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New Speculative Fiction Crossovers That Bust Genre Boundaries
Here at Goodreads World Headquarters, we're all about spotting trends, and we can confidently proclaim 2022 as the year of the "genre-bending" novel. (How many pitches have our editors received with that exact phrase this year? The limit...might not exist!) Oftentimes, these books boldly blend sci-fi or fantasy with one or more other genres.
Never before has categorizing books in our coverage proved so difficult. Never before has the catch-all term speculative fiction done so much work. And don't even get us started on the new spate of self-described "science fantasy," like The Book Eaters, The Genesis of Misery, and The Blood Trials!
Below, you'll find 88 genre-bending stories, published since 2019 through the end of this year. Alternative Americas from renowned realist fiction writers (Hanya Yanigahara's To Paradise, Celeste Ng's Our Missing Hearts)! Time-traveling detectives! Erotic monsters!
SFF + Literary Fiction
Lightly speculative plots, magical realism, and dreadful dystopias from literary heavyweights; categorizing these books gets terribly complicated.
SFF + Historical Fiction
These SFF tales set in bygone times feature witches and witch hunts, Faustian bargains, ye olde darke academia, and more.
SFF + Mystery/Thriller
Magical murders, supernatural suspense, and seriously weird whodunits. (And for the genre-blending hat trick, peep the SFF historical mysteries on this list!)
SFF + Horror
Further blurring the already-blurry line between horror and speculative fiction, here are some scary space stories, freaky fantasy fiction, and gonzo Gothics.
SFF + Romance
From fade-to-black fantasy to seriously smutty sci-fi, these books offer lots to love for readers who prefer an HEA in their SFF.
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louise m.
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Jul 11, 2022 01:49AM
Good article! I love genre bending stuff.
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The description of Gideon the Ninth literally describes horror. Why would you put it in mystery/thriller instead?? Yes mysterious, but corpse literally = horror like wut
Milan wrote: "The description of Gideon the Ninth literally describes horror. Why would you put it in mystery/thriller instead?? Yes mysterious, but corpse literally = horror like wut"It's waaaay more of a murder mystery than it is horror. It may have horror ELEMENTS, but it's written as a mystery, not a horror novel.
For SFF + Literary Fiction I would definitely add Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda. It is a different take on vampires: very introspective, slow-paced and focused on issues of self-identity. With one brief horror scene, this thought-provoking book will probably not find its audience if it is shelved as horror.
Milan wrote: "The description of Gideon the Ninth literally describes horror. Why would you put it in mystery/thriller instead?? Yes mysterious, but corpse literally = horror like wut"Horror includes dark fantasy as well as thrillers, and thrillers can show up in several genres.
I'd argue that "speculative fiction" already includes horror! So the line about "Further blurring the already-blurry line between horror and speculative fiction" isn't quite right - it should be SFF rather than "speculative".
Yes!!! I love when authors bend genres :) Great list
How about Breach by W.L. Goodwater for SFF + Historical Fiction?The same author also wrote a novel that blends SFF with horror elements: The Liar of Red Valley.
I would add The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton to the SFF + Mystery category. One of the best and most engaging books I've read in a long long time! Loved it.
Maybe I will add the Paradox Hotel on my TBR list, I still have to read the Tamsyn Muir book series!! ^^
So glad to see Natasha Pulley and Helene Wecker on this list! These authors need more attention!Also stoked to see my love Gideon front and center. Maybe because there wasn't a category for Epic Space Opera? I am a squeamish chicken but even I was enchanted by this, notwithstanding all the fully articulated walking skeletons. And I can kind of see the mystery element now that I think about it. Ready for Nona!
I love how it shows Kindle Unlimited! That’s great too know
I only found ONE book I thought worthy of adding to my TBR.
Donna wrote: " I would add The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton to the SFF + Mystery category. One of the ..."
I definitely agree. Next time I read this book I plan on mapping it all out on paper so I can keep up with the timeline lol
Jessica wrote: "Donna wrote: " I would add The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton to the SFF + Mystery categor..."
Ha ha! that's a good idea. Have you heard of mycast.com? I created a cast for the characters when I read it to help me keep up with who was who. Check it out if you want & vote for your favorites. I am not allowed to put the link here, but just google mycast, then search by the title of the book. Since other people can vote on your suggestions & even make their own, some of the photos shown are not my original choices. Examples, I chose Claire Foy for Evelyn Hardcastle; Matthew Goode for Daniel Coleridge; David Tennant for Edward Dance; Alan Leech for Charles Cunningham; Sam Heughan for Ted Stanwin & Ian McNiece for Lord Cecil Ravencourt. But they show the picture of the actor with the most votes for each role, so some of mine got bumped out of top billing! I've already read the book twice, so I will probably wait a while before I read it again!
One of my absolute favorite specfic authors these days is R.B. Lemberg - a really incredible worldbuilder -
The Four Profound Weaves
was great but the next one,
The Unbalancing
is (IMHO) even better.
Thank you guys so much for this article: I really love these genre-benders and found so many recommendations here!
I find lumping Sci-fi and Fantasy together is unhelpful. That is a genre mixing there already. I'd love reading some Sci-fi crossover, but not so much any Fantasy-stuff. :)
