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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In the midst of chaos, the characters in these books find their own ways to metabolize real-life tragedy. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-01-15 10:00:46 UTC ]
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Read your way into the best historical fiction of 2023, which spans the globe and time. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-01-12 11:31:00 UTC ]
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The debut novel 'Dead in Long Beach, California,' is a sharp, dazzling turn for Compton-raised author Venita Blackburn, who made her name with lightning-fast fiction. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-01-11 11:00:44 UTC ]
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The best new sci-fi and fantasy books out January 2024 feature mythological retellings, space adventures, cyberpunk ghost stories, and more! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-01-02 11:30:00 UTC ]
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Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes on Friday: Lennar, Scholastic fall; Costco, Steel Dynamics Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2023-12-15 21:17:56 UTC ]
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These books provide us with a deeper understanding of what Korea is beyond what we hear or see in popular culture. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-12-15 11:30:00 UTC ]
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Of all the great premises™ boasted by this year’s slate of movies, the wonderful American Fiction has one of the very best. The film is about a veteran writer of literary fiction who, as a Black man, finds himself undesirable in the literary market for his lack of conforming to type. The... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-12-15 09:55:27 UTC ]
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The publishing world made plenty of news in 2023, but not only because of the books themselves Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2023-12-08 14:55:07 UTC ]
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NoViolet Bulawayo among authors paying tribute to independent publishing house that shook up the country’s literary sceneWhen the Zimbabwean editor Irene Staunton and her husband Murray McCartney set up their publishing business in 1998, it seemed natural to call it Weaver Press. Their modest... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-12-07 07:00:02 UTC ]
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Should historical fiction stick to the views and opinions of the time, or provide a modern perspective? Here are the pros and cons. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-12-05 11:31:00 UTC ]
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It’s been a roller coaster of a year. Thankfully, we’ve had novels to whisk us to days gone by, even if those eras had their own highs and lows. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-12-05 10:01:03 UTC ]
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From witch stories to near-future noir, here are the year’s 10 best speculative books. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-12-04 10:00:38 UTC ]
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A secret, a disappearance, a frozen body and a mysterious stranger — these historical novels have something for everyone. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-12-01 10:53:25 UTC ]
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New books by Vajra Chandrasekera, Avi Silver, Cadwell Turnbull, Michael Mammay and T. Kingfisher. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-12-01 10:32:14 UTC ]
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Centre for Literacy in Primary Education records a 26% increase since its first report in 2017, but stresses continuing inequities in representationThirty per cent of children’s books published last year featured racially minoritised characters, according to new research.The sixth report on... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-11-30 15:21:11 UTC ]
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Here are the sci-fi and fantasy titles getting the most recognition in best of the year lists and award shortlists! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-11-28 11:38:00 UTC ]
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The following essay by Tom Borders is excerpted from Among Friends: An Illustrated Oral History of American Book Publishing & Bookselling in the 20th Century, edited by Buz Teacher and Janet Bukovinsky Teacher (Two Trees Press). * In 1970, Louis Borders was working in a bookstore in Boston... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-11-28 09:49:05 UTC ]
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December's new SFF releases bring not one but three new additions to series we love, a brand new romantasy trilogy, and more! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-11-27 11:31:00 UTC ]
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'Prophet Song,' Irish author Paul Lynch's fifth novel, is a study in contemporary literary intensity, winning the Booker Prize for Fiction. The post Ireland’s Paul Lynch Wins the 2023 Booker Prize for Fiction appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-11-26 22:00:45 UTC ]
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Farah Ali’s debut novel The River, The Town is a haunting portrait of lives relegated to the margins by capitalism and its resulting byproduct: the inequitable distribution of resources. The world of the novel centers two places, the Town and the City, and the narrative focus, in typical... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-11-20 12:01:00 UTC ]
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