Week 6 Assignment 3

Magic Realism

Site found via Google search:   Margin: the world’s only continuous survey of literary magical realism. http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/margin/

Excellent site with articles discussing the genre, reading lists.  They offer to publish writers who meet the criteria of MR and also offer mentorships.

 

Four authors/titles associated with this genre:

• Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Love in the Time of Cholera, One Hundred Years of Solitude
• Isabel Allende: The House of Spirits
• Mya Goldberg: Bee Season 
• I.B. Singer: Gimpel the  Fool

Hallmark/appeal factors:

I'm compelled to quote S.L. Deefholts, the Managing Editor of the website listed above.
"To me, magic realism is about acknowledging that perceptions of reality are culturally determined and seeking to give voice to alternate versions of what is true. It is important to realise that the subject matter can be as diverse as the people who are writing it—there is no set formula behind 'getting it right."

Appeal Factors: a storyline which exposes a context or theme that is not easily explained by one’s cultural values. To amplify this, the story might have strong characterization and setting.

Regency Romance

Regency romance novels are set in the British Empire in the early 19^th century. The story lines and characters focus on the norms of society which provide a background for the story and dictate the actions of the characters.

http://www.rakehell.com/  "Rakehell where regency romance lives!" This is primarily a website of reviews of regency period romance novels. They are soliciting reviewers.

Three Authors in this genre:

• Amanda Quick
• Georgette Heyer
• Mary  Balogh

Appeal factors:

• Setting and attention to detail as this genre describes the aristocracy of England in the early 1800’s.
• Storyline/theme.  Attention is paid to  the historical context as the characters deal with the social constraints of their time. 
• Language. A good regency romance will use the language of the time period, which is part of the appeal of this genre.

Realistic Fiction – Adventure - Disaster and Science Fiction – Post-apocalyptic

 

I put these two genres together because as I trolled around the web there was little distinction between the two genres. I was not able to find any fan sites for disaster novels, or SF-post apocalyptic aside from GoodReads and Library Thing lists.

These novels deal with an apocalyptic and/or post-apocalyptic event (i.e. nuclear war)  and/or a pandemic that frequently knocks out all modern day conveniences, and renders the world unrecognizable from the way it was before the event.

Appeal factors would be continual suspense, the context of how life has changed and details about the setting.

Four authors/titles

• H.G. Wells, War of the Worlds
• Stephen King, The Stand
• Poul Anderson, Maurai series
• Nevil Shute, On the Beach

 

Mashups

Steampunk Mysteries

 

Affinity Bridge by George Mann and Blameless by Gail Carriger. Both of these titles are Steampunk genre in that they take place in the Victorian Era and contain the steam-powered machinery to move the plot along.  Each of these titles contains a mystery that is solved by the main characters. Some are more violent than others. Perhaps a Steampunk, Mystery, Cozy genre, anyone?

 Western Science Fiction

Dark Tower Series by Stephen King and The Ghosts of Watt O'Hugh  by Steven Drachman.

These books are westerns that are combined with elements of science fiction.