Week 6: Assignment 1
In Week 1: Assignment 4, you began following one of the genre links on the right. Write a blog post about your discoveries.
I'm not that familiar with many of the genre blogs BCPL has selected, so I browsed several. I want to learn more about Sci-Fi since I'm green in that area.
When it comes to websites, and potentially many things that present themselves visually, I am picky. Picky and maybe a pinch judgemental. If I feel assualted by advertisements on a site, or if the type is too small and the background is patterned in a crazy way, I may not stay long to take in much content. Sadly, Locus Online tipped the scale ever-so-much for me, so I moved on to Tor Com which has a pleasant amount of white space and a straightforward article view. I like how they streamline their articles and
Tor Com covers all things sci-fi related, not just book-related. It delves into the worlds where sci-fi and fantasy touch: the world of writing and reading, television and film, comics and art, even articles imagining popular historical tvs shows if they cast a hip electronic pop musician (their "If Downton Abby met Daft Punk" writeup here). This is a site that sets its aim on the intellectual reader immersed in pop culture. It is a pleasure to click through and makes the browser feel on the cusp of what's the buzz in the world of sci-fi. And quite like a toy or book store, there is much to look at and only so much time. Readers who wish to keep up will want to bookmark Tor Com.
Week 6: Assignment 2
Explore this Prezi link of Fiction Genres and Subgenres.
Week 6: Assignment 3
Pick 3 subgenres that you are unfamiliar with.
•Find a fan website for each subgenre and summarize the current buzz among fans. Why are they excited about this subgenre? How did you find the website?
•Mashups of subgenres, e.g. steampunk westerns, are becoming increasingly popular. Find two titles, not shown on the flowchart, which could cross over into another subgenre. Describe your rationale.
•List three authors or titles that are associated with or typify each of these 3 subgenres. What are the hallmarks or appeal factors of each of the subgenres?
Historical -- I'm not unfamiliar with Historical Fiction, I just want to become more adept at RA for HF readers.
Literary -- same as above
High Seas -- I like the ocean. Let's find out more about reading adventure on it!
Historical:
Fan Site:
Whoa! How lucky am I to have stumbled upon Leila Roy's blog Book Shelves of Doom! She is a librarian from Maine who writes books reviews, not just for her blog, but also for Kirkus. I found her blog by googling 'historical fiction blog books' or some string of related search terms.
Don't get me wrong, her blog is not dedicated to strictly HF. She reads, man! Helpfully, she has provided links to the subcategories of books. Here is the one for historical fiction.
Reading Roy's reviews are so much fun! You can immediately feel her reactions to the books. The ones she loves, she LOVES, and she'll tell you why. She states in her bio that she blogs because she loves the YA community and YA books and wants to spread the word to inspire others to love reading, too. She connects with HF when the characters, setting, and language speak to her and create a genuine atmosphere. And, like an excellent librarian, she provides other recommendations for titles based on what she's enjoyed.
Mashups:
Roy reviews The Bad Miss Bennett, which follows characters three years after Pride and Prejudice. This book is a cross between HF and romance with elements of mystery. While Roy's review isn't raving, fans of Jane Austen may want to give it a try and see for themselves what life after Pride has provided, and to revisit the characters.
Starstruck, another BookShelfofDoom review here, is about different young women in the late 1930s, each who have their own conflicts all revolving around the Hollywood Regency period. Missing starlets, aspiring celebrities, secrets, and a disappearance make this a HF mystery mashup with lots of twists and turns.
Ok, it looks like I might have gone a little overkill with the title mentions for this post. Oh, well - more for your reading enjoyment!
Here are some examples of titles that fit in the HF category, ones that hopefully wouldn't be hard to find in any library system:
Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier. Follows the journey of military deserter Inman as he heads home South during the Civil War, hopefully to be reunited with his love.
Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson. American Revolution period; follows Isabelle and her sister Ruby, two slaves who have been denied their promised freedom from a passed owner. The teenaged Isabelle becomes conflicted with her choices under new ownership when Ruby's safety is compromised.
Daughter of Fortune, by Isabel Allende. Follows the life of Elizabeth Somers, an orphan from Chile raised by a Victorian spinster. She falls in love with Joaquín Andieta, a lower-class working clerk. Things aren't rosy and Somers sets off in a quest, but is it love that will light her way, or a realization of self or freedom?
Literary:
Fan Site:
52 Books or Bust is a blog by Tanya Boughtflower dedicated to reading a book or two a week and reviewing them. She is dedicated to literary fiction and proclaims to, "stay far away from YA, fantasy, self help, romance and anything to do with vampires." She seems loyal to the LF genre, taking very seriously its high form and considering most other writer as "crap". A self-described book snob, she's set out to set the reader right.
Mashups:
52 Books wasn't about to shed light on much crossover fiction, so I looked elsewhere. Tor Com had a run through of excellent crossovers, including Colson Whitehead's Zone One, described as literary fiction with zombies (I guess that makes it LF with suspense and postapocalyptic science fiction? This doesn't surprise me, though; some of the best elements of a zombie world are the emotional and ethical conflicts created, which should make for good psychological/philosophical complexities- what LF is know for).
Another list mentions The Age of Miracles as a literary fiction/sci-fi crossover. Described as well-written with gripping concept and prose, Tor Com is confident readers of Karen Russell and Margaret Atwood will be taken into this story where life is altered by a slowing rotation of the Earth.
Literary Fic examples:
Hallmark/appeal factors of LF include the serious approach to its tone and the treatment of the characters. Literary fiction works are, "complex, literate, multilayered novels that wrestle with universal dilemmas," states Joyce Saricks (2005).
High Seas:
What is the subgenre High Seas? "Forbidding locales, a dangerous mission, death-defying stakes, high-octane chases: the action-adventure genre is all about exciting undertakings rife with physical danger and risk," states M.O. Muriel in the opening of her article for The Golden Gazette News, a site that writes about aspects of Ron L. Hubbard's sci-fi and pulp fiction. This particular article cover some of the history behind nautical adventure and major works in the subgenre. Muriel mentions frequent overlap with high seas adventure, noting "science fiction, fantasy (think J. R. R. Tolkien), spy thrillers, crime novels, sea stories, westerns, and war novels," and how this style of adventure appeals to all ages of reader, children through adult.
Some titles mentioned by Muriel:
Wake of the Bloody Angel (Eddie LaCrosse, Book 4), by Alex Bledsoe: Eddie LaCrosse stakes out upon the ocean to see what's happened to the long lost pirate Black Edward Tew. In the company of a former pirate queen, will Eddie find a wealthy pirate king or a wrecked bloodthirsty captain and crew?
High seas adventure may appeal to folks who don't necessarily need to delve too deeply into character development, but who like to feel on edge with the plot. Suspense, conflict, and action keep readers going, so murky details, mysterious players and smooth-tongued turncoats may be expected. Crossover action into fantasy, historical fiction, and thrillers are prevalent on the high seas.
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