My latest youtube rabbit hole is listening to stories on these topics.
Here are some examples.
In each case, there are generally still photos with a story read out, most often by AI, which makes odd mistakes. The stories may be written by AI as well, for all I know -- or at least partly written by AI.
The ones I've been watching most have been the werewolf romances. These are typically Cinderella type stories. An abused scullery maid ends up marrying a prince.
The werewolf world has some features.
People are connected by a "mate bond" which usually happens almost instantly after they see each other. The mate bond allows telepathic communication between the two members of the couple. If one of them tries to break the bond, one or both of them may die -- sometimes rather quickly and dramatically.
Sometimes, if a rejected person finds someone else rather quickly, before they die, they can mate to the new person -- but that's unusual.
The werewolves seem to live in a pack for the most part. There is a castle with lots of folks living in it. The highest ranking are called alphas. The next highest ranking are called betas. Sometimes there are other greek letters. The servants are called omegas. So far I've never seen a male omega -- only females.
The omegas live in poverty and are typically abused by other pack members. The alphas are often billionaires who have elevated corporate positions in the human world. Humans apparently never suspect that their corporate executives might be werewolves.
The alphas are also unusually large, not only in their wolf form, but also in their human forms. They are typically well over six feet tall -- once I even read that one was 7 feet tall. 6'6" seems to be optimal. They are muscular, with sharply defined jaws. I have not found any out of shape, nerdy alphas who are respected for their intellect or character.
Alphas are always characterized by "predatory grace." They are very violent and kill a lot of people who threaten them. They rule, in a totalitarian fashion, by exuding a magical alpha aura that makes other werewolves submit.
These packs often are in very cold climates. Maybe they escape detection by living in wildernessy areas. Omegas seem to be frequently thrown out in the snow with no coat to die. Exile from the pack typically means death, tho sometimes people find a rogue pack to join. If the the rogue pack gets strong enough, it might actually get to be a regular pack, if I understand correctly.
The packs are often at war with each other -- though particularly large and violent alphas can unite packs.
Even though modern times are often alluded to, the whole pack structure seems very medieval -- and the women's gowns are typically Medieval too -- or at least floor length.
I don't see any stories about middle class people. There are people like archivists and treasurers referred to, but they're always minor characters.
In these packs, it is considered shameful to not be a werewolf. If you are "wolfless," that is really low status, fit only for scurbing floors and living in tiny rooms with only a thin mattress on the floor. You generally don't get enough food, also.
It is a grave crime to use chemical means to suppress someone else's wolf, but that seems to happen quite often to the female protagonists, at the hands of abusive pack members. Typically, these bad guys suppress a woman's wolf either because they fear her power or because they have some other female relative who they hope will marry the handsome prince.
When the tortured Cinderella does finally shift, it often turns out that her wolf is extraordinary -- extra large, some showy color, or exceptionally powerful in some way.
After the female mates with the alpha -- generally characterized by a brief announcement and sometimes a party, but seldom by a thoughtful, lengthy courtship or engagement -- she becomes his "luna." Sometimes the luna is also a "queen." She is considered an important partner for the alpha.
The lunas do sometimes have kids -- more commonly referred to as "pups," but seldom very many. Contraceptives are not mentioned, but one has to wonder why there aren't more pups. Quite often it appears that the babies are born in wolf form and only shift to human later.
I'm kind of beating myself up for getting so sucked in to these stories. They are really not PC. The women, for the most part, only escape abuse by their family members because the prince (aka alpha or alpha king) establishes a mate bond with them. If they're dying from a broken mate bond, they cannot recover on their own. They have to have a more powerful alpha fall in love with them.
Success in life for these women is entirely dependent on having a rich, muscle-bound thug fall in love with them.
Sometimes these women, after they get the prince, do good things, like make sure omegas get enough food and are not cheated out of their wages. There is sometimes reference to the lunas cleaning up administrative issues in the pack -- though life after mating is seldom examined, unless an alpha finds himself tragically widowed, after his mate dies, in which case some aspects of their lives and children are revealed.
Why am I inhaling this stuff? I have been divorced for 20 years. There's no musclebound giant on my horizon. For the most part I am contented with my lot. I'm not really looking for the kind of guy that's featured in these stories. Yet I keep listening.
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The dragon hatchling stories are not, so far as a I can tell, romantic. Either a human (usually male) finds a baby dragon and starts raising it -- or a dragon finds a baby human and starts raising it.
These dragons are space aliens -- encountered on other planets. They have cute babies who bond with humans.
The relationship between the human and the dragon is characterized as transformative -- and results in some kind of diplomatic breakthrough in space politics.
I sort of like this type of plot better from an intellectual point of view, but I'm watchinb substantially less of them.
I haven't watched enough of the vampire stories to be able to characterize them-- but apparently they have childen with humans.
