If I want reality, all I have to do is turn on the TV, radio or visit the latest Internet news sources. I want to be entertained not be upset or depressed.
Vampires, as far as I know do not really exist, so I am at liberty to enjoy them in all their variations. Some just glisten in the sun like the vampires in the Twilight Saga written by Stephenie Meyer. Others burn up in sunlight like the Sookie Stackhouse vampires and also sleep like the dead during the day. In Vampire Diaries they can go outdoors in sunlight if they wear special be-spelled rings.
I’ve been reading SFI for many years and it is always surprising when things postulated by writers 50 years ago become fact. The main one I can think of is the internet and computers in general. There are even books written on the science of Star Trek.
Well written imaginative fantasy is always a treat and I have enjoyed books written by Mercedes Lacky and Dean Koontz for years. If the stories get too involved and encompass too many editions, I lose interest.
My take on the paranormal is that it is mainly about angels, demons and entities from different dimensions. Generally I tend not to enjoy this genre as much as the others.
All of the genres allow authors to tackle subjects that traditional fiction doesn’t. Perhaps all the these subjects could be lumped under a general heading of speculative fiction. They all ask the question, “What if.” What if there were vampires, weres, fairies, aliens, advanced technologies, angels, demons and other creatures of myth. How would they affect us and our civilization? I sometimes wonder what beings existed that led to the ancient myths passed down over generations.