Friday, December 08, 2006

Speak Up

What’s a “Beer Can Mystery”? According to a clever compilation of “tomorrow’s terminology,” penned by Kevin Sampsell, an event coordinator at the famous Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon, a Beer Can Mystery is “the distant cousin of the Cozy Mystery (the light mystery genre usually read by grandmother types, such as Rita Mae Brown’s Sneaky Pie series) ...” As Sampsell explains, “the Beer Can Mystery is typically about men, drinking, sex, and crime. See Joe R. Lansdale, Elmore Leonard.”

In addition to that term, Sampsell proposes: “Cappuccino Caper: The younger, hipper sister of the Cozy Mystery (and probably ex-girlfriend of the Beer Can Mystery). Usually read in an Ikea chair or in a trendy café, sometimes with a scone. See Kate Atkinson, Louise Welsh.”

“Austentacious”? “Evelyn Complex”? “Litrosexual”? “Piggy-booking”? Sampsell presents more than 20 new slang terms useful to literary addicts here.

(Hat tip to BookBitchBlog.)

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