I've mentioned before that Lauren's Cascadia Wolves were one of the inspirations for me to start writing in the first place. That, and the fact I followed her to Samhain and spotted the call for humorous paranormal were the catalyst for what I'm celebrating in a week's time–my first print.
Since discovering Lauren's work, I've found myself fascinated with the wide variety of genres she's written. She's a National Bestseller who writes Futuristic, Contemp, and still continues to put out awesome Paranormal stories as well. She's also one of the authors I admire for working both New York print and maintaining an ebook presence.
I'll let Lauren share now.
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I wrote my first shifter book in 2005. I’ve always loved werewolves. Be they the scary kind who hate humans and hunt them all down, or the less scary, more sexy kind who live like humans part of the time and have relationships with them.
Wolves are beautiful animals. Strong. Fearsome. And yet they live in packs. They have mate bonds. To me, that’s great material for any romance – strong, fierce, love of family and of their mate.
My two greatest loves all rolled into one and it’s so much fun to write them! I feel, for wont of a better word, comfortable writing them because they make sense to me in a way that other shifters don’t. That’s not to say I don’t like other shifters, I read a lot of them, LOL, but to write them I need to feel a certain level of comfort and connection and with wolves I do.
For me, the core of my books is family. So naturally, the first werewolf book I wrote was about a family of wolves set here in the Pacific Northwest. And because those familial relationships are close enough to a wolf pack, it was a natural progression to add other human things into their shifter world like organized crime, hate crimes, problems with your mother, etc.
I tend toward paranormal stories that are completely a departure from real life or ones that mimic it and give it a twist. My wolves have jobs with their families, as do my cats. But they’re also beholden to a higher set of laws and rules flowing from their identities as others.
It’s that juxtaposition of reality and paranormal that I find perfect for wolves to fit into. They’re alive and warm, in touch with their animal side which makes it easier to write a super-alpha male shifter than a human one. I can let go and write an uber-protective man because there’s a reason why he rides that line between acceptable as a human man and acceptable as a shifter.
I love to play along those lines and writing paranormals is always a rich playground and it’s definitely why I write shifter stories.
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And that's why I love to read them! Prize today is one of Lauren's sexy weres. Your choice of any–print if it's available , ebook if you're prefer. ( a few books are ebook only) Information about all these books, and Lauren's others is available at her website.
To be entered, post a comment telling me if you have a ‘first author' you remember for introducing you to Paranormal books.
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The first author who got my hooked on the paranormal was Patricia Biggs and the Mercy series. After reading that, I was hooked! 🙂
I’ve been thinking it was Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series, but I also remember Maggie Shayne’s vampires were some of the earliest paranormal romances I read. I’d also put Kim Harrison & Charlaine Harris on that list of my personal PNR pioneers. 😉
~Lindy
That would be Mercedes Lackey!
I first read her ‘Valdemar’ books, which are fantasy, but I loved them so much I also tried some of her other books and so I ran into ‘Children of the Night’ which is as you might guess about vampires. She got me hooked to paranormal/UF books with that one I can tell.
The first author to introduce me to paranormal was… Stephanie Tyler ~ Twilight. Yeah I know… but she got me hooked and then had me searching for “adult” material… so after her… I found… Lynda Hilburn, Charlene Harris, Alexandra Ivy, Amanda Ashley, Christine Warren to name a few… And the rest is history. I have been sold to paranormal first!
Thanks for the chance to win one of Lauren’s books!!
Great post.I love Lauren’s books.
My first author would be Kim Harrison’s Hollows/Rachel Morgan series.
I think it was Anne Rice…or LJ Smith. I can’t be too sure of who was first anymore! lol Maybe even Charlaine Harris or Laurell K Hamilton.
The first paranormal I read was by Angela Knight; Master of the Night. I was at the library and trying to grab something quick to read for the weekend. I was hooked right away and soon was looking for everything paranormal I could find- I haven’t stopped since!
I’m with Camille. It was L.J. Smith at the ripe old age of 12. Some how I feel cool for being part of the ORIGINAL fan craze instead of the backlash from Twilight resurgence. Kind of like those people who wore Wallabees before they were cool. Anyway more recently what got me back into the groove of paranormal was J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood.
I hate to admit this but it was Twilight– before the movies and before I knew of the rapid followers. LOL I had read sci fi and hardcore fantasy since high school but really didn’t know much about paranormal romance– after Twilight I started reading everything I could and found Jeaniene Frost– have read her books 3 times each now:)
Anne Rice would’ve been my start into sci fi/fantasy. I read every book she wrote in that genre and even the sleeping beauty trilogy too. From there my brother suggested Anita Blake by LKH. He had the 1st edition, old school covers on his books. At the time I think she was only up to Obsidian. I devoured those books and from there, it just sky rocketed. I had read the short stories in anthologies and used those to find other authors.
Feehan, JR Ward, kenyon, patricia briggs, kim harrison, and since I am in Love with Lora Leigh. She can do no wrong. There are so many good authors out there that i read, it’s hard to pick just one. I love Lauren’s books too.
I’m showing my age here but my very first paranormal author was Bram Stoker- Dracula. Since then I read Mercedes Lackey, LKH, Mary Janice Davidson, Kim Harrison, Anne Rice, and too many more to list. Of course Lauren and Vivian ‘s books are at the top of my must read list when they come out.
J.K. Rowling got me hooked on the magical and what people say is impossible in middle school. I knew I found my new favorite genre. Now I can’t get enough
Lora Leigh’s Breeds are the first I can remember. I quickly followed with JR Ward, Shiloh Walker, Vivian Arend, and many more.
