Geographical Anomaly? Or Does UF Need Humidity to Survive?

So I just went over to our newest Leaguer's, Diana Rowland's, website, and saw that she lives in Southern Louisiana.

I, meanwhile, am writing this from Northern Louisiana. And I can count a shit ton of other UF/PR writers who are currently in this state or who are from this state and set their books here.

Which I know does make sense. After all, Anne Rice obviously made vampires and New Orleans practically synonymous. But it's still weird that so many of us live here, for entirely random reasons. I did not move to Louisiana for the vampires, after all, but for a job. And yet Shreveport is inextricably caught up with my story of "becoming" a UF writer. It was on a plane back to Edinburgh, after I'd been on my campus visit/interview here for the job I currently have, that I discovered the book that inspired me to write Tempest Rising. That book was Dead as a Doornail, by Charlaine Harris. Meanwhile, I only bought the book because my six-year-old-niece and I agreed that it had a pretty cover. I had no idea what the series was about, as proven by the fact I started mid-series. I didn't even know what book came first.  So imagine my surprise when Sookie drives into Shreveport to go to Fangtasia. I'd never even heard of Shreveport till I applied for the job, and there I was, reading a book set there. A book I really loved and a book that made me think, "Dude, I love the tone of this book. I could do this tone."

So that was weird. But even weirder was when I moved here and started meeting writers here, reading even more books set in Louisiana, and finding out just how many writers live in Louisiana.

The only place with a higher concentration of UF/PR writers than I can think of is Seattle. There are tons of people I've met or read about who live there.

Now, the only connection I can make between the two is that they are both really moist. One is hot and moist, the other cold and moist, but they both definitely rock the moist.

Is there something in the soil or the air in either place that lend itself to UF? And are there any other hotbeds of UF that we should know about?


Comments

DianaRowland said…
Louisiana writers: Spicy, stormy, and wet!
SciFiGuy said…
Texas has oodles of UF and PNR writers.
Nicole Peeler said…
Diana: We should put that on a t-shirt. ;-)

SciFiGuy: You are right about that. But I don't want to encourage the Texans. They may attempt secession, again.
Jaye Wells said…
Do you really want to start a turf war, Peeler? Cause Team Texas can dance fight like nobody's business.
Mark Henry said…
Team Seattle. We are Legion. I haven't tried to count, but there are tons of us here. It's the same climate that breeds serial killers.
Anonymous said…
Rachel Vincent and I had our own hotbed of UF here in hot and moist Oklahoma...(Wow, sounds kind of kinky put that way.) but then she had to go and move to Louisiana.

I am drawn to that state myself. My first published story was set there, in fact.
Nicole Peeler said…
Jaye Wells: I will see your running man and raise you the sprinkler. Bring it.

Mark: Hmmm . . . humidity makes for serial killers and UF writers. I like that. It is probably accurate.

relliott4: Yeah, apparently Rachel and I are both in the Arklatex. So she just transferred between moistnesses? And that's interesting you set a story here. In NOLA or another city?
Rachel Vincent said…
I moved here for my husband's job. Weird how so many of us wind up here!

But I agree that OK has bunches too. I count myself in both groups. ;-)
I think I'm the only UF author to have escaped from Delaware. Not that I went too far--Maryland borders it on two sides, after all.

We need more books set on the Delmarva Peninsula. Vampires at the beach! Werewolves in the marshes! Selkies on the Chesapeake! It's ripe for picking, I tell you!
Nicole Peeler said…
So, like, we're all getting drawn to LA for different reasons . . . or to Seattle . . . maybe it's like Stephen King's The Stand, and we're being put in our two groups so that when the apocalypse comes we'll be like TX/LA/ARK/OK (um, I should probably check a map on that last one, but whatever). I'd throw in Mississippi, but, really? Anyway, then there's the hippie northeast. They'd be all living on lentils and listening to Pearl Jam, 'cause Mark Henry told me about how ALL OF SEATTLE, but especially him, can't get enough Eddie. Anyway, we OKARKLATEXers would have to stand against their evil, pearl jam inspired hippie grungeness, fighting off their cool moistness with our hot moistness. And our hitch testicles. And some cajun spice.
Mark Henry said…
Arrgggggghhhh. We hates the Pearl Jam!
Nicole Peeler said…
Mark, that's not what you told me when I caught you making out with that picture of Eddie Vedder. Just admit it. We're all friends here. It's okay!
Anonymous said…
It was New Orleans--long time ago, too. Rachel is my critique partner so I took this opportunity to bitch about her uh, transferring to another moist state. heh

Rinda
Nicole Peeler said…
Look at Mark froth! Is it the Activia?

