Genre – should we pigeonhole our books?

I primarily write science-fiction, but I’m a sucker for a good story with believable and sympathetic characters, whatever the genre.  (As, I’m quite sure, are you.)  The same goes for my TV and film choices. So my recent viewing has included dramas such as ‘War & Peace’, ‘Dickensian’, ‘Humans’, ‘The Bridge’, ‘Detectorists’ (yes, I know it’s comedy, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s still drama), ‘Dad’s Army’ (ditto), ‘River’,  ‘Prey’, ‘True Detective’, ‘Ten Little Soldiers’… and of course, ‘Doctor Who’. Films like  ‘Transcendence’, ‘Big Hero 6’ and ‘Avatar’ rub shoulders in my DVD collection with ‘Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ , ‘The Lone Ranger’, ‘Before I Go To Sleep’ and ‘Gone Girl’. I could go on, but I think you get the picture. A good story is a good story, regardless of genre.

A book is the longest of long form drama…

A book is, ultimately, the longest long form drama of all, isn’t it? The visuals take place in your imagination, rather than on a television or movie screen, but the dramatic principles are the same, only the way in which they are presented changes.  Now we get to the question of genre – the one thing we are taught that we should know about our stories when we write, pitch and market them.  But what if your story appears to cross genres? How do you market it to attract all the readers who might want to read it? And so we find ourselves taking part in the Genre Game.

And finally, we’re here – Publication Day!

Before you wonder if I’ve written at a million miles per hour, it isn’t ‘All Our Tomorrows’ but a collection of short stories I’ve been working at on the side.

‘The Journey and Other Short Stories’  is now available in paperback from Amazon here  – it will also be available in electronic form very soon.  

 The first in a series of contemporary mysteries with a science-fiction twist

 The Journey – young widow Eva King is trying to rebuild her life following the death of her husband and infant son when the train she and fellow traveler Tom are travelling on derails.

When Eva and Tom make their escape from the wreck, they discover that London has been attacked, and that Tom’s wife and two young children are missing. But all is not as it seems…

Gideon’s Road – a man wakes up to find himself lying in a cold country lane. He has no memory of who he is, where he is or why he cannot remember what happened to him.

Taken in by elderly widow Alice, he learns that the world around him has been devastated by a deadly virus, and that very few people have survived.

I Think You Knew My Father – Journalist Marc Harrison gets more than he bargained for when he takes the place of an indisposed rival on the first manned mission to Mars.

Cover art by Harry Saxon:  http://about.me/harryasaphsaxon