Monday, August 10, 2009

Sure, it sounds interesting, but I don't read that genre....

There once was a time when fiction genres were pretty standardized. Romance novels were a man and a virginal woman who are destined to live happily ever once some conflict is overcome. Horror books were about monsters and blood and things that go bump in the night. Science Fiction....oh no....robots and space ships! Fantasy was wizards and warlocks and fairies. Westerns featured manly men, fallen women with hearts of gold, guns and some tumbleweed making its way down the street. Mysteries were either the hard-boiled detective or the little English lady with the a keen sense of observation. Sometimes we think stereotypically about genre books and the people who read them. That may have been true way back when, but now there are so many writers who do not conform to a specific genre that you are cutting yourself off from some great books. This nonconformity also makes it difficult for the library to know for sure where to shelve them. It is a love story which makes it a romance but it has a vampire which makes it horror and they solve a crime which kind of makes it a mystery....where to shelve it? And more to the point, where do you, the reader find it?

A prime example of this genre-merging is the Diana Gabaldon Outlander series. On the surface it is a historical romance, but there is also time-travel, war, political intrigue and polygamy. I'm not sure it counts as polygamy since one husband is in 1946 and the other is in the 1700s. It starts out in Scotland shortly after the end of World War II where Claire, an army nurse and her husband, a doctor are finally taking their long-postponed honeymoon. While exploring on her own, Claire rests against some standing stones and the next thing she knows she is on the ground surrounded by some angry Highlanders. The men are suspicious of her because they think she might be a witch (young women don't appear out of thin air every day). Soon Claire's medical skills come in handy and they reluctantly accept her. For her own safety, she is encouraged to marry the young outlaw Jamie Fraser who is on the run from the British. It is a very compelling series especially for people who like historical novels, but you might have missed out if you tell yourself you don't read romance or fantasy books.

You don't have to be a Star Trek enthusiast to enjoy good science fiction. It isn't all about outer space and robots and technology gone wild. There is a sub-genre called alternative history. I like this because history is a favorite subject of mine. These stories begin with the premise of "what if?" What if the South won the Civil War? What if Germany got the atomic bomb first? I came across Eric Flint's 1632 which is the story of a rural town in West Virginia somehow being transported back in time to the German state of Thuringia in the 17th century in the midst of the 30 Years War. Let's just say that you might welcome some 20th century gun enthusiasts on your side if you are at war in 1632. Not to mention how America's concept of freedom and democracy could change the course of history when introduced at a time when our Founding Fathers were not yet born.

Some books have a premise that rests firmly in a genre but the rest of the book is a basic human story. This is the case with Stephenie Meyer's The Host. While Meyer is best known for her Twilight series, The Host was marketed as "science fiction for people who don't like science fiction." The premise of the book is that some years ago an alien species took over Earth. People still looked like themselves but they were actually hosts for a parasitic alien species. The main character is an alien implanted in the body of Melanie who is a captured member of the resistance. The trouble is, Melanie won't go away. Soon the alien feels a kinship to Melanie and the alien's handler realizes that she can't control her host and must be removed and the host destroyed. Rather than submit to this, they go on the run and meet up with other members of the resistance. If you take away the fact that there are aliens, it becomes a story along the same vein as 1984, Brave New World and several episodes of The Twilight Zone where it is the human spirit pitted against the collective seeking conformity whether it be a totalitarian regime or alien invaders.

Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series reminded me (at least the early ones) of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series...that is, if Stephanie Plum lived in a world with vampires and werewolves. So Stephanie Plum inhabits the mystery shelves while Anita Blake is in horror. But Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series is shelved in mysteries even though she has vampires. It is all so confusing....

The point is, good stories are all over the library. Just because they are aliens doesn't mean it isn't a beautiful love story. A little modern technology could make for some interesting outcomes in our history. Who says a werewolf wouldn't make a good detective? Sometimes it is just one minor element to the story that put a sweeping historical saga in the romance section next to the books where the cover shows a bare-chested man and a woman whose clothing is apparently being blown off by the wind. Don't judge a book by the genre sticker.

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