I think it depends on the genre and even the sub-genre, Tep. Like I said in my rant, I think romance readers in particular, don't want "bad" or "real" in their stories, not one little bit. Or if bad happens, let it be to, you know, the bad people.

This same friend also got shit for her series from paranormal romance fans because she had the utter crust and temerity to make the vampires, for the most part, eeeeeeeeeeee-vil.

Or "Forest Gump" winning the Oscar over "Pulp Fiction."

Have you ever read the book? Forrest is a real asshole.

This same friend also got shit for her series from paranormal romance fans because she had the utter crust and temerity to make the vampires, for the most part, eeeeeeeeeeee-vil.

Is this Alyssa Day? If so, I was impressed with how ULTRA-evil she made the vamps without actually going over the top.

Yeah-- she really goes some dark places with her books and it's not going to be getting any better with the next one. I love that about her.

Let it go, doll. For every person who needs their books lightly toasted and served with a side of saccharine jelly, there's three who put the toaster on burnt, and served it with some clotted character-death cream with antihero jam.

By the way, I love this line and may have to marry it.

she needs to know that the main/key characters are safe--that nothing too bad will happen to them during the book and she wants my friend to write her and let her know if she's going to continue down this path.

Wow.

And here I've been pondering putting pen to paper (since I'm not seeing any obvious email addresses) to write to Diana Wynne Jones and tell her how utterly her kids' books rock, even rereading them 25 years later. Just finished rereading Witch Week, and feeling like going on a mad binge. I'd like to reread Spellcoats and Power of Three in particular, and The Homeward Bounders, and I understand that Fire and Hemlock is jam-packed with The Four Quartets references! Which I totally missed at the time...but which may explain why I instantly loved that particular poem(s), and why it felt like coming home upon first reading.

The reader whose letter you describe, however, is clearly a freaking Martian. Ack. I sort of want to bludgeon her to death (or at least pain) with a couple of Iain (M) Banks books.

...I'm trying to be reasonable, and accept that some (many?) people want their fiction to be pure comfortfood - some kind of narrative equivalent of Twinkies. And there is no reason why they should HAVE to enjoy green Thai curry, or creme brulle, or bitter chocolate, or a shot of cinnamon-flavoured stolli. They want Twinkies, and heaven forbid that they should find a burrito or a chocolate-coated banana hiding inside the Twinkie wrapper.

...er, perhaps it would be wise to abandon my metaphor at this point, since it has been pretty much beaten to death. Ahem. Still - I'm TRYING to allow them to want saccharine rubbish that never inspires any emotion more complex than a warm little glow of satisfaction.

But mostly, I'm still wanting to bludgeon them with a copy of Othello or something.

This is an excuse to bring out my Carmen story again. Opera critic at a new Carmen premiere, meets a young couple at intermission. They tell her they are new to opera and just in love the music and scenery and everything.

Critic runs into them again after the show ends and asks how the like it now tha they've seen the whole show. The couple turn to her, eyes wide with horror and choke out: "he killed her!".

Yeah-- she really goes some dark places with her books and it's not going to be getting any better with the next one. I love that about her.

I'm dying for a book about Alaric, and Riley's sister (can't remember her name).

There is a midpoint between preferring pablum or pain and angst. Some of us don't revel in suffering and unrelenting hopelessness. I can cope with "real" just fine, thanks. But if there's not an inkling that there's not going to be some sort of victory at the end--it may just be moral--then I won't be going on that trip.

This same friend also got shit for her series from paranormal romance fans because she had the utter crust and temerity to make the vampires, for the most part, eeeeeeeeeeee-vil.

Excuse, has anyone seen my eyes? They seemed to have rolled out of my head.