Paranormal vs. Horror Explored

In July of 2009, I attended a RUSA sponsored program entitled, "Things That Go Bump in the Stacks."

Here is the link to my two reports on the program.

On of the major issues considered here was where paranormal fiction fits into the world of genre fiction. Neil Hollands, the moderator, explained how paranormal fiction got its start in horror fiction, but that horror novels were different in one big way. In horror, traditionally, the paranormal characters are less sympathetic; they are the "bad guys," the biggest threat to the heroes. In today's paranormal fiction, the paranormal characters are not only sympathetic, they are quite often the heroes of the story themselves.

For more detail on this discussion, click here for Part 1 of my report or click here for Neil's paranormal resources.

The second half of the program was a panel discussion by three popular paranormal authors: Charlie Huston, Marjorie Liu, and Charlaine Harris. Click here for Part 2 of my report to see what the authors had to say about their books and their readers.