Bardot’s Comet a finalist in cross-genre fiction category in American book award

My 2011 novel, Bardot’s Comet, was a finalist in the 2013 National Indie Excellence Book Awards announced on May 22, 2013. Bardot’s Comet was a finalist in the Cross-Genre category.

Cross-genre is a term in fiction that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres. For example, the Twilight series can be categorized as a mixture of three genres: paranormal, fantasy, and romance. Bardot’s Comet is a combination of the mystery genre with suspence, crime, science, and historical fiction.

Why write across genres? Writing across genres is increasingly becoming more popular with many authors. Historical fiction, in particular, lends itself to the inclusion of other themes—in the case of Bardot’s Comet, set in The Sixties in Adelaide, South Australia, these themes include real events, scientific theories, films, dress codes, social conditions, and the morals of the times. The rise of feminism, uni-sex dress codes, the Vietnam War, the moon landing, the religion versus science debate, and Youth Quake are all themes in Bardot’s Comet.

With readers becoming more sophisticated in their reading choices, complex themes are often best handled using multiple genres, providing depth, interwoven issues, current affairs, and historical realities. For me, the starting point was the period 1966-1969, one of the most progressive periods in history in terms of science and social advances. Hence, Bardot’s Comet is historical fiction with science at the core—specifically mathematics and astronomy.

Bardot's Comet was my first foray into the cross-genre category because my other novels are specifically about a country context, such as with The Sudan Curse (2009), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010), and Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012).

I have provided a link below with a free 30-page download sample PDF of Bardot’s Comet. The Kindle and Barnes &Noble links are on the last page.

http://epubco.com/samples/978-1-61897-570-6sample.pdf

Bardot’s Comet is also available at amazon.com or directly through my publisher at

http://sbpra.com/martinanicolls

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass

The Beggars' Strike by Aminata Sow Fall: book review

The Beggar’sStrike (1979 in French and 1981 in English) is set in an unstated country in West Africa in a city known only as The Capital. Undoubtedly, Senegalese author Sow Fall writes of her own experiences. It was also encapsulated in the 2000 film, Battu , directed by Cheick Oumar Sissoko from Mali. Mour Ndiaye is the Director of the Department of Public Health and Hygiene, with the opportunity of a distinguished and coveted promotion to Vice-President of the Republic. Tourism has declined and the government blames the local beggars in The Capital. Ndiaye must rid the streets of beggars, according to a decree from the Minister. Ndiaye instructs his department to carry out weekly raids. One of the raids leads to the death of lame beggar, Madiabel, who ran into an oncoming vehicle as he tried to escape, leaving two wives and eight children. Soon after, another raid resulted in the death of the old well-loved, comic beggar Papa Gorgui Diop. Enough is enou

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog