Why that genre?

Posted on July 1, 2019 Written by
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Photo by Wes Hicks on Unsplash

Monday musings by your favorite bestselling authors

Readers often associate their favorite writers with a genre: romance, mystery, thriller, science-fiction or fantasy, to name just a few.

Why did the author choose that genre? Your favorite bestsellers answer that question this week.

Alan McDermott

Action thrillers

When I pick up a book I want it to keep me gripped from start to finish and be something I can relate to. I couldn’t see myself delivering that with a science-fiction or romance novel. I could try, but I know I would soon get bored with it. If the subject matter doesn’t interest me, I can hardly expect my readers to become engrossed. I think it is important that you write about what you love.

D.G. Torrens

Romance, memoir and poetry

I write about what interests me personally. If I won’t read it then I certainly will not write about it. It is important for me to love what I do. Therefore, I apply it to what genre I write in.

Samreen Ahsan

Historical fantasy and paranormal romance

I write what I enjoy writing most, keep the readers busy. Someday, when I itch to write science fiction, I’d love to write that. Regardless of what genre it is, I want my readers to keep guessing.

Mary Doyle

Mystery, fantasy and erotica

If I were traditionally published, my biggest fear would be a publisher that insisted that I write in only one genre. That would be the end of my writing career. I’ve written mystery, urban fantasy, erotica and memoir and someday soon I’m going to write some dystopian fiction … maybe zombie stuff, maybe some other end of the world thing. I won’t write in one genre and you can’t make me!

Raine Thomas

Young adult and new adult fiction

I write romance across multiple sub-genres (YA, contemporary, sports, Sci-Fi, fantasy). I’ve always been a romantic, so my writing will always reflect that part of me. I also love diversity and exploring new things, so branching into the sub-genres allows me to explore that too. Who knows where the Muse will lead me next?

Toby Neal

Mystery, thriller and romance

I think characters are most important in writing, because no matter what genre you are in, people want to follow a heroine’s journey as they develop. So while I mostly write mystery/thriller because I love puzzles and surprises and a lot of tension, I am always writing that character arc of development. Over and over, whether it’s a thriller, a romance, or my own memoir. Riveting characters in a process of growth is what keeps readers coming back.

Gae-Lynn Woods

Mystery

I’ve always been drawn to stories with multiple layers and characters who grow and change. I love the challenge of figuring out “who done it” in another writer’s work, and seeing if I can keep the reader guessing in my own. I end up creating the characters I want to know more about and writing the stories I’d want to read.

DelSheree Gladden

Young adult, new adult, romance, fantasy and more

I write in multiple genres because I read just about every genre and like to try new things in my writing. When an idea comes to me, I go with whatever genre seems to fit that story and let it develop organically. The character’s journey is more important to me than following genre conventions.

Caleb Pirtle III

Thriller, literary fiction and memoir

I generally write historical thrillers or historical mysteries because I prefer living in the past. There is a certain feeling of the unknown and unexplained in an earlier time, especially when my stories have a World War II backdrop. Evil has a face. And the night holds suspense with every tick of the clock. It’s difficult for me to write suspense when all my hero has to do is pull out a cell phone can dial 9-11 if he’s in trouble. I can research the 1930s and 1940s, and every incident I find hides a mystery just waiting to be found and told.

Next week: more authors on why they chose their genre, including David C. Cassidy, Scott Bury, Seb Kirby and more!

And happy Canada Day to all our Canadian readers!

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New books to look forward to in 2019

Posted on January 7, 2019 Written by
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Your favorite bestselling authors are a hard-working bunch, busy writing new books for you to enjoy. Here are a few of the new titles you can look forward to.

Non-fiction writing Barb Drozdowich is working on a book (or a workshop) around the topic, “Are you talking to an empty room?” “My experience is that authors don’t understand how to figure out what is the best use of their time—things that are hugely time consuming and get little in results.”

Horror author David C. Cassidy plans to publish two titles in 2019: Gateway and 1944, as well as two more short stories in the Dark Shapes, Dark Shadows series, which begins with HauGHnt.

Find out more about David and his books and series on his BestSelling Reads author page.

Mary Doyle is especially ambitious. She will release the second book in her urban fantasy Desert Goddess series, The Bonding Blade in the first half of the year. She will also rewrite and release at least two, perhaps three novellas that she will probably call the Archimedes Ford mysteries, a spinoff of the Master Sergeant Harper mysteries. She will continue as a fiction editor on The Wrath-Bearing Tree on-line magazine. “My goal is to also write more essays which I plan to submit to veteran and war-writing magazines and online outlets,” she says. “I will also be producing a podcast here and there.”

Alan McDermott will publish the third and final Eva Driscoll novel, Fight to Survive, in June. He is now working on something completely new. Watch this space for more news about Alan’s new directions.

Find out more about Alan’s existing series and books on his BestSelling Reads author page.

Scott Bury plans to release the revised and extended Dead Man Lying, the third in his Hawaiian Storm mystery series, and the whole Eastern Front trilogy as a single volume that will comprise the three true-story titles, Army of Worn Soles, Under the Nazi Heel and Walking Out of War.

Find out more about Scott’s books and the genres he writes in on his BestSelling Reads author page.

Raine Thomas plans to publish Beautiful Finale, Book 4 in the House of Archer rock-n-roll romance series, and For the Win, a baseball romance. “I also want to be more involved on social media if life allows it!” she says.

Find out more about Raine’s books and series on her BestSelling Reads author page.

Caleb Pirtle III will publish the sequel to Lovely Night to Die by the end of February and the sequel to Bad Side of a Wicked Moon sometime this summer. Then he plans to launch a new three-novella series and is presently torn between two ideas. “By autumn, I’ll have it figured out.”

Find out more about Caleb’s many books on his BestSelling Reads author page.

Samreen Ahsan plan to publish Once Upon A [Fallen] Time, Book 2 of [Stolen] Series, around February. It is the sequel to her groundbreaking time-travel fantasy romance, Once Upon A [Stolen] Time.

Find out more about her books and her series on her BestSelling Reads author page.

J.L. Oakley’s goals for the year is to have her post-World War II novel, The Quisling Factor, ready for publication in late fall. She also plans to publish her collection of cozy mysteries set in Hawaii in ebook format by the end of January, and in paperback by March.

She also has other literary plans: “I’m attending the Historical Novel Society in June as a panelist on two panels: Indie Publishing and Civil War Medicine. I’m hoping that contact with Jake Wynn, the director of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine for my panel, will lead to more research on CW Medicine for another work-in-progress.”

Stay tuned for news and announcements about every one of these titles. Better yet, subscribe using the link above to get news in your inbox, and get a free book.

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