Jilli, what about Peter Straub?

Good point. He gets Serious Reviews, too. But anyone who isn't a Big Name Author who is writing horror? Gets shunned. And frequently stuck with horrible, schlocky cover art, which doesn't help at all.

My perspective is that it's not the authors who are dismissed, but the readers. People who read mysteries are more socially acceptable than people who read SF/Fantasy. Horror's probably somewhere in the middle, thanks to King.

Why I dropped in here, tho: A friend has talked me into joining a paperback book swap, and I'm wondering if any Buffistas would be interested? You get a list, mail a book to the first person on the list, add your name to the bottom of the list, and send the newly-updated list to new people. So you only send one book, but get several. You don't get to keep trading with the same people, though.

Anyway, if you are interested, my profile addy's good.

Horror's probably somewhere in the middle, thanks to King.

Nope. King, Barker, Straub, and Koontz are considered the "acceptable" faces of horror fiction. But if you ask the average sales clerk at B&N or Borders where they shelve any other horror authors, you will usually get a startled look, and a mumbled statment of "Oh, those books are just mixed in with general fiction".

People who read mysteries are more socially acceptable than people who read SF/Fantasy.

That's definitely true. As a mystery reader, I may be sheepish to pull the book out of my bag, but no one thinks I'm a freak when they see it.

I'll just say there's a reason that bookstores specializing in romance books sell ornamental book covers at the register. (Because nobody likes being seen in public with the covers the publishers pick.)

Yup. How comfortable I am reading any genre book in public (and I read romance, fantasy, mystery, and occasional science fiction) has a lot to do with how classy the cover is.

People who read mysteries are more socially acceptable than people who read SF/Fantasy.

Wow. That's scary.

I think San Francisco may be slanted a bit differently, though, because when I'm using public transport, I see quite a sizeable percentage of adult readers reading William Gibson, or books with what seem to be fantasy genre covers (there are very few Regency romances out there with dragons on the cover).

Gibson is by definition more socially acceptable than anything with dragons on the cover.

I think fantasy readers rank lower than SF readers (please disregard the overlap for purposes of this discussion), and not necessarily higher than romance readers, just different.

Let me just say that popularity with people on public transportation does not equal literary respect.

I remember a funny story about Marion Zimmer Bradley, preparing to publish her first "Sword and Sorceress" collection. She threatened the publisher (was it Don Wollheim? Dunno. Book at home) with mayhem if he put a naked Amazon on the cover of her book. Too bad not all authors have that type of clout, for I'm sure we'd then have prettier covers to enjoy.