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Dear Ms. Cadwalladr…

I loved your interview of Nora Roberts. I really did. But I think you misunderstand the place of horror in the world of genre fiction. You describe romance as “lower than crime, lower than horror, lower, even, than sci-fi.” Let’s take a look at that, shall we?

How many romance imprints are there, Ms. Cadwalladr? How many mainstream publishers devote entire lines to romance fiction? There are major publishers, like Harlequin, that produce ONLY romance. There is a well-oiled professional organization devoted to promoting romance fiction and romance author (including me). According to the Romance Writers of America, almost 75 million people read at least one romance novel last year.

Romance is not a stepchild of genre fiction. It’s a STAR.

Let’s compare this to horror. How many horror imprints are there in the mainstream press? Most mainstream publishers will do almost anything to avoid calling a book “horror”. Literary “supernatural fiction”; dark fantasy; urban fantasy; dark science fiction; paranormal thriller; YA paranormal; paranormal romance; ANYTHING but horror.

Let me ask you- Do you know the names of any horror authors besides Stephen King, Anne Rice, Clive Barker, and Laurell K. Hamilton? Did you know that when you browse for subjects on Amazon.com, you can find mysteries, thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, and (yes) romance, but not horror? What’s the demographic for horror readers? I doubt you can find that out(if you can, I’d love to know), because nobody has collected that information. Romance fiction is a tidal wave in genre fiction, compared to horror fiction’s tiny ripples.

That doesn’t mean we aren’t here. Horror readers and writers are everywhere, and they’re terribly under-recognized and underserved. That’s exactly why MonsterLibrarian.com exists. It’s just that most people have decided it’s a genre that doesn’t matter. RWA, the same organization that reported nearly 75 million readers in its genre, didn’t even bother to compare its market share to horror. Mystery, science fiction and fantasy, literary fiction, and even religious fiction, sure. But to miss out on an entire genre?

It doesn’t get any lower than this.

But, thanks, at least, for noticing that the horror genre exists.

Posted on November 22, 2011 by , Reply

Not The Apocalypse?

I have to admit that the announcement and grand opening of Amazon’s new Kindle Lending Library made me a little cranky at first. This monopolistic corporation that refused until recently to release any Kindle ebooks to libraries suddenly decides to take over the function of a library, but with a gigantic inventory of titles, and announce it like they invented the model on their own? Grr.

First impressions are just that, though- and a closer look at what Amazon is offering shows that really, it’s not that great. There’s a great analysis of it  by Andy Woodworth at Agnostic, Maybe, where he assures us that the Kindle Lending Library is NOT the apocalypse. Whew. You’ll have to forgive me if I seem to be repeating some of what he said, but it seems like we noticed some of the same things.

Here’s the thing. Not everyone has a Kindle or can afford one, or even wants to read ebooks. The big six publishers aren’t happy about it- some of them don’t even sell ebooks to libraries. And the Kindle Lending Library is not available to just anyone. You have to be a Prime customer- meaning you shell out $79 a year to borrow one book a month. That’s more than I pay for my PLAC card(that’s a public access library card), which allows me to check many, many books (including ebooks) out of any library in the state. They might not be Kindle books, but at the rate I read, they’re in and out of the house pretty quickly (well, unless I lose them).

At a time when people are claiming it’s too costly to fund libraries with their tax dollars (and many libraries in this state are in danger of closing their doors) how many of them are going to happily shell out the money for an ereader and a Prime membership for the privilege of “checking out” one relatively obscure book a month? If you already have those two things, and the program expands a little, I guess it could be a nice perk, but I don’t see Amazon driving libraries out of business with this. As alarming as it seems at first, the Kindle Lending Library is not the end of the world as we know it. Yet.

Stay tuned.

Posted on November 12, 2011 by , Reply

Publishers Weekly 2011 Top Ten Picks in SF, fantasy, and horror

Rose Fox at Genreville has posted Publishers Weekly’s 2011 list of their top ten picks in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. We haven’t reviewed any of them here (although from the descriptions I wish we had) but here’s a link to her post. In addition to bringing our attention to these books, Rose gave a shout out to a number of small press publishers. Many librarians are unfamiliar with small presses, as most can’t afford to list their titles with wholesalers, so it’s great to bring attention to them. Go check it out- you’re sure to find some intriguing choices. I’m totally going to be seeking out Unpossible.

Posted on November 11, 2011 by , Reply
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