Curio Fiction—a fantasy subgenre

Author Diane Callahan coined the term "Curio Fiction".

In February, I attended ProWritingAid’s ‘Fantasy Writers’ Week’. Among the many engaging sessions, Diane Callahan’s presentation, “How to Write Curio Fiction: Showcasing the Fantastic in Our World”, truly stood out.

Fantasy has many subgenres—Arthurian, Epic, High Fantasy, and Sword and Sorcery Fantasy—all signaling the specific nature of the story and its fantastical elements. However, Callahan introduced a new subgenre: Curio fiction. “I wanted to capture stories where you find yourself in a world very much like our own, except one thing is slightly off,” she said. “Perhaps there’s a movie theater that plays only memories, or the story centers on a child who learns the language of cats. Or in this familiar-yet-unfamiliar world, everyone wears electronic bracelets that monitor their moods.”

For Callahan, curio fiction showcases familiar-yet-unfamiliar. “These stories place the fantastic alongside the mundane, yet their speculative elements feel subtle compared to other works classified as Fantasy or Science Fiction,” she said. Think of novels like The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, or The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, or television shows like Pushing Daisies.

The defining features of curio fiction

Curio fiction fits under the broad umbrella of speculative fiction, Callahan said. What they have in common is that they explore “human relationships and daily life through the lens of an often singular or anomalous speculative element”.

These are the five defining features of the curio fiction subgenre:

1. Real-world setting: Curio fiction unfolds within a real-world context. The setting need not be a specific, named place in our world, and it can exist in different periods.
2. Unique speculative element: This genre hinges on a story-defining speculative component, a “curio” that deviates the story slightly from reality. This could manifest as a peculiar location, a person with extraordinary abilities, or a mysterious object.
3. Flexible approach to magic: Magic, if present, isn't strictly defined within a comprehensive system. The speculative element might rely on a hand-wavium scientific explanation or remain unexplained. The curio serves to explore themes and create conflicts without a deep analysis of its origins.
4. Human-centric focus: The narrative emphasizes human capabilities rather than delving into the intricacies of various magical or extraterrestrial species.
5. Impact on relationships and society: This genre is more concerned with the effects of the curio on relationships and social structures than with the mechanics or detailed worldbuilding. While it simplifies worldbuilding, it keeps complexity in terms of characterization, themes, prose, and plot structure. The “what if” question posed by the curio often acts as a thought experiment related to profound themes like time, memory, death, free will, or life-altering choices.

Tropes

Callahan identified ten prevalent tropes within curio fiction: 

1. Time loops: Characters are trapped in a recurring day and have to explore the consequences of their choices, epitomized by the movie Groundhog Day. For Callahan, “time loops are also a commentary on the impact of our choices”.
2. Body swap: Characters switch bodies or minds through magical means, also known as the “Freaky Friday Flip”.
3. Reincarnation: Used to explore identity by envisioning a person in different bodies or life circumstances.
4. Alternate lives: Characters navigate diverse paths within the same life, akin to alternate timelines within the multiverse.
5. Unusual aging or immortality: Anomaly in the aging process, such as Benjamin Button's reverse aging, challenging societal norms.
6. Afterlife exploration: Turning abstract concepts like the afterlife into tangible, metaphysical settings.
7. Small-scale time travel: The focus is on its effects on relationships rather than the technicalities, often serving as a genre conduit.
8. Near-future technology with a magical feel: Advanced technology has a magical essence, blurring the boundaries between science and magic.
9. Portal fantasy: Characters experience dreamlike realities through portals, deviating from traditional fantasy realms.
10. Characters with special abilities: Individuals possess unique abilities like telekinesis or clairvoyance, e.g., Matilda by Roald Dahl. The abilities often give characters a hidden strength, but also isolate them from normal society. The gifted typically hide their powers from everyone, except for a select few people they can trust, and their abilities are a tool both for creating problems and solving them. Nathaniel Colt, my protagonist from “The Empath Series”, fits this description.

Conclusion

The realm of fantasy encompasses many subgenres, each with its distinct characteristics. So, now we have curio fiction as a new subgenre, but is it really needed? I don’t know whether it will stick, but Diane Callahan makes a strong case for curio fiction. Ultimately, the categorization of a work into a specific subgenre often hinges on individual interpretation and opinion.

Profile:

Diane Callahan writes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. As a developmental editor, she spends her days shaping stories. Her YouTube channel, Quotidian Writer, provides practical tips for aspiring authors.

Read her full article about “Curio Fiction” on Tor.