Anyone familiar with the Chinese zodiac? Obviously, I’m not following it to the letter, since there is no such thing as a year of the Vampire. But I find the concept of cyclical dating fascinating. Yeah, yeah. I’m a little late in this discovery. The Chinese zodiac’s been around for…uh…a little while. But hey, it’s new to me!

Anyway, I’ve determined that the world of romance publishing is much like the Chinese zodiac. It’s cyclical. While there are always plenty of different kinds of romance novels published every year, it seems that one theme/genre/category of romance novels tends to be “The In Thing” each year. One year, vampires are all the rage, and the next Regency historicals. 2007 looks like it’ll be the Year of the Vampire, both in romance publishing in general, and especially in with my own books. I have several vampire books releasing in 2007–Real Vampires Don’t Drink O-Neg; Burning Hunger; Dressed to Kill; Kiss me, Kill Me; and If Looks Could Kill.

What will next year be? The Year of the Demon (*staring at Jacquelyn Frank’s “Jacob”)? The Year of the Shapeshifter? Or maybe the Year of the Romantic Suspense? Who’s to say? Anyone care to take a guess? Or make a suggestion for future years?

Me, I’d love for 2008 to be The Year of the Time Travel.