One challenge I have is clearly defining what genre Sidekick is. I’ve called it Historical Fantasy, which is clearly is, but there’s also a genre called Weird Western. I hope to post examples and links in the coming months to these types of books.

Weird Westerns get their title from taking the Western setting and genre and twisting it. The majority of stories I’ve read in this category blend Western with Horror. The dead gunfighter comes back for revenge. The miners unearth some horrible monster underground. Demons accost cowboys trying to finish the cattle drive. These often work well, but they’re not what I write.

I consider my stories to be Adventure Fiction more than Horror. The major difference is tone. We both have monsters, but in Adventure Fiction, it’s more “buckle up! We gotta fight this thing!” than “Oh my God! Run!” I want a roller coaster ride rather than a sense of dread.

But they also border on Young Adult (YA). Billy’s the right age and (spoiler!) there aren’t a lot of adult situations in the novel. I happily let my then-nine-year-old read it when I’d finished it. I’ve decided not to categorize it as YA straight out of the gate because I realized I may write other stories down the road that aren’t YA and I didn’t want to be categorized as a YA author right now.

So–historical adventure fantasy. Sounds like fun. 😉