A couple of months ago I saw an interview of an author who claimed his works couldn’t be categorized just in one genre. Though many of the critics and readers were saying he was writing fantasy, he still claimed his stories couldn’t just be “put” amongst the books with fairies, kings, princesses, wizards, and other magical creatures. Some of them combined both the magical and our modern world, describing everlasting problems and issues (like greed, striving for power, right or wrong policy, or meaning of life, etc). So, there were not just amazing magical sights, events, creatures, battles, etc. but also a lot of philosophy, drama, even romance and humor, or suspense.
Actually, I would say many books’ stories deserve to be amongst those that combine genres. For example in The Lord Of The Rings, along with the many battles, fierce creatures and glorious sights, there are a lot of philosophy, drama and problems that will probably be always actual in our history. There is much of philosophy too and a lot of the criminal genre along with the amazing sport of the wizards and all the breath-taking events in the books about Harry Potter. No one can deny there’s a lot of romance in Twilight series, along with all the nasty or kind-hearted vampires. Many of Terry Pratchett’s books are a perfect combination of humor, philosophy, fantasy and sci-fi. I guess there are a lot of other books that “follow” the same rule?
All these I mentioned are well-known bestsellers all over the world. I guess one of the main reasons for that is exactly the combining of genres. Which “provides” not only the excitement of the fantasy, sci-fy worlds, but also the wisdom , quotes and seriousness of the modern fiction, drama, or philosophical works.
I would also claim all these books follow Buddhists’ quotes that the middle way is the best. There is balance between genres in many of them, balance which even Buddha himself would appreciate. Well, many people would say almost all books (especially fantasy and sci-fi works) include more than one genre. When I had a “closer look” at my stories, I realized too that involuntarily I did a good job many times combining fantasy and sci-fi with romance, drama, philosophy, suspense, even humor or interesting facts about animals, plants, space (i. e. some science). I guess everyone know what a great influence books could have on our minds, behavior, way of life, etc. (just for example, one of the main reasons why the ozone layer is still whole was Flesh, a small book of about 180 pages). That’s why I guess every author must combine genres to create better stories?
http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html, http://allanbard.hit.bg, htpp://allanbard.hpage.com,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ijJl-6Be88,
