Visionary Fiction: Has a New Genre Been Born?

In my internet wanderings over the weekend, I came across this article:

Visionary Fiction Combines Romance, Shifting Realities, Paranormal Twists and Life-Changing Truths


*perk* What's this? I had to learn more.

The article was posted on March 17, 2012 as a Digital Journal press release for A Brief Moment of Time by author Jeane Watier in which Visionary Fiction is explained as "fiction in which the expansion of the human mind drives the plot."

Visionary Fiction may involve shifting realties, mystical experiences, and encounters with divine beings via expansion of the human mind. According to the article, the author is a Canadian who has studied "spiritual principles, including the Law of Attraction, for many years."

Okay. Show me more.

I followed a link to Watier's web site and found a page devoted to the Principles of the Law of Attraction based on her interpretation of the teachings of Abraham-Hicks.

I'll recap the basics of the principles defined on her web site here:

1. Everything is energy; everything is vibration.

2. The Law of Attraction regulates all things.

3. Everything has a vibrational frequency.

4. We can change the frequency of our thoughts.

5. It is natural to feel good.

6. Well-being is the basis of the universe.

So this Law of Attraction sounds to me like a re-combination or re-explanation of concepts and ideas I've heard before. Of being in balance with the universe, the opposite of which is Koyaanisqatsi--the Hopi word for being out of balance with nature. It seems compatible with Yin and Yang, the Taoism concept of the balance of energies. It suggests mind over matter and the overall health benefits resulting from meditation--learning to take a step back and realize we are more than the sum of our thoughts.

Am I on the right track?

To Google at the speed of light!

It turns out the Law of Attraction is not a fringe concept. Oprah.com even devoted time to the concept that (in the words of author Louise Hay), "It's as though every time we think a thought, every time we speak a word, the universe is listening and responding to us." The Law of Attraction proposes that by thinking positive thoughts about yourself, your life, your surroundings, that you plant the seeds in which the universe will begin to mold itself to conform to your positive thinking.

Interesting. But how is this related to Sci-Fi Romance?

Some of my recent discussions with co-blogger Sharon Lynn Fisher have been about scientific multiverse or M-theory that conscious thought can affect or spin off new universes, and in doing so we may create our own reality via our thoughts. Creating our own reality is hardly a new concept to many cultures and religions.

Are modern science and ancestral mysticism finding common ground? Beginning to merge? Some claim yes, that a few areas of scientific research are rediscovering ancient knowledge. If so, then some of the Visionary Fiction genre (or subgenre) could fall under the SF/R umbrella.

Within the context of the publishing industry, is it considered a legitimate, or at least an emerging, genre or subgenre?

Possibly. Visionary Fiction has a Goodreads group, and its own category on Amazon [Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Religious & Inspirational > Visionary Fiction]. The Visionary Fiction tag reveals a number of books and novels that are described as such.

Okay, so how are these ideas used in a work in fiction?

Probably one of the best articles on the subject is by Monty Joynes, an author who sounds surprised to find some of his work classified as Visionary Fiction, The Altered State of Visionary Fiction. In it, Mr. Joynes states that Visionary Fiction includes "novels that deal with shifts in awareness that result in metaphysical understanding by the central characters."

Taking a look at the Amazon results for Visionary Fiction results in a list of books that contains some fiction and some more of the self-help variety. Of the fiction books, here's a sampling of novels that have over 10 reviews:

The Opening by Ron Saverese (27 reviews, average 4-1/2 star rating)

Mystic Warrior: A Novel Beyond Time and Space by Edwin Harkness Spina (14 reviews, average 5 stars)

The Last Day by Glenn Kleier (845 reviews, 4 stars)

Strays by Jeane Webster (40 reviews, average 5 star rating)

It appears some Visionary Fiction might fit as a new sub-subgenre of SFR. I'm looking forward to exploring some of the books in this new fiction genre. It appears that my fourth novel, Chimera, may fit some of the criteria for Visionary Fiction, though I think most would consider it more of a SFR/Horror blend.

Has anyone read (or is writing) a novel that might be described as both Visionary Fiction and SFR?