Peter Clines | Bending the boundaries: Crossing Genres in Fiction

I get labeled a cross-genre writer a lot of the time. On one level, this title makes a lot of sense. My first novel, EX-HEROES (and the series that followed), was about superheroes fighting zombies. Between books, I wrote one of those mash-up novels (classics plus monsters) that were so popular at the time. I wrote a horror-mystery-adventure novel called 14, and just last week released a sci-fi-mystery-thriller called THE FOLD.

Thing is, cross-genre is one of those terms that's absolutely correct in most cases but also doesn't really tell you anything. I mean, a rom-com is cross-genre, but I don't write rom-coms. Cross-genre is such a huge, broad term, it’s almost like saying I’m a writer who uses sentences.

I’ve talked to some folks who think a genre story has to be pure. A horror story should be nothing but scares and gore. Every moment of a drama should be serious and weighty and tug at our emotions. There shouldn’t be a moment in a comedy where something inherently funny isn’t happening on the page.

Personally, I find these stories tend to be boring as hell. If every point in my story is the same point—say unspeakable horror —then what I have is a homogenous story. Flipping pages is like cutting into a block of cheese. Horror stops being scary. Comedy becomes painful. Drama becomes... well, cheese.

Think of most of the good stories you’ve read. Pretty much every other episode of Star Trek (pick your favorite series) has a strong mystery element as the crew tries to figure out how/why something is happening. Really, sci-fi and mystery pair up a lot when you think about it. There’s also a lot of comedy in Andy Weir’s THE MARTIAN. Ernie Cline’s cyber- fantasy tale READY PLAYER ONE has some moments of serious suspense. Dan Abnett’s sci-fi action novel EMBEDDED has a pretty enthusiastic sex scene.

That being said, I don’t think any of us would call THE MARTIAN a comedy, and EMBEDDED is hardly a sexy-romance novel. None of the Star Treks are known as mystery series. We all realize that dips and swings into what would qualify as another genre doesn’t invalidate a story.

If anything, they usually strengthen it.

As I see it, the key to all storytelling is characters, and the best characters are going to act like real people. And people... well, let’s be honest. People don’t always stay focused. They’ll tell jokes at the wrong time. Some of them think about love and sex when they should be paying attention in board meetings, and others stress about those board meetings at moments they should be thinking of love and sex. A few of them might even get annoyed about tearing the cuff on their favorite jacket when they should really be worried about the zombie horde staggering up behind them. They create mysteries and funny moments and romance and horror.

If stories and characters lack this kind of range they’re going to come across as very flat and tedious. If I can’t have a moment of laughter, a bit of flirting, or a non-sequitor distracted thought, my characters are going to feel like puppets rather than people.

So THE FOLD is a classic sci-fi story at heart, and like so many before it there’s a strong mystery element—that “how/why” I mentioned a few minutes ago. There’s a lot of chuckles and a few solid laughs in it, too. Also a bit of a love story. And as the book goes on, well... I’d be lying if I said things don’t take a bit of a horrific turn.

But, in my mind, that’s what makes it seem real.

About Peter Clines

Peter Clines grew up in the Stephen King fallout zone of Maine and–inspired by comic books, Star Wars, and Saturday morning cartoons–started writing at the age of eight with his first epic novel, LIZARD MEN FROM THE CENTER OF THE EARTH.

He made his first writing sale at age seventeen to a local newspaper, and at the age of nineteen he completed his quadruple-PhD studies in English literature, archaeology, quantum physics, and interpretive dance. In 2008, while surfing Hawaii’s Keauwaula Beach, he thought up a viable way to maintain cold fusion that would also solve world hunger, but forgot all about it when he ran into actress Yvonne Strahvorski back on the beach and she offered to buy him a drink. He was the inspiration for both the epic poem “Beowulf” and the motion picture-Raiders of the Lost Ark-, and is single-handedly responsible for repelling the Martian Invasion of 1938 that occurred in Grovers Mills, New Jersey. Eleven sonnets he wrote to impress a girl in high school were all later found and attributed to Shakespeare. He is the author of numerous short stories, EX-HEROES, EX-PATRIOTS, –14–, THE EERIE ADVENTURES OF THE LYCANTHROPE ROBINSON CRUSOE, and an as-yet- undiscovered Dead Sea Scroll.

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About THE FOLD

STEP INTO THE FOLD.

IT’S PERFECTLY SAFE.

The folks in Mike Erikson's small New England town would say he's just your average, everyday guy. And that's exactly how Mike likes it. Sure, the life he's chosen isn’t much of a challenge to someone with his unique gifts, but he’s content with his quiet and peaceful existence.

That is, until an old friend presents him with an irresistible mystery, one that Mike is uniquely qualified to solve: far out in the California desert, a team of DARPA scientists has invented a device they affectionately call the Albuquerque Door. Using a cryptic computer equation and magnetic fields to “fold” dimensions, it shrinks distances so that a traveler can travel hundreds of feet with a single step.

The invention promises to make mankind’s dreams of teleportation a reality. And, the scientists insist, traveling through the Door is completely safe.

Yet evidence is mounting that this miraculous machine isn’t quite what it seems—and that its creators are harboring a dangerous secret.

As his investigations draw him deeper into the puzzle, Mike begins to fear there’s only one answer that makes sense. And if he’s right, it may only be a matter of time before the project destroys…everything.

cunningly inventive mystery featuring a hero worthy of Sherlock Holmes and a terrifying final twist you’ll never see coming, THE FOLD is that rarest of things: a genuinely page-turning science-fiction thriller. Step inside its pages and learn why author Peter Clines has already won legions of loyal fans.