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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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Tue, 01/11/2011 - 15:42 Avon has become the latest publisher to acquire a book tying into the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster. Editorial director Claire Bord bought world English rights to two novels by Gill Paul from Vivien Green at Shiel... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 28/10/2011 - 10:53 Actress and Loose Women co-presenter Lynda Bellingham has signed a two-book deal with Simon & Schuster to write commercial women's fiction. Publishing director Suzanne Baboneau signed the deal with Gordon Wise at Curtis... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 27/10/2011 - 08:15 HarperCollins has appointed Katrina Troy, currently head of commercial affairs for Vintage and Mainstream Publishing, as its commercial director for its fiction division. Troy will join in January 2012 and report to group... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Thu, 13/10/2011 - 16:12 Around 50 demonstrators, including women with children, are gathering outside Kensal Rise library in Brent this afternoon (13th October) as workmen prepare to board up the door and windows. The library was closed this... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Tue, 27/09/2011 - 10:33 Quercus saw an inevitable downturn in sales in the first half of 2011 after its Stieg Larsson enhanced 2010 numbers, but still managed to increase profit, improve its cash position, grow digital sales seven-fold and pay its... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 06/09/2011 - 15:28 Profile has reported a 3% sales rise to £7.35m for the year to end 31st March 2011, with profits up 69% to £405,000. M.d. Andrew Franklin said the publisher was delighted to announce these "healthy" results on the day that it... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 29/07/2011 - 09:30 Penguin reported lower sales and profits in the first half of 2011 as it adjusted to the "unprecedented challenges" afflicting the publishing sector including the loss of high street booksellers in the US and Australia... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 29/07/2011 - 14:15 The former DFC comic is being revived as The Phoenix, under an independent company backed by an anonymous investor. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 28/07/2011 - 14:22 HarperPress will no longer publish fiction by the end of June 2012 with the publisher choosing to concentrate on non-fiction in the wake of Clare Smith's upcoming departure to Little, Brown. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Wed, 06/07/2011 - 09:19 The third edition of the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction is to be released online later this year by ESF Ltd, a new company set up by the contributors to the book, in association with Orion imprint Victor Gollancz. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 05/07/2011 - 16:04 Dawn Frenchs début novel, A Tiny Bit Marvellous (Penguin), retains its position at the summit of The Official UK Top 50 week-on-week, thanks to a promotional appearance on ITVs This Morning, and a £2.99 if you spend £10... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Young-adult books are being sold to an audience that can't vote, yet they're being written by people commonly referred to on the Internet as "the olds." We should know. We're two of them. Both of us have made our living writing. One of us in journalism (Grady) and the other in literary fiction... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2011-06-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fiction is the leading sales driver of ebooks, and just how dominant that segment has been is clearly seen in a new market study just released by Bowker. According to "20102011 U.S. Book Consumer Demographics & Buying Behaviors Annual Review," fiction accounted for 61% of unit sales in 2010... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Fri, 17/06/2011 - 14:12 Women dominate the first-ever The Bookseller Rising Stars, an annual listing which highlights the people who will shape the British book trade. Two-thirds26 of 39 entriesof Rising Stars 2011 are women. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 24/05/2011 - 15:30 Tonight's edition of the BBC2 current affairs programme Newsnight will feature the "ongoing fight by local communities to save their libraries", focusing on the campaign for London's Kensal Green library. The piece will... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Thu, 19/05/2011 - 12:59 Three Random House Group titles have been picked for the first Fiction Uncovered promotion, which also includes two from indie Portobello. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 08:59 Book sales for April were "well down" in a month where general UK retail sales rose by 5.2% on last year. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) today (10th May) reported like-for-like sales were up 5.2% in value from April... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Time Warner Inc. has released their 2011 first quarter results, with the period ending on March 31, 2011. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Thu, 21/04/2011 - 07:45 Egmont UK remains acquisitive but is predicting a "flat" year ahead. The specialist children's publisher reported sales down nearly 8% at £45.9m for the 12 months to 31st December 2010 (£49.7m in 2009) although pretax profits... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 20/04/2011 - 09:45 The BBC is broadcasting an item on The Culture Show about science fiction next month, in the wake of a row about the broadcasters approach to genre fiction. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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