With Halloween just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to chat about what draws me to fantasy and all things supernatural.
Growing up, one of my favorite movies was Escape to Witch Mountain. The original movie made in 1975, not the latest remake. For those who aren't familiar with the story, it's about two mysterious orphans, a brother and sister, who have extraordinary power and are chased by a scheming millionaire. When I was young, I was so intrigued with the idea of kids having powers that I asked my parents to buy me the book and I read that too. I used to fantasize about having powers of my own. I mean, how cool would it be to be able to move things with your mind?
Escape to Witch Mountain was only the beginning of my love for the unknown. To this day, my favorite genre is paranormal: vampires, witchcraft, angels, demons, gods and so on. I also believe that behind every myth there is a nugget of truth. But what truth could there be in vampires? While Bram Stoker brought us the story of Count Dracula and his journey to move from Transylvania to England, the legend of Dracula  goes back to the 1400s and Vlad Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler.  In fact, Bram Stoker's inspiration behind Dracula was Vlad the Impaler.
Witchcraft dates back to before Christ and had often been thought of as dark or evil, but not all practitioners of magic dabbled in black magic. In fact, many used their powers to help others. From Merlin to the modern Wiccan, witchcraft is still very much alive. Okay, I'm not saying that I believe there are wizardry schools or people who can turn a mouse into a goblet or ride a broom through the sky (even though that would be totally cool). But I'm not going to rule out the ability to send some good luck to someone who needs it. Have you ever seen a penny and picked it up, maybe you chanted that all day you'll have good luck. Maybe you searched for a four leaf clover or you wished upon a star. You would have been calling upon unseen forces for a little bit of good fortune. One last thought on the subject: many people wear jewelry to symbolize a belief or to protect them from evil. They believe these objects have power, therefore they do.
As far as angels, while I do believe in them. Is it that far of a leap to then believe in demons? If man can be good or evil, wouldn't it stand to reason that higher powers could be one or the other too? Even though I have never seen an angel (at least not that I know of) I believe I have a guardian angel who worked a little (okay a lot of) overtime during my teen years.
I love stories that weave these creatures into our world and this is reflected in my writing. My debut novel, Embrace, is a story about a girl who discovers there are unseen forces in the world and she'll need to embrace these forces to save her friends.
I think people like fantasy for different reasons. For me, it offers a brief escape from everyday life. In a paranormal romance, there is often an alluring and hard to resist male to fall for. In horror it's the thrill of being scared, being on the edge of my seat rooting for the characters. How about you? Do you like fantasy and why?