All right, here is a brief lesson in genre vs literary fiction. So-called “literary fiction” is the New Yorker type of fiction which is championed by literary professors and NYC literary critics, the same people who dominate such literary awards as the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Awards. Most of them look down their noses at “genre fiction” which is pretty much any fiction whose emphasis is primarily storytelling, no matter how much characterization and depth it might also have. Genre fiction includes mystery fiction, thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, horror, romance, young adult fiction, even bestseller-type fiction.

Most high-profile people who champion “genre fiction” come from inside one of the genres, such as science fiction’s Ray Bradbury and Ursula K Le Guin, horror’s Stephen King and Peter Straub, and several popular mystery writers. One exception is Michael Chabon who won a Pulitzer Prize for the fabulous novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavelier and Clay, which incorporated both the historical golem and a love for super-hero comic books. He followed that novel with a young-adult fantasy Summerland.

Now Chabon has edited two original anthologies whose stated goals are incorporating genre values into literary fiction. The first was McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales and the newest one is McSweeney’s Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories. Both books brought together genre writers such as China Mieville, Stephen King, Jonathan Lethem, Peter Straub, Neil Gaiman and Harlan Ellison with “literary writers” such as Sherman Alexie, Roddy Doyle and David Mitchell, as well as a few writers such as Joyce Carol Oates and Karen Joy Fowler who have always walked the line between both types of fiction comfortably.

Chabon is a fabulous writer and he has put together two good collections of fiction. If you have always steered away from genre fiction, either because you have never tried it or your English teacher discouraged it, Chabon’s anthologies are a very good place to begin.