A different kind of book …

• Posted in About Books, On Writing

I’m still basking in the glow of the Publishers Weekly review, but today, I want to talk about a couple of things that are mentioned in the review, namely this:

Bodies litter the pages of this first entry in Estep’s engrossing Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series … Fans of Estep’s humorous paranormal romances (Jinx; Hot Mama) may be taken aback by the gritty violence and steamy sex, but urban fantasy fans will love it. (Feb.)

In other words, Spider’s Bite is a different kind of book than the ones in my Bigtime series. Spider’s Bite is dark and gritty, violent and sexy — it is not a lightweight comic book spoof like the Bigtime books are. The main character in Spider’s Bite is an assassin, and Gin does kill people in the book — in fact, she kills a lot of people in the book. She wouldn’t be much of an assassin if she didn’t kill people, now would she?

So why am I bringing this up? Well, because I want readers — especially those who enjoyed my Bigtime series — to know what they’re getting with Spider’s Bite. Because it’s definitely a different kind of book, and those looking for a more lighthearted read may be disappointed.

We’ve all seen blog posts bemoaning the fact that an author has switched genres, and I’m sure that I’ll get some e-mails from readers telling me that they don’t like Spider’s Bite and that I should have written another Bigtime book instead. So why didn’t I do that? Well, there are a couple of reasons.

First, my previous publisher decided that they didn’t want any more Bigtime books. As much as I love writing the series, I have to eat and pay my bills just like everyone else. And in the book market right now, dark, gritty, urban fantasy and paranormal romance is where it’s at — that’s what editors are buying and that’s what readers are reading.

Second, I had been wanting to write an assassin story for a while now and penning an urban fantasy gave me the opportunity to do that — and really stretch myself as a writer. That’s important to me because I think that writers who write the same kind of book over and over again get stale. I know that I’ve loved the first few books in a series only to be disappointed by the later titles that just seem like retreads of those first great books (Janet Evanovich comes to mind).

But I hope that my Bigtime readers will give Gin Blanco and Spider’s Bite a chance. In the end, I think that Spider’s Bite and my Bigtime series have a lot of the same elements in common — a sassy, sarcastic, kick-ass heroine, cool world building, lots of fight scenes, and some sizzling romance. Everything is just much darker in Spider’s Bite, including the humor. In fact, I’m billing the book as dark, fun, sexy urban fantasy — we’ll see if my Bigtime readers and others agree.

What about you guys? Do you like it or loathe it when an author switches genres? Share in the comments.

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4 Responses to “A different kind of book …”

  1. Tia says:

    I don’t mind. I’ve followed Tad Williams from genre to genre. If I truly like an author, I’m sure a change of genre won’t daunt me. A lot of authors use pseudonyms when changing genres. I wish they wouldn’t. I might not have read Otherland if Tad Williams had written it under some other name.

    Spider’s Bite is very different, but superhero novels might have been difficult to sustain. You would have had to keep thinking of ways to keep it fresh. To use your example of Janet Evanovich, I recently read the Stephanie Plum novel where it was revealed that Ranger had a young daughter in Miami. It destroyed some of the Ranger magic for me, because I of course wonder what he’s doing in Trenton if he has a daughter in Miami?? I’m sure Evanovich was just trying to reveal new aspects of his character, but it made him less appealing to me, when for a long time, he and Joe were running neck-and-neck.

    So congrats on setting out in a new direction and I’m sure you’ll be writing light and humorous again one day. After all, that’s how you got your start, so you must love it.

    Oh, and I love the easter eggs from Bigtime that you put in Spider’s Bite!!!

  2. Jennifer Estep says:

    Tad Williams is one of those authors that I always mean to try but haven’t gotten around to yet.

    Yeah, for Bigtime 4 (which I have written), I felt like I needed to bring in some new characters, so I branched out beyond the Fearless Five. I’m hoping to do something with the book someday …

    As for the pseudonyms, a lot of that is dictated by the publisher, sales, and a dozen other things. Sometimes, publishers want authors to use a new name because maybe their past sales haven’t been that great or the book is in a completely different genre than what the author has written before and they think that readers will feel betrayed that they’re not getting the type of story they expect. That last one is a mindset that I don’t completely understand. I think people are smart enough to realize that not every book an author writes will be the same. And it stands to reason that if you like an author’s voice in one genre that you might like it in another genre as well. I would rather authors only write under one name too — it just makes it easier to keep up with everyone.

    As far as Evanovich’s books go, my main problem was that Stephanie never seemed to get any smarter — she never learned from her mistakes at all. It seemed like we were getting the same jokes over and over again. And really, I just wanted her to make a decision between Joe and Ranger already — I got tired of the constant back and forth.

    I’m glad you spotted the Easter egg. I was wondering if anyone was going to notice it. 😉

  3. Allie says:

    There are authors where I’m wary–Jennifer Crusie’s next collaboration not being a romance is weirding me out like whoa–but generally I’m open to new things. I’m looking forward to Spider’s Bite in part BECAUSE the Bigtime books were so lightweight. I’m a comic book fan, and I like my comics a little edgier, but the Bigtime books are so fun I didn’t mind a bit of that retro camp. But I appreciate the things you’ve done to alert your fans of the tone shift, for sure.

  4. Jennifer Estep says:

    Hi, Allie! Thanks for leaving a comment.

    Hmm … I hadn’t heard that about Cruise’s next book. I’ll have to check that out.

    Thanks for the nice words about the Bigtime books. I appreciate them. I like edgy comics too, but I think some of the heroes need to lighten up just a little bit (Batman, anyone?), which is why I tried to make the Bigtime books just really fun adventures.

    But Spider’s Bite is definitely darker and edgier, although I still think it’s a rollicking adventure too. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it! 😉

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