Home » Posts tagged "genre fiction" (Page 7)

Merry Christmas!

Well, the holiday’s here, and while I love Christmas, I am officially creeped out. During Christmas Eve gift giving Grandma presented my 4 year old daughter with a Lalaloopsy doll.  These have been one of the “hot toys” this year but since my children asked Santa for a plush yeti and a mermaid playset I hadn’t looked into getting either of them a doll. You don’t find those in the toy aisle at Target or Meijer.

So I had never seen a Lalaloopsy doll.

They are supposed to look like rag dolls, except they’re hard plastic. Their story is that they take on the personality of whatever it is they’re made out of once the last stitch is done. This one is a spelling doll, and that’s kind of cool. Way better than the infamous “Math Is Hard” Barbie, for sure.  I want to like it.

But it has buttons for eyes. And every time I look at it I think Coraline and I get creeped out.

“The button eyes creep me out” is not really a reason I can give Grandma for asking her to return Lalaloopsy here (in a painful play on words her name is Bea, as in Spelling Bea). It can take the abuse my 4 year old can dish out (which is considerable) it looks like a doll instead of a miniskirted beauty queen, and is even supposed to be a “smart” doll. But the eyes are so disturbing.

Don’t let anyone tell you genre fiction is forgettable.  I will now be thinking about Coraline and button eyes as long as this doll sticks around.  Did I mention it appears to be indestructible?

Thanks a bunch, Neil Gaiman, for making this Christmas special.

And a Merry Christmas to you all.

Dear Literature…

Not that long ago, my former creative writing professor, Clint McCown, left a comment regarding genre fiction (and formula fiction) to a blog entry I wrote some time ago, on the “H-Word”. I’ve been wanting to respond, and now I have discovered that Daniel Abraham has written an excellent(and witty) letter from Genre to Literature here that says, much better than I can, what I have been wanting to say.

Thank you, Mr. Abraham!

 

Dear Ms. Cadwalladr…

I loved your interview of Nora Roberts. I really did. But I think you misunderstand the place of horror in the world of genre fiction. You describe romance as “lower than crime, lower than horror, lower, even, than sci-fi.” Let’s take a look at that, shall we?

How many romance imprints are there, Ms. Cadwalladr? How many mainstream publishers devote entire lines to romance fiction? There are major publishers, like Harlequin, that produce ONLY romance. There is a well-oiled professional organization devoted to promoting romance fiction and romance author (including me). According to the Romance Writers of America, almost 75 million people read at least one romance novel last year.

Romance is not a stepchild of genre fiction. It’s a STAR.

Let’s compare this to horror. How many horror imprints are there in the mainstream press? Most mainstream publishers will do almost anything to avoid calling a book “horror”. Literary “supernatural fiction”; dark fantasy; urban fantasy; dark science fiction; paranormal thriller; YA paranormal; paranormal romance; ANYTHING but horror.

Let me ask you- Do you know the names of any horror authors besides Stephen King, Anne Rice, Clive Barker, and Laurell K. Hamilton? Did you know that when you browse for subjects on Amazon.com, you can find mysteries, thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, and (yes) romance, but not horror? What’s the demographic for horror readers? I doubt you can find that out(if you can, I’d love to know), because nobody has collected that information. Romance fiction is a tidal wave in genre fiction, compared to horror fiction’s tiny ripples.

That doesn’t mean we aren’t here. Horror readers and writers are everywhere, and they’re terribly under-recognized and underserved. That’s exactly why MonsterLibrarian.com exists. It’s just that most people have decided it’s a genre that doesn’t matter. RWA, the same organization that reported nearly 75 million readers in its genre, didn’t even bother to compare its market share to horror. Mystery, science fiction and fantasy, literary fiction, and even religious fiction, sure. But to miss out on an entire genre?

It doesn’t get any lower than this.

But, thanks, at least, for noticing that the horror genre exists.