I finished last night!!! Will reward myself for getting big chunks of work done today by taking breaks in Book Club.

Okay, a non- Harry Potter question!

Speak to me of this "paranormal romance" genre. I like paranormal fiction, and I've heard that there are some good novels lurking in the romance section. But ... the only romance novels I've ever read are Georgette Heyer and some '70s era gothic romances. When I look at the romance shelves in the bookstores, I see covers like Because I'm the Vampire, That's Why or Be Still My Vampire Heart, I start muttering about the dilution and suburbanization of archtypes, and then Pete has to take me by the shoulders and steer me out of that section.

(I picked those two titles because they were ones that stuck with me after last night's B&N browsing. I haven't read them, and have no idea if they're good. I just couldn't get past the titles and cover art.)

I've tried reading a couple books from the Undead and Unwed series, and didn't like them. I've read some of the Southern Vampire series by Charlene Harris, and those were okay, but I'm not in any rush to go get my very own copies of them. I don't really want to be an elitist vampire fiction snob, I just want good paranormal novels. I need suggestions. Help?

Okay, a non- Harry Potter question!

Heh -- I just realized, HP7 being over and done with means I should get back to reading the book I was in the middle of last week, shouldn't I?

(Years of Rice and Salt, which is fantastic except I had a baby in the middle of the first chapter and then there was HP:DH, and now I think I'm going to have to start it over again because at this point I'm not sure I remember who anyone is.)

Oh, I bought that a while back but never got around to it.

Kushner's Privilege of the Sword rocks, by the way. If you liked Swordspoint, you'll like this

Oooh, a paranormal romance question!! I'll have to go through my collection, but the vampire romances that I know are popular (but I haven't read) are the Christine Feehan ones (a long series, but I don't know which one came first). There was an older trilogy done by Lori Herter back in the early '90s, but they're long out of print.

My favorite SF/fantasy romance series is the sadly-truncated Matrix of Destiny series by Dara Joy, starting with Knight of a Trillion Stars. Unfortunately, her publisher got in a snit because she wrote another fantasy romance (not the Matrix series, though) for another publisher and they've barred her from writing any more in that series as a result. She's had an ongoing lawsuit that is still in limbo, AFAIK.

I also love the still-ongoing Heart series by Robin D. Owens, starting with HeartMate. It's a fun series about humans who have settled on another planet and evolved magical abilities. A very well-written series with a complex 'verse and backstories for the characters. (I just checked the Amazon entry for her, and found out that book six in this series just came out this month--I know what I'll be buying when I go into work on Saturday!)

Reading Jilli's post makes me want to write a Young Adult anthology called "Love Sucks". But for all I know, there's one already, or I'm feeding into(yuk, yuk) a trend she hates.

Reading Jilli's post makes me want to write a Young Adult anthology called "Love Sucks". But for all I know, there's one already,

I'm pretty sure there is.

or I'm feeding into(yuk, yuk) a trend she hates.

Actually, I really like a lot of YA paranormal fiction. Probably because most of it doesn't fall into the "chick-lit" clichés that make me start grinding my teeth.

I'm currently reading Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War series, I'm on Engaging the Enemy (book 3). Has anyone read it?

askye, I've read the first two. They're good, although I preferred her series that began with Sporting Chance and another with Once a Hero ... although the second one kind of faded after the first, um, three books or so.