SOS: Serious Overload of Series discussion

I already asked this in a different group and you probably already seen this elsewhere, but what do you think will be the next big paranormal character?

Hmmm, good question, Aske!


Chupacabra was in Kelley Armstrong's Tales of the Otherworld and that was new-to-me. Did you ever see that movie "Mothman"? LOL Maybe something like that. I think the harpies in Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series are a hoot. Hadn't read about them before. Banshee are in Vincent's Soul Screamers, those are/were new-to-me. I think doppelgangers are interesting and I've only seen them in a couple of books, Marie Brennan, Laura Resnick and a few others. But, I haven't read any of those. I would like to read more books with Grim Reapers. (Tod from SS popped into my head)

ETA: Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ... some books coming out in 2011 about them. That should be cool.

What do you think? :)

Oooh, there are a lot that are untapped. Harpies are cool, banshees and mermaids or selkies. I want to see gargoyles too! :D

It would be really cool to see a team working in concert X-Men style too. That's really missing from UF. There's something about teamwork, and I don't really see any paranormal folks anymore.

Gargoyles would be good. A few, but not many out there now.


NU, I read Riding the Storm by Sydney Croft (the writing team of Larissa Ione and Stephanie Tyler) and it reminded me A LOT of X-Men. Here's my review. Well, an R version of X-Men. LOL!

Oh and I have read all of Kay Hooper's Bishop/Special Crimes Unit books. Bishop heads the SCU and all the agents have special abilities. Pretty cool. I devoured those books. Some are much better than others, but overall they are all good.

Yeah, there are a few, but we need more. Gargoyles are fierce and scary. They have potential.

Yeah, I was thinking about Croft's series, but I don't really read erotica, so I was kinda iffy about it.

I read a book from Hooper's. Cool, but I'd like the powers to be more developed, you know?

More Gargoyles - yes, yes. :)

That was definitely erotica and not usually something I go for, but it fit several challenges -LOL- so I went with it. If you can get passed them having sex all the time, it's a good read. I like the powers aspect and the two groups of them battling against each other. I'll probably give #2 a go at some point. Speaking of ... "Have you met my friend Ted?" I mean, have you seen our new 2nds Challenge? >:)

Sorry, Aske, back on topic, didn't mean to hijack your thread!

I completely get what you mean about Hooper's SCU. Still kinda cool though, I think. I wanna super power! :(

No problem. I haven't really read any books with Gargoyles in it, so it will be intresting to read more books on that. Any suggestions?

Vamps and Weres have been used a LOT lately so I'm a bit tired of them and looking for somethinig new or hasn't been exposed as much. And since I'm too busy with work to actually read, I'm trying my hand with writing here and there. I love to create new and weird things and make them appealing to others so hopefully it turns out well.

The Fae are getting popular and will most likely be the replacement of Vamps. I'm not all that too into the Fae so looking elsewhere.

LOL. Smooth, Steph. ;) I'm not really a challenge kidn of gal, but thank you kindly. :)

I've read two series with gargoyles:



HoS was too slow for me. I like Vickie Taylor's series, but it's "lite". I'd like something more intense and ambitious. :D

I don't really care for the fae either. :/ They're too pretty for me.

new_user wrote: "LOL. Smooth, Steph. ;) I'm not really a challenge kidn of gal, but thank you kindly. :)..."

Yeah, NU's no fun like that. ;)

And I agree, the fae are too pretty & too mean. There's gotta be some good fae stuff out there--when I think of the fae books I've read and not really cared for, they're all YA. Those and fallen angel YAs. Blech.

There's a ton of awesome YA out there, but this new crop is giving it all a bad name.

Oh well, can't say I didn't try, NU. ;)


Fae isn't usually my fav either, but I've liked a few (and I think they're all YA actually):



Melissa Marr's "Wicked Lovely" series has been up & down for me.

And I really liked Queene of Light, but Child of Darkness was a bit bleh for me, so I haven't read #3 (yet ... but I gotta finish the trilogy eventually!)

