My first adventure novel was a trade paperback of Indiana Jones. Before that, I had never even considered the genre,  because I was a bit of a purist. Okay, maybe snob is a better word. I was so deeply entrenched in my science fiction and horror that I never even considered anything beyond it.

The only reason I even bothered with Indiana in the first place was I loved the movies and the book's title had a supernatural bend to it. After the first few chapters, I was hooked. What people don't realize about the adventure genre is that it is actually more difficult to write than other genres. The opposite is true when bringing adventure to the screen.

Adventure stories are heavy in action, but how can you write action and still make it interesting. The prose of pulling out a gun or a car chase through the bustling streets of London isn't easy. It can become repetitive and banal unless the action is put together in a way that actually makes it part of the story and not just what's happening. 

The opposite is true on the silver screen. When Sylvester Stallone goes on a rampage, killing everything in his sight, it's a completely sensory-indulging experience, and isn't meant to be cerebral. How many people would be interested in the paperback version of Rambo III? I didn't think so.

Authors that choose the adventure genre have a special talent of making the action an important part of the plot. I love to read the genre, whether it's Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer or good old Indiana, but have yet to have the courage to try it out on my own. I haven't quite got the knack of making my action seem interesting.

I hope to write the next great adventure novel one day, but until then I'll stick to my horror. There's a million ways to describe a zombie apocalypse.