Genre Shoved into a Blender
I thoroughly enjoyed celebrating all things leprechaun over St. Patrick’s Day! Three articles and a contest later however, I’m taking a moment to recharge. So today’s interlude comes from Cassandra L. Shaw, an hysterically funny writer whose new Book Grave Robber For Hire explores cross-over genres down under! (Australia, not Hell)
Hi Kathy and thank you for taking the time to have me on your blog today. My debut novel, Book Grave Robber For Hire, is a mix of genres.
It turned out to be a mix of urban fantasy, romantic elements, horror scenes, is a mystery/suspense, and is written in a slightly offbeat female’s POV. This mix made it hard to tick a genre box, even a sub-genre box.
I didn’t start writing it with the idea of tossing a handful of genres into a blender and seeing what poured into the glass in the end. In fact, it wasn’t until I had to play the name the genre game that I realized it didn’t fit into a neat slot.
At first, I thought this was a disaster, but then I realized many stories/series I love are a genre blend or don’t follow genre rules. I enjoy the Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones, the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning and neither fit into a neat slot. The Fever series especially doesn’t—which is why I loved it.
In fact, I personally feel a mix up can make a story stronger, give it that interesting twist that takes the reader on a bit of fun or wild ride beyond the norm, stops stories from being cliché. I mean if an author follows the rules all the time, we’d still be writing like authors from four hundred years ago. And for me, beyond a few stand out exceptions from much earlier eras, most would put me to sleep—many I tried to read have.
No matter what the story type or genre mix, if enough people write it, enough readers love it, and then it suddenly will have a slot.
Some stories I write will fit neatly into a pre-defined slot. I am currently revising a very definite Paranormal Romantic Suspense, but if I forced a story into slot, it might end up stale, even feel a little like I’ve followed a formula, and I avidly believe in the statement: write what you would like to read.
So I do!
About Book Grave Robber For Hire
– available on Amazon
Reasonable rates
Do Family legends hint at lost family treasures?
Have writing from ancestors I can use to jump-time?
Call me: Angel Meyers
No psychic readings or ghost exorcisms (that’s not my gig)
Angel Meyers loves cheesecake and hot men, possesses I-catch-cute-guys cleavage, and is the only person she knows with her gift. Her talent for touching handwritten documents and connecting with the mind of the writer, dead or alive, lets her delve into the past and locate lost family treasure for her clients.
When she’s hired to locate a Rembrandt lost one hundred and fifty years ago, Angel sees a whole bundle of dollar signs. If she finds the painting, her fee would be enough to buy her much dreamed of animal rescue farm.
There’s just one tricky bit. When she touches the writing of Clyde Owen Jones, the last man to know the painting’s whereabouts, Angel feels a malevolence coming off the pages and realizes Clyde was pure evil.
But the evil doesn’t remain with the dead, it’s here now, and it wants the same thing Angel does—the Rembrandt and maybe her soul. Can Tyreal the Private Investigator Angel found too hot not to hire and Viggo her guardian angel, protect her from herself and Hell’s evil?
About Cassandra L. Shaw
Cassandra L Shaw was a child of passion who prayed she was secretly Dr. Dolittle. She loved all animals and bugs with a fierce devotion that has carried into her writing. Most of her stories, be they paranormal, futuristic, fantasy, or suspense, have humorous roles for her character’s pets. These pets are often named after her own beloved dogs, cats, horses, goats, chickens, ducks and birds. Tina, Tit Tit, Bones, Willow, Falcor, and Asha are already in her first book, and there will be more. She’s pinky promised her pets immortality so they will have it!
With a passion for fashion, Cassandra’s fun quirky female characters like to wear Goth one day, fifties dresses the next, or imaginary witch capes and wands. Her hot, muscled male characters wear tight clothes to best show off their … err … attributes. Hey, what’s a hero and romantic lead if he isn’t hot?
If you don’t like having a giggle while Cassandra’s heroes and heroines fight evil and other bad guys, discover themselves, eat well, and enjoy a good taste of life, lust, and love, then Cassandra’s stories aren’t for you.
At home on her small farm in Queensland Australia, demons, monsters, aliens, futuristic worlds, sexy men, and hot sex scenes nestle happily amongst the housework Cassandra pretends doesn’t need doing. Cobwebs are soooooo chic, her family think so too. HONEST
kathybryson 