death.

The logic behind beginning with an intimate scene in The Second Death was to bring the reader back up to speed with what had transpired in Without Light or Guide: Los Nefilim, Part 2 while adding enough new content to keep the reader engaged. My key to making these scenes work is keeping them short and intimate through the use of dialogue.

In this snippet, which is about 600 words, I am reminding the reader of how other members of Los Nefilim view Diago, and by extension daimons, through the peripheral character Lucia, an angel-born Nefil who hates daimons. Since I didn't want to give any spoilers, I had to choose one of the more innocuous conversations for this post.

For those new to the series: Rafael is Diago's six-year-old son, and Miquel is Diago's partner.

Diago followed Rafael into the bathroom and picked up his comb.

“No! No!” Rafael ran his wet fingers over his unruly locks. “You don’t need to comb it, Papa. I’m Gitano.” He shook his head. “My hair is wild like my spirit.”

“Wild spirits in this house comb their hair.” Diago grabbed a towel and wiped his son’s damp fingers. Stray hairs drifted into the sink’s basin and joined those of Miquel and Diago. He wiped the strands off the porcelain. “It looks like a family of bears lives here.”

Rafael giggled and raised his arms over his head, hands clenched like claws. He roared until the comb snagged a tangle. “Ow!”

Diago leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “Then stay still. Even bear cubs don’t wiggle when their papas comb their hair.” 

“Bears don’t comb their hair.” The child’s busy fingers found a chip in the sink’s porcelain. “When I’m grown up, I’m never combing my hair.”

“Don’t you want to look nice for Ysa today?”

He picked at the sink’s scar. “I want to stay home today.”

“You can stay with Lucia and Ysa for a little while.”

Rafael said nothing.

“Don’t you like playing with Ysa?”

“Yes.” Rafael rubbed his thumb around the chip.

“So?” Diago worked his fingers through a snarled lock and held his breath. Had he and Ysa fought? A generous girl, Ysa could sometimes be overbearing, but Diago had never known her to intentionally hurt another person. “Why don’t you want to go?”

He shrugged.

Diago kept his tone even as a suspicion caught up with him. “Is it Lucia?”

A moment passed and Diago thought Rafael wasn’t going to answer him. Finally, his son nodded.

“And what does she say?” Because it was Lucia, it had to be something out of her vicious mouth.

Another shrug. “Just things.”

“What kind of things?”

“She said I should never go to Morocco, because I am small and dark like a monkey. She said someone would see that I am daimon and stuff me in a bottle and make me a jinni. Then she laughs like it’s a joke, but her eyes are all hard and mean.”

Jesus.

Lucia. Ysabel’s governess made no secret of her hatred for Diago, which was fine with him, but taking her pettiness out on Rafael was a step too far.

Diago was careful to keep his anger out of his face and voice. He didn’t want Rafael to think he was upset with him. Instead, he took his son’s shoulders and gently turned the child so he could see his face. He realized a river of tears would be preferable to the hurt he saw in Rafael’s eyes. “You know what? You can come with us this morning. I’ll bet Father Bernardo has someplace where you can sit and draw pictures while we talk, hmm?” He smoothed Rafael’s hair and glanced into the hall to see that Miquel had joined them. How much had he heard?

Diago didn’t have long to wonder.

Miquel came into the bathroom and stood behind Diago. “Pick him up.”

Diago lifted Rafael so he could see himself in the mirror. Three faces, three shades of skin that passed from Rafael’s light gold to Diago’s tawny flesh, and finally Miquel’s dusky brown.

Miquel made a great show of assessing their faces. “You know what, Rafael? I am darker than you.”

“Miquel is Gitano, too,” Diago whispered in Rafael’s ear. “And everyone thinks he is very, very handsome.” Including me, he thought as he examined his lover’s reflection.

A ghost of a smile touched Rafael’s mouth.

“And your papa is part daimon like you,” Miquel said. “No one has stuffed him in a bottle and made him a jinni.” He reached around Diago to touch Rafael’s chin. “No one is going to mistake us for monkeys, or jinn.”

“That’s right,” Diago said. “We’re a family of bears.”

Rafael gave a soft roar and the mischievousness returned to his eyes.

Quiet moments don't have to be boring. Just remember to use them to keep the story moving forward and the reader will remain engaged. This particular snippet precedes a very violent scene, which has a lot more impact, because the reader is allowed to experience a gentler moment with the family prior to the violence. By seeing how Diago, Miquel, and Rafael interact here, their subsequent actions, and the risks they take, are believable to the reader.

The other overriding theme that runs through this section is Diago's dual nature, which is an important part of the story. While Diago is growing more comfortable with both his heritage and his place within Los Nefilim, he is sacrificing the daimonic side of his nature in order to fit in. Before it's over, Diago will be forced to rely on his daimonic nature to deceive an angel. In doing so, he discovers the birth of a modern god—one that will bring about a new world order from which no one can escape.

The Second Death is coming ...

The year is 1931.

The city is Barcelona.

The war between the angels begins in earnest.

Whose side are you on?

To read the original post in full, click here.

And to find out more about the author, her books, and what she's working on now, go here.