<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

The definition of Paranormal Romance is more complex than either those taking a pure-sf/f viewpoint or those who wish to classify by romance genre expectations tend to make it. In extremely general terms, it is romance fiction that includes elements of the fantastic—ghosts, vampires, shapechangers, angels, extrasensory or magical abilities, time travel, futuristic societies, alternative worlds, and more. (Futuristic, fantasy, time travel, and vampires are sometimes considered separate categories and/or subgenres.) Some of what can be considered paranormal romance could also be called fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, or horror.

Although PR is increasingly crossing genre boundaries, as a publishing category paranormal romance is highly formulaic. Its formulae are derived from reader preference and it is edited according to those formulae. One characteristic of romance—the happy ending—may be the most definitional aspect of audience expectation although even this rule may be shifting, especially with multi-volume epics where an *eventual* positive outcome may be delayed until the penultimate book. However, for many who identify themselves as paranormal romance readers, a book without a happy ending cannot be considered a paranormal romance.

Some have seen the happy ending as important because, without it, the reader cannot otherwise "safely" explore the underlying issues involved in the fiction: relationships, gender identification and reversals, sexuality and sexual preferences, societal roles, maternity, empowerment, emotionalism, etc. As with fantasy, the literature may be geared to sheer escapism as well. There are also broad ranges of eroticism within the field ranging from primly absent to extremely explicit.

Nancy H. Traill, in Possible Worlds Of The Fantastic: The Rise Of The Paranormal In Fiction, posits that in PR, no opposition exists between the supernatural and natural worlds: ". . . the word 'supernatural' is merely a label for strange phenomena latent *within* the natural domain. Clairvoyance, telepathy, and precognition, for instance, are taken to be as *physically possible* as any commonplace human ability. In the other modes, such extraordinary faculties would be properties only of supernatural entities; where humans possess such abilities, they are usually the gift of deities or demons. In the paranormal mode, a structural change occurs: the natural domain is enlarged and encompasses a special region accessible to those with extraordinary perceptual capacities."

Although not all the work of all the following writers could be classified as paranormal romance, a list of some of the more notable authors in the field includes: Catherine Asaro, Laura Baker, Lois McMaster Bujold, MaryJanice Davidson, Christina Dodd, Christine Feehan, Diana Gabaldon, Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, Sandra Hill, Dara Joy, Kathleen Kane, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Catherine Mulvany, Susan Plunkett, Nora Roberts, Maggie Shayne, Sharon Shinn, and Patricia White.