They're going to have to invent a new sub-genre

[Mythsaje]

I was on Wikipedia last night looking up fantasy sub-genres and came to the conclusion that my stuff is "Low, Hard, Dark, Urban, Alternate History, Science Fantasy." It's not "Slipstream" or "New Weird." It's something completely different than anything that came before it and doesn't fit into any one (or even two) categories.

You'd have to read it to know exactly what I mean. Some of my stuff has even been categorized as "romance," which is amusing. Of course some of it is romantic. I think good fiction contains drama, romance, comedy, and adventure in more or less equal measures. Romance is the big seller right now, particularly on-line, but I don't want that label to frighten other people away from it either.

It's all of these things, and maybe more. It's about hope and all of the different things that makes us human. And by human I mean more than just those like you or me. I mean human in those descended from normal humanity, which includes vamps, lycanthropes, immortals, goblins, trolls, hybrids, and assorted others.

Visit my website. You'll see.

http://www.sajewilliams.com

Humanity means more than just DNA in my book. Humanity also refers to the way we interact, the way we treat others, including our four-footed companions. It's about justice, and fairness, and the way we rise above our limitations--be they the ones imposed from outside, or carried within us.

Some people don't like genre-bending. They say "genres exist for a reason."

What--so people know ahead of time what they're getting into when they pick up the book? High Fantasy--a group of heroes, usually including a poor, untrained young person, goes up against the BIG BAD evil, which is evil for no particular reason other than it's SUPPOSED to be evil?

That has always been one of my complaints about high fantasy. Why is "Evil" evil? Maybe it's that I don't believe in ultimate evil. Or absolute good, for that matter. I believe both would contain the seed of the other, and therefore wouldn't be absolute.

It's that damn Taoist in me surfacing again.

That's why my villains have human motivations, more or less. Or, at least, motivations we can understand. Pride, Greed, Fear, or, at the very least, a hunger for revenge.

In "Loki's Sin" there were two main villains... Malice and... Oh, I'm SO not tattling on the second one. That would be a spoiler. Malice is crazy, driven mad by the changes imposed upon him by Cen experimentation. Or maybe he was a sick bastard to start. Hard to say. But he's a psycho sadist and his evil springs from that.

The other "villain" of the piece is driven more by fear than anything else. This character believes the Cen are destined to win and to fight them is futile and foolish. This brings the character into direct conflict with those who believe otherwise.

Human motivations.

In Book II, "Of Man and Monster," the villain is driven by a need for revenge, however misplaced, and a hunger to make herself immune to such harm in the future. She's evil, yes, but it's again a human evil, driven by human needs.

The main villain of Book III, "Freak City," is the immortal Hades. He's been a bad guy for a long time, but there's a reason for it. His fellow villain in the piece is the very wealthy Thomas Grey, a dying industrialist with a plan to make himself immortal at the expense of someone else. This could be seen as an act of greed, or fear.

Again...human motivations. We can understand what drives them, even if they are not drives we share.

Several reviewers have commented that my characters "come alive" and that's quite a compliment. It tells me that I'm accomplishing what I'm setting out to do. I'm making these fictional characters "real" in a sense. I'm making them human.

Now, those of you who might think I'm being a pest with all this self-promotion, please take the time to seek out my latest interview, in which I address this very issue. I HATE this part of the job. I just want to write, and to share my stories with the world. But promotion is part of the task, and the nature of the business forces me to go to lengths I personally find distasteful.

You can find the interview here:

http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=10&no=366074&rel_no=1

But, Fates Alive, I love to write. It's all I've ever wanted to do. And my desire to do so as a career drives me to promote my work in every way I can. I want to dedicate my life to telling these stories.

I want people to fall in love with my heroes--the tough, haunted Raven, the cocky, loyal Ben, and the wild, unrepentant Loki. And my heroines, from the strong, occasionally savage Jasmine Tashae to the far more vulnerable, yet formidable, Valerie Winn. Jack, the Proprietor of the Magitech Lounge, Morrigan, the immortal assassin, Rio, the hard and brittle vampire bio-chemist, and Stormchild, her "rock god" lover.

I'd like the readers to love these characters like I do. And the only way I'll ever see that is to force myself to promote my novels to the best of my ability.

Even if I'd rather be working on my next novel instead.

So just take a moment to see what it's all about, and consider requesting a copy of "Sword and Shadow" from your local bookseller after the 19th of July.

And pass this along to those whom you think might enjoy a good fantasy read. It's summer, and what's better on the beach than a good book?

;)

Thanks for your time,

Saje Williams
June 20th, 2007

[Orrex]

1. "They say 'genres exist for a reason.'" They sure do!

And that reason is so that booksellers and distributors know on which shelf to place your book!

Best of luck to you! I'm always delighted to hear that a DU'er has made further progress in publishing. This is fantastic news!

:hi:
:woohoo:

[yellowdogintexas]

2. these sound interesting! and Good On You for getting published nt

[FloridaJudy]

3. Congratulations!

I look forward to seeing your books in stores.

[Mist]

4. "Dark, urban, alternate history" - I'm on board! Will try to get a copy this week. nt