Thursday, April 24, 2008

Teresa D'Amario: Things that make you wonder

The Deadly Vixens wants to welcome our guest blogger, Teresa D'Amario. Thank you Teresa for joining us this week to discuss our paranormal world.

Things that make you wonder.

First, I'd like to thank the ladies of Deadly Vixens for inviting me to visit their exciting new blog. I've been learning from them as they made this a paranormal romance blog to watch! I'm very happy to be here.

Authors create new and exciting worlds with the freedom only paranormal or fantasy can provide. We gather on websites and talk about our new worlds, the kinds of things that bring shivers to those who don't understand.

But the Vixens aren't the only ones creating new and wonderful worlds for you to visit! There's a new blog in town, and we are having a blast over there. It's the ShapeShifter Romance blog. A blog for those who love the animalistic pleasures brought by those who aren't quite human. Make sure you drop by this week, because we're having a prize question every day - one responder will be chosen to receive the prize of the day. You have one week from the original posting so if you guys wanna win my book, SheWolf, you better get there fast! It will be given away on Monday to someone who's answered the Monday's question.

Ok, so let's talk paranormal. As a child, ghosts and goblins were the paranormal of the day. They were dark and evil creatures that gave us chills and haunted our nightmares. We read books by Stephen King, or watched the bad horror movies with popcorn that usually ended up more on us than in us, as we screamed when the monster attacked. We craved the fear, watching the vampires and other creatures of the night as they ran rampant on the big screen, or through the pages of the most terrifying of novels. We cringed at the werewolves as they created more and more of their furry kind, luxuriating in the sensual natures of their forefathers, while feeding on the innocent.

Somehow romance twisted those fears into something more exciting. More romantic. The vampires of the past became the dark and tortured soul of today. The werewolves were no longer victims of a disease, but became the misunderstood hero who had to hide his entire life. Even demons now walk among the world of the paranormal, such misunderstood creatures with a sensual nature. What happened to that evil we all so feared?

What once terrified us, haunting our nightmares, is now our fantasy. We've changed them from dark and evil to dark and sexy. The danger hasn't gone away, but has instead changed it's course. I find this to be one of the most fascinating parts of paranormal romance. The demons of our nightmares become the fantasy of our days. What does that say about us as paranormal romance readers?

Makes you wanna go Hmmmm.

14 deadly screams:

Sierra Wolfe said...

Hi Teresa! Thanks for being our guest today. I'm so glad you could spend a little time with us. Loved your post. It's so true how we've turned the horror figures of our past into romantic heroes.

Sierra

Gracen Miller said...

Hello, Teresa! Thank you for guest blogging with us today. It is an honor to have you!

Maybe I'm the weird one, but I always thought those paranormal creatures were the misunderstood hero type in those movies and books. I started writing paranormal romance (terrible, terrible stuff upon reflection) long before it was all the rage in novels. I was so tired of seeing what I saw as a sexy, erotic hero mangled in the public eye! I like their darkness because they are hovering between the edges of good and bad. And who doesn’t like a little angst and a sexy bad boy to go along with it?

I enjoyed your blog, Teresa. It brought back memories of my teen years watching those horror movies with popcorn and tea with my girlfriends.

Now, I’m going over to your Shapeshifter blog! It sounds fun too. -- G

P.S. I'm such an idiot! LOL. I posted this message to my blog from yesterday! =)

Cora Zane said...

Great post, Teresa! :) I thank romance everyday for injecting new life into the old werewolf/vampire mythos. So much good material has come out since.

Teresa D'Amario said...

Morning everyone! I've decided I'll give ONE copy of SheWolf away to one lucky commenter. :D So write away.

Plus, if you comment on Monday's question on our shapeshifter blog, you stand a chance to win there as well. :)

Sarah Mäkelä said...

Hi Teresa, thanks for guest blogging with us! You did a great post! I really agree. I'm happy that paranormal creatures are the heroes now instead of dark and evil. I don't think that Hollywood does a good job with portraying werewolves, in my mind werewolves are sexier than oversized creepy and scraggly beasts. :)

Teresa D'Amario said...

Funny, There was a recent werewolf movie that came out that had potential. I can't recall the title, but it had the concept it was a virus, and they'd found the cure in a young boy's blood. But the fight was against a bad werewolf, vs good werewolf.... one who liked being "Sick" one who hated it. That turned me off right away. I want the first sexy werewolf to be a good, but dark hero - and trust me, from previews the bad guy was definitely sexy!

Gracen Miller said...

Teresa, you're talking about Skinwalkers, I think. If so, the bad werewolf, Varek, was HOT sexy. He alone was worth watching it--to me. The bad werewolf's name is Jason Behr in real life, the same guy that played Max on Roswell. I'm still having a hard time comprehending that the two of them are the same man. One is HOT the other is just blah to me. You can find him on imdb.com to compare them if you're interested.

Sarah Mäkelä said...

I saw that movie. I thought it was fairly good. If y'all haven't seen it then I can't spoil the ending!

Sarah Mäkelä said...

PS. I thought Jason Behr was uber sexy in the movie!

Gracen Miller said...

Oh, God, yes, Jason Behr was definitely uber sexy in that movie! Whew! He was hot! Anyway, I agree, Sarah, I thought the movie was good too. I didn't want to give away the ending either, that's why I didn't say much about it.

Sarah Mäkelä said...

Hehe! I just watched it at first because it was a movie about werewolves, and well, I used to watch Roswell for a brief time, but Jason Behr was so hot in it. He has like a rather innocent hotness during some parts of the movie, but like a full on beastily roar sexiness during other parts. I didn't particularly like it when he was a bad guy in the movie, but the end kind of made up for it.

Anonymous said...

Something to add to my Netflix cue...I wonder if all that horror watching put us in touch with our darker selves, and all the sexy things that can happen in the dark. I too think werewolves get short shrift. I've never seen a movie that quite got the pack dynamics of real wolves either.

Sierra Wolfe said...

I know it's a teen book, but Twilight by Stephenie Meyer was really good and they're making a movie out of it. The werewolves are good guys and so are some of the vampires. I personally can't wait to see it. I hope it's good, but I did like the books.

Sierra

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tip. When I was writing the vampire screenplay, it was all vampires all the time, so werewolves might be a welcome break (right now it's all Nazis all the time for my Hannah Vogel myster series, and Nazis make werewolves look great).