Cassy's Corner- Hank Phillippi RyanFolks, please join me today and welcome our Guest Blogger the wonderful and super-talented Hank Phillippi Ryan.
Agatha, Anthony and Macavity award-winning investigative reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan is on the air at Boston's NBC affiliate. Her work has resulted in new laws, people sent to prison, homes removed from foreclosure, and millions of dollars in restitution. Along with her 26 EMMYs, Hank’s won dozens of other journalism honors. She's been a radio reporter, a legislative aide in the United States Senate and an editorial assistant at Rolling Stone Magazine working with Hunter S. Thompson.
Her first mystery, the best-selling PRIME TIME, won the Agatha for Best First Novel. It was also was a double RITA nominee for Best First Book and Best Romantic Suspense Novel, and a Reviewers' Choice Award Winner. FACE TIME and AIR TIME are IMBA bestsellers, and AIR TIME was nominated for the AGATHA and ANTHONY Award. (Of AIR TIME, Sue Grafton says: "This is first-class entertainment.") DRIVE TIME, February 2010 from MIRA Books, just earned a starred review from Library Journal saying it “puts Ryan in a league with Lisa Scottoline.” And Breaking News! DRIVE TIME was just nominated for the Agatha for Best Mystery of 2010!
Hank's short story "On The House" won the AGATHA, ANTHONY and MACAVITY for Best Short Story of 2009..
Hank is on the board of New England Sisters in Crime and the national board of Mystery Writers of America. Her website is http://www.HankPhillippiRyan.com
The Thrillzie of It All
By Hank Phillippi Ryan
It’s such fun when there’s a new word! LOL was just okay’ed by the OED. And OMG, right? And a few others entered the list of acceptable and now-useable-in-educated-society words (NB and whoo hoo, fellow Scrabble players).
But here’s a new one that’s now making the rounds in mystery-thriller-romantic suspense world—and that’s Thrillzie.
Thrillzie?
From what I can glean, a thrillzie is sort of an amalgam of thriller-plus-cozy. A word to describe a book that has thriller aspects, but isn’t sexy or bloody or gory or violent or over the top. Like a cozy. A cozy thriller, you see? A thrillzie.
So whaddaya think? My first reaction was to laugh. The evolution of genres is so interesting to watch—and even more interesting to be part of. Who’d have thought in addition to mystery and thriller and paranormal and chick lit and mom lit and hen lit and “literary fiction” and the newly-cool “a novel of suspense” that there’d be steampunk, and zombie-lit, and…what else is there? And I do admit, I’ve wondered, with our ever-increasing need to “label” every genre, if there could be a cozy thriller.
And isn’t there a market, say, for a fast-paced, action-filled, high-stakes high tension, excitingly-finished (I’m not going to say climaxed) novel about a smart, competent, clever and tough heroine? What would you call that?
Romancing the Stone, a movie, I know, that’s a thrillzie if I ever saw one. (And I bet I’ve seen lots of them.) What would I have called “Romancing” if I didn’t have the word thrillzie? What other moves and books are there that would fill that slot? My own DRIVE TIME, I bet, could be in that category. Would I want that?
Hmmm. We all just got over the controversy about “cozy,” remember? And though many readers and writers embraced it, it does have just a bit of condescension attached. Doesn’t it? It now means—cute, and crafty, and a book with no, um, unpleasantness of any kind. And “cozy” certainly telegraphs “written by a woman.”
But how about a Spenser for Hire book? Robert B. Parker (and we miss him every day) didn’t do sex and violence—if act, part of the wonderfulness (oh, Microsoft word isn’t liking that word) of his books is how UN-graphic the sex and violence is. Which makes it even sexier. Right?
But hey, I wouldn’t want to be in the room with Robert B. Parker when someone suggested he call his books “thrillzies.”
To give something such a diminutive name—and thrillzie certainly is, along with cutesy and kittie and honey pie--is that a diminution of the value? Or is it something to kiss on both cheeks and welcome into the family of writing?
I just Googled it, and it’s not there. So we’re definitely in on the cutting edge. (OMG.)
And now Microsoft Word is bugging me about using Thrillzie. I just clicked on “add to dictionary.” And so it goes. Will you be adding it to yours?
28 comments:
Welcome, Hank! It's absolutely wonderful to have you join us today. You've got me thinking about what terms will be floating around next. It's hard now to keep up with the alphabet soup used for texting and emails. More genres for our writing- yikes I'm having trouble keeping it straight as it is.
But, thrillers and cozies combined- I like that!
Great to see you here, Hank!
Love your books :-)
I've been hearing a lot about thrillzies as well. It's so hard to know exactly where a book fits these days because there are sooo many spin off genres. It will be interesting to see where this all leads.
Hi Hank. Wonderful to have you with us! Oh no, another term to keep up with. Genres drive me insane. I can't keep up with them. I've been writing paranormal romantic suspense, although my editor argues that it's paranormal romance, and I keep thinking...but what about all that suspense, the same suspense that she tells me I have too much of for a romance? So I call it paranormal romantic suspense. Now I'm writing a cozy mystery series. It's confusing for a newly published writer like me.
I have to say congratulations on all the wonderful work you've done. Fantastic awards!
I don't think I'll be adding it to mine, Hank. Doesn't quite roll off the tongue.
