(no subject)

[oyceter]

rachelmanija posted lately on strange sub-genres.

I think mine are:

1. Super intrigue-y courts with layers and layers of subterfuge and hidden meanings. And it doesn't count if court outsiders go in and have to learn the way of the court and make everyone adore them for their forthrightness -- that's an entirely different subgenre. Learning-court-intrigue scenes are perfectly acceptable, but only if it means court intrigue continues.
   Ex. Dune, Daughter of the Empire



2. Smart spies/assassins/thieves books with lots of nifty codes and tricks and gadgets and getaways, but not so much that there's more gadgetry than intellect. I actually haven't read that many of these (most are bits and pieces of the court intrigue books), but I should probably read John le Carre sometime, huh. I actually get more of these with movies, which is why I like caper movies and the like. Also, female spies/assassins/thieves are a bonus.
   
   I note that this is definitely a romance sub-genre, except the romance novel hero/heroine spies/assassins/thieves usually act so stupid that they definitely don't scratch this itch. Actually, they tend to make me want to throw something.



3. Retold fairy tales, which isn't so much a strange sub-genre now and is rapidly growing larger. I seem to have to pick up absolutely anything that even references a fairy tale, no matter how bad it looks. Retold myths or legends rate a little lower, unless it's a retold non-Greek/Roman/Egyptian/Celtic one.
   
   Actually, they don't even have to be retold. If something is original but written with fairy tale imagery or with certain themes or a certain style, I will totally get it as well. Books on Faerie/Fae/Sidhe are an entirely different entity.
   
   Favs are the Windling/Datlow anthologies, McKillip, McKinley, Emma Donoghue's Kissing the Witch.
   
   I do know I need to read Angela Carter and Anne Sexton.



4. Epistolary fantasy novels. Eh, at least, I think this is a favorite sub-genre, given that I've only read two books in it (Sorcery and Cecelia and Freedom and Necessity, both of which I adore to bits and pieces). I am of yet unaware if the fantasy element can be taken away and still keep me interested in the book, but I really want to pick up Les Liaisons Dangereuses and find out.



5. Really nice heroes falling for emotionally distant and/or morally ambiguous heroines. Or actually anyone except an alpha bastard falling for an emotionally distant and/or morally ambiguous heroine. The key is to have the hero fall first.



6. Quiet, unobstrusive girls growing up to be heroines. Eh, yes, this may be some wish fulfillment here ;). I was never as sucked in by the in-your-face outcast girl, since I wasn't even loud enough to be an outcast. I was just sort of wallflower-ish.


Recs? Anyone else post theirs? I want this to be a meme ^_^.

Comments

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

Another wonderful epistolary novel (well, novella, I suppose) is Jane Austen's Lady Susan; Lady Susan is a devious, manipulative widow, quite unlike any of Austen's other heroines.

[oyceter]

Oh cool, thanks!

[minim_calibre]

Really nice heroes falling for emotionally distant and/or morally ambiguous heroines. Or actually anyone except an alpha bastard falling for an emotionally distant and/or morally ambiguous heroine. The key is to have the hero fall first.

I like this one. Not shockingly, this is part of the reason I am so very taken with Farscape.

My main one, though, is girls who dress up as boys to go fight the good fight/slay the dragon/be the hero. Sadly, there's not as much of that as there should be. (Clings to copy of Monstrous Regiment.)

[oyceter]

Yeah, that's actually the main reason why I'm still watching Farscape ^_^. Also, Aeryn is cool.

[riemannia.livejournal.com]

In theory, I love 1 and 2. But in practice, it's hard to find the books that I actually like. The intrigue is what I loved about Dunnett's books. I thought Swordspoint_ was a rather interesting combination of 1 and 2. I loved the first third of Kushiel's Dart for the intrigue, but then the book stopped working for me.

And, yeah, romance doesn't really manage these subgenres well.

I also loved Sorcery and Cecilia and Freedom and Necessity, but I rather thought it was despite their formats. Maybe I'm wrong.

[oyceter]

Yeah, I wish there were more intrigue-y things out there. I wonder if I'm looking in the wrong places? Alas for romance, but... they manage those subgenres really, really poorly.

[riemannia.livejournal.com]

Intrigue is not uncommon in fantasy, but I can't always get past other issues.

Out of curiosity, I read through this year's book log and the only books I would think of as intrigue -- though they're more than that -- are Dunnett's House of Niccolo. But yeah, I'd like to find more.

[desayunoencama.livejournal.com]

1. Really good intrigue set up in Jane Emerson's CITY OF DIAMOND. (Alas, the rest of the series will never be written. But book 1 is really good.)

I also liked Guy Gavriel Kay's SONG FOR ARBONNE.

2. Have you read Anne Groell's Cloak and Dagger series? They're fun assasain adventures, with a twist on the romance bit because the female assasain of the pair is always winding up sleeping with the prime murder suspect that they're trying to unravel, and etc. (She is the more sexually adventurous of the two of them, too.) Lots of popcorn-type fun and enjoyment.

[oyceter]

I think I was a little more ambivalent about the Kay, but haven't heard of the Emerson or the Groell, thanks!

[desayunoencama.livejournal.com]

I got my copy of the Emerson by being nice to rachelmanija and she sent me one of the extras she always buys of CITY OF DIAMOND because it is so good... But she can tell you more about it more coherently.
:-)

[oyceter]

Bwaha, gotcha. I shall make sure to ask her about it.

[heresluck]

Kissing the Witch! Yes! Yes!

I am a huge sucker for retold fairy tales as well -- but then I am a sucker for retold tales in general. Hello, dissertation. *g*

[oyceter]

I think I actually picked it up several years ago after seeing it recced on your LJ! Or something...

Oooooo what was your dissertation on? I really wanted to do one on fairy tales and the re-writing thereof (or on Sandman), but I ended up doing East Asian Studies instead of English and writing on Utena and anime and manga. I threw in a little on fairy tales just for the heck of it though.

[heresluck]

The diss was on contemporary postcolonial novels that rewrite 18th and 19th c. canonical British novels. Good times. In the intro, I located the phenomenon within the larger phenomenon of rewritings, particularly fairy and folk tales -- so got to mention McKinley, Sexton, Carter, and Donoghue, among others.

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

Carline Stevermer's first book The Serpent's Egg (http://www.ffbooks.co.uk/n1/n8138.htm) isn't a purely epistolary fantasy, but it started out that way IIRC & lots of letters remain in the final published version. It's also got lots of intrigue...

(hi, BTW. I wandered in from riemannia's journal.)

[oyceter]

Oh cool, thanks!

Hullo to you too ^_^.