I’ve ranted about those awful female-targeting vampire novels before (actually, more than once), but now, a new gauntlet has been thrown down.

I was walking through my local Barnes & Noble store during a lunch break, heading towards the science fiction and fantasy section. Once I got there, I was shocked and appalled by what I saw. Those “urban fantasy” novels and whatever such nonsense? They were everywhere…and replacing the books that used to be there! Science fiction and fantasy are now relegated to a small corner of their own damned section, while those blasted trendy romance novels take up their space.

Legendary writers such as Bradbury, Asimov, and Heinlein are being removed from shelves in favor of vomit-inducing romance stories masquerading as “fantasy” or “horror.” The only thing horrifying about them is that they’re pushing distinguished authors off the shelf. Tolkien’s about the only one left holding on, but fortunately, I don’t think his stories are going anywhere.

This is complete and utter nonsense. Just because your story has an emo vampire or an angsty werewolf in it, that does not make it a fantasy book. Dump this trash in the romance section where it belongs. In fact, the new genre that fans have created for this fluff, “urban fantasy,” is misleading to begin with. “Urban” pertains to cities, not a time period. You could have an urban novel that takes place during ancient Rome, for crying out loud! (The correct term, kids, would be “contemporary fantasy.”)

If a store wants to devote new shelf space to these craptacular tomes, then I’m all for it; that’s smart business, after all. But getting rid of the classics, written by authors who are noted for their writing skill, rather than marketing a fad? That’s not only aggravating, it’s highly insulting to anyone with a brain.