This topic is currently marked as "dormant"—the last message is more than 90 days old. You can revive it by posting a reply.
1jmnlman
Recently I was having the perennial is the genre dying discussion with a friend. We ended up on the topic of novels that broke out of the science fiction genre. Sort of the equivalent of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrellfor fantasy. Seemed like there was a time when you were always seeing someone with their nose in it. We were trying to think of the last book to do this. In other words books that managed to escape the usual genre fans and have a wider appeal. Not just popular books within the community. I suppose World War Z considering the upcoming motion picture though I prefer to shrug that off as part of the zombie craze. Hunger Games? That was never really embraced I remember a sort of halfhearted attempt to co-op its popularity by the community. There was the young adult problem as well as the dreaded girl cooties to stop that. The Yiddish Policemen's Union? Even though it was up for some awards Chabon is more from the literary side coming and using the tools. So do we have to go all the way back to Neal Stephenson in the early 90s? I know Scalzi always makes a big deal about how he's writing accessible books. Not sure how successful he's been. I get the feeling I'm missing something obvious here but just can't put my finger on it.
2Carnophile
A breakout happens when it happens. It can't really be planned by formula - if it could, all SF writers would use the formula to make big bucks.
3norabelle414
Ready Player One, I'd say.
4jmnlman
2: True but I was thinking more as a gateway book. Much like Fifty Shades of Grey bumped up erotica sales. Or Harry Potter and Twilight boosted young adult.
2: You may have a point it has over 2000 copies here on LT.
2: You may have a point it has over 2000 copies here on LT.
5jburlinson
Would Never Let Me Go qualify?
6artturnerjr
Good question. Here's a few SF-themed (broadly speaking) books that have been huge over the last 15-20 years (which may or may not have skiffy "street cred") (and have not already been mentioned):
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Road
Cryptonomicon
The Host
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Road
Cryptonomicon
The Host
7vwinsloe
The Passage maybe? It was shelved in literary fiction, and I am still not sure whether it is horror or SF. For me, it read like early Stephen King as in The Stand.
Cloud Atlas is another candidate. It had 7 or so different story lines, only two of which could be considered SF.
I'm not sure whether you are talking about "crossover books" which appeal to a broader audience because they could be classified in more than one genre, or whether you are talking about a book that becomes so widely read and recommended that it demonstrates the appeal of a particular genre to a wider audience (what I think of as a "gateway book."). I think that The Hunger Games is a good example of a gateway book. I would never have read YA fiction until Hunger Games was recommended to me. Now I frequently consider YA books to add to my TBR pile.
Cloud Atlas is another candidate. It had 7 or so different story lines, only two of which could be considered SF.
I'm not sure whether you are talking about "crossover books" which appeal to a broader audience because they could be classified in more than one genre, or whether you are talking about a book that becomes so widely read and recommended that it demonstrates the appeal of a particular genre to a wider audience (what I think of as a "gateway book."). I think that The Hunger Games is a good example of a gateway book. I would never have read YA fiction until Hunger Games was recommended to me. Now I frequently consider YA books to add to my TBR pile.
8iansales
Do they count as "break-out novels" if they weren't published as category genre? The Passage wasn't shelved with horror books, The Handmaid's Tale wasn't put in the sf sections of book shops...
9ABVR
> 7, 8
Ian has it right, I think: A "break-out novel" is one published as genre fiction that "escapes" to a wider readership. The Yiddish Policeman's Union is a break-out if Harry Turtledove writes it, but not if Michael Chabon writes it.
Which has the effect, in the United States, of ensuring that that nothing marketed to young adults is going be a SF/Fantasy breakout novel, since YA functions as a genre -- and trumps all other genres -- for bookstores, libraries, publishers. If The Hunger Games was written for adults, it'd be classified as SF . . . because it's written for teens, it's tagged YA.
Ian has it right, I think: A "break-out novel" is one published as genre fiction that "escapes" to a wider readership. The Yiddish Policeman's Union is a break-out if Harry Turtledove writes it, but not if Michael Chabon writes it.
Which has the effect, in the United States, of ensuring that that nothing marketed to young adults is going be a SF/Fantasy breakout novel, since YA functions as a genre -- and trumps all other genres -- for bookstores, libraries, publishers. If The Hunger Games was written for adults, it'd be classified as SF . . . because it's written for teens, it's tagged YA.
10justifiedsinner
Wasn't Hairy Potto and the Philistines Stone marketed as YA?
12paradoxosalpha
> 11
It's the only one I know, although I understand there is a series.
It's the only one I know, although I understand there is a series.
13justifiedsinner
I believe it was the first but I may have misremembered the title.
14vwinsloe
#10 & #11. I think that he is referring to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone which in the USA was entitled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I like "Philistine's Stone" though, sounds like a satire. Hairy Potto, indeed.
And, yes, it was definitely classified YA.
And, yes, it was definitely classified YA.
15brightcopy
Just don't get it confused with Hairy Pooter and the Philanderer's Stone. That was in a... slightly different genre.
17vwinsloe
Okay, what about Game of Thrones? Or is that only "breaking out" into a larger non-fantasy reading audience because of the television series?
Join to post
