BMB Week 6

Assignment 1

The thing I like most about Tor - Fiction Affliction, as I mentioned in my previous post, is that they highlight the quirky releases in the sci-fi/fantasy genre in their "genre-benders" lists. These books open up whole new avenues or reading for our customers. Suzanne also does a great job of compiling all the new releases and arranging them by date, just in case our readers are eager to get the first copy. I do wish there was a little more review and less preview (i.e. marketing blurbs) on the site.

Assignment 2

This Prezi is really well done. I've seen a lot of Prezi presentations (Prezi-tations?), since it was just becoming popular when I was in graduate school. Most of those made me feel motion sick, while this one did not. I especially like how the nodes and links are written up in concise and informative paragraphs. I could almost hear a customer saying something similar.

Assignment 3

Let's choose Christian Urban Fiction, Superhuman Sci-fi, and Military Romance, since I am not familiar with those subgenres.

Christian Urban Fiction

Fan Website: The Gospel Writer is dying to be updated, but has some good review, previews, and interviews that tell a lot about the genre. According to the site, urban christian fiction focuses on the protagonist's relationship with God in their everyday lives, showing deeply personal spiritual awakenings and journeys.
Three authors/titles: Rhonda McKnight writes a blog about the books in the subgenre, including her own. Some authors in this subgenre are also clergy or theologians, like Karia Bunting. Vanessa Miller is a motivational speaker and author of at least 30 urban christian books.

Superhuman Sci-fi

Fan Website: I found a couple of good websites via Google. Miami-Dade College actually has a libguide for the sungenre, which is really cool. An article from Examiner.com talks about a few titles and authors, and touches upon the "con" scene, which I think is a very important to understanding the subgenre. Conventions are growing exponentially in popularity, and they are places where fans interact, share, and find new and interesting things to read.
Three authors/titles: Some of Stephen King's novels involve superhuman components, such as Carrie and The Dead Zone. Dune by Frank Herbert and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (now a major motion picture!) are also classic novels that fit into this subgenre.

Military Romance - "Passion and Patriotism"

Fan Website: I did a Google search and found a fan site that hasn't been updated since 2005 here. It is totally awesome in a retro way--the whole page is centered, with lots of graphic banners and gifs--and it talks briefly about a new (at the time) author Catherine Mann's "Wingman Warriors" series. Incidentally, the whole series has just been released as ebooks. Will we see an update of this site?? I'm waiting breathlessly.
Three Authors/Titles: It looks like Suzanne Brockmann is the matriarch of this genre. Catherine Mann has become quite popular as well. Maya Banks's KGI series ranks high on the Goodreads list for military romance.

Assignment 4

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a classic/horror mashup. To my chagrin, a few of Austen's books have been "mashed" since they're out of copyright. It's not at the top of my to-read list, but I am aware of it, and it seems to be (or has been) popular with teens. Kirkus has some more to say on this topic.

The Destroyermen series, starting with Into the Storm, is a techno-thriller/fantasy mashup. Half Tom Clancy, half George R. R. Martin. At the cusp of WWII, a WWI-era destroyer sets sail for Japan but is caught in a storm that transports it to an alternate world inhabited by two species of creatures who are at war. The premise was almost certainly inspired by the awesome 1980 film The Final Countdown.

Cinder is a fairy-tale/sci-fi mashup about a cyborg in "New Beijing" who meets a prince and saves Earth from aggressive lunar people. I've heard really good things about this one, and have had requests for it. The thing I like most about it is that you can tell that it's a genre mashup just from the cover and title.