The Joy of Writing Cross-Genre
Plus win a set of Greer Macallister's trilogy: The Five Queendoms!
Readers know me primarily as a historical fiction author. My novels, Feast of Sorrow, The Chef's Secret, and even parts of In the Garden of Monsters, have invited you into historical worlds, from ancient Rome to Renaissance Italy. Yet my creative journey has gradually evolved toward incorporating more fantastical elements in my work. Crossing genres isn’t something that many authors do. Sometimes it’s because of what the author prefers to write. Sometimes it’s what the editor wants to publish. And it’s often hard to pull readers along if you are hopping between different types of books. But more and more authors are doing so these days.
My love affair with fantasy began early. At ten years old, I had the life-changing opportunity to meet Madeleine L'Engle at a young writers conference, an encounter that left me starry-eyed and inspired. I devoured her books, marveling at worlds where time could wrinkle and fold, where ordinary children could have extraordinary adventures. Something about those magical possibilities captured my imagination in a way that purely realistic stories never did. At the same time, I was also picking up all the books my father left behind. Every single Piers Anthony novel. Anne McCaffery. Stephen R. Donaldson. And books I definitely shouldn’t have been reading at that age. I loved escaping into these new worlds and I wrote many stories set in places wild and fantastical.
Despite this early inspiration, when I arrived in Boston and became involved with the writing community, fantasy wasn't considered “serious literature.” I had my first kick in the teeth on that when I submitted an application essay to UMass Boston for an M.F.A. in Literature, titled From Homer to Tolkien—Examining the Foundations of Epic Fantasy. To my absolute shock, I wasn’t accepted. This turned out to be fine, because I ended up getting my M.A. in Critical and Creative Thinking, which ironically, did a million times more for me as a writer than I think the Lit degree would have. But still, that was a tough nut to swallow. Around that time, I was also starting to meet people at GrubStreet, a writing community here in Boston, and fantasy was almost a dirty word in those circles. The message was clear: if you wanted to be taken seriously as an author, you wrote literary fiction or historically grounded narratives. Fantasy was relegated to a lower tier, entertaining perhaps, but not the work of “real writers.”
And so I wrote historical fiction, which I also love, because I love the research. But I still had these wild stories in my head.
As the literary landscape began to shift and fantasy gained mainstream acceptance, I found myself drawn back to those early inspirations. With bestseller lists increasingly featuring fantasy and magical realism, I saw an opportunity to blend my love of history with more fantastical elements. This evolution began with In the Garden of Monsters, set in 1948 and featuring Salvador Dalí as a character. Though anchored in historical reality (Dalí did indeed visit Bomarzo's Monster Garden in 1948), the novel embraces surreal and fantastical elements in ways my previous works did not.
My upcoming novel, The Happiness Collector, represents an even bolder journey away from historical fiction. This contemporary urban fantasy, set in London and across Italy, introduces readers to obscure ancient Greek gods walking among us in the modern world. It marks my most dramatic genre shift yet, though Italy remains my creative compass.
Fast forward from those early Boston writing days, and the literary landscape has transformed dramatically. Fantasy and magical realism now occupy bestseller lists and critical acclaim lists alike. What was once dismissed is now mainstream, allowing me to finally embrace my earliest storytelling instincts with confidence.
Historical research and fantasy world-building both require attention to detail and consistency. The difference lies in where you find those details, in history books or your imagination. Both demand the writer answer countless questions about how their world functions, what rules govern it, and how characters navigate these environments.
Writing historical fiction taught me discipline in research and storytelling. The process involves connecting dots between what we know historically while imagining the spaces between. In my historical novels, I built worlds that actually existed, bringing ancient Rome or Renaissance Italy to life through sensory details, particularly through food. Historical accuracy provided both structure and boundaries, a framework within which creativity could flourish.
Writing fantasy is, in many ways, far more challenging than historical fiction. Instead of building upon established historical foundations, you're creating systems and worlds from scratch. Making the unreal feel real requires significant world-building work, establishing rules, cultures, and physics that might not align with our reality but must maintain internal consistency.
