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 ]
Find some immersive, out-of-this-world stories featuring LGBTQ+ characters in these excellent queer science fiction books. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-02-02 11:32:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
“The Absolute Book,” by Elizabeth Knox, takes on a number of genres, while “Winter’s Orbit,” by Everina Maxwell, stays true to one. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-01-29 10:00:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Do you love your science fiction with a heaping side of humor? You’ve come to the right place! Pick up these funny sci-fi books, including Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-01-28 11:38:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
If you’re on the hunt for new literary rabbit holes, today is your lucky day. The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction, created by lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower (a former editor of both the OED and Random House Dictionaries) is “a comprehensive quotation-based dictionary of the language of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-27 16:14:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction turns a century of neologisms (and neosemes!) into a redefintion of the genre. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2021-01-27 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The new online Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction probes the speculative corners of the lexicographic universe. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-01-26 12:01:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this
At the London Review of Books, Colin Burrow reflects on how Ursula K. Le Guin‘s narrative prowess flourished within the constraints of science fiction and children’s literature. “Fiction needs the unruly energies of indeterminacy,” Burrow writes, “of being partly inside the mind of the reader,... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2021-01-20 21:30:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Flipped eye publishing is marking its 20th anniversary this year with a digital bookshop tour, a nationwide hunt for a young editor and a 2021 list including work from Warsan Shire and José Eduardo Agualusa. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-19 07:31:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this
“Vellum” by Hal Duncan, “Mockingbird,” by Walter Tevis, the works of Tanith Lee and more. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-01-13 14:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Bookshop and Libro.fm, which help independent booksellers sell online, reported huge gains in 2020. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-01-08 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The number of independent bookshops in the UK and Ireland has grown for the fourth consecutive year, the Booksellers Association has confirmed. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-08 03:46:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Aged 15 I got a Christmas job at my local bookshop in Battersea so I could save to go interrailing. My parents’ bookshelves were brimming with mostly Black writers: Chinua Achebe, Buchi Emecheta, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Chester Himes, Terry McMillan, and I was surrounded by ‘consciousness’... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-30 21:25:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Police in Shanghai say a suspect has been detained in the death by possible poisoning of the billionaire founder of a Chinese video game company that is producing films based on popular science fiction novel “The Three-Body Problem.” Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2020-12-28 14:47:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Del Rey, the SFF imprint of Cornerstone, has acquired A E Warren's four-book high-concept science fiction series, described as "Jurassic Park meets Sapiens, set within a bold new imaginative world". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-21 17:20:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this
From talking tigers to automaton dragons and UFOs, find some of the best 2020 under the radar SFF books you may have missed, including Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-12-21 11:37:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Need a new novel? Classic adventures, satire, and dystopian science fiction top this year's round-up of reader book recommendations for fiction. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-12-18 22:08:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Need a new novel? Classic adventures, satire, and dystopian science fiction top this year's round-up of reader book recommendations for fiction. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-12-18 22:08:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Need a new novel? Classic adventures, satire, and dystopian science fiction top this year's round-up of reader book recommendations for fiction. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-12-18 22:08:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this
As editor of the magazines Analog and Omni, he was a champion of a new generation of authors, including George R.R. Martin. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-12-14 19:27:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this