top of page

 

A Quick Overview of the SUB-GENRES we are seeking:
​

  1. ADVENTURE

    • The Lost World (think Doyle, Haggard, Cutcliffe-Hyne, etc.)

    • The Quest

    • The Traveler's Tale

    • Survival Stories (in general)

    • Sea Stories (think Captains Courageous, Crane "The Open Boat")

    • Boxing Stories (think Robert E. Howard)

    • Espionage and Intrigue (think The Riddle of the Sands, The Thirty-Nine Steps, and, of course, moderns.

    • The Western (think Zane Grey, Louie Lamour, moderns, etc.)

    • The Northern (think Jack London, Robert W. Service, etc.)

    • Pirate Stories (think Treasure Island, Kidnapped, or Captain Blood)

    • War Stories (think The Iliad, The Red Badge of Courage, etc.)

    • The Sports Adventure

    • The Adventure Romance (as in Romantic Interest, a blend of Adventure and the modern Romance Story)

    • The Tall Tale (created, not legendary) think Robert E. Howard in his Breckenridge Elkins stories.

  2. DETECTION & MYSTERY

    • The Classic Detective Story (Poe-Doyle, Orczy, others)

    • The "Hardboiled Detective" (Hammett, Chandler, Spilane, etc.)

    • The Police Procedural (Wambaugh, stories of police detective, FBI agents, InterPol, etc.)

    • The Amateur Detective

    • The "Accidental Detective" (usually a person drawn into having to prove their own innocence by solving a crime)

    • The Armchair Detective (Nero Wolf, etc.)

    • The Eccentric Detective (Max Carados, Monk, etc.)

    • Psychological Thriller

    • Serial Killer

    • Cold Case Investigation

    • The Locked Room Mystery

    • The Occult/Supernatural Detective (LeFanu, Blackwood, Hodgson, etc.)

    • The Closet Mystery ("English Country House Mystery") [Christie's forte: Orient Express, Death on the Nile, etc.] The board game CLUE)

    • The "Cozy" (esp. Christie's Miss Marple stories. etc.)

  3. FANTASY

    • Mythopoeic Fantasy (Myth Creating, as the Greek stems indicate. Tolkien, Lewis, et al.)

    • "Mythomorphic" [my term] (the "Reshaping"/"Re-Imagining" of Mythic, Legendary, and Folkloric materials)

    • Heroic Fantasy

    • Sword & Sorcery (Robert E. Howard [originator] and many followers)

    • Juvenile Fantasy (targeted at younger readers)

    • Science Fantasy

    • of course EPIC FANTASY would be too lengthy for inclusion in JOURN-E.

  4. HORROR & THE SUPERNATURAL

    • Supernatural Horror

      • The Weird Tale

      • Cosmic Horror / Lovecraftian (and by extension Chambersian, etc.)

      • Supernatural Horror

    • The Monstrous Creature

      • Vampires

      • Werewolves

      • Ghouls

      • Zombies

      • Legendary Creatures from the Myths and Folklore of many nations and cultures

    • The Ghost Story

      • Hauntings

      • The Residual Ghost

      • Poltergeists

      • Revenants

      • Friendly Ghosts

      • Ghostly Places

      • Paranormal Investigation

    • The Occult

      • Demonic Entities

      • Cases of Possession

      • Witchcraft and Dark Magic

      • Malevolent Entities (from any culture)

      • Things from "The Other Side" (i.e. opposed to the Forces of Good)

    • Supernatural Occurrences (in general, a "catch all")

    • Psychological Horror

    • "Physical Fear & the Mundanely Gruesome" (Lovecraft) / "Natural Horror"

    • Gothic Horror

    • Body Horror

    • Dark Fantasy

    • Science Fiction Horror

  5. SCIENCE FICION

    • Space Travel

    • Time Travel

    • Inter-Dimensional Travel

    • Alien Invasion

    • The "Gadget Story" (amazing inventions)

    • The Science Fiction Monster Story

    • The Post-Apocalypse Story

    • The Space "Western"/Space "Opera"

    • Parallel Worlds/Universes

    • Robots and Technology gone wrong

    • Biological Sci-Fi (Frankenstein, Cloning, Pandemics, etc.)

    • Science Fantasy

    • Artificial Intelligence

bottom of page