I'm certainly not the first author to transition between genres. Many acclaimed writers have successfully made similar journeys:
Colson Whitehead shifted from literary fiction to a zombie apocalypse narrative in Zone One (this was actually the first book of his I read!) before returning to historical fiction with the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Underground Railroad
Isabel Allende moved fluidly between magical realism, historical fiction, and young adult adventure
Ursula K. Le Guin mastered science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction throughout her legendary career
Margaret Atwood has written dystopian fiction, speculative fiction, historical fiction, and poetry, never content to be boxed into a single genre
Lisa See blends historical fiction with mystery and cultural exploration, and has also written contemporary thrillers earlier in her career
Stephen King, best known for horror, has also published fantasy, mystery, speculative fiction, and literary coming-of-age stories like The Body and Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
Philip Roth explored everything from satire (Our Gang), metafiction (The Counterlife), and alternate history (The Plot Against America), to more realist literary fiction, constantly reinventing his narrative voice and form
Greer Macallister, whose work I particularly admire, has recently unveiled the final book in a feminist fantasy trilogy that perfectly demonstrates how powerful storytelling transcends genre boundaries (READ ON FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN THE FIVE QUEENDOMS TRILOGY)
These authors remind us that skilled writers aren't confined to single categories; their voices and perspectives remain distinctive regardless of the genre container. And well, they also make me feel a lot less nerdy about my love for fantasy fiction and my desire to genre hop. I still have other historical fiction tales up my sleeve!
The Happiness Collector arrives in December 2025. Whether you've followed me since ancient Rome or are discovering my work for the first time, I hope you'll find that good storytelling, like magic, knows no boundaries.
What’s Bringing Me Joy
I had NO idea that they stole these lines for Labyrinth (one of my favorite movies)!
The young’uns won’t know half of these people, but dang… this really is the most Seventies scene ever.
And Now It’s Time For A…
The Five Queendoms by G.R. Macallister
I’ve been hooked on G.R. Macallister’s Five Queendoms series from the beginning, but Sestia absolutely blew me away. It’s the culmination of everything I’ve loved about this world: fierce women, intricate political games, deep-rooted magic, and an unflinching look at power and legacy. Macallister doesn’t just build a world—she architects an entire ecosystem of culture, language, and belief, and in Sestia, she brings it all to a brilliant, gut-wrenching, and deeply satisfying crescendo. These books have redefined what epic fantasy can be, and Sestia is the crown jewel.
The Five Queendoms is a sweeping epic fantasy series by G.R. Macallister where magic is science, matriarchies rule, and power is earned through intellect, strategy, and strength. Spanning five distinct queendoms—each with its own culture, magic, and traditions—the series follows a cast of formidable women as they navigate betrayal, prophecy, ambition, and war in the wake of a crumbling empire. Rich in worldbuilding and unapologetically feminist, this is a story of rising queens, ruthless politics, and the price of survival in a world where the gods may have stopped listening—but the women never did.
Do you want to win this series?
To sign up for the giveaway, you can fill out this form. Your name will be thrown into the hat for a shot at a paperback copy. This giveaway closes at midnight ET on Wednesday, 05/21/25. Winners will be notified within 48 hours of the giveaway closing and announced in a future newsletter/post.
Important to Note: You must be 18+ and a United States resident (pesky international laws make it tricky to do giveaways worldwide). If you are someone who loves to read the rules, you can find the obligatory info here.
Thanks for Joining Me
If you love food and love Italy, and haven’t read IN THE GARDEN OF MONSTERS, THE CHEF’S SECRET or FEAST OF SORROW, click the links to learn where to buy your copy! And now you can pre-order my latest, THE HAPPINESS COLLECTOR!
You can also follow me here: Website | Instagram | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky
Early Grub could be pretty toxic even to upmarket stuff. I remember in a getting to know you class when we had to list some of our favorite writers I rattled off a list and ended with "and Nick Hornby can do no wrong" and the writer beside me wrinkled her nose and said, "Really?" with all the dripping mean girl intonation you can imagine.
Which is just to say, I'm here, reading all the things, still, and cheering you on as you shift genres. And I'm in the trenches with you. Baby Cathy who read all the horror she could get her hands on would be thrilled to know I've finally got a horror project on deck. It's slow going at the moment because I don't have the time or energy I used to have, but it's making me happy, and if the publishing world won't publish my more mainstream offerings than I can at least follow my heart as long as it lets me!
Ooh! A new trilogy to add to the list. I haven't heard of this one before; I'm excited to read it. Eventually. At some point. (Adds to 10 mile long TBR)