Week 6: Building Base Knowledge (Genres)

Assignment 1:
Since I already talked last week about Locus, the genre website I've been reading, I thought I would mention my use of EarlyWord. Working at a branch where people check the Upcoming Hot Titles list religiously and often bring in reviews of forthcoming books, I have found this site to be invaluable. I try to scroll through the home page at least once a week and open some of the lists in the side bar. Just scrolling through these lists has already helped with title recognition with customers.

Assignment 3:
Here are the subgenres I decided to explore:

Genre: Mystery, Subgenre: Pet Investigators
Key characteristics: animal sidekick with special powers or intelligence

Prominent authors:
Lilian Jackson Braun, Cat who... series
Rita Mae Brown, Mrs. Murphy series
Spencer Quinn, Chet and Bernie series

Genre: Romance, Subgenre: Regency
Key characteristics: set during early 1800's Britain; focus on social classes and history of period; generally little sex

Prominent authors:
Mary Balogh
Jo Beverley
Mary Jo Putney

Genre: Urban Fiction Subgenre: Christian
Key characteristics: faith and religion are centerpieces of characters' lives; focus on urban life, usually in African-American or Latino communities

Prominent authors:
Kimberla Lawson Roby
ReShonda Tate Billingsley
Victoria Christopher Murray

Mashups

Territory by Emma Bull recounts a western tale of famous gunslingers including Doc Holliday which might sound familiar to western and/or history buffs. Unlike other books about Tombstone, however, Bull's telling includes plenty of magic and sorcery. Didn't you know Wyatt Earp is a powerful sorcerer? This title could be considered western/fantasy.

Karen Joy Fowler's Sarah Canary lives in the western territories of 1800's America and her story starts as she comes across a camp of Chinese railroad laborers. But the story veers from a historical fiction when the reader learns more about mute Sarah and her amazing transformations. Although this might be considered magical realism, the amount of historical detail and scene setting leads me to say this could be considered historical-fiction/science-fiction.