Week Six: Building Base Knowledge (Genres)

Assignment 1: I chose romance. I haven't read any books that could be classified as belonging to the romance genre. I see them, of course, and I know there are a lot of series. I was told of a website, freshfiction.com, a website that features many fiction genres, and also invites readers to become a reviewer for the site. Under each genre are sub-genres. For romance, there are the following: Chick Lit, Contemporary, Historical, Gay, Suspense, Erotic, Time Travel, and Paranormal. Most of the books are part of ongoing series. I noted that most, if not all, of the gay romance are written by women.

I am familiar with the names of the top selling romance writers: Danielle Steele, Nora Roberts, Debbie McComber. They are represented here, but the less known authors get just as much exposure here on this website. So, for any reader, who wants to break the surface of romance novels, the freshfiction website would be a good starting point.

Hold Your Breath is part one of the Search and Rescue series. Many of the romance novels listed are parts of ongoing series.

Assignment 3:

Sub-genre 1: Borough warfare is a sub-genre of urban fiction. These novels typify what I would think all urban fiction novels would contain: Turf wars, usually over drugs, with the protagonist fighting rivals and the police to stay alive. There is violence, sex, and sequels.

The novels are fast-paced, suspenseful,, and invite the reader to identify with the main character, no matter which side of the law he dwells. There are also female-centric versions of these types of tales. The male versions go with titles with "Thug" something or other," while the female-led stories tend to have the word "bitch" in the title.

Sub-genre 2: Military romances have Navy Seals, Special Ops, Green Berets and other of the more glamourous armed forces professions as romantic heroes. The men and woman in this sub-genre are rugged, fit, handsome, resourceful, and totally committed to their jobs. The romantic entanglements

entanglements generally pulls out a sensitive side. The conflicts rise out of commitment to lines of duty and not wanting to give in to emotion while fighting a strong physical attraction. Other conflicts come from the setting itself: War and call of duty has a tendency to get in the way of romance, as well. Just ask Knox McLemore of In Too Deep by Kira Sinclair.

Sub-genre 3: Techno thrillers combine military might, espionage, and suspense to come up with a subgenre. Topical themes involving current or recent global political turmoil, including terrorism, keeps the hero of this novel occupied, enough so that he appears in a slew of sequels.

Military hardware, techno gadgets, and state of the art weaponry along with race-against-the-clock thrills make this sub-genre a must for those who enjoy these elements. Clive Cussler, Len Deighton, W.E.B. Griffin, Robert Ludlum, and, of course, the late Tom Clancy are some of the top names who continue to churn out the fast paced plots.