Why Did the Genre Cross the Road?

I am currently reading Susan Kearney's THE QUEST, having finished the previous three books in the series (THE CHALLENGE, THE DARE and THE ULTIMATUM). In reading this series, I got to thinking about mixing genres.

If you look at bookshelves in Barnes & Noble or Borders, you see a few basic sections: Horror, Mystery, Romance, Sci-Fi/Fantasy and general fiction. But this does not begin to encompass all the different types of books out there - as the many sections in RT will tell you.

Ms. Kearney's books definitely could be described as both sci-fi and romance. I have been told that Susan Grant's books, including YOUR PLANET OR MINE?, are another example of this kind of genre mixing. Diane Mott Davidson's mysteries also cross genres.

I think that much of this started earlier though. Such as making vampires a fixture in romantic books - scary creatures that used to be much more of a focus in horror novels (DRACULA anyone?). The recent evolution of urban fantasy and paranormal written by romance authors is simply a byproduct.

And that makes me wonder what will be next? We already have mystery/romance, suspense/romance, horror and romance have been appropriated into the paranormal. So what's next?

Nicole