People like me

One of the things I dread the most in life is having to explain my taste in books. This inevitably comes up when conversations delve into hobbies. I always say "I read...A LOT." The next thing everyone says is "Oh? What do you read?" My mind starts to race and I always say what is true and what will be considered "respectable". I always say Jane Austen. I love my girl, Jane. But unfortunately my literary homeslice passed away some time ago with only a handful of publications under her belt. But she's not all I like. Sure, I've read a few classics, more than probably the average American (not saying much), but not as many as I'd like. Nonfiction usually puts me to sleep, and modern traditional fiction (what I call vanilla fiction) rarely hits the spot for me. What I really love with a passion is urban fantasy.

Last night I was among people like me. People who are unabashedly live a large portion of their lives with their noses in between a paperback cover (and often a hardback one). I went to my first ever book signing. And what made it all the more special, it was for paranormal romance series author, Sherrilyn Kenyon. It was cathartic, hilarious, enlightening, and reassuring.

I have a handful of authors who are like rock starts to me. Truly. Their works spoke to me on a deep psychological level, a level that nothing else had touched. The first and foremost was Laurell K. Hamilton. If I ever get to meet her at a book signing or any other kind of appearance, I have every confidence I will scream and wail to rival the teenyboppers at the Ed Sullivan Show the night the Beatles first performed. I'll never forget the day I stood in line at McDonald's during college and noticed the lady in front of me was reading a Buffy the Vampire Slayer book. I, loving the show, asked her if it was any good. She shrugged and said those fateful words, "It's ok, but if you really like this kind of stuff, the Anita Blake series is the best." Stick a fork in me, I was DONE after that. Anita's sarcasm and unflinching badassery helped to shape me into the sassy, moxious woman I am today. Now my favorites also include Charlaine Harris, Jacqueline Carey, Kelley Armstrong, Emma Bull, and the author I saw last night.

While Sherrilyn Kenyon writes what is classified as "paranormal romance", and her books are pretty racy, what makes her great is her world-building and her constant characters. We wait with baited breath for the next book and for the puzzle pieces that will make the whole thing make sense, each one hilarious and endearing. Last night while waiting among women, some who had driven hours from neighboring states, we talked and shared about our favorite authors and our favorite books. The only person up until that point who I had ever been able to share my secret literary passions with has been my sister-in-spirit, B. Surrounded by all these women who also felt weird and isolated by their taste in books, I felt like a member of a special sisterhood.

Example that I'm not as hardcore for my favorite books as I thought:

That is a tattoo I saw last night. Of Jean Claude. Jean Claude is a character. See here for the original.