genre fiction
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The Rise of the Mega-Novel
Serial novels are nothing new, especially in genre fiction designed to keep readers shelling out money for the next phase of a story. But the sudden, rapid success of fantasy genre series like George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones and the…
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The Politics of Genre
The Guardian explores why crime fiction tends to lean left, while thrillers often are more conservative.
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How to Harlequin
Over at Jezebel, Kelly Faircloth shares a fantastic long form piece on the rise of the Harlequin romance novel, and how the brand became synonymous with a wildly lucrative if critically dismissed genre. From the original formula for woman-centered, alpha-male…
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Here There (May or May Not) Be Dragons
Kazuo Ishiguro’s new novel The Buried Giant has reignited debates about genre fiction following Ishiguro’s implication that the work isn’t fantasy. The author has since clarified which side he’s really on. Meanwhile, Flavorwire‘s Jonathon Sturgeon defends Ishiguro’s right to call…
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If It Quacks like a Dragon
Kazuo Ishiguro insists his new novel, The Buried Giant, is not a fantasy novel. Laura Miller at Salon agrees. Ursula K. Le Guin does not (and is a little insulted). David Barnett at The Guardian doesn’t care either way and…
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The Battle Rages On
At Flavorwire, Jonathan Sturgeon continues the “literary” and “genre” war, offering a new perspective grounded in the marketplace: So what’s really going on here? Well, it isn’t the genre of prose that has literary novelists anxious. It’s the market status…
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Sci-Fi Tide Sweeps through China
Science fiction is a growing force on the Chinese literary landscape now that government scrutiny of the genre has loosened up, according to a recent article in the Times. The English publication of Liu Cixin’s The Three Body Problem, following…
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The Art of Mixing Genres
At the Paris Review, Dwyer Murphy interviews David Gordon about transitioning from writing novels to stories, his time working for Hustler, and how he blends literary and genre fiction in his work: I think that horror and sci-fi in particular…
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Been Here Before
After years of anxious separation, people are finally relaxing about the literary/genre fiction divide. Over at Electric Literature, Tobias Carroll asks: now what? We’re now well into a period where literary writers are able to balance their love for horror…
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Ladies Are Taking Over Crime
Laura Miller opines that male-authored crime novels are a bit too predictable. Instead… I’ve found instead that the crime novels I open with the keenest anticipation these days are almost always by women. These are books that trespass the established…
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The Lost Pulp of Gore Vidal
Before he became an acclaimed novelist and political commentator, Gore Vidal was just a guy trying to make ends meet. Under three different pseudonyms, Vidal wrote a romance novel, three mysteries, and a crime thriller. Now, over 50 years later, …
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The Theory of Trickle-Up Literacy
One does not pass from lower to higher. On the contrary one might perfectly well fall from the higher to the lower, or simply read both, as many people eat both good food and junk food, the only problem being…