It had always been a world of the larger-than-life alpha male, dominating yet magnetic, and invariably unattainable. The women, submissive lot of course, orbit around these tall, dark and handsome perennial tycoons, until the wild males gets domesticated. Like it or not, the repeating plots, the steamy descriptions and the predictably happy endings of the books from the Mills and Boon stable were gobbled up by women, generations after generations, decade after decade.But if you thought it’s always going to be the same forever, you are in a for a major surprise, nay shock rather. Not only have the women changed their attitude, but now, fed up of the mortal men (tycoon or otherwise), have begun to court werewolves, vampires, witches, shape-shifters, wizards and a large number of other-world creatures!. The Mills and Boon (now Harlequin Mills and Boon) are bringing out a new series, Nocturne, which is purely all about paranormal romances.Here is an excerpt from one in the series, all set for release in mid-2011: “His blood would be her death. Daughter of the War God Ares, Kyra had been born into darkness - a darkness she’d vowed to annihilate. Just as she’d destroy warmonger Marco for feeding the bloodlust she despised. She’d use her nymph’s carnal powers to seduce him, then slay him’’.The passage from the book, ‘Poisoned Kisses’ by Stephanie Draven’ continues: “But Kyra wasn’t prepared for Marco’s secret weapon. For millennia Kyra had avoided mortal men, but she couldn’t resist Marco’s magnetism, his raw sexuality. That he was a shape-shifter she could forgive, but not his one fatal flaw - his poisoned blood could kill her. Kyra had fallen for the only being who could destroy her… Yet how could she spend eternity without him? ‘’Come August and you will see these paranormal romance books hitting the bookstores, for a special introductory price of Rs 125 for 300 pages of ultimate escapism. “This will be quite a substantial read and we hope to satisfy our customers, whose numbers keep doubling year after year. Every month, in the Nocturne series, two titles will be released,” said Clare Somerville, General Manager India, UK and Export Sales Harlequin UK Ltd, who was in the city on vacation during the weekend.Does this new venture have anything to do with the humongous success of the Harry Potter series, we couldn’t resist asking the question to Clare Somerville. “Harry Potter certainly may have fuelled the trend for paranormal fiction. But more importantly it has been the success of Stephanie Meyer’s ‘Twilight’ books which combined the supernatural with romance. The genre would trace its roots back to Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ - these books were penned in Victorian times when anything vaguely carnal was completely repressed and were full of sexual metaphor! The motif of the vampire has long been material for sexy romantic hero,’’ said Clare.While the Mills and Boon settings have always been exotic, right from the Mediterranean region and the Greek Islands to the Deserts in West Asia, jungles of Africa and even India, the Nocturne series will be set in the US and the UK for the time being. Kalliangattu Neeli will have to wait.
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