Genre, what genre?

::Blinks:: Oh, hi! Readers, yeah, need to talk to the readers. ::Slaps self across face:: ::Vigorously shakes head:: Di-i-i-i-i-i-i... ::Presses brain reset button::

Don't you wish you had a brain reset button? I do. Sadly, one has yet to be invented. You are now the recipient of a musing on genre (ie. romance, erotica, mystery, etc.) as I have just spent some time, enjoyably, debating what makes a book a certain genre. I really hope I don't lose the argument, but I am prepared for the possibility. It won't horribly wound me if I do lose it, anyway, because it's a day profession argument.

These days, so many books are "cross-genre" books. At what point does a book no longer belong in a certain genre? What do you expect out of "cross-genre" books when you're reading it mainly for one of the genres? What do you think of authors who write "cross-genre", but maybe not that successfully? Are there any authors out there you think who do "cross-genre" very well? What authors are out there that you think are great examples of their "named" genre, but would greatly appeal to readers of another genre (and which genre would that be)?

I'm really interested in what readers have to say on this topic because of the day profession argument/discussion. From an author perspective this is also important to me because my stories are usually a mix of genres, though I try to focus on a main genres with supporting elements from other genres. What readers have to say is very important. You're the ones buying our books, and if we're not meeting your expectations to the best of our ability, you're not going to buy our stories, which means, we're not making any money. So, as a reader of genre fiction, tell me what *you* think of the concept of genres.

Worst job evah...

I've been lucky with my jobs. Even my worst job ever, and it was bad, wasn't as bad as it could have been as everyone who I worked with was great. My worst job ever? I was an auto claim adjuster for an insurance company in a major metropolitan area. Can we say overwhelmed? I'm not naming the company because I would do business with them as a client, I just know I never want to work that kind of job ever again in my life. It is so very soul-sucking to assign monetary values to someone's pain and suffering if you can't find a way to distance yourself. I've never been that good at distancing myself. I'm not complaining though, because a truly bad job is one where you don't learn anything at all. With this job, while I left it almost a complete basket case, I finally committed to trying a profession I had put off even considering. I'm now in a profession I love, well, two of them, and a day job that I'm really enjoying. All roads lead you to where you need to be, it just gets *really* bumpy at times.