King is about as Mainstream as an author can be, truly embedded into popular culture over the last 35 years.
That just doesn't seem to fit... I mean, we have Tolkein and Lewis who have been major parts of pop culture for longer than King, and they are patently Fantasy. Is it that their books have elves and magic, where Kings have ghosts, clowns, and aliens?
Horror has always been sort of a between genre in the US. King writes enough cross-genre stuff that most places just stick all his books where it is most convenient. It's also part of the reason that Margaret Atwood is shelved in Literature despite several of her titles being Sci-Fi or speculative by nature... that and she'd probably file a suite against a store that shelved her as a sci-fi author. Also, most stores shelve all of an authors books in one place rather than split them by genre.
Sad that someone would be that offended by being called a sci fi author.
Thank you for your insights.

I was Phelix on wotmania, I will always be Phelix in the "real" world, and now I am Phelix on RAFO.
You will make all kinds of mistakes; but as long as you are generous and true and also fierce you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her.- Churchill
*MySmiley*
You will make all kinds of mistakes; but as long as you are generous and true and also fierce you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her.- Churchill
*MySmiley*
Categorizing of fiction books...
21/12/2009 07:42:29 AM
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This is down to the USA not having a separate horror section, I believe.
22/12/2009 03:25:04 AM
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Um...?
22/12/2009 04:08:50 AM
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That is not standard in all the larger bookstore chains... Barnes & Noble and Borders in particular.
22/12/2009 02:53:13 PM
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So why does King get to be "literature"...
22/12/2009 07:31:14 PM
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Most likely because of the money and movies associated with his name...
22/12/2009 07:46:14 PM
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So exposure makes something literary?
22/12/2009 08:06:27 PM
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Nope... just where it gets shelved in a book megastore.
22/12/2009 08:41:56 PM
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Interesting.
22/12/2009 08:46:23 PM
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I have always seen King in the horror section, never in literature. *shrugs*
23/12/2009 04:06:47 AM
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Aside from Barnes & Noble and Borders and Books-A-Million, maybe I guess?
22/12/2009 05:55:20 AM
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Not Borders. They have always had a separate horror shelf next to fantasy/sci-fi. *NM*
23/12/2009 04:03:27 AM
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Whoa, dude. We've been in a Borders together! *NM*
23/12/2009 03:43:11 PM
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It's true! (you might want to get tested... the last girl I went to Borders with had warts.
) *NM*
23/12/2009 05:20:54 PM
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LOL! I miss you, baby!
*NM*
24/12/2009 03:28:16 AM
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Miss you too sugar.
24/12/2009 03:31:04 AM
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You never do!
24/12/2009 11:52:05 PM
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