What Sub-Genre is this?

[Jason]

I like that last part, Mike. Really, only the individual can decide if they're well-read or not.

[whimsicalmeerkat]

I took that as Mike saying he's the arbiter of taste for everyone...

[Jason]

LOL, he could have meant that!

[Mike (the Paladin)]

You have doubts? :)

[[deleted user]]

Lol, mike, you don't like dark fantasy or The Name of the Wind. I'm afraid that makes your taste rather suspect in my eyes ;) But at least you love Dresden!

[whimsicalmeerkat]

I'm going to go take my Ambien, dream that I'm through moving, then wake up in 8 hours depressed that I'm not. You guys have fun arguing this one out! ;)

[Mike (the Paladin)]

I...have no need to argue.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

My new avatar says it all... :)

[[deleted user]]

Lol love the Duke. Didn't like him in anything non Western tho.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Bite your tongue! The Longest Day, Sands of Iwo Jima, Fighting Sea Bees, Wings of Eagles, The Green Berets (a little weak, but I like it), Hell Fighters, The Quiet Man...

The Duke, Charlton Heston, Gary Cooper, Gregory Peck... none like that around today.

[[deleted user]]

Okay I make a definite exception for The Quite Man. I still have a crush on Maureen o'Hara. *Happy sigh*

I'm a big James Stewart, Spencer Tracy and Henry Fonda fan myself. The only modern actors I think hold a candle to those of yesteryear are Tom Hanks and Anthony Hopkins. I would almost put Brad Pitt on the list as well. The man can act

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Yah, sorry I missed Stewart and Tracy.... Hanks can act, but his thinking process leaves me wondering if he can think at all sometimes... oh well.

[[deleted user]]

I agree wholeheartedly

[whimsicalmeerkat]

I'm not sure anyone has ever asked him to think, when you consider his past roles.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "Of course the fact that I'm truly the only actual measure as to what should be read helps...so the rest of you lowbrows should listen up."

All bow to Sensei's wisdom. ;-)

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

I'm not a big movie/tv fan so I really don't have too many favorite actors. I'm more into how they look cause most movies are bad to me and I prefer lots of action (which doesn't require a ton of good acting, lol). LOVED Snatch, Chronicles of Riddick, love Pitt but not enough to go see his movies (but he was pretty good in A River Runs Through It, total tear jerker), like Jolie, LOVED Swordfish...ummm, don't have too many favorite movies, either...

[[deleted user]]

I'm not sure anyone has ever asked him to think, when you consider his past roles

Wait who are ya talking about here?

[[deleted user]]

I didn't know he was a horrible person...

[[deleted user]]

Ah gotcha. I enjoyed Gladiator and Virtuousity. Nothing else of his comes to mind.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Grant wrote: "Ah gotcha. I enjoyed Gladiator and Virtuousity. Nothing else of his comes to mind."

Southpark: http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips...

[[deleted user]]

Can't view your link on my iPad MrsJ. No flash. Sad panda.

Lmao @ Tracey. So many comments spring to mind, not a single one appropriate for mixed company! Lol

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

*Sad Panda* :-(

Grant, please get your mind off of whips & chains...we're having serious conversation here.

LOL!

[whimsicalmeerkat]

Wait...those aren't serious? :(

[[deleted user]]

Aw but I already ran and grabbed my chaps and cat o' nine tails. *pouts*

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Denae wrote: "Wait...those aren't serious? :("

Well...when you put it that way...

Grant wrote: "Aw but I already ran and grabbed my chaps and cat o' nine tails. *pouts*"

*whispers* you know the deal! After 5 on Fridays...and don't scare off the fresh meat new members.
:-)

[[deleted user]]

*shoves hands in pockets and walks away kicking a ball gag down the hall dejectedly*

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

:-)

[whimsicalmeerkat]

/whistles

[[deleted user]]

I don't even know what's going on here.

[whimsicalmeerkat]

I don't believe you. I mean, look at your (plural) actions in post 245.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

ROTFLAMO

[Mark]

Yes this thread just might work... let us move the discussion.

[Jason]

I just wanted to chime in my thoughts on the horror genre regarding the conversation that was moved here. My bookstore, Chapters (owned by Indigo), has a great horror section. They have all the Anne Rice-like books along with some urban fantasy like Kim Harrison and Hamilton's Anita Blake books. But they also have what should be there: Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, H. P. Lovecraft, and many others.

Horror is my first love. And I'm always surprised and disgusted when I see how the genre is being treated in other parts of the world by marketers. For some reason, Ontario, Canada has some respect for horror that I love. I hope it not only stays this way here, but grows to other parts of the world.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

What kills me is that while the PNR sections try to combine both fantasy, horror and romance - they are killing several genres at the same time!

