Monday, February 4, 2013

Guest blog with Karin Shah Female vampires? Yes or No?



Female vampires? Yes or No?

I enjoy hanging around the discussions on my Goodreads groups. In my Gotta Have Paranormal Romance with Kick group, a thread was started that really got me thinking. A reader confessed that she hates when the heroine in a PNR is a vampire, and this sparked quite a string of agreement from the group. Others came out in defense of this lady vamp or that lady vamp. Half-vampires were championed, as well.

What was going on? I wondered. Then, I noticed that usually the female vampires that were liked had a hero who was also a vampire/shifter/berserker/insert your creature of the night here -- and it came to me. The readers didn't like it because vampires are insanely strong and if the hero is human, that makes the heroine physically stronger than the hero.

We want to imagine ourselves as the heroine, but no matter how strong we want her to be, the hero has to be stronger. If he's human, can he still be alpha?

But there's more than one kind of strength. Is it enough if the hero is more resilient? If the emotionally damaged female vampire can lean on the human hero's rock solid -- uh hem -- support? Does the human hero work if he offers her something no one else can?

What do you think? Female vamp (or whatever) and human hero? Do you like it? Can it work?  I'd love to get your opinion and hear about books where you feel it doesn't work  or it does. Or if I'm way off base, and the negative reader reaction comes from something else? Aggression or blood taking or whatever? I'd love to know!

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IN LIKE A LION
The Chimera Chronicles Book One
Karin Shah

Genre: Paranormal Romance


ASIN: B00AQJ756C

Word Count: 86,673

Cover Artist: Rae Monet


Book Description:

Dangerous and forbidden...

Research scientist, Dr. Anjali Mehta, lost her beloved family in an earthquake. Only her work cuts through the paralyzingly grief, but when she finds her new research subject, reputed mass murderer, Jake Finn, maddeningly uncooperative and inexplicably sexy she's tempted to run away. How can she burn to touch a killer--a man behind bars?

What she doesn't know is that Jake is a chimera, a shapeshifter who can change into a lion or a dragon with all the strengths of both even in human form, who believes his ability to shape shift is nothing but a terrifying hallucination, and his overpowering attraction to his new doctor proof positive he’s finally gone over the edge.

And the employer she trusts has an agenda all his own. If she can't believe the impossible, neither she nor Jake may make it out alive.


About the Author:

I live in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio and worship Jeni's Ice Cream, JK Rowling, Jayne Ann Krentz, the tv show Supernatural, and the movies, Hunt For Red October and The Princess Bride(though not necessarily  in that order.)

I am a fanatical reader of Romance, particularly Sci-Fi Romance, Fantasy Romance and Paranormal Romance. I always write the book I want to read, so I tend to jump sub-genre a bit. My husband and I are the parents of two kids (a girl and a boy)  and slaves to two dogs ( a basenji and a vizsla)

I was born in Rochester, NY, attended SUNY Oswego and got my Master's in Information and Library Science at the University of Buffalo. I was a School Librarian in Webster, NY for five years before starting my writing career. (I still miss my students.)


@KarinShah



8 comments:

Karen Michelle Nutt said...

I don't have a problem with a female being the vamp and the male being human. He can still be a strong alpha hero. There's more to being a hero than brute strength.

Underworld-- Selene falls in love with Michael while he is still a human. And he saved her a few times when he was human. :)

Enjoyed the post. Have fun on your tour!!!

K.A. M'Lady said...

Love the post, Karen! And the cover...

I think there is more to strength than mere physicality, regardless of sex or species. Great topic.

Congrats on the release - it sounds facinating.

Best ~ K.

K.A. M'Lady
Fantasy Romance Kissed With Dark Sensuality
www.kamlady.net

Sarah J. McNeal said...

If the female vampire is going to have a human love interest then he better be excellent at something. Maybe he has the magic of music that brings comfort to her, maybe he's a genius working out a way to help her become human or whatever it is she's up against, or he has some other special talent that makes him her equal or better. A very provocative discussion.
I wish you the very best with your new release.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Karen! Good point!

Anonymous said...

I agree with you, K, one of Maggie Shayne's books has a vampire heroine, Serafina and a human named Willem Stone and Willem is awesome!

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Sarah!

Unknown said...

I agree that there needs to be at least power equality between the hero and heroine. I also don't really care for a human heroine with a paranormal creature, usually because (in the case of vampires anyway) the human will age and die leaving a tragic ending... I am most happy when both characters are somehow extraordinary ( no wish fulfillment there. :)

Roxanne Rhoads said...

I like female vamps, have had quite a few in my qon fiction. But I do agree, the partner needs to be extraordinary as well- a witch, werewolf, something other than just human...

 
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