My work-in-progress is about gay men and angels, and lately I’ve been worried. This probably happens to every writer: as you near the homestretch, you start noticing all the recently released books or movies similar to your story and panic that they’re going to cancel out the unique appeal of your novel. On the other hand, hitting on a trend could be a very good thing for a debut title. This has certainly been the case with vampire stories.
I don’t read vampire stories so I cast no judgment on them. Something about vampires clearly taps into our collective unconscious, and there have always been plenty of vampire stories around. But since Twilight’s success, bookstores have set up entire sections for this fantasy sub-genre. Like I said, I haven’t picked up one of them, but some of them have some pretty enticing cover art. And vampire movies are coming out like every other month. The latest Daybreakers I just might go see.
Some people say the vampire trend is going cold. Some people said that a year or two years ago. The bubble has to burst at some point I guess just like the real estate market in the new millennium.
Vampires have infiltrated the gay fiction market as well. A search on Amazon pulls up pages and pages of gay vampire novels, erotic and otherwise, all released in the past three years. The only gay vampire book I read, back in the ’90’s, was Vampires Anonymous by Jeffrey McMahan. It was really good.
Angels seem to have a quieter following. There’s the inspirational and melodramatic stuff out there, but no mainstream angel franchise that I can think of in terms of books and no angel fiction display case at my local Barnes and Noble. Maybe they’re too sacred to exploit as a fantasy series. Maybe people prefer to read about angels within the sanctity of the Bible. Maybe this is why I was drawn to the subject as an excellent target for subversion. But lately, there’s been a bunch of angel novels in the new release section of the bookstore. Anne Rice’s Angel Time is out as part of her new Songs of the Seraphim trilogy, and YA author Lauren Kate has the angel-inspired series Fallen. Plus film-wise, there’s the big budget Legion and James Cameron is working on a blockbuster based on the manga Battle Angel.
This shouldn’t worry me too much, I tell myself. My story is equal parts contemporary gay issues and angel legend. It doesn’t feature badass angels wreaking havoc or fighting an epic battle of good versus evil, and it’s not about a teenage girl drawn into the tortured, sexy world of angel boys. And even though my story touches on the familiar themes of transcending adversity through faith, mercy and divine intervention, it’s not going to get the Pope’s seal of approval. In fact, I’d be madly delighted if the Pope condemned it as the most heretical piece of literature since Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses.
I guess I’m just worried that by the time I finish my book (3 months off by my most optimistic calculation), agents and publishers will have declared the angel trend come and gone. The anxiety pushes me along. Maybe I’ll get the final 50 pages done by April.
