Whilst organizing my "random junk" drawer in my desk at work, I just discovered I've had Altoids for the last 3 years.
Cinnamon Altoids.
'Tis a beautiful day.
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Monday, September 28, 2015
Saturated Markets are Lame.
YA Paranormal Romance is my guilty pleasure genre. Twilight was my introduction to it, and like Eragon is many kids' introduction to the Hero's Journey formula, I was so taken with the elements of the formula that I was more or less blind to its faults for quite a while. Twilight hit the YA Paranormal Romance formula so well that it's no wonder it made such an incredible butt load of money. And it served as an entry to the genre for thousands of teenagers.
Of course, the more I read of the genre, the more I could pick apart where Twilight wasn't that good of a book, just as a lot of former Eragon fans like to complain that it is horribly cliche, and Star Wars/Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings/Everybody else did it better. And then came the Twilight sequels, and by the time I got to the fourth book, I just couldn't force myself to like it anymore.
But, it did introduce me to the genre, and since then I've read a good amount of YA Paranormal Romance.
Most of the books were somewhere between pretty good and great, and it was always fun to see how they pulled off different magic systems. I read one with Native American magic (the spirit animals were especially cool), one with Fae magic, and one with unexplained time travel, just to name a few.
The weird magic systems, however, were the ones based on Christian mythology. My first experience with that was Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments trilogy. Now, she made the magic system distinct enough that it was more or less easy to separate it from Christian doctrine, and to recognize it as a mythology. She played with angels and demons, and more or less left God out of it. The first experience was a little weird, but by the time I got to the third book I didn't even notice it anymore. Also, the addition of rune magic helped add a foreign element that made the use of Christian mythology easier to separate from doctrine.
Still, I wondered if I should really own the books. As much as I liked them, I was reading them in my 20's, and I knew that someday I'd have a 12 or 13 year old girl in the house, sorting through the books in my library, looking for something new to read. And a young teen may not have the experience necessary to separate doctrine from mythology.
Then I encountered Fallen, by Lauren Kate.
Now, I'll admit, I bought the book for the cover. Actually, I bought the first book in the series for the cover of the fourth book. I saw the add for it in the store, gasped at how beautiful it was, then looked it up and found out it was a long way into a series. So, I bought the first book (which also had a stunning cover), and read it in a single day.
Again, the magic system was based in Christian mythology. Except instead of angels and demons, it primarily dealt with fallen angels. And, again, it more or less left God out of the equation, except in backstory. The first book was good, so I bought the second.
The second one... not so much. First, it just didn't draw me in as well. Since I only read it once, I never bothered to pick apart why, but it really just didn't do the trick the same way the first one did. But more importantly than that, it did bring God into the equation, and it presented Him as a tyrant who punished anyone who dared question Him, and made Him out to be the exact opposite of everything I believe God to be.
And that one... I just couldn't separate. I couldn't dismiss that as, "Oh, this is just mythology." It was dealing with the nature of God, and it didn't deal with it well.
And so,I decided I wasn't going to own that series when I had kids. I don't need a book giving them such a negative view of God. They need to see Him as a source of comfort and guidance and love, not a tyrannical ruler who demands submission or else pain and your own perfectly crafted hell will follow.
So, I tried to hock it at a garage sale. That didn't work. Garage sale books go for like 50 cents a piece, and I wanted to recoup some of the money I'd spent on the beautifully designed hardcovers.
Flash forward to today. Lately we've been going through our books and movies and weeding out anything we really don't feel should be in the house with our kids (bye bye, Vampire Diaries season 2! I won't miss you). Incidentally, morally objectionable isn't the only criteria. I got rid of a painfully stupid movie adaptation of a book I loved because I don't want to watch it over and over and over when the kids are too young to realize just how retarded it is. Yeah. "Puerile" and "Stupid" are definitely valid criteria for clearing movies out of your collection.
Anyway, so far we've sold 3 of the books we listed on Amazon, and tonight I realized I still haven't listed the Lauren Kate books. So, I pulled out those gorgeous hardcovers with their stunning dust jackets, and I scanned them into my Amazon app.
Remember how Twilight was the introduction to the YA Paranormal Romance genre for thousands - if not millions - of girls? And anyone who walked through the YA section of a bookstore - or even passed the YA section of a bookstore - in the years following Twilight could undoubtedly see its influence. Vampires, dark magic, gothic covers, teen girls angsting everywhere.
Well, these books are post-Twilight angsty-gothic teen girl novels. And I'm pretty sure the craze is not just over, but so over, because when I looked them up, I found they're selling used for a penny each. That's the hardcover that's selling for such a pittance. No mass market paperbacks - gorgeous hardcovers. And new isn't much better. $3 a piece. When shipping costs and Amazon commissions are added into that, I'd be paying Amazon to get rid of them.
It's a pity I'm not out to buy any post-Twilight angsty-gothic teen novels right now. I'm more into stuff like Guess How Much I Love You, Dinosaurs on the Go, and Milo's Hat Trick. (Incidentally - that hat trick book is the most adorable story of a magician trying to salvage his magic act and getting a bear to jump out of his hat. Totally cute and recommended for any and all picture-book aged kids.)
