Essay “Literature was a vast minefield occupied by enemies,” Roberto Bolaño, who enjoyed accruing enemies in the pantheon of Latin American letters, writes in the short story “Meeting with Enrique Lihn” (New Yorker, December 22, 2008): except for a few classic authors (just a few), and every day I had to walk through that minefield, where any false move could be fatal, with only the poems of Archilochus to guide me. It’s like that for all young writers. There comes a time when you have no support, not even from friends, forget about mentors, and there’s no one to give you a hand; publication, prizes, and grants are reserved for the others, the ones who said “Yes, sir,” over and over, or those who praised the literary mandarins, a never-ending horde distinguished only by their aptitude for discipline and punishment—nothing escapes them and they forgive nothing. Aptitude for discipline and punishment Bolaño himself had aplenty, too. And in spite of his precarious health, he had stamina. At a young age, he had made up his mind he would die. Who cared if he annoyed others? His mission, as is clear from The Savage Detectives (1998), was to upend that tradition, to take it by the neck and expose its platitudes. What is the use of sacred cows if not to be desecrated? Indeed, every tradition needs an enfant terrible, maybe more than one. When was the last time a rabble-rouser came along in Latin American literature? As Bolaño put it in... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2022-02-28 21:05:10 UTC ]
Matthew Teller, whose books include Nine Quarters of Jerusalem, said the society’s response to the event which saw two leading booksellers detained was ‘an abject failure’A writer has left the Society of Authors (SoA) in protest after the UK’s largest writers’ body made a statement on a recent... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2025-02-20 17:34:09 UTC ]
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Regular bookstores might be dying—but bookstores dedicated to romance novels are thriving thanks to TikTok and a desire for third places. Throughout Harvard Square, there are many bookshop brimming with the latest literary fiction and intellectual memoirs, patronized by scholarly types. But in... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2025-02-13 10:30:00 UTC ]
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Industry organizations and publishers are condemning the detention of two Palestinian booksellers by Israeli police, who raided the Educational Bookshop in East Jerusalem on February 9, seizing books that they alleged incited terrorism. The booksellers were confined to house arrest this morning. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2025-02-11 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Science fiction has been obsessed with perfect female robot companions but never considered what makes a good male human companion, till now. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2025-02-05 17:21:10 UTC ]
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The subgenre helped increase the market share by 41.3% last year aided by bestseller Fourth Wing from Rebecca Yarros while food and drink topped nonfiction salesSales of science fiction and fantasy books rocketed last year, with their value increasing by 41.3% between 2023 and 2024.The booming... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2025-02-03 17:00:52 UTC ]
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As of this morning, you can now easily buy ebooks from your local indie bookstore. Thanks to Bookshop.org, the reigning David to Am*zon’s Goliath. As Wired reports, a new platform on the site will now sell ebooks directly to customers. Bookshop users can buy and read titles via a handy-dandy... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-01-28 14:35:29 UTC ]
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Mysterious tarot + a missing person, an action-packed science fiction thriller, an ancient guide to modern life, and more of today's best book deals Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-01-21 16:18:42 UTC ]
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Unfortunately, there are two crucial flaws with the idea that the show’s severance procedure could involve a simple snip to the hippocampus. Severance, which imagines a world where a person’s work and personal lives are surgically separated, will soon return to Apple TV+ for a second season.... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2025-01-20 17:00:00 UTC ]
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These genre-defying science fiction books dissect, critique, and upend the genre, forging a whole new approach to sci-fi. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-01-16 11:00:00 UTC ]
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After winning just about every major science fiction and fantasy award, Nnedi Okorafor explores a traumatic event in her own history in her most autobiographical novel yet. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2025-01-12 10:01:14 UTC ]
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Prolific science fiction writer who conceived alternative lives for figures including Emily Dickinson and Sigmund FreudIn 1965, Barry N Malzberg, who has died aged 85, decided that the career he sought as a literary writer was closed to him – the magazines were impenetrable, the control of... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2025-01-09 17:38:28 UTC ]
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The aircraft—known as “electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle, or eVTOL—lift off the ground like a helicopter. When he was still a boy making long, tedious trips between his school and his woodsy home in the mountains during the 1980s, JoeBen Bevirt began fantasizing about flying cars... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2025-01-08 15:38:34 UTC ]
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From angry spirits and parallel universes to alien abductions and epic folklore, African writers are offering fresh new horizons for the world’s science fiction landscape. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2024-12-19 08:05:22 UTC ]
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From angry spirits and parallel universes to alien abductions and epic folklore, African writers are offering fresh new horizons for the world’s science fiction landscape. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2024-12-19 08:05:22 UTC ]
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From cyberpunk to space to climate fiction, novels and novellas, here are the 10 best science fiction books of 2024. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-12-17 11:00:00 UTC ]
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The year’s best speculative fiction includes a fantasy novel by Kelly Link, alien epics and promising starts to series. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-12-06 10:02:13 UTC ]
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