I want to preface with a point I’m going to come back to, and which I find myself repeating often as a bookseller who curates the Horror section at my local Barnes & Noble: Stephen King is so much more than a horror writer. Some of his best, most enduring works transcend genre, whether grounded dramas or human stories with mere touches of the supernatural. His newest book, FAIRY TALE, is one I’ve pointed people to recently, saying “So, I know you just said you don’t read Stephen King because his work scares you, but trust me—this isn’t a horror novel.” And then I usually go on about how wonderful of a book it is, a love-letter to myths, fairytales, and the magic of storytelling, which also happens to be a fine example of pure, enchanting storytelling itself.

To some, the line between literary fiction and genre fiction is not only distinct, it is a considerable divide. I work in a bookstore and witness this all too often, where the shelves differentiating genres into respective areas in the store are more than just physical in their separation. Many people refuse to read a certain genre for any number of reasons, occasionally for no reason other than some kind of snobbery. Even I'm guilty of this, to a small degree. Which is to say, there is almost always reasoning behind the distinctions between genres and types of books--whether it's the simple distinction between mystery fiction and science fiction, or broader, such as teen fiction and adult fiction--but there is a strong point to be made, one I agree with, that most of these distinctions shouldn't shape our view of a book, especially not in a broader context.

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