Genre fiction

Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term used in the book-trade for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre, in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre.[1]

This article possibly contains original research. (September 2009)

A number of major literary figures have written genre fiction. John Banville publishes crime novels as Benjamin Black, and both Doris Lessing and Margaret Atwood have written science fiction. Georges Simenon, the creator of the Maigret detective novels, has been described by André Gide as "the most novelistic of novelists in French literature".[2]

The main genres are crime, fantasy, romance, science fiction and horror—as well as perhaps Western, inspirational and historical fiction.

The opposite of genre fiction is mainstream fiction.[3] Slipstream genre is sometimes located in between the genre and non-genre fictions.