Anti-Genrefication-League

For one brief, shining moment, I was number one on Amazon's list of Epic Fantasy and Dark Fantasy for SEVEN FORGES. I was even in the top 100 in the paid books category. I'm gonna bask in that for a while. I'm still up there, but I've fallen a few notches because, honestly, that stuff is like the stock market. It fluctuates constantly.

Funny thing: I never made it that far as a horror writer.

Funny thing: I'm okay with that.

I AM a horror writer. Make no mistake. I'm also a science fiction writer. A fantasy writer. I've been known to toss a little romance and eroticism into the mix (No, seriously, reviewers accused me of both with BLOOD RED.). Recently I've also done some horror-crime fusions and, of course, I've mixed comedy, gore and the supernatural into a cackling stew on more than one occasion, too. I'm working on a few mysteries. Oh, and westerns. Weird Westerns, mostly,but that could change.

Okay. Trivia Question: Who came up with genres?

Answer: Probably the bookstores, but it was publishers who pushed hardest for it. The bookstores started separating books into ore categories than fiction and non-fiction, I suspect, and then when the bog houses caught on they took it to a new level, adding in Westerns and Romances and War, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, New Age, oh, the list goes on and on.

Guys, I named my blog GENREFIED because, honestly, I have never much liked genres. I believe that genres should be considered as a marketing tool at best.

Put another way, mix your genres like you'd mix your paints. That's my opinion. I've said before and will until my grave that you should write the story you want to tell and let the editors decide where they go.

Why?

Because we're in this first and foremost to tell the stories. Listen, if you're in this for make a career, you might be in for a few unpleasant surprises. I could probably make a living off my writing alone, but I can bet I wouldn't be quite as comfortable doing it. I am, in fact, at that point where it looks more appealing all the time, but if I give up the day job I prefer to do it with a bit more socked away first. And I say that as a guy who has written a lot of novels and has two coming out this summer.

So if you're not guaranteed a good living wage, you should at least have as much fun as possible in the process. Or as the lovely and talented Jeffe already said: write non-commercially. If you try to keep up with the market the odds are good you're already behind the curve. Instead, let the market try to keep up with you.

Let's look at those for a second so I can try to make my point again. (Or for the first time. I tend to ramble.)

THE BLASTED LANDS, sequel to SEVEN FORGES. And ALIEN: SEA OF SORROWS which is a novel set in the ALIEN franchise universe. First book is straight up fantasy. Second is science fiction and horror blended well and with a dash of action thriller tossed in for extra seasoning. The fourth and final part of the serial novella THE DEVOTED comes out soon. The anthology SNAFU is a collection of horror-war stories. Mine is a novella called WHITE BLANK PAGE  that takes place in the wild west during the Indian Wars, and involves cowboys, Indians and the US Cavalry, with a gaggle of monsters. It's a direct sequel to THE DEVOTED. I've also co written, submitted and sold the sequel to that little tale too. It's a specialty press book called "What Rough Beast." It's fun and violent. Mystery, Action, Western and Supernatural Horror all rolled into one tale.

Other projects I'm working on this year? Dark Fantasy collaboration with Charles R. Rutledge. We're ten thousand words in. I want to finish BOOMTOWN, which is a PREQUEL to THE DEVOTED and WHITE BLANK PAGE. I have an apocalyptic science fiction novel due in December. I'm right at 15,000 words into it.  Two more novels I'm working on, both horror. One nearly finished and the other mostly notes in my head. In a perfect world I'm finishing them this year. I still owe a few short stories. Mostly they are horror. Mostly. Within the next year Charles and I will be merrily cutting into a hard crime novel set in the fictitious town of Wellman, Georgia. We've visited a few times before, mostly

Epic Dark Fantasy, Weird Western, Science Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Crime, Sword & Sorcery Fantasy, and an apocalypse to boot.

I write what I want. I let the publishers sort it out. If they can't, I can and will.

Oh, and according to Amazon rankings, I am currently ranked:

#6 in Horror Kindle eBooks, #18 in Fantasy Kindle eBooks, #29 in Fantasy Books and # 43 in Science Fiction & Fantasy Books. I'll take that, too, and call it a nice surprise.





I'll be at the North Eastern Writers Conference (Necon for short) from July 17th-the 20th. If you happen to be in the area, you should come on by. There's a lot of truly talented folks there.