Genre fiction

Live action role-playing (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically portray their characters. The players pursue goals within a fictional setting represented by real-world environments while interacting with each other in character. The outcome of player actions may be mediated by game rules or determined by consensus among players. Event arrangers called gamemasters decide the setting and rules to be used and facilitate play.

The first LARPs were run in the late 1970s, inspired by tabletop role-playing games and genre fiction. The activity spread internationally during the 1980s and has diversified into a wide variety of styles. Play may be very game-like or may be more concerned with dramatic or artistic expression. Events can also be designed to achieve educational or political goals. The fictional genres used vary greatly, from realistic modern or historical settings to fantastic or futuristic eras. Production values are sometimes minimal, but can involve elaborate venues and costumes. LARPs range in size from small private events lasting a few hours, to large public events with thousands of players lasting for days.

Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a reasonable opportunity for committing the crime. The central character is often a detective (such as Sherlock Holmes), who eventually solves the mystery by logical deduction from facts presented to the reader. Some mystery books are non-fiction. Mystery fiction can be detective stories in which the emphasis is on the puzzle or suspense element and its logical solution such as a whodunit. Mystery fiction can be contrasted with hardboiled detective stories, which focus on action and gritty realism.

Mystery fiction can involve a supernatural mystery in which the solution does not have to be logical and even in which there is no crime involved. This usage was common in the pulp magazines of the 1930s and 1940s, whose titles such as Dime Mystery, Thrilling Mystery, and Spicy Mystery offered what were then described as complicated to solve and weird stories: supernatural horror in the vein of Grand Guignol. That contrasted with parallel titles of the same names which contained conventional hardboiled crime fiction. The first use of "mystery" in that sense was by Dime Mystery, which started out as an ordinary crime fiction magazine but switched to "weird menace" during the later part of 1933.

Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality. Magical realism is the most commonly used of the three terms, and refers to literature, in particular, with magical or supernatural phenomena presented in an otherwise real-world or mundane setting, and is commonly found in novels and dramatic performances. In his article "Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature", Luis Leal explains the difference between magic literature and magical realism, stating that, "Magical realism is not magic literature either. Its aim, unlike that of magic, is to express emotions, not to evoke them." Despite including certain magic elements, it is generally considered to be a different genre from fantasy because magical realism uses a substantial amount of realistic detail and employs magical elements to make a point about reality, while fantasy stories are often separated from reality. The two are also distinguished in that magical realism is closer to literary fiction than to fantasy, which is instead a type of genre fiction. Magical realism is often seen as an amalgamation of real and magical elements that produces a more inclusive writing form than either literary realism or fantasy.

A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably. However, when a distinction is drawn, there are about 100,000 small presses and about one million independent presses.

Independent press is generally defined as publishers that are not part of large conglomerates or multinational corporations. Even when owned by a larger business, an independent press is allowed to choose which books to publish, and the business will survive or fail as a result of how well those books sell. Many small presses rely on specialization in genre fiction, poetry, or limited-edition books or magazines, but there are also thousands that focus on niche non-fiction markets.

Literary fiction—also called serious fiction, high literature, artistic literature, or sometimes just literature, encompasses fiction that is more character-driven than plot-driven, examines the human condition, or is considered serious art by critics. These labels are typically used in contrast to genre fiction, which refers to books that fit into established categories of the book trade and place more value on entertainment and appealing to a mass audience. Literary fiction can also be called non-genre fiction and is often considered to have more artistic merit than popular genre fiction.

Some categories of literary fiction, such as historical fiction, magic realism, autobiographical novels, and encyclopedic novels, are frequently called genres without being considered genre fiction. Some authors are seen as writing literary equivalents or precursors to established genres while still maintaining the division between commercial and literary fiction. Examples include the literary romance of Jane Austen and the speculative fiction of Margaret Atwood. Some critics and genre authors have argued for even greater overlap between literary and commercial fiction, noting that major literary figures have used elements of popular genres—such as science fiction, crime fiction, and romance—to create works of literature. The slipstream genre is sometimes described as falling between the genre fiction and non-genre fiction.

A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them. The "ghost" may appear of its own accord or be summoned by magic. Linked to the ghost is the idea of a "haunting", where a supernatural entity is tied to a place, object or person. Ghost stories are commonly examples of ghostlore.

Colloquially, the term "ghost story" can refer to any kind of scary story. In a narrower sense, the ghost story has been developed as a short story format, within genre fiction. It is a form of supernatural fiction and specifically of weird fiction, and is often a horror story.

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels Ivanhoe (1819), Rob Roy (1817), Waverley (1814), Old Mortality (1816), The Heart of Mid-Lothian (1818), and The Bride of Lammermoor (1819), along with the narrative poems Marmion (1808) and The Lady of the Lake (1810). He greatly influenced European and American literature.

As an advocate and legal administrator by profession, he combined writing and editing with his daily work as Clerk of Session and Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire. He was prominent in Edinburgh's Tory establishment, active in the Highland Society, long time a president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1820–1832), and a vice president of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (1827–1829). His knowledge of history and literary facility equipped him to establish the historical novel genre as an exemplar of European Romanticism. He became a baronet of Abbotsford in the County of Roxburgh on 22 April 1820; the title became extinct upon his son's death in 1847.

Romance is "a fictitious narrative in prose or verse; the interest of which turns upon marvellous and uncommon incidents", a narrative method that was contrasted to the new, main tradition of the 18th and 19th centuries: the novel, which realistically depicts life. Walter Scott described romance as a "kindred term" to novel, and many European languages do not distinguish between them (e.g., "le roman, der Roman, il romanzo" in French, German, and Italian, respectively).

There is a second type of romance: love romances in genre fiction, where the primary focus is on love and marriage. The term "romance" is now mainly used to refer to this type, and for other fiction it is "now chiefly archaic and historical" (OED). Works of fiction such as Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre combine elements from both types.

Magical realism, magic realism, or marvellous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality. Magical realism is the most commonly used of the three terms, and refers to literature, in particular, with magical or supernatural phenomena presented in an otherwise real-world or mundane setting, and is commonly found in novels and dramatic performances. In his article "Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature", Luis Leal explains the difference between magic literature and magical realism, stating that, "Magical realism is not magic literature either. Its aim, unlike that of magic, is to express emotions, not to evoke them." Despite including certain magic elements, it is generally considered to be a different genre from fantasy because magical realism uses a substantial amount of realistic detail and employs magical elements to make a point about reality, while fantasy stories are often separated from reality. The two are also distinguished in that magical realism is closer to literary fiction than to fantasy, which is instead a type of genre fiction. Magical realism is often seen as an amalgamation of real and magical elements that produces a more inclusive writing form than either literary realism or fantasy.

A light novel (Japanese: ライトノベル, Hepburn: raito noberu) is a type of popular literature novel from Japan usually classified as young adult fiction, generally targeting teens to twenties or older. The definition is very vague, and wide-ranging but it generally refers to a story accompanied with manga-style illustrations, often in black and white.

The abbreviation of "raito noberu" is ranobe (ラノベ) or, in English, LN.