Subgenres

[Dom]

Subgenres!  Just like the title says.  I was wondering, what subgenres do you make distinctions among in your SFF?

Fantasy subgenres:

Urban fantasy - Magic happening in the real world.  Examples: Jim Butcher's Dresden files, Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series, Mercedes Lackey's SERRAted Edge books, Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse books, Touch the Dark by Karen Chance, etc.

Dark fantasy - Fantasy that has dark themes--vamps, demons etc.  and presents them in a sympathetic light.  A lot of urban fantasy these days is dark urban fantasy, and has traits of both.  Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy is a good example of dark fantasy, without the urban element.  Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series are dark urban fantasy.  (I don't consider Harry Dresden to be dark urban, because, at least at this point in time, Harry is still striving to be Good, and for the most part fights against Evil.)  This genre can also include horror/fantasy crossover work.

Comic fantasy - fantasy set on a world that's largely made up to be funny and/or poke fun at fantasy.  Terry Pratchett's Diskworld, Piers Anthony's Xanth, Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles

Fantasy (aka Low Fantasy) - Not all people make this distinction, but Low Fantasy, for me, is fantasy that has all the trappings of fantasy, but doesn't quite have the Epic-ness of Epic/High fantasy.  Difficult to explain.  Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series is here for me, so is Jim Butcher's Codex Alera books (I know some will disagree, but Harry Dresden feels more Epic then Codex Alera does to me).

Epic fantasy (aka High Fantasy) - Fantasy that's...Epic!   Fantasy that has over-reaching world-affecting plots.  If the good guy doesn't kill the bad guy, the world WILL be destroyed.  Swords and sorcerers.  Fate of the world depending on the choice of one man.  That type of thing, in a way that makes you, the reader, believe it's true.  Examples: Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series.  Raymond E. Feist's Riftware books.  Harry Dresden seems to have a good dollop of this too, but not quite enough to make me firmly catagorize it.  I may change my tune after book 23!

Paranormal romance - Fantasy where the main theme is romance.  Distinct from fantasy where romance is a sub-plot.  I can't think of any true blue examples right now, but the Luna imprint caters to this.

Paranormal erotica - Fantasy where the main theme is sex between paranormal/supernatural beings.  Distinct from paranormal romance.  Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry series is an example of this, as is post-Obsidian Butterfly Anita Blake.  You could also probably put in Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series here.  There's probably more examples I'm not aware of.

Zombie fantasy - fantasy that has died but still is ALLLLLIIIIIIVVVVEEE!  Ok, this isn't a real genre, but one of the series that belongs in here DOES have zombies...technically...but I won't name names.  Fantasy that is still going on even though the series is dead, dead, dead and the author should stop molesting the corpse.  Often applies to Epic fantasys that keep on going...and going...and going...

Sci-Fi subgenres:

(Note...some people object to the word "sci-fi", as opposed to "science fiction".  I personally make no distinction between the two.)

Science Fantasy - Stories set on worlds that technically were settled by a sci-fi starships-from-earth manner, but for whatever reason degressed in technology to an often pre-industrial culture.  Anne McCaffrey's Pern, Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover, C. S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy, Joan D. Vinge's Summer Queen and Snow Queen books, Robert Silverburg's Majipoor books.

Space Opera - sci-fi that focuses more on inter-character conflicts then the technology.  (It's a play on "soap opera".)  Anne McCaffrey's Tower and Hive series (The Rowan, Damia, etc.).  Some of Robert A. Heinlein's stuff.

Hard Science Fiction - sci-fi that focuses on the science.  Stephen Baxter's Evolution (or generally almost anything by Stephen Baxter).  Pretty much anything by Issac Asimov.  Some of Robert A. Heinlein's stuff.

Military Sci-Fi - sci-fi that focuses on the military.  I don't read much of this, so bear with me if my examples suck.  Karen Lowachee's Warchild series.  Anne McCaffrey's Sassinack books (sp?).  The publisher Baen puts out a lot of military Sci-fi (I hate the coverart though so I generally don't read Baen books.  Shallow, I know.).

I'm sure there's some subgenres that I'm forgetting about...let me know what they are.

While we're talking about Baen...

What trends have you seen in the SFF publishing houses/imprints, as in what they tend to publish?