And I'm with you, Aske - Fae will NEVER replace vamps for me. :P

I like weres best because they're so... Rawr! LOL. Opposite of fae. I see vamps as a little too cool/urbane. Weres have all the passion.

new_user wrote: "I like weres best because they're so... Rawr! LOL. Opposite of fae. I see vamps as a little too cool/urbane. Weres have all the passion."

Me too. It's not that I don't like vamps, but if I had to choose...shifters FTW. :)

I just went and checked my "fae" list and the only UF ones I have read & liked were KMM's Fever series and Richelle Mead's Dark Swan series.

There are series with fae that are more fantasy that I really liked, but I am just not a fan of this new crop of YA books with fae & fallen angels. The love interest boys are just mean little jerks, given an edge by being written as a paranormal being. They're still mean little jerks. :)

Oh, he's just a jerk because he loves you but it will kill you/kill him/end the world if you both fall in love, so he's just trying to push you away to save you. Whatever. As I'm reading them, I'm thinking of all the teenage girls reading about these boys acting so cruel and then the book ending in a HEA and I just shake my head.

Yeah, that kind of plot works much better in an adult book where all the emotions and implications can be discussed and explored. It requires a little more maturity. If it's YA, better that it's a well-adjusted boy who will treat her right. :)

Exactly. Let's start these girls out looking for a good, nice boy, not a cruel, manipulative jerk.

Leave them for us mature women. ;)

LOL, Laura! ;P

LOL L³! You're right though and I never thought about it that way. Maybe b/c I'm childless, but I wouldn't want my pre/teen girl thinking meanie boys are ok.

Thanks NU! I'll definitly look those up when I get the chance.

I've read Holly Black's Modern Faerie Tales and liked them. I don't really like YA books, but this one held an appeal.

Has anyone else noticed that it's usually the quiet, shy, library girl that gets the big bad boys in a lot of these books?

LOL! I have. Appeals to every young girl, I'm sure. ;)

What about elemental hunters? What do you think about them? Think that they will make it somewhere near big time like the vamps and weres or no?

Succubus and incubus also seem to be popular among authors

I really enjoy books where the main character has some kind of psychic ability. I guess that's why I like Jayne Castle's Ghost Hunter books or Casey Daniels mystery series (Tomb With a View was funny-the ghost of President Garfield is a main character). I haven't seen a lot of PNR/UF that doesn't include vampires, weres, magic, etc.; but maybe I just need to get out more. :-)

I did read something with a gargoyle - oh it was a Kim Harrison - Hollows - in one of the later books (7 or 8?) a gargoyle moves in to Rachel and Ivy's home. Interesting powers, but not spectacular.

I've seen banshees in a few places, but they haven't stood out enough for me to remember - maybe it was Kim Harrison's Hollows series again.

Yeah, that's her church gargoyle, Bis. :)

I think the only banshees I've read about are in "Soul Screamers".

I loved , it was so incredible and different. I had the next book on reserve , gargola, but was told that it wasn't going to be released yet. The Ghost Hunter and Crystal series by JAK are really great, the latest is coming out soon. Is anyone else following these? I just ordered from our library, can't wait. here's a link to the a web chat with JAK http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=29575

There was a banshee in one of the Kate Daniels book. A minor character that climbed up post and Kate had to get her down. There was another banshee in another book I had read - maybe it was another Rachel morgan book. They don't seem to be central characters.

Marisella wrote: "I loved , it was so incredible and different. I had the next book on reserve , gargola, but was told that it wasn't going to be released yet. The Ghost Hunter and Cr..."

