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8 books match the query 'Fiction genres'

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Genre Matters

Edited by Garin Dowd, Lesley Stevenson, and Jeremy Strong

Intellect Books, 2006

This collection of new essays addresses a topic of established and expanding critical interest throughout the humanities. It demonstrates that genre matters in a manner not constrained by disciplinary boundaries and includes new work on Genre Theory and applications of thinking about genre from Aristotle to Derrida and beyond. The essays focus on economies of expectation and competency, genre as media form, recent developments in television broadcast genres, translation and genericity, the role played by genre in film publicity, gender and genre, genre in fiction, and the problematics of classification. An introductory essay places the contributions in the context of a wide range of thinking about genre in the arts, media and humanities. The volume will be of interest to both undergraduates and postgraduates, especially those following courses on Genre Theory and Genre Criticism, and to academics working in a range of subject areas such as Cultural Studies, Film Studies, Media Studies and Literary Studies.

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Genre Worlds

Kim Wilkins, Beth Driscoll, and Lisa Fletcher

University of Massachusetts Press, 2022

Works of genre fiction are a source of enjoyment, read during cherished leisure time and in incidental moments of relaxation. This original book takes readers inside popular genres of fiction, including crime, fantasy, and romance, to reveal how personal tastes, social connections, and industry knowledge shape genre worlds. Attuned to both the pleasure and the profession of producing genre fiction, the authors investigate contemporary developments in the field—the rise of Amazon, self-publishing platforms, transmedia storytelling, and growing global publishing conglomerates—and show how these interact with older practices, from fan conventions to writers’ groups.

Sitting at the intersection of literary studies, genre studies, fan studies, and studies of the book and publishing cultures, Genre Worlds considers how contemporary genre fiction is produced and circulated on a global scale. Its authors propose an innovative theoretical framework that unfolds genre fiction’s most compelling characteristics: its connected social, industrial, and textual practices. As they demonstrate, genre fiction books are not merely texts; they are also nodes of social and industrial activity involving the production, dissemination, and reception of the texts.

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On Edge

Gender and Genre in the Work of Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, and Leigh Brackett

Ashley Lawson

The Ohio State University Press, 2024

Honorable Mention, 2025 PCA Emily Toth Award For Best Single Work In Women’s Studies
Finalist, 2025 Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Awards, Best Critical/Biographical Category
Finalist, Bouchercon New Orleans 2025 Anthony Awards, Best Critical/Non-Fiction
Nominated for the 2025 Macavity Awards, Best Mystery-related Nonfiction/Critical

Ashley Lawson’s On Edge presents a new picture of postwar American literature, arguing that biases against genre fiction have unfairly disadvantaged the legacies of authors like Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, and Leigh Brackett. Each of these women navigated a male-dominated postwar publishing world without compromising their values. Their category-defying treatment of gender roles and genre classifications created suspense in their work that spoke to the tensions of the “Age of Anxiety.” Lawson engages with foundational voices in American literature, genre theory, and feminism to argue that, by merging the dominant mode of literary realism with fantastical or heightened elements, Brackett, Jackson, and Highsmith responded to the big questions of their era with startling and unnerving answers. By elevating genre play to a marker of literary skill, Lawson contends, we can secure these writers a more prominent place within the canon of midcentury American literature and open the door for the recovery of their similarly innovative peers.

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The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Blends

Megan M. McArdle

American Library Association, 2014

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The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Blends

Megan McArdle

American Library Association, 2022

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The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction

Neal Wyatt

American Library Association, 2018

Everyone’s favorite guide to fiction that’s thrilling, mysterious, suspenseful, thought-provoking, romantic, and just plain fun is back—and better than ever in this completely revamped and revised edition. A must for every readers’ advisory desk, this resource is also a useful tool for collection development librarians and students in LIS programs. Inside, RA experts Wyatt and Saricks

cover genres such as Psychological Suspense, Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Mystery, Literary and Historical Fiction, and introduce the concepts of Adrenaline and Relationship Fiction;
include everything advisors need to get up to speed on a genre, including its appeal characteristics, key authors, sure bets, and trends;
demonstrate how genres overlap and connect, plus suggestions for guiding readers among genres; and
tie genre fiction to the whole collection, including nonfiction, audiobooks, graphic novels, film and TV, poetry, and games.

Both insightful and comprehensive, this matchless guidebook will help librarians become familiar with many different fiction genres, especially those they do not regularly read, and aid library staff in connecting readers to books they’re sure to love.

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