Here are some new literary portmanteaus to use alongside romantasy and cli-fi.
It was recently brought to my attention, via the Lit Hub Slack, that “thromance,” a portmanteau of thriller and romance, has joined the ranks of zippy subgenre names. Maybe it’s because of social media, but it seems like book conversations are more awash in these shortened terms. Romantasy is of course the reigning leader of the pack, but sci-fi, rom-com, travelogue, cyberpunk and more have been in common usage for decades.
We shorten names a lot over here at Lit Hub, and don’t want to be left out of the fun, so here are a few more books related portmanteaus.
Bofic: Fiction that has to do with boats.
Moode: Moon odes, a favorite of poets.
Comm Rom: Communist romance. About a couple that discovers their class consciousness and crushes capitalism, after a brief period where they break up, of course, even though we all know they’re destined for each other.
Allegopia: Allegorical dystopian novels that show us how bad things are with a slight frame shift.
Histrad: Dad history books, also known as HIStory.
Sadoir: A sad memoir, usually in a chic, European-coded way.
Starchival: A book that is drawing on the letters, emails, drafts, and other ephemera from a big name.
Afow: This one is more of an acronym, but it’s short for “Auto fiction or what?” which is what you say when you can’t figure out if the author is writing about themselves or not.
NYTe Lite: An easy read with enough literary cachet to be popular with NY Times Book Review types.
Scrom: Scammer romance. A romance about con artists or grifters falling in love. Not sure this exists yet, but I would read the hell out it.
Cliller: A book club killer, the kind of book that’s going to lead people to say something they can’t take back.
Po-Bio: Pop Bio, a dishy and fun book by a pop star, actor, or a person who was disgraced in a non-depressing way.
Mantell: Another name for those boring, ghostwritten campaign books by male politicians. Not to be confused with the great Hilary Mantel, who is good and not boring at all.
Escalit: Escapist literature, something that let’s you say, “get me out of here I’m a celebrity!” to your own brain.
Boossay: Book length essay, but since it sounds similar to another slang term, maybe don’t go saying this one too confidently in public.
Tao Lit: Writing that’s a bit too influenced by 2000s alt-lit star Tao Lin.
Blovention: A term that was only invented for the sake of a blog, and is unlikely to enter common usage.
