Comments on: Dark, darker, darkest?

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 15:24:00 +0000

That is interesting about Luna. I’ve only read one and I didn’t think it was overly dark - maybe a bit creepy, but that’s it. And my mother has read a lot of them and she doesn’t read what I think of as dark. I’m sure if she thought the ones she had read were dark she would have mentioned it.
A couple of my friends said to them in a dark romance the h/h are each others salvation or at least one is to the other–what keeps them from slipping totally to the “dark” side. I think that is certainly common, but to me a romance could be dark without that–of course I can’t think of a book that doesn’t have that right now. So maybe they are right. :)

By: Michelle Diener

Michelle Diener — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 21:24:58 +0000

I’d like a definition, too. I’d say Koontz or King, although I don’t think the two writers write the same kind of dark. I submitted an ms to Luna, and they replied in about two weeks, saying it was pacey, well written but just not dark enough for them. I’m writing something now that is darker, but is it dark enough? And as you say, what exactly is dark? The fantasy I’m writing now won’t scare anyone (I don’t think) but the premise is darker, the characters have faced a lot of real pain. Iain M. Banks’ Against a Dark Background is along the same lines. Not Koontz scary, but dark and twisted. One of the review lines on the back cover says ‘Banks warns you up front - this is a dark book.’ So to them, the dark landscape, the pain and suffering the characters go through, the twists and betrayals in the plot, make it dark. Its not the dark that keeps you up at night wondering what that noise was, its the kind of dark that has you pondering for a long time afterwards.

By: Edie Ramer

Edie Ramer — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 20:54:27 +0000

I’m the wrong person to ask as I’m a light paranormal reader, but my guess would be Stephen King or Dean Koontz.