Gabino Iglesias on the Appeal of Crime Fiction and Horror Via Tor Nightfire

I spend a lot of time here on the blog and in my training programs talking and writing about the importance of the appeal of a story to the reader-- both specifically with an individual book, but also entire genres. 

Genre is often one of the best "cheat sheets" we have to help match a reader with a book that they will enjoy. Why? Because we can make general statements about why a genre is appealing, use those assumptions to move a potential reader to that genre, and then use the genre as a springboard to find them a specific book to read.

Obviously it is much more complicated than that, and I present often on all of the genres and their appeal as well as specific genres. 

[Side note, I do have a new version of my Demystifying Genre program coming up before the end of the year and the slides will be posted here on the blog. You can always go to my Recent Presentations page for a link to the most recent version of "Demystifying Genre" to see slides which give you the major appeals and trends of each genre.]

In general, there are large statements you can make about genres and why readers enjoy them, but also, why people enjoy a genre at one point in their life can evolve and change.

I have been saying this for the last 4 years about the rise in interest in Horror and Gentle Reads. When the world is a dumpster fire, most people seek entertainment and escape in two ways: they try to find something more calming and reassuring or they look for something even worse to make their current situation seem manageable by comparison.

Award winning horror-crime hybrid author and friend of the blog, Gabino Iglesias, published an essay with Tor Nightmare yesterday which is a great addition to this conversation. Entitled, "A Dark Mirror: How Horror and Crime Fiction Help Us Examine Ourselves," this is a must read by anyone who serves leisure readers, in any capacity, right now. He uses a few recent titles to support his argument.

Here is snippet from the opening paragraphs of this essay:

"...Crime and horror are two genres I read constantly, and they often offer incredibly smart observations about life as well as sharp critiques of contemporary society. In many cases, crime and horror writers deconstruct things in order to understand them, and their narratives reflect that process. As a reader, I’ve always been aware of that. As a book reviewer, I often talk about this process and the resulting fiction. As a writer, I felt the need to articulate it all and share it with others, to point at genre fiction and say “Look, this is the best, smartest, most engaging writing out there and it shows us to ourselves!” 

Now, I’m not saying science fiction, literary fiction, or romance can’t be smart or give us a look at contemporary society and its problems; what I’m saying is that horror and crime stand at the forefront in terms of holding up a mirror to society and showing us the best and the worst it has to offer. Hillier’s novel is the tip of the proverbial iceberg. "

Please take a moment to read this essay and make sure you have these books in your collections [you should already].