Genre in fiction can be a slippery beast. Sometimes I don’t know what to say when people ask me in what genre I write. I usually say that I am broadly writing in the fantasy genre. Sometimes I call it young-adult too, because I see that fantasy skews young adult.

Fantasy is too broad a description, though. One of the things that draws me to this story I’ve been living with for decades is the intrusion of the supernatural into (what we would call) the real world. Details matter. Magic has consequences. And these are challenges that put the fun in writing.

I can name a few books I’ve read recently that frame stories this way. Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas is an unusual take on vampires in a detailed historical setting (19^th century Mexico). The Changeling by Victor LaValle brings creatures from folktales into contemporary New York City. Shutter by Ramona Emerson imagines ghosts haunting the main character in an original way as well as being a well-plotted detective novel.

I am drawn to mysteries and detection, which is another aspect of what I am writing now. I draw inspiration from Raymond Chandler and Martin Cruz Smith and, in a way, Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (for the detective-story aspects and the world-building).

So, what would I call the book I’m writing if I were micro-targeting genre? A werewolf detective story?