Rinda: At least you won't have to buy new clothes to visit. I've had the freaking air conditioning on for a MONTH already.
Vickie said…
Nicole: Does a shit ton weigh the same as a regular ton???

Colorado has its fair share of the UF/paranormal authors, too......
Unknown said…
Canada has its fair share of UF writers (Kelly Armstrong, tanya Huff for e.g.) though I guess we'd be classified as cold and moist.
Nicole Peeler said…
Vickie: A shit ton is a constipated ton, plus one unladen swallow. ;-)

DragonKat: Canada is a vast, moist wilderness, so it's likely there are many UF writers AND serial killers running around. ;-) According to the hypotheses laid out above, and stuff.
Thom said…
"maybe it's like Stephen King's The Stand, and we're being put in our two groups so that when the apocalypse comes..."

Damn. I was really starting to like you and now I am going to have to fight you in an apocalyptic battle to save humanity from your evil hitch testicles.

Oh well, when I kill you I hope you won't take it personally. I still like you, but the hitch testicles had to be destroyed.

Of course, it was a soggy serial killer that told me about having to kill to save the world from hitch testicles, so maybe I should just take what he says with a grain of salt.
Anonymous said…
Hot and sweaty just goes with hitch testicles, you know?

Nicole, only running the AC a month? I've been running it off and on all winter here in Dallas. Wait until Summer hits, and I do mean HITS. Save your money, you'll need it to pay the electric bill.
Nicole Peeler said…
Tom: Hitch testicles are not evil, YOU are evil. Hitch testicles are entertaining, and quite bouncy, and you can use them to give anatomy lessons to children. But yes, it is sad when a budding friendship ends due to having to annihilate each other in order to save humanity. OMG, can you hook me up with the soggy serial killer? Sounds Just. My. Type ;-)

Tom: Heat makes them hang lower. Or so I've been told. And I am hauling my Yankee ass NORTH come June. I am already toooooo hot.
Thom said…
I could have sworn that hitch testicles were evil and that I was the one who was bouncy and entertaining. Oh well.

I would hook you up with the soggy serial killer, but he just broke up with his long-term girlfriend and he is really clingy and needy now. When I say "broke up with", I actually mean "killed". When I say "really clingy and needy", what I actually mean is "overwhelmed with the desire to kill and feast on his victim's warm bloody flesh".

But you can never have too many friends, so if you really want to meet him...
Gina said…
What about Colorado? Team Denver??? Mario Acevedo, Jeanne Stein, Carrie Vaughn, et al?

There's rarely anything moist here. Even our snow is typically dry. And we're light on oxygen too.
Amy said…
Um, the moist-ness means the creative juices never run dry? (sorry, I lived entirely too long with a man who thought the only true form of humor is the pun).
Nicole Peeler said…
Thom: You are killing me. And yes, you are bouncy AND entertaining.

Gina: Dammit, I was hoping no one brought up Team Denver. You've thrown a cog into my equation! Ummm . . . . maybe they all have hot tubs in which they stay moist?

Amy: That's okay, I love me the punny.
Anonymous said…
I think the UF'ers come out to Seattle because it's usually cloudy and dark, which is perfect vampire weather, in Louisiana because the place is just right for raising an army of the undead out of sight (go zombies!) and they may have occasional pockets in the cold and damp areas with nice wide spaces for the weres to run in. Midwest might have fairies, but they're hard to catch, on film or in writing. The East Coast is too populated for most UF denizens to survive.

At least, that's my theory.
Nicole Peeler said…
Silveradept: That sounds geographically sound. But my book is set on the east coast, so I'll have to digress, there. ;-) There are definitely Selkies in the Atlantic.
Anonymous said…
We stand corrected. Forgot about the water fairies and denizens that could easily inhabit the coastal regions in New England and related areas. I was thinking on land, there isn't a whole lot of space on the East Coast for UF people to set up shop. Unless they're all passing as humans, that is...
Same reason everyone here in Seattle is in a band. When it's cold and wet and miserable outside, we need things to keep us entertained indoors. While some of us are banging out frustrations on a guitar, many others are creating monsters to stab and maim and (in some cases) have torrid sexual encounters with.
Not to say that it's impossible to write when the sun is shining and the sky is clear and the beaches are beautiful and... wait, this is Seattle. I don't think I've ever seen any of those weather anomalies. Back to my book...

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