Week 6: Building Base Knowledge (Genres)

• I have been checking out Street Fiction as my genre resource for the past couple of weeks. The set up for the website is bright and eye catching. And the front page contains "Latest Books," which is great for keeping up with the newest and most popular of Urban Fiction. They also have a tab where people can submit their writings, news, and others things. Which I also think is a great resource to know about.

• I'm unfamiliar with quite a few sub-genre's, but the three I chose to look into are:

1. Pet Investigator Mystery: Some well known authors in this group include: Rita Mae Brown, Carole Nelson Douglas, and Spencer Quinn. I think people are drawn to this type of book because of appeal factors like: characterization, story-line (theme of animal side-kicks), and the tone. I think people are drawn to characterization and story-line because they like the personalities given to the animal side-kicks. I also think that the tone is attractive because I would think that they have a lighter tone then other mystery types.
2.  Psychological Horror: This sub-genre includes authors/ books, such as, Dennis Lehane- Shutter Island, Ki Longfellow-Houdini Heart, and Mark Z. Danielewski-House of Leaves. People who enjoy books in this group may like them for the pacing, characterization, detail, and tone. I would think that books in this group would have a fast pace and a characterization that would be very human. I think the intense detail of the human mind and a darker, heavier tone may also be things that draw people in.
3. Beach Reads (Realistic Fiction): Emily Giffin, Rainbow Rowell, and Maria Semple are just a couple of authors that are known for their beach reads. Beach Reads draw people in with their pacing, characterization, tone, and setting. Since these books are meant to be "light" reads, I imagine the tone and quick pacing would be an attraction. I think that the "realistic" human characters and settings would also be of interest to people.

• Though we try to fit books into specific genre's and sub-genre's, they can always cross into and be considered part of a different genre or sub-genre. Here are a couple of books that I think cross into a couple of different sub-genre's:

1. World War Z by Max Brooks: I think this book could cross into several different types of sub- genre's like: apocalyptic horror, monster horror, and post-apocalyptic sci-fi. This story occurs in the post-apocalyptic period, but the main character is gathering stories from the zombie "apocalypse."
2. Shade's Children by Garth Nix: This book crosses into sub-genre's like: Dystopian sci-fi and Monster Horror. It shows earth sometime in the future, where creatures from another dimension have taken over. These creatures take humans and turn them into "servant" type creatures.