Sounds to me like the word was invented to give some Hollywood types the opportunity to inject their "high concept" notions, so they don't have to 'splain.
I do like Nathan Bransford's suggestion for a genre called Book Club Fiction - got you out of having to navigating the cross-genre abyss.
Good discussion of genres. I don't think I'll add thrillzies to my word dictionary (I see the comment word police don't like it either; they just underlined it). It's not that I don't like the word. I think it is helpful to have a word for a thriller/cozy combo. It's just that I don't put enough thriller in my own books to qualify. Maybe that's why I don't sell as many books as Hank. Of course it could also be that she is a more talented writer. Hmm, that didn't hurt as much as I thought it might.
Hi, everyone! SO lovely to be here today--(xoxoo Cassy, and thank you for inviting me!)
Soo intersting that we DO seem to need a word for this... bookstores and publishers seem to want a shorthand explanation, right?
My books were often shelved in "romance" at Barnes & Noble--which was incredibly frustrating to mystery readers.
(Mike you are too sweet..and funny..and silly.)
Hey--Let's give away a copy of PRIME TIME! (or any other of the series, if you've already (bless you) read PRIME TIME). I'll choose a name from the commenters!
Hey, Mike! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Great to be here with all you cutting-edge wordsmiths. I'd never even heard of Thrillzie, so haven't formed an opinion on that yet. But I do love your books, Hank, and I'll read them whatever you label them. Thanks for a great blog.
Hank, this is an interesting topic! I think genres are bound to get stretched and twisted since writers are always trying to come up with something "fresh". But I hadn't really thought of the need to have a word to describe the new genre that emerges. LOL
I wish there wasn't a need to categorize stories to such a detailed level. But I guess it's necessary to make sure the books end up in the vicinity of where readers are searching. :)
Hi Hank,
Not sure about the thrillzies thing yet. I've been following talks on the this, but think I'll wait and see.
I remember when I was looking for your third book. I couldn't find it in mystery at B&N so I asked for help. Since I was bragging about your previous books, the woman became interested and looked them up on her store computer. The were classified as: the first one was in romance, the second was mystery and the third was fiction which was where she found it for me. I got the fourth on online so zi don't remember what it was classiffied as. So maybe your next book will be in thriller or thrillzies.
Oh, Clarissa, thank you so much! It's still so wonderful when I hear people have read my books. YOu know? I hope I never get over that..
Yes, Donna...when we go tobookstores, where do we look? So many purchaes--anyone now the stats?--are made from the front tables in the stores.
When you're browsing, though, where do you go? And if an author's book is NOT where YOU are..the author is doomed.
Of course, with ebooks, it's a whole different ballgame, and a whole new world for promotion.
Hi Hank,
I love cozies. I love thrillers and if you combined them, I love thriller/cozies or cozy/thrillers or your new word Thrillzie.
Crossing my fingers on your next book project. I know it will be just as good as the previous books.
Is the main purpose to the creation of these new genres helping readers find books that appeal to them? Does Dewey Decimal need to be revised? ;-)
M
Morning Hank,
Congrats on the wonderful honors.
I'm with Pete, thrillzie, I think that's how it's spelled, isn't going in my Word dictionary. Got enough self-created words as it is in there.
Yeah, just what we need another subgenre to make things more confusing. What next-man lit? Hey, as you said there's chick lit, mom lit, hen lit-that's ones really got me confused (didn't know chickens could read.
Anyway, aren't there enough genres and their offshoots not to add another or two or three.
Thanks, Dru. I'm working hard on it. It's third person, and that's such a challenge for me! Although I do enjoy writing multiple points of view..I love to juggle all the worlds and minds. So, yeah, keep your fingers crossed, okay? xoxo
PAt, that is so interesting! (Lovely to see you!) I mean--does that make ANY sense?
Then again, what DOES?
xxoxo
MArilyn--Dewey Decimal! MAybe that's what we're heading back into..and you know, actually, I wonder ... It seems to work, so perfectly...wonder what the DD people would think about Thrillzies?
Lindsey, I just burst out laughing.
Hen lit. :-) xx
Hank, you're the one that said 'hen lit'. I'm just trying to figure out--1)do they prefer traditional or eBooks. 2) if eBooks-Kindle or Nook?
Hank, you are stirring up a storm! She has heard this story before, but I'll share it here. Jon was leaving on one of his many trips and yelled from the other room, "Where's Hank? I still have 3 chapters to go." " On the kitchen ledge," I answered. "Hon, she might get cold there."
I mentioned to Hank that she left for Houston with Jon later that day. Her reply? "I hope I got an aisle seat."
Lindsay, they like the Nook because it sounds most like "coop."
And thanks, Cassy--your husband is such a dear. But you know that!
Figures
Yup, Jon is a dear. But, he's tapping his foot (as am I) for the next book. I think he'd sign up to carry your books to school if he had a chance.
Awww....where was he when I was in high school and NEVER had attention from boys? (I know, don't say it..he wasn't born yet...)
And petemorin--I think you're right...
Hey Kari Lee and Anita! So nice of you all to host me today!
Interesting word, but I'll ignore it along with the rest and go for my favorite authors...whatever they are writing. I'm afraid I'm still hung up calling what I read a plain old "mystery." LOL
Mare, that's so radical of you! xoxo
Post a Comment