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Blogocentric Formulations #832256 added October 25, 2014 at 1:08pm
Restrictions: None
Before The Big Bounce
 
PROMPT: If you had to read something in an unfamiliar genre, what would the genre be and which author would you choose?
There aren't a lot of genres I haven't tried at least a half-dozen times; I think the only large fiction genre I haven't read more than six books from is the Western genre. Maybe it was because my dad watched western movies when I was younger and they all seemed basically the same story to me. My maternal grandfather loved westerns too and, like my paternal grandmother and her romance novels, enjoyed the fact that he knew exactly what to expect from each book... that each one followed a predictable story pattern and arrived at a similar ending every time. If there's one thing I hate, it's predictability; when I read something, I want to be surprised. I want to read something I haven't read before, and experience a new perspective or new idea I haven't seen before. I just don't think the western genre (or the romance genre) is really suited to my tastes as much as, say, the mystery/thriller or sci-fi/fantasy genres that often define themselves by their unique approaches to a narrative.
If I were going to read something in the western genre, I would start with Elmore Leonard. I love his crime novels and think he's a brilliant writer, so I'd probably check out one of his earlier works (he started in westerns before getting into crime) in hopes of seeing the same kind of interesting characters and setups that he became known for when he changed genres. As it happens, the thirty-one western stories that Elmore Leonard wrote in the early part of his career have been collected into one volume:
| ASIN: 0061242926 |
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Amazon's Price: $ 12.29
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I suppose I could have chosen a more prominent staple of the genre, like Louis L'Amour or Larry McMurtry, but if I'm trying to give an unfamiliar genre its absolute best chance of resonating with me, I can't think of a better test case than an author I already like from another genre, and his stories which, according to the synopsis of this collection, "[elevate] a popular genre with his now-trademark twisting plots, rich characterizations, and scalpel-sharp dialogue."
Heck the collection is only $12 on Kindle and available on Audible... I might end up checking it out sooner than I thought, as that's a pretty decent price for thirty-one stories spanning nearly 600 pages. 
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