Literary Fiction: Not an Excuse for Boring
Literary fiction is supposed to be a category for beautifully written, moving fiction that crosses genres or otherwise doesn’t fit into the genre categories. It’s supposed to deal with ‘deeper’ themes than genre fiction, but that attitude can be elitist, since there is nothing to stop something that fits a genre category from dealing with such themes, and many do, especially in indie writing. The exploration of relevant and moving themes is not the exclusive domain of literary fiction. Granted, much genre fiction has little more than the story to recommend it, but to assume that none of it has anything more to offer is pure arrogance. Take On the Soul of a Vampire by Krisi Keley—literary fantasy that uses the particular challenges faced by a character forced to murder to survive as the basis for an exploration of the human soul—or my own work; for example, the Diamond Peak…