I buy every Jayne Castle book that comes out. I just bought Midnight Crystal yesterday, but I need to read The Burning Lamp first, I suppose. However, since I never really care if I read connected books in order or not, I might just skip to Midnight Crystal. I really enjoy the Ghost Hunter world and the Arcane Society. The different paranormal abilities are really interesting.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are becoming popular, these kind of remind me of Showalter's LotO series though:

---> Horsemen of the Apocalypse series by Jackie Morse Kessler
#1 is Famine's book, #2 War's, #3 Pestilence's

---> The Lords of Deliverance series - the first book is War's

I'm really anxious for Ione's series. :)

I'm starting the Greywalker series by Kat Richardson and want to know what others think about a Greywalker. Any feedback about this para character or about the series?

AH wrote: "There was a banshee in one of the Kate Daniels book. A minor character that climbed up post and Kate had to get her down. There was another banshee in another book I had read - maybe it was another..."

Rachel Vincent has a banshee series out, starting with . Vincent writes the shifter series starting with also. I liked the soul screamers books, not as much as the shifter series but they are still good

I know this is a dead thread but...Unicorns. I've been noticing more of them around lately.

Ames, apart from which other ones have you seen?

Always liked unicorns :)

These are all the ones I've seen my GR friends have been chatting about in the past couple of months.



I've read the first one and I'm interested in some of the rest.

Carrie Vaughn has a short on her website called something like "A Hunter's Ode to His Bait" about hunting unicorns and I think there are some in Black Jewels series.

And more:

And they aren't your pretty pink rainbow unicorns either. They are bloody scary, sometimes even poisonous.

Gotta check some of these out!

Unicorns are fun! Have you read the 500 Kingdoms romances by Mercedes Lackey? They're based on fairytales and the unicorns are loveably dopey and absolutely beautiful.

I really liked those!

You just reminded me, another supe I've been seeing pop up more often is the djinn...they're another intriguing group.

Did you say "djinn"? LOL they are so on my mind since I'm on the final draft of an angel and djinn novella. I did a fair bit of research for it (not as much as my history-grad soul would have liked, which is to say, endless!) and one of the paranormal critters I'd like to see is a Persian dragon. They have feathered rather than leathered wings. Totally different. And then there are the huma birds. Apparently these are wise birds of paradise, so huge they never land and touch the ground, but if their shadow passes over you, your life is blessed with happiness. *sigh* I'm looking for one now!

Yours was the first story I read with a djinn as a main character...and I've been noticing them since then! More often they're secondary characters, though. The Persian dragons and huma birds sound fascinating...I'd like one's shadow to pass over me, too! *grin*

Let's see, some with djinn that come to mind are:
and (minor part for a djinn)

I saw some others recently when I was "padding up" my TBR...but can't remember the names. Anybody else know some?

Stella Price wrote a trilogy with one of the main characters as a djinn plus his whole family on the side also. Not nice peeps even though he is the hero. Loved it, cause you just never knew what was going to happen next.

Lovely! And I've been looking for a "new" trilogy...

Also in Rachel Caine's 'Weather Warden' series Djinn are a big part of that world :)

I've looked at the Weather Warden series. Never quite started it. But with so much weird weather happening around the place, ... maybe now's the time :)

LOL...ain' t that the truth! I have it here waiting to be read as well!

Just a quick question for anyone who whats to spare some time and answer. What's your favorite paranormal character to read about?

That's a tough one. It really depends on my mood. For the longest time, I only read vamp stories. Now I'm pretty much into all of them, though vamps, followed by shifters remain my top faves.

Just to help out I'll make a list of the paranormal characters out there.

Vamps
Weres
Zombies
Unicorns
Dragons
Imps
Chimeras
Incubi
Succubi
Siren
Djinn
Banshee
Shadow People
Faeries/the Fae
Gryphon
Phoenix
Harpie
Satyr
Centaur
Mermaid
Ghost
Goblin
Cerberus
Griffin
Minotaur
Cyclops
Gorgon
Banshee
Giant
Lichen
Yeti
Sasquatch
Pixie
Lamia
Doppelganger
Gremlin
Hellhounds
Nightmares
The Fates
Angels and the Fallen
Demons
Gods and Goddesses
Spirits

Feel free to add onto the list as it continues on to help you answer the question. :)