S&S Mystery genre?

...no. Kinda.

A lot of agents handle YA/MG fantasy, some do non-traditional (non epic/high) fantasy, and some only handle Epic/high.

Sword and Sorcery is pretty close to High fantasy, but more focused on the character. (my genre Heroic fantasy is more focused still).

No story is purely "Fantasy" but the story itself holds a flavor of action/drama/mystery, so that's just expected.


Market your book as Sword and Sorcery Fantasy. The mystery would have to be unveiled while reading.


I can't say anything about the lack of interest, any publisher/agent will grab a good story regardless of the genre's popularity of the current time.

Interesting, dunno about how to pitch the "right" genre to an agent. REH, for all his avowed dislike of writing mystery, put Conan in a locked-room mystery in "The God in the Bowl".

Genres are mostly marketing tools, ways for your book to be shelved. If you're at early stages in the process (like querying agents) then I wouldn't be too concerned about pinning down an exact genre. I don't think there are any agents who would trash a query because it said "fantasy" instead of something more specific.

Ian Isaro said:

Genres are mostly marketing tools, ways for your book to be shelved. If you're at early stages in the process (like querying agents) then I wouldn't be too concerned about pinning down an exact genre. I don't think there are any agents who would trash a query because it said "fantasy" instead of something more specific.

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^This. Call it fantasy. Unless you are submitting to someone who has specifically asked for S&S.