What Defines Myster

I also tend to use crime fiction as it feels more all encompassing. That said, I love this list, based on an updated list in Trish  MacDonald Skillman's Writing the Thriller, which was based on the list Carolyn Wheat gave in her book, How to Write Killer Fiction. I lost one of the 16 along the way, and my library doesn't have either book so I can't check for it. So here are 15...either way, it's an awesome list.

Sixteen Differences between Mystery and Thrillers/ Suspense

1. A mystery concerns itself with a puzzle. A thriller presents the reader with a nightmare.


2. A mystery is a power fantasy; we identify with the detective.  Thrillers are a victim fantasy; we identify with someone at the mercy of others.

3. A mystery can be likened to a myth.  Suspense is more like a fairy tale.

4. In a mystery the hero or heroine already has the skills he or she needs to solve the puzzle.  In a thriller, he or she must learn new skills to survive.

5. In a mystery, thinking is paramount.  In a thriller, feeling is paramount.

6. The most important action in a mystery takes place offstage.  In a thriller, the important action happens onstage.

7. A mystery usually takes place within a small circle of friends.  The hero or heroine of a thriller novel often finds him or herself thrust into a larger world.

8. Readers of mysteries are looking for clues.  Readers of thrillers are expecting surprises.

9. In a mystery, information is withheld.  In a thriller, information is provided.

10. The ideal reader of mysteries remains one step behind the hero or heroine.  Those who read suspense should be one step ahead of the hero or heroine.

11. Mystery readers expect a series.  Those who read thrillers know a book can be a one shot.

12. The hero or heroine in a mystery is looking for suspects.  The hero or heroine in a thriller looks for betrayers.

13. A mystery hero or heroine must confront a series of red herrings.  The thriller hero or heroine faces a cycle of distrust.

14. Mystery endings must be intellectually satisfying.  Thriller endings must provide emotional satisfaction.

15. Mysteries are usually three hundred manuscript pages.  Thrillers can be longer.

Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com

Hugo Award Winners Announced

Awards: Hugo Winners

The Hugo Awards winners were announced last night during Loncon 3, the World Science Fiction Convention:

Best Novel: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (Orbit)
Best Novella: "Equoid" by Charles Stross (Tor.com, 9/2013)
Best Novelette: "The Lady Astronaut of Mars" by Mary Robinette Kowal (maryrobinettekowal.com /Tor.com, 9/2013)
Best Short Story: "The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere" by John Chu (Tor.com, 2/2013)
Best Related Work: "We Have Always Fought: Challenging the Women, Cattle and Slaves Narrative" by Kameron Hurley (A Dribble of Ink)
Best Graphic Story: "Time" by Randall Munroe (xkcd)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Gravity, written by Alfonso Cuarón & Jonás Cuarón, directed by Alfonso Cuarón (Esperanto Filmoj, Heyday Films, Warner Bros.)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Game of Thrones: "The Rains of Castamere" written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, directed by David Nutter (HBO Entertainment in association with Bighead, Littlehead; Television 360; Startling Television and Generator Productions)
Best Editor, Short Form: Ellen Datlow
Best Editor, Long Form: Ginjer Buchanan
Best Professional Artist: Julie Dillon
Best Semiprozine: Lightspeed magazine, edited by John Joseph Adams, Rich Horton and Stefan Rudnicki
Best Fanzine: A Dribble of Ink, edited by Aidan Moher
Best Fancast: SF Signal Podcast Patrick Hester
Best Fan Writer: Kameron Hurley
Best Fan Artist: Sarah Webb

Also, the John W. Campbell Award for the best new professional science fiction or fantasy writer of 2012 or 2013, sponsored by Dell Magazines: Sofia Samatar

Middle Grade and YA: Where to Draw the Line?

 Something else to help guide our online RA for kids this summer. It's not so much the age, but the individual reader that determines what to recommend. Yeah, easier said than done, I know.





Middle Grade and YA: Where to Draw the Line?

What Is New Adult Fiction?, by Gillian Engberg | Booklist Online

 More about New Adult----not to be confused with YA!

Actually, this is fascinating. The addition of a new sub-genre is helping clear up the definition of YA by clarifying what distinguishes YA from NA.

“In YA fiction, the characters’ lives are circumscribed by school, family, and sometimes work. In NA novels, the characters have more freedom: they’re in college or the workforce (or trying to enter the workforce). And that’s one reason that YA fantasy and historical fiction crosses up easily to NAs. In those genres, the age of maturity is measured differently than in our contemporary society, and teens may be far more independent at a much younger age.” 


What Is New Adult Fiction?, by Gillian Engberg | Booklist Online