Failed Prophesy (so far)
Three years ago, as I had begun getting accustomed to library work and had gained some familiarity with the collection at the branch where I was working, I had become acutely aware of the "Paranormal Romance" trend that has infested the "Young Adult" literature.
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Vampires, angels, demons, werewolves, and even zombies were all treated as fodder for romance novels, and the blurbs on the back and excerpts on the dust jackets were not indicative of good reading material to my mind. Horror monsters were being wussified. I was swiftly reaching the conclusion that YA lit was the cesspool for whatever publishers deemed too poorly written for adults, but "edgy" enough for teens.
But then, I came to a far more horrifying realization. This is only the beginning. We are not far from the time when the Lovecraft mythos will be the next setting to be destroyed in this manner.
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I can see it now: The misunderstood lad finds love and acceptance in the Cults of the Old Ones, learning their strange ways and appreciating their unique culture while wooing a priestess. The lonely girl from Innsmouth sees through the shell to the tender heart of the Deep One who saved her from drowning, but now she must decide between his life of eternity in the deep, or returning to her normal family. Nyarlathotep sweeps a teen off her feet and they travel the world. And so on.
It has not yet come to pass, so I deem myself a false prophet, but time will tell. Publishers will sink to any depths to make a quick buck off any passing fad. If THAT doesn't scare you, I don't know what will.
Oh no!!!!!!! We can't have that. We can't water down the madness inducing terror of the old ones. They probably fecking will right enough
"Twilight" was almost enough to make me condone book burnings. Doing the same thing to Lovecraft would push me over the edge.
Oh that film was awful. Twinkling effects and longing glances galore. Yeek. Let's hope they never do. Although inroads may be already happening with the cthulu soft toys and t shirts for kids
I don't have a problem with that kind of fandom. I think it exemplifies the insidious nature of chaos. Bad novels completely flipping the nature of the dark beyond into angsty tween romance fodder would be a step too far though.
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