They interrupt narrative and disrupt plot – no wonder novelists have been slow to warm to mobile phones. But a new generation is putting technology at the heart of their workWhat do you call a phone when it rings in a fictional world? “Mobile” and “cell” are old, “smartphone” is almost a tautology and “phone” is so intrusive that the word seems to ring out shrilly from the page the instant you type it. This may be because we read fiction partly to escape our phones, or it may be that phones, even fictional ones, seem to demand too much of our attention. Telephones, of the kind we all keep handy, are so much a part of daily life we touch them as often as our faces. But phones in fiction require a sleight of hand: if characters use them as realism dictates, they will feel as interruptive on the page as they do at the dinner table. How can authors navigate this challenge?Like bathrooms and paid employment, it is amazing how often phones are dispensed with by many otherwise realist fiction writers. JM Coetzee famously wrote to Paul Auster (in Here and Now, the 2013 selection of their letters) that he was not prepared “to write novels in which people go around with personal electronic devices”. Because, if “everyone has access to more or less everyone else, what becomes of all that plotting?” He also lamented the impact of mobile technology on the “novel of adultery”, though surely Sally Rooney has proved there was nothing to fear. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2023-07-22 10:00:09 UTC ]
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Two books by Fox News personalities—one by Rachel Campos-Duffy and Sean Duffy and another by Shannon Bream—cracked the top five on our Religion Nonfiction Bestsellers list for December. Mitch Albom tops in Religion FIction with his latest novel, ‘The Stranger in the Lifeboat.’ Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-01-12 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The number of independent bookshops in the UK and Ireland has grown for the fifth consecutive year despite challenges brought by the pandemic, the Booksellers Association says. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-07 22:34:12 UTC ]
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Candlestick Press is planning to publish a record 22 titles this year and says sales in 2021 were up 23% on the previous 12 months. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-06 13:52:51 UTC ]
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Looking for great new reads in the new year? Add these 2022 historical fiction books to your TBR right now, including The Good Wife of Bath by Karen Brooks. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-01-04 11:30:00 UTC ]
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Feeling nostalgic? Try ‘The Chronicles of Prydain.’ For something more modern, there’s ‘The Midnight Bargain. And so many more. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-01-03 23:00:00 UTC ]
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How book-loving communities on social media are helping authors break barriers to become bestsellersTalia Hibbert was rewatching a Spider-Man film and eating a meal in her living room when she received life-changing news. Her romance novel Act Your Age, Eve Brown, which she wrote at the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-12-30 08:00:44 UTC ]
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You just got your hands on a new phone. Naturally, your first inclination is to head to the App Store or the Google Play Store to download your favorite apps to your shiny new device. While the Engadget team tries to keep our phones relatively unencumbered, there are some apps we can't live... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2021-12-27 18:00:49 UTC ]
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HarperNorth has snapped up "a piece of fabulously feel-good fiction" from Emily Merrill, submitted via the division's open submissions process. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-21 06:35:12 UTC ]
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Duckworth has signed Siddarth Shrikanth’s “uniquely accessible debut” on the climate crisis, The Business Case for Nature. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-16 02:35:15 UTC ]
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Peepal Tree Press has commissioned a speculative fiction anthology authored by Black British writers and edited by author Leone Ross. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-15 06:54:29 UTC ]
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Apparently, J.K. Rowling’s bruised reputation has not lowered the value of her books. Yesterday, a rare first edition of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone sold at auction for $471,000, which Heritage Auctions says is “the highest price ever paid for the boy wizard’s debut... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-12-10 18:27:50 UTC ]
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‘They Can’t Take Your Name’ is the first crime novel in a planned series about the wrongs of the justice system. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-12-10 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Lucy Jago’s story fittingly takes place in the corrupt, licentious court of England’s James I. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-12-10 12:00:00 UTC ]
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The year’s most transporting novels have taken us to the past and around the globe. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-12-09 10:00:10 UTC ]
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From epic voyages to haunting folk tales, here are the highlights of an otherworldly year. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-12-08 10:00:15 UTC ]
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A recent roundup of the ‘best books of 2021’ had every possible genre of novel – with the unsurprising exception of romanceIn the four months since my first novel came out, I’ve had the same conversation probably a dozen times.“What’s it about?” a well-meaning stranger will ask. “Well,” I’ll... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-12-05 15:25:24 UTC ]
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Seven books comb through history, travel to distant planets and imagine our A.I. future. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-12-03 20:26:32 UTC ]
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Twelve new yarns will whisk readers to the past, where life was every bit as complicated, dramatic and story-worthy as the present. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-12-03 14:00:06 UTC ]
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Facing difficult comparisons to last year when Barack Obama's 'A Promised Land' was piling up huge sales numbers, unit sales still increased 9.7% last week over 2020 as adult fiction sales jumped 35.3%. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-12-02 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Ed Lake is moving to Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the newly created role of publishing director for non-fiction after five years at Profile. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-01 10:49:33 UTC ]
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