Where genres mix and mingle.
Every month there is another batch of new books that don’t fit neatly into one genre. Here are some of the genreblended books coming out in November 2014. Heading into the slow period of publishing there are still plenty of genre blends to look forward to next month. Genres are listed in my best estimation as to the order of prominence to the story. For example, if the first genre listed is SF, that is probably the first audience for the book. What are you most looking foward to?
As you may have noticed from the past few days, I love a good heist/caper. They have the excitement of a mystery but flipped around from a whole new perspective. Let’s face it, solving crimes is slow, painstaking work with long hours, low pay, and lots of paperwork. Committing crimes — now that sounds like a lot more fun. Capers and heist stories show up in just about every genre, bringing adventure and excitement with them. Fantasy and Science Fiction both have a long history of thief heroes. Hell, Bilbo Baggins is a thief! From some long-term series with criminal anti-heroes to books where characters unexpectedly cross the line to the dark side, to mercenaries who aren’t too picky about the jobs they take – there’s a lot to choose from when you look at capers and heists in speculative fiction.
SCIENCE FICTION
by Lois McMaster BujoldHow much do I love criminal heroes? The scruffy lawbreakers, the talented thieves, the charming con men and women? They make a great change from traditional mystery law enforcement heroes. The plots of capers and heists, like the mystery novel, involve a crime. But instead of trying to solve the crime, in the heist plot (and often the caper as well) the reader is rooting for the criminal to get away with their nefarious schemes. They can blend mystery and suspense, or mystery and humor, and I love it when they blend in a romance on top of all the hijinks. While I think the heist plot works even better in the movies (see yesterday’s post!) due to medium’s ability to convey visually the tension and intricate scenarios that would take a lot more time to paint with words, there are quite a few authors who write heist stories that are almost as gripping as anything put on film. Here are some of the best crime novels where criminals take the spotlight: (more…)
Although I love traditional mysteries with their law abiding, law enforcing heroes and heroines, I admit to having a soft spot for the crime stories that flip the hero paradigm around and put the law breakers into the spotlight. Still under the umbrella of crime fiction, these stories focus on the successful achievement of a criminal undertaking rather than preventing a crime or catching the criminal. Charming rogues, loveable rulebreakers, and morally ambiguous anti-heroes are my catnip. In both capers and heists, much of the appeal is related to characters. You have to like these characters (or at least be interested by them) in order to follow them to the dark side. It helps that the characters in a caper or heist is often funny and smarter than everyone around them. The other big appeal is plot, of course, as they tend to be intricately planned schemes that reward careful attention and showcase the clever ingenuity of the lawbreakers. Two overlapping stories that explore stories that flirt with (or fully embrace) the criminal side of the mystery line are capers and heist stories. (more…)
I am sure there are many readers who would swear on a stack on bibles that they don’t read horror, but who might read certain horror that sneaks onto the bestseller lists or gets literary love. I thought, in honor of Halloween and All Hallow’s Read (you know– the super-fantastic tradition that Neil Gaiman invented where everyone gives someone a scary book for Halloween?), I would highlight some books that are fantastic horror novels that for one reason or another are read far beyond the normal genre audience for horror. Sometimes these are books by well-respected literary novelists who are dabbling in a darker hue; sometimes they are subtle horror novels that skirts the edges of the genre. They might be as scary as anything Stephen King ever penned, but they sit on our “literature” shelves rather than in the horror ghetto. These scary books have gotten a lot of critical love and might be just the thing to give someone who doesn’t think they read horror. (more…)
As a break from all the books, I thought I would round-up some of the new TV shows this fall that combine genres. In my book The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Genre Blends
TITLE: The Troupe
AUTHOR: Robert Jackson Bennett
PUBLISHER: Orbit, 2011
THE BOOK: In an undefined turn-of-the-last-century time when vaudeville was still going strong, we meet young George Carole, a piano player at a small Vaudeville theatre in the middle of America somewhere/nowhere. Sixteen-year-old George is working at Otterman’s theatre for only one reason: he hopes his father will play there someday so he can finally meet the man. But when he does finally track down his father’s vaudevillian troupe, nothing goes as planned. His father, Hieronymus Silenus, is involved in something bigger and scarier than a simple entertainment and when George see the Silenus troupe play, his life is changed forever. Between the creepy puppet act, the tantalising dancing of the beautiful Colette, and the mesmerizing song that ends the act, George is fascinated. But it is his encounter after the show with a spooky gray man who sucks all the light out of the world around him that decides George to sign on with the Troupe. Because Silenus is somehow using his show to battle back all the evil of the world. Or is he? (more…)
While the rest of the country is enjoying crisp fall days, colorful foliage, and excellent sleeping weather, Southern California had Santa Ana winds blowing through over the weekend. If you’ve never heard of the Santa Ana winds, they are supposed to drive people a little crazy. Raymond Chandler has a typically awesome quote:
“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Ana’s that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen. “
(click to embiggen!)
Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. There seems to be lots of people who love one but not the other. In most classification schemes and in my book (The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Genre Blends
I am happy to announce the publication of my new book, The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Genre Blends, officially coming out from ALA Editions tomorrow, October 1 (although it’s been available and shipping from booksellers for a couple of weeks). The book is part of a wonderful series edited by Joyce Saricks and Neal Wyatt, which usually focus on a particular genre or format and give in-depth advice for librarians engaged in serving readers. My volume is a little different, as it covers not one genre but all of them, analyzing the books that blend genres together. (more…)
