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 ]
Lambda executive director Samiya Bashir called Forester's gift "transformational," which will allow Lambda Literary to usher in a new phase of expansion. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-04-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Caryl Phillips on being chosen as a Best of Young British Novelists in 1993 and the nascent culture of literary celebrity. The post On Literary Celebrity appeared first on Granta. Continue reading at Granta
[ Granta | 2023-04-06 11:41:47 UTC ]
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The Stinging Fly has helped launch several of Ireland’s most promising writers. How has a publication with 1,000 subscribers carved a niche in the Irish canon? Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-04-05 09:00:42 UTC ]
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In the latest “Craftwork” episode, a deep-dive conversation about literary agents with Carly Watters, herself a longtime literary agent and the co-host of the popular writing podcast The Shit No One Tells You About Writing. Carly is “very online” with a keen understanding of the digital... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-04-03 08:53:09 UTC ]
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The beloved online athenaeum just lost a big court case. Librarians fear it’ll make ebooks less accessible. So why are some writers cheering? Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2023-03-31 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Collected stories about the wild, uncharted frontiers of North America expand to include everything from classic nature tales to dystopian climate fiction. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2023-03-29 16:23:08 UTC ]
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By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) Shirley Jackson (1916-65) wrote six novels and around two hundred short stories during her brief career. Probably best-known for her novel The Haunting of Hill House and her oft-anthologised short story ‘The Lottery’, Jackson was a writer with a... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2023-03-25 18:00:23 UTC ]
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A federal judge has ruled against the Internet Archive in its high-profile case against a group of four US publishers led by Hachette Book Group. Per Reuters, Judge John G. Koeltl declared on Friday the nonprofit had infringed on the group’s copyrights by lending out digitally scanned copies of... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-03-25 16:46:29 UTC ]
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Are publishers acquiring fewer LGBTQ+ and diverse books in the wake of rising censorship? This week's book censorship news. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-03-24 10:40:00 UTC ]
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Mark Dawidziak, author of the new biography 'A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe,' recommends 10 must-read tales by the master of the macabre. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-03-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
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From a bestselling migration memoir to an acclaimed novel of suburbia, political poetry and essays and on and on, Salvadoran writers are having a big moment. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-03-16 13:00:22 UTC ]
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By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) In a short life beset by ill health, the American writer Flannery O’Connor (1925-64) wrote two novels, Wise Blood (1952) and The Violent Bear It Away (1960). But it is for her short stories, many of which were collected in just two volumes, that […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2023-03-14 18:00:54 UTC ]
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Warsick: Testimonial Plays Share Ukrainians’ Experience of War, by Oleksandra Wallo & Anna Halas Essay [email protected] Wed, 03/08/2023 - 14:54 Scene from Performance Survivor’s Syndrome, based on a work by Andriy Bondarenko, Harmyder... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-03-08 20:54:52 UTC ]
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If you want a little shot of sadness, here are some of the best sad short stories to get the emotions flowing in no time! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-03-08 11:36:00 UTC ]
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The Aspen Words Literary Prize shortlist of five fiction titles highlights 'essential books' that each address 'a vital contemporary issue.' The post The Issue-Driven Aspen Words Literary Prize: 2023 Shortlist appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-03-07 03:47:14 UTC ]
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If the literary landscape of the early twentieth century, at least when it comes to short stories, is dominated by Anglophone writers like Katherine Mansfield, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf, then the mid-twentieth century arguably belongs to the Latin American writers who helped to move the... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2023-03-05 18:00:38 UTC ]
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The annual PEN America Literary Awards this year have included three career-achievement awards and 11 book awards. The post PEN America Literary Award Winners: India’s Vinod Kumar Shukla Honored appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-03-03 17:25:38 UTC ]
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Last night, the great pens of America convened at The Town Hall in NYC as Kal Penn presided over the 2023 PEN America Literary Awards. For those felled by late-winter viruses who desire to get a taste of proceedings, a recording is available here. Below are this year’s winners: PEN/Jean Stein... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-03-03 16:54:28 UTC ]
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The news has rumbled through Giant Country that Puffin has been editing out words like “fat,” “crazy,” and “ugly” from new editions of Roald Dahl’s works. The Daily Telegraph reported that some of the changes achieved a more gender-neutral feel—boys and girls have become “children,” mothers and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-02-21 15:13:52 UTC ]
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In 2016, I was no longer interested in teaching the traditional workshop and felt that my students no longer wanted it. A poet mentioned that in their workshop, they read the poem on the spot and then discuss it together. This was mind-blowing. No reading and re-reading in the week before? No... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-02-17 09:53:21 UTC ]
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