Romance (that is good romance) is getting harder and harder to find. Romance is a vast genre that makes much more money than a lot of people realize. I've always read a lot of romance but it used to be that I read very few really bad romances - they all had a certian level of writing and prose. Now I run into so much CRAP that it's just annoying.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

It tends to run that way. I used to read Techno thrillers, actioners and so on. Once a genre gets "popular" the market tends to get flooded with the "aforementioned crap". You have to search and now and then descent books show up, they're just harder to find...

I've moved mostly away from horror now Jason. I probably don't like it as much as you, but I am a Lovecraft and Poe fan, along with a few others. I suppose I lean more toward weird fiction than horror, but I still see what you're saying.

[Jason]

Horror is a funny genre. You probably could go without it, or call it something else. I know that in other places this is often debated. A lot of writers don't want the horror section in bookstores because of horror's bad rep*. They'd rather find their fiction in the general sections.

Yet, this comes from the writers who gave the horror genre a bad rep in the first place, imo. LOL

I like having a horror section, though. I prefer it, in fact. If we were to call it something else, I would want either weird fiction or dark fantasy/fiction. When you think about it, most great horror is generally weird fiction. Modern or classic.

*Bad rep indicates bad writing and story telling. Of which horror is flooded with these days, imo. I still read the crap, and even enjoy it. But I prefer the really good stuff. Like Joe Hill, Caitlin R. Kiernan (though she absolutely loathes being tagged as horror), King, Simmons, Matheson, Jackson, Poe, Lovecraft, etc...

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

I've read two Caitlin Kiernan books. I would certainly consider them horror. Maybe - maybe - horror sci-fi, but still horror.

The funny thing is I was thinking of King earlier, and how not all of his books are really horror and yet they still get put in the horror section in some stores just because King is known as a horror writer.

Ditto with Poe. Poe's known for his macabre stories, but he also pretty much invented the detective story as we know it today, and he wrote a lot of poetry which wasn't horrific.

[Jason]

Very true!

Even Lovecraft wrote a lot of fantasy in his dream stories, but he's remember mostly for sci fi and horror.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

The only Lovecraft I ever read was the Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath. I would say that's fantasy with horror aspects.

[Traci]

What about Lovecraft's Colour Out of Space and At the Mountains of Madness? My two favorites but also stories that could be considered science fiction as well as horror. Maybe we're actually making too much out of the blending of sub genres. Or it's been happening for awhile. I'm a big fan of Leigh Brackett but I couldn't tell you if she was science fiction or fantasy. Readers argue if Ray Bradbury is a fantasy or science fiction writer.
I wonder as horror fans what do you think of Dean Koontz being considered horror? I love horror. I love Koontz. But I think his books are thrillers.

[Mark]

MrsJoseph wrote: "What kills me is that while the PNR sections try to combine both fantasy, horror and romance - they are killing several genres at the same time!

Romance (that is good romance) is getting harder ..."

Maybe we should just have a section labelled 'Crap'.

[Mark]

Jason wrote: "Horror is a funny genre. You probably could go without it, or call it something else. I know that in other places this is often debated. A lot of writers don't want the horror section in bookstores..."

Yet another Ditto to the Poe.

[Jason]

Dream Quest was one of his dream stories and definately fantasy.

I like his horror/sci fi better.

[Mark]

Traci wrote: "What about Lovecraft's Colour Out of Space and At the Mountains of Madness? My two favorites but also stories that could be considered science fiction as well as horror. Maybe we're actually makin..."

You must have edited while I was gone... I saw the 'Koonz' earlier. I would agree that his writings are thrillers.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

If we had a section named "crap" it would be soooo full so quick, lol.

[Mark]

MrsJoseph wrote: "If we had a section named "crap" it would be soooo full so quick, lol."

Yes and never empty.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Koontz write some more "horror like" books early on and so, the wonderful "bookstore people" continue to shelve his stuff that way. Same with King. I get frustrated dealing with shelvers in book stores but I suppose I can't expect them to be well read in all genres... the trouble is to often they seem to be minimum wage illiterates.

[Jason]

I know what you mean, Mike. I help customers sometimes when I'm at Chapters. Once there was this woman looking for the recent WoT book. She was looking for it on the shelves with a Chapters employee and they both couldn't find it. I told them to check the new release section, but the employee said it wouldn't be there. Whatever, right? A little later I saw them in the new release section, and the employee was like, "Oh, here it is!"

I just shook my head and walked away. LOL

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Understand...

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

I was at books a million staring dejectedly at the badly stocked shelves one day. This (male) employee came up to me and started a converstation in which he told me he was the store's book buyer.

The next time I was in that store I asked to speak to the book buyer (to complain) and I was told the store gets its booklist from corp. and they do not have an in store book buyer position...

...lying bama!