It's a genre that waxes and wanes in popularity, although dramatizations of kings and queens seems to be very popular at the moment. Historical fiction goes back to the first time someone tried to imagine what it must have been like when . . . In a way, the Illiad is historical fiction, because the... Continue Reading →
Thriller, Thriller Time!
Alma T. C. Boykin I confess, I no longer read thrillers. I used to read Frederick Foresyth, (Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File), Alistair Maclean* (Goodby California, The Satan Bug, The Guns of Navarone) and novels like The Wild Geese, Hunt for Red October, and so on. At some point, I either lost my... Continue Reading →
Oh John! Oh Marsha! Oh boy, is it a Romance?
Alma T. C. Boykin So, having failed to learn my lesson, today's topic is romance as a genre. That is, keeping in mind that genre is about marketing. Romance as a term goes back to before romance as a genre, and romances used to be adventure stories that might or might not include a romantic-love... Continue Reading →
What’s In a Genre: Urban Fantasy
Alma T. C. Boykin In the beginning, there was fiction and nonfiction. Mostly. Ish. Sort of. If you didn't look too hard. And all was good, and all authors lived in harmony with their publishers, and it was Very Good. But then a marketing agent sidled up to Eve and said, "Psssssst, wanna get more... Continue Reading →
Dredits
Dread Edits, only when I was thinking this through I ran the two words into one in my head. I don't think I'm alone in dreading the editing process. It's tedious, it can make a book you enjoyed writing into a boring chore, but it's necessary. Editing is part of the process, even if, or... Continue Reading →