Playing with words: why novelists are becoming video game writers – and vice-versa

While the novel remains a high-status cultural form, video game writing is still seen as a throwaway art – despite some of the biggest names in fiction being involvedI’ve been working in games for a little more than 15 years, and the main thing I’d say about it at this point is that it’s a pretty annoying job to explain at parties. People often say something like, “Oh, I don’t really play games,” which is surely an odd thing to tell a game designer moments after you’ve been introduced; I don’t really eat croissants, but that’s not the first thing I bring up if I meet a patissier.So one of the joys of publishing my first novel last year was the option to sidestep all of that, and say: “Oh, I’m a writer.” I wrote a novel; I’m working on another one; job done, the conversation can move on. Nobody says, “Oh, I don’t really read books,” even though that’s at least as likely to be true. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2025-04-30 08:00:17 UTC ]

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‘A smorgasbord of unlikability’: the authors helping ‘sad girl lit’ grow up

In this post-Fleabag world, publishing has become obsessed with the inner turmoils of messy millennials – but isn’t it time they pulled themselves together? Meet the novelists subverting the clichesYou’ve probably come across this woman: she is unfulfilled in her career, has been abandoned by at... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-08-08 15:19:43 UTC ]
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Here is the 2023 Booker Prize longlist!

The freshly announced “Booker’s dozen” of titles longlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize is making its way around the literary internet, so let’s see what the morning tides have brought in. There are four debut novelists on the list, and Irish writers nabbed a record four out of the 13 nominations... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-01 14:43:06 UTC ]
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Booker prize reveals ‘original and thrilling’ 2023 longlist

Previously nominated authors Sebastian Barry, Tan Twan Eng and Paul Murray join 13-strong field including four debuts• Irish writers, debuts – and groundbreaking sci-fi: the Booker longlist in depthA longlist of 13 “original and thrilling” books offering “startling portraits of the current” are... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-08-01 08:00:00 UTC ]
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An 'alpha vagina' gets top billing in YA star Elizabeth Acevedo's first (very) adult novel

Bestselling YA novelist Elizabeth Acevedo explains why 'Family Lore,' her first novel for adults, features sex, magic and an 'alpha vagina' Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-07-31 13:00:02 UTC ]
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Read W. H. Auden’s 1954 review of The Fellowship of the Ring.

Sixty-nine (nice, but in Elvish) years ago this week, the godfather of high fantasy, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, published the first novel in a proposed thee-volume epic “largely concerned with hobbits.” The Fellowship of the Ring has, in the decades since publication, shifted over 150 million... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-07-28 16:55:39 UTC ]
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Married to the mob: the rise of the smartphone in fiction

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... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-07-22 10:00:09 UTC ]
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Sarah Silverman and novelists sue ChatGPT-maker OpenAI for ingesting their books

Ask ChatGPT about comedian Sarah Silverman’s memoir “The Bedwetter” and the artificial intelligence chatbot can come up with a detailed synopsis of every part of the book Continue reading at ABC News

[ ABC News | 2023-07-12 22:32:35 UTC ]
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Sarah Silverman and novelists sue ChatGPT-maker OpenAI for ingesting their books

Ask ChatGPT about comedian Sarah Silverman’s memoir “The Bedwetter” and the artificial intelligence chatbot can come up with a detailed synopsis of every part of the book Continue reading at ABC News

[ ABC News | 2023-07-12 22:32:31 UTC ]
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RIP to one of the great horny novelists of the 20th century, Milan Kundera.

I was surprised to read this morning that Milan Kundera, the eminent Czech novelist best known for The Unbearable Lightness of Being, died yesterday at the age of 94. Mainly because I thought he was already dead. For a generation of literary types (Gen X in particular), Kundera was the cool,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-07-12 15:34:43 UTC ]
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The Morning After: The Amazon Prime Day deals worth your time and money

It’s back and here to ruin our savings and increase the gadgets in our homes. Yes, Amazon Prime Day isn’t entirely about headphones, tablets and wearables, but for Engadget staff… well, it feels like it is. Prime Day deals on tech are typically only matched by Black Friday and Cyber Monday... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-07-11 11:15:13 UTC ]
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Sarah Silverman sues OpenAI and Meta over copyright infringement

Sarah Silverman is suing OpenAI. On Friday, the comedian and author, alongside novelists Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey, filed a pair of complaints against OpenAI and Meta (via Gizmodo). The group alleges the firms trained their large language models on copyrighted materials, including... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-07-10 17:53:22 UTC ]
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Book Review: ‘Counterweight,’ by Djuna

The pseudonymous South Korean author’s first novel to be translated into English pits a multinational conglomerate against life on earth. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-07-09 09:00:12 UTC ]
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By combining self-help and literature, the School of Life’s first novel does both a disservice | Alice Kemp-Habib

Billed as ‘a therapeutic novel’, the publisher’s first foray into fiction follows 29-year-old Anna’s mental health journey – with a view to helping the reader. But how useful can such clunky writing be?At 29 years old, Anna is full of self-loathing. She hates her job, her boyfriend is having an... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-07-07 15:45:50 UTC ]
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Mavis Cheek obituary

Author of a series of comic novels that focused on the tragi-comic nature of relationships and the general absurdities of lifeMavis Cheek, who has died aged 75, was the author of a series of comic novels that cast an acute eye on middle-class marriage and relationships and marked her out as one... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-07-04 16:07:50 UTC ]
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Bestselling authors Mona Awad and Paul Tremblay sue OpenAI over copyright infringement

Two bestselling novelists filed a suit against OpenAI, claiming the company used intellectual property to 'train' its artificial intelligence chatbot. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-07-01 14:28:47 UTC ]
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Rare Harry Potter bought for 30p may fetch up to £5,000

First edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone bought by UK book collector goes up for auction next weekIt is a book that has certainly lived up to its name: a rare edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone bought for 30p could fetch up to £5,000 at auction.The first novel... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-06-30 09:29:28 UTC ]
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The Braschian Wave: All the Solitude of an Empire in a Bottle Thrown into the Sea, by Carlos Labbé

The Braschian Wave: All the Solitude of an Empire in a Bottle Thrown into the Sea, by Carlos Labbé Essay [email protected] Wed, 06/28/2023 - 14:55 Photo by Javardh / UnsplashCarlos Labbé wonders whether it is “still possible to speak of... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2023-06-28 19:55:41 UTC ]
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French newspaper staff strike after ‘far-right personality’ made editor

Public figures back strike at Le Journal du Dimanche to protest against appointment of Geoffroy LejeuneActors, novelists and leftwing politicians have joined support for major strike action at France’s flagship Sunday newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche, to protest against the appointment, ahead... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-06-27 15:32:49 UTC ]
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Robert Gottlieb obituary

American editor who worked with many celebrated authors including Anthony Burgess, Doris Lessing and Joseph HellerRobert Gottlieb, who has died age 92, was the outstanding literary editor of the second half of the 20th century. Among the renowned novelists he worked with were Doris Lessing, Toni... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-06-26 16:14:17 UTC ]
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Who Is Nora Roberts?

A look into Nora Roberts one of the most popular romance novelists of all time who helped redefine the genre in the 1980s and beyond. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-06-21 10:37:00 UTC ]
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