Author Guest Post & Giveaway: Keary Taylor talks angels.

I’m excited to welcome author Keary Taylor to the blog to discuss her thoughts on angels in Young Adult literature having the resiliency vampires have had. Welcome Keary, and thanks so much for being here!

The subject of angels is one that has boomed in a huge way over the last year.  When I first started writing Branded in January of 2009 I looked and looked for other urban fantasy’s  based around angels specifically and found next to nothing.  Just as I finished, Hush Hush and Fallen came out one month later.  It seems like a new angel book is coming out every month.  There’s Halo, Angel, Angefire, the list keeps going on and on.  Angels are making a quick rise in popular fiction.

I think part of the reason there is so much new angel fiction is because the lovers of urban/contemporary fantasy are getting a little tired of what is out there.  Vampires have dominated the field for a long time.  People are ready for something fresh.  This is a great opportunity for those of us who love to write about supernatural beings but are burned out of vampires.  I think the entire genre is evolving.  We’re seeing a lot of new or untapped into mythical creatures coming up.  There’s The Immortals series that deals with (obviously) immortals, there’s Forgive My Fins with mermaids, there’s Beautiful Creatures with a unique take on witches, there’s even a new take on aliens in I Am Number Four.  The market used to be kind of narrow in this genre.  Vampires dominated.  But the field is expanding and people are wanting more.

I suppose this could really be said with any creature but there is a wide variety of takes to be had when approaching angels.  The mythology surrounding angels is left pretty wide open for interpretation.  A LOT of the new angel books out there deal with fallen angels or nephiliam.  In fact I think most of them are based around that.  My series title is Fall of Angels.  I’ll explain a bit what I mean by that.

In Branded, Jessica has nightmares whenever she sleeps of standing trial before a council of angels and being judged for the deeds of real people who have died.  Whatever the outcome of the trail is, they are always turned into an angel in the end and granted wings.  So, when I say "Fall of Angels" I'm talking basically about the fall of everyone.  I'm talking about the things that make us fall, the mistakes we make, our frailties, essentially, what makes us human. No one is perfect and we all make poor decisions that affect not only ourselves but those around us.  

Now the downside and the upside.  Angels will always have a slight disadvantage by having a slightly more limited reader field than vampires for the fact that of course there is going to be a bit of religion involved.  It’s hard not to have just a little bit of religion when you’re talking about angels.  Some people aren’t going to like that, and that’s okay.  On the other side though, angels have been around for a VERY long time.  Angels crop everywhere, in the bible, on gravestones, on churches.  They have the advantage of a LOT of history and the advantage of the fact that a lot of people really believe in angels.

Do I think angels will stand the test of popularity in time?  I think yes.  I think the genre is expanding and this is a new age in the supernatural.  But only time will tell.

Branded: Fall of Angels is available now

Forsaken: Fall of Angels #2 will be available in January 2011

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Thanks for stopping by, Keary! 

I wasn’t scheduled for a giveaway, but I received two copies of Branded: Fall of Angels in the mail. The second copy is signed to me, but I promise that won’t mar your reading enjoyment ;) My review of Branded can be found here.

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Open to residents of the U.S & Canada

Ends 11/30

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Guest post is part of the Branded tour via The Teen Book Scene