The attraction was sudden. My eyes found the shelf and the six-pack torso of Kyrian of Thrace in an instant as my friend and I walked into that Borders Express store in the mall way back when. I was a teen, but had no idea what YA was, so I was adrift on the vast sea of books. While floating through literature is by no means a bad thing, I was looking for something I could sink into, that I could read for hours and hours.
That first book, Night Pleasures, by Sherrilyn Kenyon opened my eyes to the world of the Dark Hunters– tormented souls who trade one night of revenge for an eternity of service to Artemis in protecting humans from the evil, soul-sucking Daimons– the cursed children of Apollo. The Greek and Roman pantheons came to life in fantastic (and often sassy) ways, and I was hooked.
From there, I discovered and grew to love the Anita Blake series with zombies, vampires and of course, Jean Claude. Sookie Stackhouse (far before TrueBlood) swooped into the mix and I stumbled head over heels for Bon Temps. I fell in love with the Brothers Winchester on Supernatural and with Cas, my dear, dear Cas.
And this past summer, as I was wrapping up revisions on Wake in Darkness, Book two in the Selina Baker series, I decided to pick up a series I had only read into by one or two books back in my high school days– Kim Harrison’s Hollows series, which feature witch Rachel Morgan, vampire Ivy Tamwood and pixie Jenks. Just Jenks. It had been a while– what with grad school and life–since I had really settled myself in for a series. I devoured most of the books in a month– voraciously reading through graveyards, demon attacks and steamy scenes with Kisten. It felt so good to be there, with all of them in their church, stirring spells and cracking jokes.
So this is all to say– on this All Hallow’s Eve– that I have so much love for the paranormal, and for all you writers who commit yourself to building worlds, creating powers, twisting reality into something far more delicious. Keep on writing because people like you and me will always read it.
Suzanne Rigdon 