I was introduced to paranormal romance by Bree of Moira Rogers by being gifted with one of their books, since I knew her before they got published. After that I started to branch out and read other authors. I really like Kim Harrison, Rachel Caine, Patricia Briggs, and Rachel Vincent.
The first I read was the Twilight series in May 09, it was after I saw the movie and heard that the book was so much better. Then I read the Sookie series and my addiction was confirmed. I have read a hundred books since and love my Sony e-reader, I have been telling and sharing my favorite shifter stories and buying books to five as gifts!
Christine Feehan was the author that got me to read paranormal books with her Dark series.
I read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein when I was in middle school and never looked back. Then Stoker.
For me it was Lora Leigh. She is responsible for many of my firsts- my first ebook, my first shifter book, and my first paranormal story. Been hooked on all three ever since.
The first author I read in the paranormal genre was JR Ward The Black Dagger Brotherhood, next it was Lora Leigh’s Breed Series. I have to say though out of all shifting books, I like reading about wolves the best!
wow one would think i’d remember but it’s just a haze all I really know is that I love shifters hope thats enough
Feehan’s Dark series was my first taste of paranormal.
Sherrilyn Kenyon introduced me to the paranormal world and she’s one of my favorites.
Like a few others, Christine Feehan’s Carpathians were my first big foray into paranormal. I read Anne Rice of course, but once I was done reading her books I was done with them. Feehan’s vamps stayed with me and I remember being obsessed with Grigori. I’ve given up on the series now, but I sure loved how it started.
I got hooked after reading Heather Graham’s ghost and vampire books.
That would be Stephenie Meyer! And I thank her everyday for it LOL 🙂
My first paranormal romance author was Kresley Cole. I read A HUNGER LIKE NO OTHER and was completely hooked! Since then, I’ve always had a thing for werewolves.
First for paranormals… actually it was a book about Irish myths and legends, then ENCHANTED by Claire Delacroix! 😀
Anne Rice was the first (and at the time only) vampire stories I read….then I watched HBO’s True Blood and found the Southern Vampire Chronicles….that lead me to several other authors including you and Lauren Dane….have been hooked since then
I have always loved paranormal stories since i was in grade school. Any book that had a paranormal element to it I had to have. My favorite book was Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Rogers. Then I went more into fantasy as I got older. I started reading romance after my first child and then discovered paranormal romance and my first author/books there was Christine Feehan’s Dark series.
I would have to say Thomas Sniegoski was my first stepping stone into the paranormal/preternatural fiction world. I happened upon his “Fallen” series at the library, and I’ve never looked back since. In fact, because of how awesome those books are, I’ve developed quite an obsession for angels.
My first Paranormal Romance was from Anne Rice, which led me to love the Vampires!
Anne Rice was the opening of the door for me! I remember way back in jr high my time reading The Queen of the Damned (1988), I was blown away! One of the best books I have ever read, and I still have the old tattered and torn copy sitting next to my bed on the bedside table.
For me, it was Lora Leigh’s Breed Books. After that, I was hooked!
Christine Feehan, a friend of mine had tried and swore I would love the series: she was right.
One of the very first authors who really turned me onto paranormal romance was Christine Feehan…
I realize I read The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper back in grade school, so that’s my earliest paranormal story (and I love the book even today)
The first “paranormal” romance I read had to be Green Darkness by Anya Seton-reincarnation, hauntings, fated love-it had it all in a massive seven hundred pages. This was back in 1972, and I have read it over and over. I actually bought several copies at a library book sale so I would always have a copy.
Kresley Cole and the Immortals After Dark
The first paranormal book I remember reading and loving is Dark Prince by Christine Feehan. I’ve been addicted to them ever since.
The first parnormal ook I read was 2 years ago and it was Twilight. I read it so I could se what my neice was reading. I quickly became obsessed and headed for the much more adult content paranormal and have been extremely happy ever since. 🙂
I read Tiger Eye by Marjorie M. Liu and was hooked on paranormal romance.
Anne Rice was the first, but now there are so many. 🙂 I love the paranormal genre!
I actually don’t remember the first ever paranormal book I read. But I do remember the author who fueled my paranormal addiction: Kresley Cole! 🙂
(She also simultaneously made me fall in love with Scottish people too hehehe)
Anne Rice – The Witching Hour is the first paranormal book is I remember reading. It is still one of my all time favorites.
My first foray into the paranormal-maybe more Sci fi would be Piers Anthony’s Immortality series. Form there I went to Anne Rice and was hooked forever. 🙂
I got started on my current paranormal craze with the Sookie Stackhouse books. However, it wasn’t the vamps that really got to me (well, okay, I certainly wouldn’t turn Eric down if he came to my door), no what I loved were the shifters, especially the wolves. The next series I read was Mercy Thompson, and that was it, I was firmly hooked on shifters.
I think that my very first foray would have been L.J. Smith, and her Vampire Diaries/ The Secret Circle/ Nightworld books.
But, if I was going to name an author that got me into the dark, broody, sexy, paranormal romance kind of novels that are similar to what Lauren Dane writes, I gotta go with Shelly Laurenston. I read Pack Challenge (one of my very first ebooks, which got me hooked on both them and Samhaim Publishing), and I was forever smitten!
I was aware of the “old” paranormal Dracula etc., and I’d seen Interview With the Vampire, but my introduction to the “new” paranormal came via Laurell K. Hamilton.
long ago and far away it was maggie Shayne and her vamps. Along with Linda Leal Miller back in the late 70’s and 80’s. I wa s hooked with not a whole lot to feed my addiction till the paranomal explosion too place primarily with ebooks. Thank god for those.
Laurell K. Hamilton was my first.
I have read all of Lauren’s Cascadia and De La Vega books and they are in my top books for sure. Love her 🙂