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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Germany’s top fiction title at the end of December, The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out His Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson climbed up from #5, supplanting previous chart-topper Inheritance (Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance was also #2 in Spain). Jonasson’s novel has sold more... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jon Appleton has been appointed to the newly-created post of editorial director for fiction at... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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John Sutherland, a former judge and chair of the Man Booker prize, is to chair the judging panel... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hardie Grant UK has acquired a relationship guide by Huffington Post writer Tracy Macmillan. UK... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Independent publisher Saqi Books is to launch a new non-fiction imprint, with plans to publish... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Gibson Square Books will be increasingly "dipping its toe" into fiction, following on... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Physical book sales in the final week of the year totalled £22.5m — down 70% week on... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ealier this month, Ziff Davis Enterprise [ZDE] completed a significant step in its OmniDigital strategy, rolled out earlier this year. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-12-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sussex-based independent publisher Myriad Editions is launching a series of events to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Phoenix story comic, which launches on 7th January 2012, will be distributed nationally by... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Headline has bought world rights to cookery book The Fabulous Baker Brothers. Deputy publishing... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary agent Fiona Spencer Thomas has sold a thriller by Alex Churton to Anthony Cheetham's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary agent Fiona Spencer Thomas has sold a thriller by Alex Churton to Anthony Cheetham's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Constable & Robinson is to launch Canvas, a new commercial fiction list headed by... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Barbara Casassus Publication Date: Tue, 08/11/2011 - 09:26 French prime minister François Fillon has announced that the reduced VAT rate applying to books would be raised from 5.5% to 7% from 1st January as part of a fresh economic austerity package to help rein in Frances massive... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Mon, 07/11/2011 - 08:30 Independent bookseller Ron Johns is moving into childrens fiction publishing, following a number of successes as a publisher of picture books and coffee-table books under the Mabecron Books imprint. Johns, who owns bookshops... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 04/11/2011 - 11:09 Random House Cornerstone imprint Hutchinson is lining up books for its 2012/13 fiction lists, with publishing director Jocasta Hamilton scooping up two novelsincluding a British débutand editorial director Stephanie... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 04/11/2011 - 15:21 Independent bookseller Ron Johns is moving into childrens fiction publishing, following a number of successes as a publisher of picture books and coffee-table books under the Mabecron Books imprint. Johns, who owns bookshops... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In a major departure for Hay House, the self-help and spirituality publisher is jumping into the fiction market. Its debut mystery novel, The First Rule of Ten by psychologist Gay Hendricks and screen writer Tinker Lindsay, will be published in January. Hay House has signed up 10 additional... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 01/11/2011 - 09:40 Sales and profit for 2011 have slumped at Edinburgh University Press at the same time the company has reported a 40% rise in year-on-year ebook sales. The Scottish academic publisher has reported an 11.6% fall in sales and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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