Baen - Baen is an independant publisher, as in, they're not an imprint of an international book publishing company giant (most SFF publishers are).  They tend to put out a lot of military sci-fi, and they use the same coverartists for nearly all of their books, so it's easy to spot a book put out by them.  I don't know the quality of their books; the coverart puts me off so I don't buy them.  Heh.

Tor - Tor is the BMW/Mercedes Benz/famous luxury car maker of the SFF publishing world.  They're damn hard to get accepted by, and the books they publish always show a very good command of both writing in general, and writing SFF in particular.  Their authors tend to be top-tier.  Orson Scott Card is published though them, Jacqueline Carey's first Kushiel trilogy is through them, Joan D. Vinge goes through them, etc.  They take pretty much any type of fantasy and sci-fi, so long as it's written very well.  I think, due to the popularity of Jacqueline Carey's Kuahiel series, they're looking for similar books, but that could be a lie, and a few years out of date to boot.

Roc - Roc's quality is uneven; they tend to take chances on authors much more then Tor does.  Some books they put out are really good, some mediocre.  They have been putting out a lot of good dark, and urban, fantasy lately, though.  I think Harry Dresden is put out through Roc?  Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy was put out by Roc.  Also Alan F. Troop's Dragon Delasangre books.

DelRey - lots of old Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey books were put out by them.  I haven't seen any significant new series put out by them, though, so I'm unsure what they're looking for these days.

Ace - I don't know too much about Ace these days, either.  The Codex Alera series is put out by Ace.  I also see Patricia Briggs, and Charlaine Harris when I look at my incomplete bookshelf (I moved recently; most of my books aren't here at home).  They seem to me a lot like Roc, in that they like urban fantasy, and the quality can be uneven from author to author, except they're not as dark.

Spectrum - Spectrum has Robin Hobb, David Brin, and a lot of other good authors.  They tend to put out high-level and polished SFF...or at least I don't recall books I really disliked from them.

Daw - not sure what they're putting out recently

Aspect / Warner Aspect - Karin Lowachee came out through them, as did Jacqueline Carey's second Kushiel trilogy.  Octavia Butler as well.  Seem to have good quality books.

Luna - Heh, this is a new romance/sff crossover imprint put out by Harliquen (sp?  More known in the Romance section).  Quality is VERY iffy...some books are good, some not so good.  I read one series I liked a lot, but a friend hated.  Then I read another book which I hated and never finished.  Which is a pity, because I like a bit of romance in my SFF.

Did I miss any major imprints?  Anyone else have more/better info to add?

[Josh]

Paranormal romance and Supernatural erotica are two velvety shades that have started to become distinct parts of the spectrum. I've seen a definite growth of werewolf/vampire romances (or fairies, or demons and angels, or...yeah), aside from the obvious headliners who started the whole trend.

And what about horror? I'd say most people stick horror under the umbrella of Speculative Fiction that also holds science fiction and fantasy. Of course, there are types of horor that don't fall into anything supernatural or otherwise. There can be psychological horror, for instance. Or just plain gore fests and murder/thrillers. So many of these, though, can edge into that uncertain blend of plain human depravity and darkness as well as potential occult origins, or maybe demonic/Cthulhu influences.


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[Dom]

To think I mentioned Luna as an imprint and didn't stick in paranormal romance/erotica as a subgenre.  ::goes back to edit::

Re: horror...some horror is SFF, some isn't.  Whereas all fantasy and all sci-fi has the common root of some alien-ish/fantasy-ish aspect being a part of the world the story is taken place in, not all horror shares that.  So I think of that sort of horror as a crossover genre, much like paranormal romance/erotica is.

I'd consider fantasy horror as "dark fantasy" from above.  ::edits that in too::

What would sci-fi horror be?  Is there a name for the genre?  All I can think of is the movie Aliens, and possibly Lovecraft, but Aliens is a movie and movie/tv SFF is distinct from literary SFF, and I've never read Lovecraft/Cthulhu.  If there's not a word for it, maybe we can coin a term for it...

Edit:  My spelling suuuuckkkkks!  I'm very sorry about all my mispelled words.   I've always been a poor speller.

[Josh]

Have we mentioned things like steampunk? The surreal or slipstream genres? How about alternative histories?

