World Horror Convention

Yep, you heard me. I'm going to the World Horror Convention next weekend in Salt Lake City.

"But," I hear you say, "You're a Romance writer."

And so I am, mostly. But some of my published stories are a bit dark. Especially that one where Our Heroine attempts to scoop her eyeballs out with a spoon.

Now, there has been a trend for genre-bending the past decade or so. Anyone here read Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series? If so, would you call it romance or horror? Or perhaps both?

I love this new trend for genre-bending. In the 80's and 90's I thought many genre books were starting to get stale with the same old tropes, structures and memes. I mean, there are only so many fantasy quest novels one can read before it all starts looking alike. After all, a McGuffin is a McGuffin.

Then some smart cookies started reading outside their usual genre (which, really, is something every writer should be doing) and started applying the earmarks of one genre to another.

And so we got Fantasy Romance. And Science Fiction Mysteries. And Romantic Horror.

At first, some purists thought this invasion from other genres would dilute or corrupt the genre they knew and loved, but the rest of us realised the trend for what it was--a breath of fresh air.

So now today fans of Romance can stand on a hilltop and say, "all this is ours, and that bit over there," and Horror writers can stand on another hilltop and say, "all this is ours, and that bit over there." And "that bit over there" is a timeshare Victorian home that various genres can enjoy on occasion. (Ne'er you mind the flux capacitor in the basement. It's stable.)

And that's one of the reasons why I'm going to the World Horror Convention. Y'all are welcome to come join me.


P.S. for Holly: I think Richard Armitage would play an excellent Mr Darcy.