Joyce Ellen Armond of Spec Romance Online has guest-written a column about the potential of cross-breeding horror and romance. Beginning with the ever-able vampire romance, Armond is of the opinion that it can be done, despite slightly differing expectations on the part of the reader.
What say you? Horror + romance = crazy delicious? Can you blend characters the reader can invest in without fearing for the monsterly demise with the heart-stopping terror of a good horror story? Can you root for some serious scary crap without, as Armond puts it, fearing a DOA ending instead of a HEA?
I think that’s where the new paranormals could be going – scarier plots plus more romance. Characters that are vivid and empathetic, with truly scary and potentially terrifying obstacles facing them. There’s only so much vampire angst readers will devour before it’s time for new monsters. However, Trixie and The Blob might make for some challenging blocking when it comes to a love scene.
Hey! He’s hot!
I’ve been working on urban fantasy books that lean more horror than fantasy, so I obviously love the mix.
Wasn’t Bram Stoker’s Dracula a love story? Am I missing something here?
True, it didn’t exactly have a HEA, but still.
Laurell Hamilton does just this, and the Merry books make me happy.
Aren’t we already getting this in some of the paranormal romances? Women who have sex with vampires are having sex with dead things. That’s pretty horrific, if you think about it. Tanith Lee’s The Silver Metal Lover could be viewed as a retelling of Frankenstein, so there’s some “horror” there.
One of the best meldings of horror and romance I ever read was The Sundering series by Michelle Sagara. A woman is captured by a demon whose followers honor him with blood sacrifices, including the sacrifice of children. Getting those two to a HEA took some work!
I enjoy reading paranormal romance but except for LKH’s Anita Blake series, most of it doesn’t really have the sense of horror you expect to find in let’s say, a truly terrifying story like Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot.
I would LOVE to read a book that combined romance with a story so scary I had to go to bed with the lights on. Do I think it can be done? Yes. But there would have to be some compromise with the ending.
Romance typically has a HEA ending that leaves you feeling really happy and satisfied. A good horror story has an ending that leaves goose bumps on your arms. The evil has not been completely eradicated; you can’t count on the world being a safe place anymore. And if the hero and heroine did somehow manage to vanquish the bad guy, he’s not dead. Not at all. In fact, he may be outside your window at this very moment lurking in the shadows waiting for revenge.
Bwuhhahahahaha
:snake:
Horror and erotica, absolutely. Horror and romance? Not so much. You don’t have much ability to build a relationship while being chased by brain-eating curse-come-to-life…
I’m with Cynthia on this—there would have to be a compromise on the ending for a good romance/horror melding. Because of the formulaic opposing endings in the genres, the author would have to decide whether to lose the romance reader with a creepy ending, or lose the horror reader with a HEA. I honestly think a romance/horror book would have a very, very small niche market. It would be interesting to read, certainly.
LKH’s Anita Blake books were mentioned as horror books with romance, but I really don’t seem the Anita Blakes as horror. They have always stricl me as urban fantasy/erotica. Horror is a feeling, not necessarily restricted to fantastical monsters like vampires and werewolves or ghost stories. If I’m horrified by the Anita Blakes, it’s because of the lack of plot and character development, not because of the monsters 🙂
Horror novels can have happy endings, and many of them do, but they always leave open the possibility of an unhappy ending. A blend with romance would take that possibility away and turn it into dark fantasy. In fantasy of any sort, good defeats evil (gross generalization, I know)—at least, that’s one way I’ve heard of delineating between dark fantasy and horror.
Another way of delineating DF/H is the intangible, visceral, keeping-the-light-on effect.
Aren’t we already getting this in some of the paranormal romances?
I don’t think so, we get a lot of angst but not much out right horror. It’s the one thing paranormal romances are missing. When I’m reading about vampires, werewolves, ghosts etc. I want to be scared spitless, to wonder whats under the basement stairs… even in a romance.
I love Joyce Ellen Armond concept of the horror/romance hybrid. She’s going on my sidebar.
Well you know how authors hate to tout their own books, but there you are. I wrote two books last year, “The Chemistry of Evil” and “Eternal Beauty, Eternal Darkness” which have serial killers as villains.
I do tend to put horror themes in, because it ups the tension, and makes the whole thing edgier. I’ve found it’s better to up the sex quotient as well, it just works better.
And there are a lot more like me out there, so I can only see this genre increasing.
Funny thing is, I don’t read much straight horror. It scares me too much.
Lynne—your comments reminded me of one of my favorite “heroes”, the serial killer Dexter Morgan of Darkly Dreaming Dexter and Dearly Devoted Dexter. One of the neat things about Dexter is his attitude that he’s not human, just “passing”, and when he starts dating a nice lady as protective coverage it blows up in his face as she falls in love with him.
Not your standard romance, but it’s delightfully different.
Well, there’s always the Harry Dresden books, which are capable of scaring the crap out of little ol’ suburban me. Maybe they’re not romantic, but there’s so much Mulder’n’Scully tension between Harry and his lady detective friend I’m desperate for them to start something…
Well, I’ve just written a romance novel where the hero’s a zombie. You can listen to it for free here: http://www.podiobooks.com/podiobooks/book.php?ID=78.
I don’t know if you’d call it horror, but it’s occasionally pretty disgusting.
Nora