So I’m supposed to be working throughout the day—and (if my bosses are reading) I am! But part of my job is to run our @bantamspectra Twitter account. Which I do—with perhaps too great a frequency.
The problem is, I get into some fascinating conversations with my followers (the fact that I consider them my followers is irrelevant for this discussion), and yesterday was a great example of starting with a small topic, and it exploding into something quite fascinating.
It all started with the rather (or so I thought) innocuous query:
Do you know and/or care about the difference between urban fantasy and paranormal romance?
The response was, while perhaps not overwhelming, surely whelming.
Two camps seemed to set up: those that did know the difference and didn’t care, and those who did know the difference and did.
As @Tupholos said: “Don’t care. I suppose people with strong pos or neg feelings for one or the other might care. I like ‘em both.”
@LynnAAR added: “I read both PR and UF, so no. However, I do like to know what genre I’m buying.” When I asked her if it was so she knew what she was getting into, she replied: “Exactly. If a book is well-written, I’ll like it regardless, but I still like to know what I’m picking up.”
So even those who don’t care actually do care to a degree, in that their immediate selections (what they decided to read) were made fully cognizant that they were holding either paranormal romance or urban fantasy.
For my followers, then, the difference was important, if only so that they were geared up (in the right frame of mind) for the book they were about to read.
(Getting into the meat of things, after the jump—including books that readers of both UF and PR should enjoy)
