On the importance of Diversity

If you haven't read The Bird Eater by Ania Ahlborn you really need to. Go ahead, I'll give you a minute.

*checks watch*

Wasn't that a fantastic book?

I don't give many recommendations (I'm not a literary critic, I'm a writer) but there are few books that deserve praise more than The Bird Eater.

There's a deeper issue, though. The Bird Eater is a symptom, not a cause.

Would The Bird Eater have been published ten years ago? I would like to think so. I'd like to think that great writing (it is) and a fantastic story (it most certainly is) would be enough to break through into the publishing world. The thing is, I don't know that it is. I don't know if The Bird Eater would have been published ten years ago.

For more than a decade, the publishing world has be deluged by paranormal romance books aimed at young (and not so young) girls. Publishing became less about finding great writers are more about finding great sellers. That's not an unreasonable position for the publishing industry to take. After all, if they don't sell books, they die out. Somewhere along the line, in our world of text-speak and incomplete grammar, quality started to fall off while sales continued to go up.

Then something changed. The internet found a way to give unknown markets a voice. Geek started to be cool. Comic books made a resurgence. Suddenly, everyone who ever had a hobby that wasn't mainstream and safe was given, not only a voice, but a way to connect with others who shared the same obsession. Specialization developed. Marketers are great at finding trends and they certainly didn't miss this one.
Television moved faster (it usually does) and we got shows about zombies, shows about superheros, shows about fairy tales, shows about science geeks.

Writers started to realize that they too could have a voice. Smashwords and Amazon, and a host of others, gave them a voice. Sure, there was still a lot of paranormal romance but there was a host of other things as well. Different kinds of writers, from diverse backgrounds, writing about their experiences and their passions.

Now we have The Bird Eater. A terrifying and satisfying novel that delivers all the way through. It's a book that the publishing world needs right now. It's a book that the horror genre needs right now. The difference between schlock and great horror is honesty. Honesty is key in all writing (I believe I've mentioned that before) but it's especially key in horror. The monsters are never real and we know that going in. The people are real though, and their problems are real. Great horror tells us more about ourselves and our real fears than any other genre.

Is The Bird Eater an entertaining and frightening story? Yes it is. But it does more than that. Ania Ahlborn goes further. She penetrates into the psyche of everyone reading her book. She shows you the symbolic fear and she shows you the real fear. She understands people. She gets it.

I am very glad that we live in a world where that kind of story can not only be told, but can flourish. The horror industry needs it. Publishing needs it. You need it. Go buy the book. I'll just be here looking at my watch.