I have started a new tag to capture the proliferation of micro-genre trends. Click on micro-genre here, at the end of this post, or in the right gutter where the tags all appear in alpha order.
The thing about micro-genres isn't that they are new, rather it is the trend that is worth noting. Romantasy is the best example not only because of how popular it is, but rather, because if you look at the lists of books that fall into this trending genre, they have always been there (yes more are coming out because it is popular). All we are doing now is giving this particular type of book, with a specific appeal or trope a name.
As I wrote in my first "Micro-Genre Alert" post here, when something is trending in the larger world, we should take advantage and make a display-- show people that we both know about the trend and have books to satisfy their curiosity.
But we should not worry about identifying those trends and making the lists from scratch. Nope. That is what are resources are for. As I say in Rule 7 of my 10 Rules of RA Service-- we need to use resources to help readers, just like we do for reference questions. You are not better at your job o helping readers if you only use your own brain. In fact, quite the opposite, using resources shows what a better RA professional you are.
So back to the topic at hand. Using my resources, I noticed this piece in CrimeReads all about Bog Gothic. From the article:
Bog Gothic or Bogothic?
Although bogs are not as popular a setting for thrillers and horror novels as, say, a crumbling estate or a city crippled by corruption, there have definitely been some authors who have drawn inspiration from this type of wetland, myself included. We might call this subgenre ‘Bog Gothic’ if it were not for the fact that this term already exists: it was coined by Patrick McCabe to describe his gothic stories set in rural Ireland, the most famous of which is The Butcher Boy (1992). Having a bog is not required for a novel to be considered ‘Bog Gothic’, because ‘bog’ here refers to Ireland and Ireland’s dark past rather than the actual wetland. To avoid confusion and because people on social media love a good portmanteau, I suggest that we use bogothic (from bog and gothic, as coined by my wife) to refer to gothic books that incorporate bogs and bog bodies.
What follows now is a list of bogothic books provided with their score on the bog-o-meter (a highly-accurate, totally objective tool). Let’s see which ones really put the ‘bog’ into bogothic!
Click through to see the annotated reading list with that bog-o-meter score.
Not only is this a great idea for a display that will feature books from across your collection, old and new, it is fun. You could use these books and the author's scores to make you own display in the building or online.
But let's find some more "Bogothic" suggestions as well, especially lists of books as suggested by fans of the micro-genre.
- As I have mentioned many times before, I love using Reddit to find book suggestions. Real people who care about a topic, suggesting to those looking for reading recs. Here are some examples with the reddit area in which they appeared:
- Suggest Me A Book: "Gothic books set on craggy, windswept coasts of the British Isles that will make me feel melancholy in a romantic way and/or unsettled"
- Books That Feel Like This (with a picture): "Marshes, bogs, spooky nature in general and mystery with a hint of the paranormal? (I've already read Wuthering Heights!)"
- Horror Lit: "Horror about bogs, swamps, marshes and similarly wet, muddy places"
- Horror Lit: "Novel set in a cold moorish/wet/foggy place"
- From Goodreads:
- Did you know NoveList has a tag for "Bogs?" Well they do. Look up "The Bog Wife" by Kay Chronister and click on "bogs" to pull up a bunch of titles. You can also see my review of that title here.
Now there's a bunch of books to make for a fun display. Attached a "bog-o-meter" score to each book if you want-- just do it on a post-it. And get your patrons involved as well.
Post the list of books and a photo of your display online and ask people to add their own books and or bog-o-meter scores. Use my conversation starter to display post to ask all of your patrons to share their favorite titles for this micro-genre.
Even better idea-- make the conversation starter question not just to add a book to the display but also, include a space where patrons can suggest the next micro-genre for you to feature. Yes our resources can alert us to trends, but our patrons are also a resource. Show them that you want to know what they want. Encourage them to speak up about the types of books they are most interested in. Not only will this help you to have the collection and services they want, it will make your job easier as they will be coming up with the display ideas for you.
Finding the books will be fun. Try reddit as described above and a general search for whatever micro-genre they mention to get started.
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