non-genre adj.

not science fiction, fantasy, or horror; = mainstream adj.

SF Criticism

Genre

  • 1975 G. Jonas in N.Y. Times 12 Jan. 32/3

    In what the s.f. fan calls ‘mainstream fiction’—that is, all non-genre writing, including serious literature—the short story does not attract much critical or popular attention today.

  • 1988 V. McIntyre in Asimov’s Science Fiction Mar. 13/2

    She never said Always Coming Home was not SF. Of course it’s SF. Its being nominated for non-genre awards, and ignored by Hugo and Nebula voters, does not change that fact.

  • 1994 J. Kessel Books in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Apr. 23/2

    I would have risked taking stories that might be familiar to genre readers knowing that they would be new to non-genre readers.

  • 2002 Editor’s Notebook Winter 7

    I would publish works both by ‘non-genre’ writers who, like me, found themselves chafing under the strictures of the Ban, and by recognized masters of the genre novel who, fifty years ago, would have regularly worked and published in the short story form but who now have no wide or ready market for shorter work.

  • 2002 G. K. Wolfe Malebolge No. 39 418 Gary K. Wolfe

    At the same time that genre materials begin flowing freely into one another, we begin to see evidence of an even more peculiar development: the nongenre genre story.

  • 2003 D. G. Hartwell & K. Cramer in Year’s Best Fantasy 3 Introd. p. xv Kathryn Cramer David G. Hartwell

    One noticeable trend evident in some of these is toward non-genre, or genre-bending, or slipstream fantastic fiction.

Research requirements

antedating 1975
Earliest cite

Gerald Jonas in the NYT Book Review
Research History
Jeff Prucher submitted a 1994 cite from John Kessel in F&SF.
Jeff Prucher submitted a 2003 cite from Michael Chabon in "McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales."
Jeff Prucher submitted a 2003 cite from David Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer's introduction to their "Year's Best Fantasy 3".
Jeff Prucher submitted a 2002 cite from Gary K. Wolfe in Conjunctions:39.
Irene Grumman submitted a 1988 cite from a letter by Vonda N. McIntyre in Asimov's.
Bill Mullins submitted a 1975 cite from Gerald Jonas in the New York Times Book Review.

Last modified 2021-01-08 17:27:50
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.