Please welcome a very good friend of mine to the blog. Mary is a talented author and an awesome person. Enjoy! Oh, and don’t miss the contest.
The Mixology of Genre Mashing
Author Mary Behre
Hi Charlee! Thank you for inviting me to be a guest on Smart Girls Love Sci Fi and Paranormal Romance. My name is Mary Behre and my paranormal romantic suspense, SPIRITED, debuted this week. I’m here today to talk about the mixology of genre mashing.
For example, the TV show, GRIMM. It’s a paranormal show about a police detective who is also a Grimm—someone who dispatches evil “fairy tale” monsters. If the show were just about him chasing the monsters, it would be straight paranormal. It’s not, in almost every episode, he’s trying to solve a case. The clues are revealed in such a way as to give the viewer time to try to figure out who did it.Genre mashing happens when a story can be classified in more than one genre.
Another example is the movie, INCEPTION. While the visual effects were stunning and the science fiction aspect brilliant, when I saw it, I immediately keyed into the mystery. For me, it made the tale more powerful.
Sometimes, genre mashing can create a fan of genre he or she had previously disliked. For me, this happened with the show FIREFLY. I’ve never been into wild west anything, until Joss Whedon put cowboys in space. I went from avoiding all things cowboy to searching for more movies and shows with that awesome mash up. I found another one, too! COWBOYS VS ALIENS. Daniel Craig rocked as a cowboy with a damaged memory out to stop an alien invasion.
There are drawbacks to genre mixing. Purists don’t want to see their cowboys shoot it out with ET. Or they don’t like ghosts interfering in police investigations. But I think as more filmmakers and authors take risks, the more the fans want to experience the next mashup…provided they know what they’re getting into.
One thing I have heard from readers and moviegoers, is that they want to know in advance when a story is mix of two or more genres. Otherwise, they may walk away dissatisfied and uncertain how to classify it the book or show.
For me, genre mixing is as natural as writing. I couldn’t write a straight romantic suspense or a straight paranormal. When I brainstorm story ideas, I see murders, mystery, ghosts, and other psychic elements in my head. But I also warn people before they read my books. Everything from my website to my Facebook and Twitter profiles, to all the swag I give away has my brand, “Humor, Suspense and a Psychic Love-Connection…The Tidewater Series.”
Now it’s your turn. Do you like genre mixing or are you a purist? What’s the craziest genre mashup you’ve seen or read?
*one commenter from the US or Canada will win a signed copy of SPIRITED.*
(Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter to win)
Charlee, thank you again for hosting me on Smart Girls Love Sci-Fi and Paranormal Romance.
About Mary
Mary Behre is the lone female in a house full of males and the undisputed queen of her domain. She even has the glittery tiara to prove it. She loves stories with humor, ghosts, mysteries and above all else, a good romance. When not writing, she enjoys reading, gluten-free baking, and hanging out at the beach with the most important men in her life, her family.
Her debut paranormal romance, SPIRITED (Tidewater Novel #1) was an award-winning manuscript before it sold to Berkley Sensation. The Tidewater Series is mix of humor, suspense, and a psychic love-connection. The first three stories are about three sisters separated years before in the foster care system. As they search for love, each other, and a way to live with their psychic abilities, they’re tossed into the middle of mysteries that only their unique gifts can help solve.
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SPIRITED (A Tidewater Novel)
She’s running from who she is…
All Jules Scott wants is to live a normal, quiet life–preferably one that doesn’t include ghosts. Jules’s ability for communicating with the dead has brought her nothing but trouble. Despite her best efforts, needy spirits always find her and draw her into their otherworldly drama. When one implicates her in a series of deadly crimes, she may need to entrust her secrets to the person least likely to believe her…
He’ll do whatever it takes to catch her.
Detective Seth English can’t get distracted from the big case he’s working on, not even by his alluring new neighbor. He doesn’t believe that Jules had anything to do with the string of robberies-turned-murders that he’s investigating, but when she keeps showing up in all the wrong places, his gut tells him she knows more than she’s letting on. To solve his case, he’ll need to expose what the sexy redhead is hiding–no matter how impossible the truth may be…
PRAISE FOR SPIRITED
“Spirited is an intriguing blend of romance, mystery and ghosts to keep you up late at night.” – New York Times bestseller Dianna Love
“Great! A real-page turner. Be prepared, once you sit down to read, you won’t want to get up until you’ve finished the book.” – NY Times and USA Today Bestselling author Lynsay Sands
“A sweet, funny, sexy debut!” – Nursery Rhyme Series author Lena Diaz
“Rich with mystery, hot romance, and sneaky humor… No magic crystal ball is needed to foresee this writer is bursting with talent!” – Games People Play & The Fifth Favor author Shelby Reed
Smart Girls love SciFi 