I agree not all horror is going to be speculative fiction type. Aliens is a good example of it though. Maybe it shows up more in movies than in books. Maybe some of Crichton's work? Haven't read much of that myself. Do Prey or Jurassic Park have elements of horror in them, or are they more thriller science fiction? One could also maybe make a distinction of "literary" science fiction or fantasy, like some of Bradbury's works. You could also

What about detective or noir fantasy? Pulp fiction fantasy? Period fantasy (think Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell). Oh, and you can't forget the entire Children's categories that parallels everything we've already mentioned.

Dean Koontz often mixes science fiction and supernatural elements in the same book. His latest, Brother Odd, meshed quantum physics with a main character who sees ghosts.

I think the point is that genre labels and such are for marketing departments and bookstores. It's good to have that focus and to know where your book will fit, but most stories, while falling into the broad strokes, will still paint outside the lines a little, or mix a few colors into some new tone.

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[Nemo]

To me, subgenres seem to be little more than a marketing ploy any more.

[Dom]

Hahaha, I knew someone was going to bring up the label thing. 

Josh - You do bring up a lot of subgenres that I forgot; I don't have much experience with slipstream (although a friend of mine is big on it), but I'll put that and the others in when I have a moment.  Do you have an example of slipstream?

It is true that subgenres are used as a marketing thing...but it's also simply a human-communications thing.  Nothing bad about it.  Instead of running through, "Do you like this?  Oh, you've never heard them so you couldn't say?  What about this?  Or this?" and run through a list of author names, you simply say, "OOOooh, you like epic fantasy?  Have you tried T. C. Author yet?  S/He does epic fantasy."  Makes it easier to find other books you might like, and/or other people like you/with your tastes.

Also, writers *make* the genre/subgenre.  By coloring outside the lines, mixing colors, etc.  If a new type of story is written by an author, and it starts a trend, a genre name will pop up for it, so people can communicate they like those sorts of themes in their stories when they discuss books/look for new books.  So it doesn't matter if a book pops up that can't be classified; it'll classify itself with a new name, eventually, if it's that good.

What labels people use for your work is never something an artist can fully control.  Personally I think that's ok...labels are for the fans, so they can talk about something efficiantly using a jargon other fans understand.  Labels are not for the author.

I personally have an interest in labels because I like to watch how the market is going...how authors are inspired by this or that work, and make their own with a similar theme, and how other stories and genres evolve out of it.  It's fascinating.  And also, how editors pick up a theme, and publish more of a subgenre due to reader response.  It's all interplaying together.

[blgarver]

Maybe some of Crichton's work? Haven't read much of that myself. Do Prey or Jurassic Park have elements of horror in them, or are they more thriller science fiction?

Most of Crichton's stuff is SciFi/thriller, and what I like to call Science Not-so-fiction.  I swore by Crichton for years, but not all of his stuff is great.  Prey and Sphere are probably the closest to Horror that I've read.  Prey creeped me the eff out.  Sphere is still my favorite from Crichton, but Prey was really good.

[Josh]

A few links on slipstream:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slipstream_(literature)

http://ninebelow.livejournal.com/169856.html


The classic definition is a genre where fantastic elements mingle with an otherwise normal or natural environment. It doesn't fit fully in either the "mainstream" genre, or speculative fiction. It is where you tend to find the more surreal prose, and, instead of accepting some full system of magic or rocket ships, you might just have to give the story a few suspensions of disbelief. Another more emergent genre, and one that people sometimes lump together with slipstream, is magical realism.

Both links have recommended authors and titles. The second one has a link to a Master List of slipstream titles as well.

And I agree. There is nothing inherently wrong with labels. As usual, it's only when something is taken to an extreme that it can go sour, by either making a writer feel limited as to the scope of what they can write, or causing confusion when searching for a particular title in one section, to find out it got shelved in..what? Cooking? This also raises the question of whether an author, especially a beginning one, should focus on one genre for a while to build up their sales before branching out to different audiences. Obviously within the speculative fiction realm itself there are a lot of options as to what styles those stories can cling to, but even then some can find it difficult to shift gears from even writing a science fiction novel to a fantasy novel. You may be able to write it well, but you have to realize that sometimes the audience for even those two pieces of the pie can be loyal to the death. That means you have to build up an entirely new presence and risk losing those people who liked your science fiction, but don't like fantasy, plus prove yourself to everyone in fantasy who never touched your science fiction work.


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