The First Genre Novel I Read Is…

On Paul Jessup‘s website today, I read about how he’s going to participate in a 30 days meme for genre books. It sounded like a lot of fun, so I thought I’d chime in.

Today’s the first day and I’m talking about my first genre novel.

Okay, so even though this is part of the meme, the truth is I don’t remember the first genre novel that I ever read. I can tell you I was more enamored with mystery novels as a kid than any other genre. I was into series moreso than individual books; Encyclopedia Brown, Meg, Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holmes, the Hardy Boys.

Splinter of the Mind's EyeAlthough I can’t remember which came first — I remember being very enamored with the Rats of NIMH and The Hobbit — I do recall the first tie-in novel I ever read. It was a book called Splinter of the Mind’s Eye by Alan Dean Foster and it took place in between Star Wars: A New Hope and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. For me, this book was the gateway drug to other science fiction novels and series, in part because I was drawn to the mystery of Darth Vader and whether or not Luke and Leia could escape.

From this novel, I branched out into science fiction by way of Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein and Philip K. Dick and…of course…back to Star Wars and Star Trek.

Years later, after I read so many other science fiction novels, I went back and read Splinter of the Mind’s Eye again. This time around, it was interesting because the romantic tension between Luke and Leia means something different now, but then? Only Lucas knew who Leia was going to choose.

Not bad for a first novel. After all, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye opened the door to many other fantastic and otherworldly tales.

Eddy Webb and his Tour of Sherlock Holmes

When I was a kid, I was an avid reader and really enjoyed diving into period fiction. For example, Edgar Allen Poe was my introduction to horror and continues to have an influence on how I feel about, read and write within the genre. For mysteries, on the other hand, Arthur Conan Doyle delighted me with the tales of Sherlock Holmes and his character’s uncanny deductive reasoning.

Although I started with Sherlock Holmes, I then went on to read other books in the genre by both male and female authors. Remember Nancy Drew? Encyclopedia Brown? Meg? For me, though, the iconic detective and the cases he had to solve really framed what mysteries were all about — the clues.

Eddy Webb, who I’ve worked with on Scenes of the Embrace, has a great series on EddyFate.com where he critiques the stories in chronological order. I love the idea; I used to read an author’s publications in chronological order to see how their writing changed over time. It’s really cool to see someone else tackling this approach. The introductory post sheds some insight on his goals for the series:

Much like Dr. Watson, my time with the Great Detective has gone through cycles. Sometimes I spent weeks or months in close company with him, while other times it was years between visits. But he was never far from my mind, and recently he’s been on my mind more than ever. A couple of years ago, the incomparable Ken Hite started releasing a series of essays, critiques, and rants on his LiveJournal about each of the Lovecraft stories, which he entitled “Tour de Lovecraft.” I mentioned to him in passing once that I should probably get around to doing a similar series based on the Holmes canon of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I remember his response being encouraging, but for some reason I don’t recall it clearly. Perhaps I have blocked the incident from my mind for my own sanity. But since then, especially with the release of the Guy Ritchie film Sherlock Holmes in 2009 and the BBC series Sherlock in 2010, I found myself spending more and more time talking with people about the Great Detective, as well as (more often than not) getting into Internet arguments about him. — SOURCE: Introduction to the Tour de Holmes

One of the posts I really liked was his critique of The Musgrave Ritual, where he mentions phrenology and the dreaded butler. This story was one of my favorites as well; it’s interesting to see how stories I enjoy resonate with other readers and why.

There are several essays posted already, so if you want to dive in and take a look, be sure to visit his website and read through Tour de Holmes on EddyFate.com. Eddy has also posted links to the public domain e-books on his site, so you can read and comment along with him. Good stuff!

Guest Blogger Writing Tip #2: Reading out of Discomfort

When you choose your next book off of the bookshelf, many genre writers can’t resist the temptation of reading only “their” genre. There is nothing wrong with reading other science fiction writers if you are a science fiction writer yourself, but you’ll find yourself quickly running out of ideas. Well-rounded writers should read outside of their comfort zone, and study how other writers write. Even if you normally don’t read romance novels, science texts, biographies or history, you might just find that by reading different kinds of content will give you a fresh perspective on your own writing. I have learned more about plot construction from reading outside my comfort zone, then reading inside my comfort zone. Non-fiction, especially gives you a lot of ground to take inspiration from. Read, and learn from writers in other fields. Your writing will be better for it.

About Richard Iorio: Since 1996, Richard has been a freelance writer and designer and has written for Atlas Games, Guardians of Order, Hogshead Publishing, and Zeitgeist Games (just to name a few). Currently, Richard is the Operations Manager for Goodman Games, as well as the co-owner and co-founder of Rogue Games, Inc.

Previous Posts




Looking for Monica’s books and games that are still in print? Visit Monica Valentinelli on Amazon’s Author Central or a bookstore near you.

Archives

Back to Top