Special Guest Editorial: SECRET LIVES OF THE DEAD Author Tim Lebbon Reflects On: Who Needs Genre?

[Editor's Note: To celebrate today's release of Secret Lives of the Dead, we're thrilled to have Tim Lebbon as a special guest author, who reflects on: Who Needs Genre?]

Who needs genre?

Do you need it to let you know what kind of book you're buying? I'll bet not. Most readers I know find books through recommendation, prior knowledge, or association with other books or writers. You don't need to see 'horror' on the spine to make you buy a book, because the author's name, back cover blurb, word-of-mouth recommendation, reviews or good old advertising will more likely draw you to a new novel. 

Do booksellers need it? Almost certainly, because a bookshop needs to know where to shelve a particular book. And if the genre's not on the spine, it's easy to get creative and pop it onto the wrong shelf. I once saw my novel Eden in 'Gardening'. Wannabe horticulturists would have had a shock.

Do writers need to hang onto genre? That's a much more difficult question to answer (and entirely subjective, of course), because any time I'm asked what I do for a living, I categorize myself when I reply, 'I'm a horror writer'. I am… but also, sometimes not. I've certainly written a fair amount of horror fiction, but I've also written thrillers, dark fantasy, sword and sorcery, crime, science fiction, YA, and some stuff that's probably not easily categorized (ha, take that, genre!). But if I respond to the question by simply saying, 'I'm a writer', the follow-up question is almost always, 'Oh, what do you write?'

'Horror.'

'Oh, I don't read horror. But I love Stephen King.' (A genuine exchange).

Okay, I admit I'm being a bit flippant, and I do understand that genre is important. Writers are told ad nauseum that we need a 'brand', especially lately when promotion falls more and more onto our shoulders. I'm not sure what my brand is: cake-loving triathlon-racing bald horror writer? That'll do. I'll order the tee shirts now. 

So with that in mind, I thought I'd talk a little about my latest novel Secret Lives of the Dead, and how it seems to splay itself across several genres.

Secret Lives of the Dead is a horror novel. But also not. When I started writing it a while ago, in my head I was slipping sideways across the traditionally perceived genre landscapes––not too far, perhaps just into the next valley and over the ridgeline between horror and thriller. The only reason for this was that it served the story. My idea came first, and as I started working on the novel it solidified as something unlike anything I'd written before.

Or so I thought. But then I sent the first few chapters to my agent, and his reaction was, 'It's terrific, Tim. But it's a horror novel.'

'No, I think it's a thriller,' I said, but I quickly realised that he was right. To be fair, he usually is. It shocked me a little, but only a little. I don't really think about the genre of a novel when I'm writing it, only the story, and I certainly don't allow such considerations to massage or steer the way a story wants to flow.*

(*don't tell my publisher, who sometimes is expecting a new 'horror' novel from me)

It's more likely that, like spilled water, my writing tends to find its own level… and that level is usually in the horror pool. Well, there are some mixed and messy metaphors there (call the editor!), but you know what I mean. In this novel especially, the supernatural element is subtle, even ambiguous. My main antagonist Lem (one of the meanest I've ever created) is haunted by a family curse. But whether this haunting is real, or a result of his corrupted and damaged childhood, is open to interpretation. I went back and forth on how to work this, and in the end—as always—it was the story that dictated the truth. Hell, it was Lem. That nasty, troubled dude took on a real life of his own.*

(*Pray you don't meet him in a dark alley. Or even a well-lit room. He's a piece of work for sure, haunted or otherwise).

Previous books of mine such as thrillers The Hunt and The Family Man? Really brutal, with horrific elements close to the surface of both novels. The dark fantasy novels I wrote for Bantam a while back, starting with Dusk and Dawn? Horror novels set in a fantasy land. In the same way that I can't really tell why most of what I write tends this way (if I'm asked why I write what I do, my usual answer is, 'It's the way my mum put my hat on', meaning it's just the way I'm built), it's also something I don't think about when I'm writing. The story plants itself in whatever genre field readers, publishers or buyers wish to place it, and yes, that's usually towards the darker side of things.

Secret Lives of the Dead has been described as crime, thriller, folk horror, supernatural horror… I'd add adventure, heist story, and even romance (I mean, some of the characters love each other and their actions are driven by love, that's romantic, isn't it?). And I'm fine with all of that. Spanning genres is something that feels so natural to me, and to most writers I know. Writing stories in different styles and settings, with different tones and backgrounds, helps keep things fresh. Much as I like apocalyptic fiction or climate change thrillers, I'd find it boring and even difficult to write books set against the same background again and again. 

Really, the wonderful thing about the horror genre is that there's no such thing as a horror genre. The great Doug Winter puts this better than I ever could.

“Horror is not a genre, like the mystery or science fiction or the western. It is not a kind of fiction, meant to be confined to the ghetto of a special shelf in libraries or bookstores. Horror is an emotion.”

I hope you enjoy my new crime thriller romance folk-horror adventure heist-gone-wrong novel, Secret Lives of the Dead.

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Editor's Note: Tim Lebbon's Secret Lives of the Dead is now available from Titan Books. We have the synopsis and cover art below and you can learn more at: https://titanbooks.com/72565-secret-lives-of-the-dead/

To keep up with the latest from Tim Lebbon, visit: https://www.timlebbon.net/

"When Jodi, BB and Matt decide to burgle a derelict country home as a thrilling dare, they become embroiled in a twisted legacy of supernatural terror. There are rumours of a bizarre curse hanging over the hoard of antiques and jewellery within the house. And unbeknownst to the others, one member of the trio has darker motives for breaking into the property.

Lem is a brutal man obsessed with a gruesome family legend. He is determined to right the wrongs of the past and lift the curse placed on his bloodline. By completing the work of his father and bringing a bizarre selection of scattered relics back together, he hopes to be free of the malign influence that has hounded every generation of his family for two centuries.

Across a single day a deadly pursuit will culminate on the desolate, storm-swept Crow Island, and those involved are given cause to wonder… can believing in a curse deeply enough bring its own bad luck?"