Week 6:  Building Base Knowledge

Assignment 1:

Following stopyourekillingme.com, I continue to be amazed by the thoroughness of its compilations and especially by its indexing.  The list of Awards just hints at the number of subgenres that fans follow: they celebrate traditional, private eye, thriller, Australian and Canadian crime, humorous and historical mysteries.  (I don’t see there any recognized awards yet for cat/dog, embroidery or food mysteries---surely in America food mysteries would be formally lauded.)  I can see myself consulting the Historical Index by time period looking for recommendations for myself and for customers.

 

Assignment 2:

The genre Prezi is amazing!!!  What a handy reference!  Thanks, Alex.

Assignment 3:

Subgenre fansites—

Time Travel Science Fiction:  I wasted an hour of my time looking but could not find any fan sites that are so very specific.  I ended up reverting to Goodreads (Yay!) and discovered an active “Time Travel” group of 941 members.  Some notable/recognizable authors in this subgenre would be Diana Gabaldon, H.G. Wells, and Audrey Niffenegger.  Often intricately plotted, the appeal factors center on “what could have been,” both in a nostalgic/romantic way and/or have an alternative history bent.

 Paranormal Romance:  After losing so much time looking for a fan site for above, I stuck with Goodreads and found “Paranormal Addicts & Newbies - Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy,” a group of 7103 members.  Think Stephanie Meyer, Charlaine Harris, J.R. Ward.  The group self-describes as vampires, werewolves, shifters, witches, fae and everything else paranormal--often with a bit of a twist or extra hot spice.

Apocalyptic Horror: Goodreads offers the 6354-member fan group Apocalypse Whenever, which describes itself as “the most active Goodreads group for apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic and dystopic fiction!”  Appeal factors focus on the quick pace, the atmospheric, suspenseful and gruesome tone plus the guaranteed shivery thrill factor of contemplating a scary alternate reality.  Some classic authors in this subgenre are Aldous Huxley, George Orwell and Stephen King.

Subgenre Mashups—

How does urban fantasy mystery strike you?  Try Street Magic by Caitlin Kittredge (Book 1 of her Black London series).  Contemporary murder, a mage strung out on heroin, a girl kidnapped in the fey underworld, and a female detective named Pete who must sort out the mess….With elements of a police procedural, gritty urban life and fantasy, Street Magic has slick crossover appeal for the younger adult set.

And what about steampunk romance? Soulless by Gail Carriger is Book 1 of the Parasol Protectorate.  As the publisher states succinctly, Soulless is “comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.” ‘Nuff said.