The best paranormal fantasy books when you begin to exhibit supernatural powers

I love this book because it is about a family of witches, one of my favorite paranormal subjects, originating in old New Orleans, the creepiest, coolest city in America. Second, it is Anne Rice, my favorite author, bar none.

The protagonist, Rowan, is a doctor who learns that her superb medical skills are due in part to the supernatural abilities she has inherited from the Mayfair witches.

As a neuroanatomist, I can imagine what it would have been like if I had powers like telekinesis and clairvoyance and how that could have helped me in my brain mapping research as a PhD student. I also love the fact that the Mayfair witches owe their powers to a sexy male-presenting immortal being, Lasher, who is both lover and fiend.

I love that a normal human being, Ig Perrish (awesome character name), wakes up one morning and notices he is physically transforming into a supernatural being. The progressive growth of the horns (excellent anatomical descriptions of their extension from the cranium) coinciding with his gradual distaste and rejection of all things Judeo-Christian is brilliant.

I also love that Joe Hill turned the idea of what a demon is on its head, that they are not inherently evil but become that way because they can detect the hypocrisy of human thought, which drives them mad. They are so mad that they want to harm the very beings that tell them one thing but believe in another. Something I believe is responsible for all that is truly evil in the natural world. 

I love this novel because it features a witch and a vampire in a romantic and sexually active relationship—so hot! Since I was a little boy, I have dreamed that these extraordinary organisms could live in harmonious familial relationships, a la The Munsters.

I also love that both protagonists are academics and scientists, blending the laws of the natural world with the metaphysical, as I do in my own writing. When the scholar discovers an ancient alchemy book, it thrusts her into her familial legacy of witchcraft, and she becomes a type of savior for both the witch and vampire races.

The theme of discovering hibernating supernatural powers! Deborah Harkness remembered my name a year later when I attended a signing for her second book. Color me impressed.   

Poe's short stories The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, and The Cask of Amontillado greatly influenced me when I was young. While my peers were reading The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries, I was engrossed in the beautiful and twisted world of Poe.

Although it is questionable if there are any supernatural abilities exhibited in these tales, I found that the common theme of concealing a crime within household structures like floorboards or a wall inflicted a psychological trauma on me that I never completely recovered from.

I am grateful for this impression as it ignited my interest in psychology, leading to neuropsychology and finally to my doctoral studies in neuroscience. This theme of “hiding in plain sight” inspires me when writing about supernatural abilities.

Lasher continues the Mayfair Witches saga by developing one of my favorite themes in speculative fiction: What’s “apparently” right or wrong, good or evil? This premise fascinates and charges me when I write my paranormal fantasies.

I love that Rowan falls for Lasher’s enchantment in the beginning when he promises her extraordinary powers by sharing his physical self sexually with her, but then the story pivots to the immortal itself and its end game. What started out as a dream became a nightmare.

I love when paranormal fantasy goes off the rails, and the happy ending is not necessarily realized in the story. It is a betrayal of the characters in your book to give them a happy ending when the circumstances don’t warrant it.