Anyway, it's starting to look like I won't be recouping any of the money I spent on those books. I mean, I did spend the money like 5 or 6 years ago, but still. I hate the idea of just handing over something that should be worth like 10 bucks.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what happens when paranormal romance comes into fashion, the market gets saturated, and then everybody wants dystopia. Hunger Games, look what you did.
Of course, the more I read of the genre, the more I could pick apart where Twilight wasn't that good of a book, just as a lot of former Eragon fans like to complain that it is horribly cliche, and Star Wars/Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings/Everybody else did it better. And then came the Twilight sequels, and by the time I got to the fourth book, I just couldn't force myself to like it anymore.
But, it did introduce me to the genre, and since then I've read a good amount of YA Paranormal Romance.
Most of the books were somewhere between pretty good and great, and it was always fun to see how they pulled off different magic systems. I read one with Native American magic (the spirit animals were especially cool), one with Fae magic, and one with unexplained time travel, just to name a few.
The weird magic systems, however, were the ones based on Christian mythology. My first experience with that was Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments trilogy. Now, she made the magic system distinct enough that it was more or less easy to separate it from Christian doctrine, and to recognize it as a mythology. She played with angels and demons, and more or less left God out of it. The first experience was a little weird, but by the time I got to the third book I didn't even notice it anymore. Also, the addition of rune magic helped add a foreign element that made the use of Christian mythology easier to separate from doctrine.
Still, I wondered if I should really own the books. As much as I liked them, I was reading them in my 20's, and I knew that someday I'd have a 12 or 13 year old girl in the house, sorting through the books in my library, looking for something new to read. And a young teen may not have the experience necessary to separate doctrine from mythology.
Then I encountered Fallen, by Lauren Kate.
Now, I'll admit, I bought the book for the cover. Actually, I bought the first book in the series for the cover of the fourth book. I saw the add for it in the store, gasped at how beautiful it was, then looked it up and found out it was a long way into a series. So, I bought the first book (which also had a stunning cover), and read it in a single day.
Again, the magic system was based in Christian mythology. Except instead of angels and demons, it primarily dealt with fallen angels. And, again, it more or less left God out of the equation, except in backstory. The first book was good, so I bought the second.
The second one... not so much. First, it just didn't draw me in as well. Since I only read it once, I never bothered to pick apart why, but it really just didn't do the trick the same way the first one did. But more importantly than that, it did bring God into the equation, and it presented Him as a tyrant who punished anyone who dared question Him, and made Him out to be the exact opposite of everything I believe God to be.
And that one... I just couldn't separate. I couldn't dismiss that as, "Oh, this is just mythology." It was dealing with the nature of God, and it didn't deal with it well.
And so,I decided I wasn't going to own that series when I had kids. I don't need a book giving them such a negative view of God. They need to see Him as a source of comfort and guidance and love, not a tyrannical ruler who demands submission or else pain and your own perfectly crafted hell will follow.
So, I tried to hock it at a garage sale. That didn't work. Garage sale books go for like 50 cents a piece, and I wanted to recoup some of the money I'd spent on the beautifully designed hardcovers.
Flash forward to today. Lately we've been going through our books and movies and weeding out anything we really don't feel should be in the house with our kids (bye bye, Vampire Diaries season 2! I won't miss you). Incidentally, morally objectionable isn't the only criteria. I got rid of a painfully stupid movie adaptation of a book I loved because I don't want to watch it over and over and over when the kids are too young to realize just how retarded it is. Yeah. "Puerile" and "Stupid" are definitely valid criteria for clearing movies out of your collection.
Anyway, so far we've sold 3 of the books we listed on Amazon, and tonight I realized I still haven't listed the Lauren Kate books. So, I pulled out those gorgeous hardcovers with their stunning dust jackets, and I scanned them into my Amazon app.
Remember how Twilight was the introduction to the YA Paranormal Romance genre for thousands - if not millions - of girls? And anyone who walked through the YA section of a bookstore - or even passed the YA section of a bookstore - in the years following Twilight could undoubtedly see its influence. Vampires, dark magic, gothic covers, teen girls angsting everywhere.
Well, these books are post-Twilight angsty-gothic teen girl novels. And I'm pretty sure the craze is not just over, but so over, because when I looked them up, I found they're selling used for a penny each. That's the hardcover that's selling for such a pittance. No mass market paperbacks - gorgeous hardcovers. And new isn't much better. $3 a piece. When shipping costs and Amazon commissions are added into that, I'd be paying Amazon to get rid of them.
It's a pity I'm not out to buy any post-Twilight angsty-gothic teen novels right now. I'm more into stuff like Guess How Much I Love You, Dinosaurs on the Go, and Milo's Hat Trick. (Incidentally - that hat trick book is the most adorable story of a magician trying to salvage his magic act and getting a bear to jump out of his hat. Totally cute and recommended for any and all picture-book aged kids.)
Anyway, it's starting to look like I won't be recouping any of the money I spent on those books. I mean, I did spend the money like 5 or 6 years ago, but still. I hate the idea of just handing over something that should be worth like 10 bucks.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what happens when paranormal romance comes into fashion, the market gets saturated, and then everybody wants dystopia. Hunger Games, look what you did.
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