In most contemporary werewolf literature, the werewolf body changes shape but the contemporary werewolf heroine is still helpless to resist this temporal sequence of birth, marriage, reproduction, and death typical of historical romance. This article uses the concept of queer temporality to show how the werewolves in Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series twist away from normative temporality to redefine the nature of the wolf, its erotic relationships, and its function in the werewolf pack, creating a queer space in the supernatural community that resists many of the clichéd tropes of other paranormal romance.
Series such as this are difficult to classify, and Carriger's series has been described as steampunk, urban fantasy and romance. The Urban Fantasy Wiki, for example, describes it as "Urban Fantasy, Steampunk, with Cozy-Mystery & PNR elements".
While I would therefore be uncertain about including this in the database, Natalie Grinnell has confirmed for me (by email) that "Some of the pieces in the series are definitely romances, especially the three novellas; our methodology combines romance theory with queer temporality. I agree that figuring out how to categorize these series is difficult."
I also thought that it might be productive/thought-provoking to scholars of romance (in the strictest sense of modern popular romance fiction) to see some of the descriptions/opinions which are given of paranormal romance, particularly since the corpus the authors regard as paranormal romance appears to include works which might be classified differently: Patricia Briggs’s Alpha and Omega series, Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville series, Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series.
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It is our contention that Gail Carriger’s works reimagine the paranormal romance through a queer lens, restaging the normative tropes of popular werewolf fiction as part of a supportive queer temporal space. (172)
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Unlike other contemporary werewolf romances, the power dynamic of this relationship is nearly equally divided between Alexia and Maccon. Although Maccon is a powerful alpha werewolf, Alexia’s status as a preternatural gives her power over all supernatural creatures, including her husband. While he is touching her, it is impossible for Lord Maccon to use his werewolf abilities. This taming of the beast effectively prevents the justification of non-consensual sex between Alexia and Maccon based on a biological imperative. Sexual assault, both threatened and survived, is so common for the heroines of paranormal werewolf romance that it very nearly constitutes a required stage of development for such characters. But the queer temporality of Alexia’s touch, which temporarily thrusts the supernatural werewolf back to a time before he had his bestial abilities, disrupts the sexually violent coming-of-age narrative of other paranormal romances, such as those written by Patricia Briggs or Carrie Vaughn. (174-75)
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The most important relationship for a werewolf in contemporary paranormal romance, however, is not its mate, but its pack. These packs are almost inevitably formed along a patriarchal hierarchy led by an alpha male who demands abject obedience. (189)
Here's the abstract:
Series such as this are difficult to classify, and Carriger's series has been described as steampunk, urban fantasy and romance. The Urban Fantasy Wiki, for example, describes it as "Urban Fantasy, Steampunk, with Cozy-Mystery & PNR elements".
While I would therefore be uncertain about including this in the database, Natalie Grinnell has confirmed for me (by email) that "Some of the pieces in the series are definitely romances, especially the three novellas; our methodology combines romance theory with queer temporality. I agree that figuring out how to categorize these series is difficult."
I also thought that it might be productive/thought-provoking to scholars of romance (in the strictest sense of modern popular romance fiction) to see some of the descriptions/opinions which are given of paranormal romance, particularly since the corpus the authors regard as paranormal romance appears to include works which might be classified differently: Patricia Briggs’s Alpha and Omega series, Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville series, Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series.
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