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November 19, 2006 -- In a traditional paperback romance, the hero is a strapping stallion, all flowing locks and rippling pecs, the latter preferably visible through a half-open shirt on a windswept cliff. In the hot new "paranormal romance" version, the hero may literally be a stallion.
Such is the case with a "shape-shifting" character in "Kissing Sin," by Aussie Keri Arthur. Like most of its kind, it takes the familiar bodice-ripper plot points and peoples them with all manner of creatures.
"I'd never met a horse-shifter before, and had to wonder where they'd been hiding all my life," the randy heroine muses in "Kissing Sin." "It wasn't only his coloring that was magnificent. He was built like a thoroughbred."
We'd tell you what happens next, but this is a family paper.
Half-horse-men are only the tip of the supernatural iceberg. Vampires, werewolves, fairies, dragons and countless combinations thereof can be found in the pages of paranormal romances.
The one constant? Their unquenchable thirst for passion, which keeps the genre thriving (according to the Romance Writers of America, it generates $1.2 billion a year, and makes up 39.3 percent of all fiction sold).
"I think vampires and werewolves can be very sexy. They're the ultimate bad boys," says Arthur, who started penning the novels when she found the horror books she loved to read weren't getting her pulse racing.
"I like a bit of romance with my blood and gore," she says. So do readers, which prompted Harlequin to create Luna, an imprint devoted to sci-fi and fantasy-themed romance.
"The supernatural stuff seems to be selling really well," observes Jessa Crispin, editor of the online book magazine Bookslut, who says she's been noticing a lot of new titles in the genre.
Ironically, the pre-pubescent Harry Potter may have started the fire, says author Shana Abe, who claims publishers took interest in her dragon-centric romps after the first two J.K. Rowling books became best sellers.
"I think people are starting to embrace the supernatural more than they used to," says Abe, whose "The Dream Thief" is Amazon's top pick among this year's romances.
"Look at television now," she says. "'Heroes' is one of the biggest shows out there. That's total escapist fantasy."
Author Karen Marie Moning agrees: "I think there's an uncertainty in our world today that we want mystical solutions to," she says. "We're looking for superheroes who can deal with super problems."
In Moning's latest novel, those problems come in the guise of seductive male fairies, who enslave women with their sex appeal.
Then again, the winds may shift - as Crispin points out, it's easy enough to tailor a romance novel to the whims of the times.
"There were a lot of pirate romances after 'Pirates of the Caribbean,'" she says. "It's just like Mad Libs. Take out pirates, insert vampires."
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