Gargoyles as heroes? Werewolves are bad enough.

Gargoyles as heroes? Werewolves are bad enough.

werewolfEven when I was running a separate site for Teal Ceagh and, as I mentioned somewhere else, being myself “with the volume turned up,” one of my enduring themes on www.TealCeagh.com was vampires vs. werewolves.  Even then, werewolves came a poor second.

I tried very hard to give the furry ones a fair go.  I invited a lot of lycanthrope-inclined authors to guest with me and try to explain why fuzz was better than fangs.  Tielle St. Claire and Katie Allen stepped up to the challenge, but I confess I’ve never seen the appeal.

There’s been murmurings that vampires must just finally wither and die in the popularity stakes.  (Mind you, these rumours have been circulating for years).  My agent nearly fell off her chair when an editor said she wasn’t taking any more urban fantasy on board for just now, recently.  That’s almost scandalous.  Is this a hint that the time of vampires is coming to an end?

The more interesting question is, if it is, what would we vampire authors all write about, if they were to die out at last?

I put this question to my husband when we were idly sitting about musing over the fanged creatures who have supplied so much material for my books in the last couple of years.

As Carson’s Night is about

1) vampires,

2) demon hunters and

3) gargoyles,

and the gargoyles were his idea in the first place, he suggested, with his chest puffing up, that I use gargoyles as my next fantasy heroes.

Ugh.  Eeewwww.  I mean, gruesome.

gargoyle-notre_dameHe just blinked at me while I dry heaved.  He didn’t get it at all.  He pointed out that there was a really, really good series that had been done in the early eighties where the gargoyles had been the good guys.  True, it had been animated, but I was writing novels, so that wasn’t a problem.  The series had had character stars like Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis from Star Trek: The Next Generation supplying the voices, even.

And while I stared at him, he rattled on enthusiastically about how these really cool gargoyles had gone around save the world as we know it, and how I should write these books using gargoyles as good guys and heroes…

Have you ever really looked at gargoyles?  There’s no way you can pretty them up to even look pettable, let alone sexy.  I write erotic romance.  I’m good, but I’m not that good.  There’s no way I could pull off a story about a human and a gargoyle that would even begin to sound convincing.

There’s a reason I haven’t tackled a werewolf story yet…I don’t think I could write one that would ring true.  The thing about erotic romance is, if the author isn’t one hundred percent authentic it shows immediately.  In normal romances, you get away with a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek because you’re not that intimate with the reader.  But in erotic romance, you’re right up there, with no clothes to hide behind, so you’d better be open, honest and unquestionably the real deal, or you’ll hit the wall inside three paragraphs.

So while I’m sure there’s a really, really smart and creative author out there who will figure out one day how gargoyles can be used as the next generation’s romantic hero, I don’t think it’s going to be me.

But I do wonder what we’re all going to write about when vampires are finally persona non grata.  What do you think will be the next big thing in fantasy?

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4 thoughts on “Gargoyles as heroes? Werewolves are bad enough.”

  1. I’m sorry Tracy to disagree with you and kinda side with your hubby. Instead of thinking of them, meaning gargoyle and werewolves, why not think of them as shape shifters? Think of your massively built, handsome hubby turning to stone each day to guard over the castle. And the shifters don’t have to be the gruesome creatures who stand as half creature and half man, but of a beautiful large wolf, tiger, lion, jaguar, or dragon. A large cat who likes to cuddle with his love and be scratched behind the ears and purrs for her, or a large wolf who wags his tail to get her attention. And no there will never be a time that paranormal or fantasy books will be at an end. There are too many of us out here who would revolt if that ever happened.

    1. I’ve tried, Robyn. I really have. I’ve read up to book eleven in the Anita Blake series, and there’s the very cute werewolves and shifters in the the True Blood series, but I still find the pack mentally and culture of werewolves and other shifters too esoteric for my tastes.

      This may change in the future, of course. After all, I did a complete 360 on both vampires and MMF menage (mmmm….)

      But I’ve moved in a different direction for my fantasy species for now, which you’ll find out in 2014.

      Plus, I’m not above simply inventing my own species. 🙂

      Cheers,

      t.

  2. PS: The idea of Mark turning to stone during the day is kinda interesting. Talk about total power over another!

    But Gargoyles are such ugly creatures….

    t.

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