Paranormal Book Covers

As part of a Book Marketing Challenge I'm doing, I've been perusing book covers that relate to my genre (paranormal romance). I have to say that 80% of these covers are dark, gritty and sometimes extremely graphic, especially when it comes to the romantic part (read that to mean, sex).

After exploring at least thirty of these covers, I realize that my perception of paranormal and the young generation now writing this genre of stories, is as far apart as the Earth is to the Moon.  Don't get me wrong. I have no objection to werewolves, vampires or shapeshifters doing their "thing". Even if that "thing" is killing or blood-letting. After all, the stories come from a creative muse that isn't real (or shouldn't be, anyway). And I have no objection to explicit sex scenes. It's the violence that dominates these scenes that makes me feel really old (and really sad).

I've been reading romance novels since I was a kid, and I have seen the change in storylines mirror the change in the world as it grows and evolves (or devolves in some cases). Both Film and TV are riddled with violent crimes and sex scenes that push the boundaries of our moral center into the stratosphere. And lately, when I turn on the nightly news, another teen has lashed out at his teachers, classmates, or his parents in an extremely violent manner. 

Where will it all end? I wish I knew. I only know that dark, gritty and sexually explicit book covers don't fit the paranormal world I know and love to write about.  Call me old-fashioned. Call me a prude. I probably deserve it.  But, as my Dad used to say when we were playing poker. "If you show all the cards in your hand too soon, you've nothing to bluff with. Leave a little mystery. It adds spice to the game and makes you a much more interesting player".  Ah, yes. Dad was certainly wise.   


     

Hello, Mama....Happy Birthday.....

Today is my mother's birthday.  If her soul was still on the earth plane, she would be 101 years of age.  101! A full century! Though she passed from the human world when she was 95, I can still feel her "presence" all around me.  She's pops in on me from time to time, to frighten, scold, or give me comfort.  It doesn't matter that she has no human body anymore.  Her spirit is still going strong, and she's still doing what she always did--"mothering" me.

Sometimes, but not as often, I can feel my Dad's presence. He pops in to give me pointers on the mechanical things of life.  My car, problems around the house that need fixing, lawn mowing and landscaping, etc.  Sometimes, I can tell Mom's right beside him--just like she was when they were living their human life together. Other times, he comes alone, but doesn't stay long. I think he's anxious to get back to Mother's side.

I know that birthdays come and go, and most of them are unspectacular, but when I think of Mom passing her time on the other side, she looks young again to me, like the photos in our family photo albums.  That thought makes me think she is putting that vision in my head to remind me that time is a "human" word--not a spiritual one. I think she wants me to remember that our human, physical bodies are only temporary, but that our time in the spirit world is everlasting. Without an aging body, our soul is able to be any age in the spirit world--young, middle-aged, elderly--you name it, we can be it.

So on what would be my Mom's 101st Earth birthday, I say...Happy Birthday, Mom.  I miss and love you, and I'll see you again down the road.  (Not  quite yet, though. I still have some lessons to learn here in the human world. As soon as they're finished, I'll let you know to come pick me up!)