Paranormal Romantics

The first ghost story in print. Or how to exercise a spirit by temptation.

So you think paranormal is new? Nope. 3,500 BCE or thereabouts, on a Babylonian tablet. 

A museum curator, Irving Finkle, discovered the oldest-known ghost drawing on a 3,500-year-old ancient Babylonian tablet. It also includes instructions for how to exorcise the unwanted spirit.

The drawing on a clay tablet is of a bearded male ghost, tied with rope, being led by a woman to the underworld. It must also be a romance because the instructions are to get rid of a ghost-get him a girlfriend. (paraphrased by yours truly)

Here we are 5,523 or so years later, men are still being led by their…uhm…rope by… well, you get it.

I found this by trying to see how far back PNR goes. It wasn’t as easy as Googling the earliest paranormal romance. What I did find were Gothic novels which are sort of paranormal. I understand from the information that they were/are a combination of horror and romance. Early on, these encompassed a damsel in distress, an angsty hero, and another element like a ghost, curse, etc.

From what I could find, without giving up my day job, is that it wasn’t until 1977 that Alice Norton writing as Andre Norton, began adding a touch of romance to her sci-fi novels.

Ten years later, Rita Clay Estrada wrote The Ivory Key, which seems to be the first book with a paranormal love interest. And things began to roll.

But we’ve come a long way, baby, to quote the 1970’s commercial. Today’s paranormal romance has strong lead female characters who are more often than not equal partners with their love interest. Vampires, Werewolves, and Aliens, Oh my.

I’ve even entered the genre with my historical paranormal Sea Hunter. 

Who has more to add to this blog? I’d love to hear about the first PNR that hooked you. Does anyone have better information about the history of the genre? I just scratched the surface.

Happy reading, all!