Otherways- Fiction Fanatics

Okay, I am officially sick of vampires, and getting pretty darned close on werewolves. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always loved a good vampire story, from Buffy to Lestat, and when Anne Rice releases another one, I’ll be right there in line to buy it, but if we’re going to delve into mythology, why stop at these?

If it’s shapeshifters you want, there are the selkies that shed their seal skins to be men again, only to return to the sea by throwing the hide over their shoulders and returning to seal form. Similar legends exist in various cultures for bears, reindeer, wolves, and even hawks.

Or you could go all out creepifying, and explore the doppelganger. Literally a “double goer”, the word generally gets used to mean someone that could pass as your twin, but in some of the oldest stories, the doppelganger was a death omen, a spirit that actually became the person it copied, stealing their life and killing them in the process. Not going to work for a Doublemint gum commercial, but it might be fun for a novel.

The Fey get their fair share of press, though generally people stick to those of the Fair Folk that live in the courts, leaving the Wild Fey to their own devices, perhaps a wise decision. Those powerful, humanlike, immortals aren’t the only creatures that belong to the Fair Folk, though. Brownies, pixies, sprites, all those creatures called the wee folk, they rarely appear on the printed page. What of the red caps, that live on old battlefields and dye their hats in the blood of the fallen?

Where are the Litches, the demons, the earth spirits?

Blood sucking is all well and good, I suppose, I’m just advocating adding a little variety to your paranormal life. So, in the interest of encouraging you to find something a little different, here’s a list of books with a paranormal theme and not a werewolf or a vampire in sight.

1. The Woman Who Loved Reindeer by Meredith Ann Pierce (changeling)

2. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (lots of ghosts)

3. The Chronicles of Chrestomanci by Diana Wynne Jones (Wizards, among others)

4. Frankenstein series by Dean Koonts (um…Frankenstein)

5. The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff (various)

6. The Goblin War by Jim C. Hines (goblins)

7. The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold (Fey)

8. The Mist-torn Witches by Barb Hendee (witches)

9. The Lord of the Isles by David Drake (demons, etc.)

And of course, if you haven’t ever read The Witches by Roald Dahl, you really should. Yes, it’s a kids book. No, it isn’t boring.

There’s no order to these books, I’m not implying that one is better than another, or that one I didn’t list isn’t better than all of these combined. These are just the first batch that popped into my head that I’ve actually had time to read, didn’t primarily involve vampires or werewolves, and that I enjoyed. A couple of them are meant for younger audiences (2 and 3), but are fun reads. The Chronicles of Chrestomanci is one that I read aloud to my kids and they still love. (The youngest is now nearly out of college.)

These range from light hearted fun, in the case of The Goblin War, to really serious epic fantasy if you’re looking at The Lord of the Isles.

Anyway, just some ideas on things you might enjoy reading if you also find yourself overstocked with vampires.

Cheers,

Michelle