Guest post written by author Philip Fracassi
Philip Fracassi is the Bram Stoker-nominated author of the story collections Behold the Void (named “Collection of the Year” from This Is Horror) and Beneath a Pale Sky (named “Collection of the Year” by Rue Morgue Magazine). His novels include A Child Alone with Strangers (out October 18th), Gothic, and Boys in the Valley. Philip’s work has been translated into multiple languages, and his stories have been published in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Best Horror of the Year, Nightmare Magazine, and Black Static. The New York Times calls his work “terrifically scary.”
GENRE: THE DYNAMIC TOOL OF PREDICABILITY
One definition of genre describes it as “a dynamic tool to help the public make sense out of unpredictability through artistic expression.” Put another way, genre tells folks who may be interested in certain books, art, or music—essentially—what it is they’re gonna get.
Even more specifically, literary genres (i.e. Science Fiction, Horror, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance…) let a reader know, generally speaking, what kind of book they’re about to purchase at their local bookstore, or add to their Amazon shopping cart. Sounds easy, right?
For most readers, genres come packaged with pre-conceived notions. But when it comes to fiction categorization, things aren’t nearly as tidy as they used to be, and a reader picking up a book categorized as a “Thriller”, for example, may not be fully aware of the full range of content each genre now, potentially, has come to represent.
For example, Romance seems pretty straight forward. But what kind of romance is it? Is it funny? Sad? Is it sexually explicit, or family-friendly? Okay, what about Sci-Fi? Spaceships and aliens, right? A lot of science fiction is about space travel, sure. But it can also be about time travel, or skipping through the infinite possibilities of the multiverse. There might be swashbuckling space pirates laser-blasting insect-like aliens, or it might be a simple story of a man discovering microorganisms beneath the surface of Jupiter’s moons leads the way to curing cancer here on Earth. Even within the deeply-grooved genre of Fantasy you can now find subgenres such as Urban Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Magical Realism.
And, of course, there’s my personal favorite genre category: horror.
Now, I know what most of you are thinking: Horror means zombies and monsters. Serial killers, like the slashers in films like Friday the 13th and Halloween. Witches. Werewolves. Ghosts.
But what if I told you there were subgenres of Horror that would surprise you? That would, using the definition at the head of this article, make the predictable…unpredictable?
A quick look at some Horror subgenres would include the following:
Quiet Horror. Literary Horror. Body Horror. Paranormal. Occult. Weird Fiction.
If a reader were to pick up certain titles by authors such as Stephen King, Peter Straub, Shirley Jackson, or Victor LaValle—and had no preconceived notions of the books those authors wrote—they might be surprised at what they find themselves reading. They might not even think of it as being horror if it wasn’t stamped right there on the back cover.
But there’s still another layer to categorization; this “dynamic tool” that creates predictability for readers. Yes, subgenres can catch a read off-guard. But what could really fry a reader’s brain (or that of a librarian or bookseller) is when a book doesn’t bother keeping to one genre at all.
SLIPSTREAM AND GENRE-BENDING
When I began writing my novel, A Child Alone with Strangers, my agent at the time suggested I “pick a lane.” He was referring to the fact that my novel was crisscrossing genres. As seen through the eyes of a reader, a solid portion of the book would readily be identified, and categorized, as Crime. The other part of the novel—a bit more than half—would easily be defined as Horror.
The crime parts of my novel (which clocks in at 600 pages, so there’s wiggle room for ample storytelling) are essentially a police procedural. A kidnapping has taken place and authorities, including an eccentric FBI Agent, are working the case, finding the criminals, digging for clues, and desperately searching for the missing child.
The horror parts of my novel are packed with such tropes as telepathic kids, monsters in the woods, and supernatural curses—a regular potpourri of 1980s horror shelf fodder.
There are a few modern terms for a novel like A Child Alone with Strangers. The most common being Slipstream. But slipstream is typically used when referring to a more subtle mix of genres, such as an amalgam of magical realism and literary fiction, or fantasy and sci-fi. It’s quirky and daring, but not necessarily startling, at least in terms of genre-centric hard right turns. Think of authors such as Kobe Abe, Italo Calvino, Kelly Link, Haruki Murakami, China Mieville, Angela Carter, and Jorge Luis Borges.
Another term often used to describe broader genre-crossover stories (such as Crime/Horror, Fantasy/Mystery, or even Romance/Sci-Fi) is Genre-Bending. Examples of authors who have utilized genre-bending in their novels include authors such as Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, Jeff VanderMeer, David Mitchell, Shirley Jackson, Neil Gaiman, Julia Elliott, Jim Butcher, and T. Kingfisher.
One particularly well-known example of genre-bending would be Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. Is it Fantasy or Horror? Or perhaps even Science-Fiction?
Answer: All of the above.
CHOOSING A CATEGORY, BECAUSE YES, WE MUST
The broadest categorical term, and one I personally advocate for books such as those listed above, is Speculative Fiction.
Spec Fiction is an all-encompassing category that can be filled with all the genre-bending, crossover, and slipstream story collections and novels you could imagine in your wildest dreams (or nightmares). If there’s a drawback, it could be that it’s too all-encompassing. There might not be anything left on the Sci-Fi or Horror shelves. But as an umbrella category, I think it does the job. You know you’ll be getting something unusual. Something unpredictable.
As for bookstore and library shelves, the old categories will likely need to remain in place. But as a way of describing certain titles, it could be the best choice we’ve got.
Of course, the big question is obvious: Why do we need categories at all? Do readers really want to know what to expect? Do they truly desire predictability?
I think the answer is Yes. For the most part, readers do want to know what they’re getting into. They want a story that aligns—if not exactly, then is at least in the ballpark of—their unique tastes.
Which might be the reason why that long-ago agent of mine suggested that I, as an author, “stay in my lane.”
To which my immediate knee-jerk reply was, quite simply: But where’s the fun in that?
And so, for readers who may desire the unpredictable, who may enjoy the occasional jolt of surprise (perhaps even shock!) as they turn the pages of a story, speculative fiction offers a dizzyingly wide array of books that will surprise you, pummel your expectations and preconceived notions into fairy dust, and turn your beliefs on what a novel can be onto their alien-shaped head. When dealing with a novel that holds true to no genre, to no rules, to no category, predictable is out the window.
And while these types of books may cause a mild headache for librarians and booksellers hoping to point patrons to a specific aisle, they can also be a breath of fresh air for readers who may be tired of knowing what to expect, who are thrilled with the idea of the unpredictable, and who are ready to travel across a universe of diverse landscapes, blast through a starfield of ideas and characters, and discover a new realm of storytelling possibilities.
