Penelope Lively's recent short ebook for Penguin drew criticism for its brevity – but readers should not be put off the genre as a whole"Overpriced", "ridiculous", I feel cheated". Amazon reviewers haven't been wholly positive about a digital short Penelope Lively has written for Penguin Specials. On the evidence of the story itself, it's not Lively's fault. Abroad is about a pair of art students who travel to 1950s Spain in search of picturesque peasants and are disappointed when they don't live up to expectations. It's funny and evocative of a time when rural Europe was still exotic.It also peters out after just 4,000 words, so I sympathise with anyone who felt ripped off by its £1.99 price tag. These days you can buy two whole novels for that. The sad fact is, publishers don't make any money if an ebook costs less than £1.99. Amazon does, because singles are the literary equivalent of a gateway drug.This was brought home to me on finishing Susan Hill's latest effort, Printer's Devil Court (99p), a haunting tale about pre-second world war medical students who experiment with resurrection. More substantial than Lively's, it's a great, old-fashioned ghost story, whose chilling impact was somewhat undermined by turning the final page to find Amazon ordering me to rate, review, tweet, Facebook and buy more books by Susan Hill. Was the ebook I'd enjoyed little more than a trailer?Singles are a clever marketing tool. But it would be a shame if readers short-changed by one... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2013-11-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
It can be too easy to write villains— people stunted and incapable of love or compassion—when we write about opponents of our politics, especially in short stories, which have so much less space to detail nuance. Sometimes writing about villains and pointing the finger is necessary in a world... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2021-07-16 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Amanda Lohrey's novel about a woman who isolates herself yet finds connection has won the 2021 Miles Franklin Literary Award. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2021-07-15 06:31:16 UTC ]
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American author Susan Choi has won the 2021 Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award with her "luminous" story "Flashlight". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-09 16:07:00 UTC ]
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Essay Photos by Mai Al-Nakib / Courtesy of the author Civilizations, empires, dynasties, and monarchies end, leaving behind ruins of their fabled splendor. Traces of achievements become more or less decipherable, contingent upon the mercy of... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-07-07 12:48:10 UTC ]
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Kanya D’Almeida has been declared the overall winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, for a "captivating" tale set in a Sri Lankan "sanctuary for the forsaken". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-06-30 08:05:28 UTC ]
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The writer’s signature style of ending—a final, thrilling note—has the touch of magic that distinguishes the form at its best. Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2021-06-28 10:00:00 UTC ]
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At the Rumpus, Xuan Juliana Wang discusses the art of the short story in a round table that includes Kimberly King Parsons, Dantiel W. Moniz, Mary South, and Ashley Wurzbacher. The panel shares their thoughts on crafting a collection, along with what draws them to short stories in the first... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2021-06-24 20:30:14 UTC ]
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As you may recall, right around St. Patrick’s Day in 2020, pretty much every bookstore on earth suspended all in-person author events indefinitely. Since then, book people like us have been cut off from meeting our favorite authors and have had to settle for watching glitchy versions of them on... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-06-17 08:49:48 UTC ]
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Historical fiction was once considered a fusty backwater. Now the genre is having a renaissance, attracting first-rank novelists and racking up major prizes. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-06-13 09:00:02 UTC ]
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Macmillan Publishers will officially reopen its offices on October 18, and its US Trade and Shared Services divisions will operate under a hybrid, remote-friendly model, which will be in effect as a pilot program until June 30 of next year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-06-07 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The final six stories competing for the £30,000 Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award have been revealed, featuring British author Jonathan Gibbs and Scottish writer Rachael Fulton alongside four US writers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-06-06 11:11:42 UTC ]
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‘The Circular Ruins’, first published in 1940, is one of the most richly symbolic short stories by the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. One of his most powerful and suggestive explorations of the nature of reality and dreams, ‘The Circular Ruins’ can variously be interpreted as a story... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2021-06-05 14:00:43 UTC ]
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Fagan’s new book ‘All the Colors Came Out’ is an unvarnished, loving account of her father’s decline from Lou Gehrig’s disease. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-06-04 12:00:00 UTC ]
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If you want to do some serious reading to reflect on humanity and its many aspects, these 5 contemporary literary fiction books are for you, including A Burning By Megha Majumdar. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-05-28 10:38:00 UTC ]
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Sally Rooney, Lauren Groff, and Atticus Lish were among the authors whose upcoming works of literary fiction were highlighted during this Editors' Picks panel hosted by 'PW' reviews editor David Varno. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-05-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Production companies remain eager to acquire new material, U.S. Book Show panelists discussing literary IP agreed—although how the relationship between theaters and streaming services plays out, they added, is far from decided. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-05-25 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Benedict Macdonald and Nicholas Gates have won the Richard Jefferies Society & the White Horse Bookshop's Literary Prize for nature writing with their book Orchard: A Year in England's Eden (William Collins). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-24 15:30:01 UTC ]
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Elen Caldecott’s The Short Knife (Andersen Press) has won the English-language category of the Tir na n-Og Awards 2021 for children’s and young people’s literature. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-21 16:21:27 UTC ]
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Bioethicist Henry T. Greely ponders the implications of the gene-editing technology. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-05-21 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Mexican author Valeria Luiselli has won the €100,000 Dublin Literary Award for her novel Lost Children Archive (4th Estate), the world's most valuable prize for a single novel published in English. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-19 15:32:45 UTC ]
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