It’s not strictly SF, but DEAD RINGERS is probably the total opposite of a date movie, too. Deranged gynecologists are not exactly the stuff of romance.

David Cronenberg’s remake of THE FLY?

Talk about a relationship that goes very, very sour . . ..

As opposed to, say, space operas or superhero adventures or hard-boiled detective stories? Or the latest tale of a robot or artificial intelligence becoming self-aware?

The world is full of sub-genres. You can find good, bad, or mediocre work in any of them.

Once upon a time, I was working as a phlebotomist at a skid-row plasma center, draining blood from winos for cash, while one of my housemates worked for the IRS. We used to joke that, one way or another, blood-sucking was paying the rent. :)

Because vampires are an all-purpose metaphor for anything: predatory relationships, capitalism, aristocracy, disease, death, sex, you name it. They’re shape-shifters, endlessly adaptable to the times.

(Did I mention that my first book was a non-fiction study of vampire literature?)

I don’t think vampire fiction is an accursed genre. TWILIGHT does not retroactively sully over a century of classic vampire stories, from the likes of Stoker, Le Fanu, Matheson, Sturgeon, Rice, Yarbro, Charnas, Lumley, Saberhagen, Somtow, Kim Newman, Tanith Lee, and others ....

(Says the guy who grew up reading DARK…

Heck, you can trace the secret-identity thing back to The Scarlet Pimpernel at least ...

I remember liking these books, too, although my memory of them is fuzzy. (I read A LOT of vampire novels back then.) Gorgeous covers, too, as I recall.

Granted, story-wise, Sydney had good reasons not to reveal the truth to Will—especially after fessing up to her fiancee got him killed in the very first episode.

Plus, I just remembered, the old SHAZAM! tv series was sadly lacking in mad scientists, evil wizards, and telepathic worms from outer space.

And the Shadow and the Phantom and Captain Marvel and Zorro, going all the way back to the old black-and-white serials . . ..

I absolutely agree with #1. Even as a kid, it bugged me that George Reeves’s SUPERMAN mostly fought gangsters and blackmailers and other mundane foes. Where was Brainiac and Bizarro and the Bottle City of Kandor and all that cool stuff from the comics?

The same thing happened to poor Will back on ALIAS, who was always five steps behind everyone else because nobody let in on the Big Secret.

Count me as duped, too. The weatherman struck me as a little “off,” but, hey, it’s not a super-realistic show, so I figured he was just supposed to an engagingly eccentric character. Didn’t see the twist coming at all.

It was the io9 article on fairy-tale books.

Carter and Lee always seemed cut from the same cloth. Carter occupied the more “literary” end of the market, while Lee was more “genre,” but they seemed to share a common sensibility and approach, as well as many of the same obsessions . . . .

I posted this earlier in another thread, but this is probably the book that first hooked me on Lee’s work, luring me in with a beautiful Michael Whelan cover but capturing me with her exquisite prose and darkly romantic sensibility.

I’ve got some truckers in the family, too.

This is where I shamelessly plug a book I just edited, coming out next

In memory of Tanith Lee: