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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: fiction

fiction stories: 25 news summaries

1 - 20 of 25 Stories | 1 2 Next >>

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Beck Pulls an Oprah, Pushing Thriller Writers

'It's almost conservative porn,' Fox host says
of one novel

Nov 5, 09 7:43 AM CST
(Newser) - Oprah's book club used to stand alone in its power to boost authors' sales and profiles. Then came Glenn Beck. The conservative Fox News pundit has endorsed dozens of novels and regularly hosts fiction writers on his show, a rare habit among talk show hosts. But unlike Oprah, Beck singles... More »

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fiction • Oprah Winfrey • Glenn Beck • book • political thriller • publishing industry

new release

Ralph Nader Pens Odd Utopian Novel

Super-rich save the world in 736-page 'fictional vision'

Sep 21, 09 6:52 PM CDT
(Newser) - Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate and sometime presidential candidate, has written his first novel, the New Yorker reports. Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!, out tomorrow, is a “practical utopia” in which real-life characters undertake a fictional quest to—progressively—save the country. Over the course of its... More »

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entertainment • Arnold Schwarzenegger • Warren Buffett • fiction • literature • publishing • Grover Norquist • Barry Diller • Ralph Nader • Barnes & Noble • Warren Beatty • Ted Turner

book review

This Is Your Best Shot to Finish
a Pynchon Novel

Author shifts gears, has fun with a stoner detective in the '60s

Jul 31, 09 1:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - Thomas Pynchon's back with what appears to be his most accessible novel yet, in the unlikely category of detective fiction. Critics reviewing Inherent Vice say he pulled it off:
  • Laura Miller, Salon: It's "a sun-struck, pot-addled shaggy dog story that fuses the sulky skepticism of Raymond Chandler with
... More »

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fiction • author • book reviews • book • Thomas Pynchon • Inherent Vice • Raymond Chandler

(Newser) - Author E. Lynn Harris, who offered a glimpse into the secret lives of closeted gay black men, died last night at 54, the AP reports. His publicist says the cause is unknown, and that Harris suddenly took ill just days ago. An autopsy will be performed next week. Harris was... More »

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entertainment • African Americans • obituary • fiction • author • novel • LGBT • best seller • Jay-ZTV • gay • E. Lynn Harris • black men

(Newser) - An American literary giant has been crafting violent, poetic, psychologically complex novels for decades. Trouble is, his characters inhabit rocket ships and battle lizard creatures. "Jack Vance is the most painful case of all the writers I love who I feel don’t get the credit they deserve,"... More »

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fiction

JD Salinger Moves to Block
'Sequel' to
Catcher In Rye

Novel by 'JD California' may be a hoax

May 31, 09 4:49 AM CDT
(Newser) - Lawyers for the famously reclusive author JD Salinger are considering legal action to block an unauthorized sequel to his classic The Catcher in the Rye, reports the Telegraph. The new novel, by a Swedish-American named John David California, is titled 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye.... More »

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fiction • The Catcher in the Rye • JD Salinger • sequel • legal action • John David California

opinion

Zombies Work
in Latest Jane
Austen Spinoff

Somehow, style lends itself to the undead ... aliens ... vampires ...

Apr 17, 09 12:59 PM CDT
(Newser) - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has been so well received that one must question “why these silly, campy things work so well,” Monica Hesse writes in the Washington Post. She suggests that it’s not simply because Jane Austen and vampires sell—as the author of the forthcoming... More »

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fiction • horror • book reviews • adaptation • Jane Austen • Victorian novel • Pride and Prejudice • Seth Grahame-Smith

(Newser) - David Foster Wallace declared war on depression and addiction in writing his last, unfinished novel, D. T. Max writes in the New Yorker. The writer's suicide by hanging last year was the culmination of a struggle to live normally, to achieve what he called “adult sanity," without... More »

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suicide • fiction • literature • author • novel • book • David Foster Wallace • Infinite Jest

OPINION


 Lesbian Fiction's 
 Hot New Stars: 
 Secret Service 
 Agents 

Security more desirable than love: Thomas

Jan 22, 09 2:32 PM CST
(Newser) - Secret Service agents have become popular protagonists in lesbian romance mysteries because they embody traits readers covet, June Thomas writes for Slate. "They are the ultimate strong, silent type—they fade into the background without hiding, they keep their mouths shut, and they have your back," she... More »

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gay rights • gay marriage • Secret Service • fiction • fantasy • mystery • romance • Lesbian

OPINION

 Top Foreign Fiction of 2008 

Pair of Spanish-language works highlight NPR list

Dec 2, 08 4:40 PM CST
(Newser) - Of 340 new works of foreign fiction and poetry translated for US audiences this year, NPR has culled five of the best into a list:
  • Senselessness, by Horacio Castellanos Moya: A Latin American freelance writer is hired by the Catholic Church to edit sinister documents in this
... More »

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fiction • literature • translation • Best of 2008

One Month, 50K Words: Writers Race to Finish Novels

National Novel Writing Month gives creative types an unrelenting deadline

Nov 27, 08 9:53 AM CST
(Newser) - Aspiring novelists are packing coffee shops in the Twin Cities and elsewhere as the frenzy of National Novel Writing Month heats up, Minnesota Public Radio reports. Founded roughly a decade ago, “Nanowrimo” challenges writers to conquer procrastination and get 50,000 words down during November. The emphasis, say the... More »

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fiction • creative writing • writer • writers • Twin Cities • National Novel Writing Month

Mills Hawks 'Novel' of Model Married to Rock Star

McCartney's ex hawking 'fictional' tale about a model's ill-fated marriage to top rock star

Sep 9, 08 12:21 PM CDT
(Newser) - A gag order can't stop enterprising Heather Mills: She’s working on a "novel” about a model whose marriage to the world's most famous rock star sours, the Daily Mail reports. Paul McCartney’s ex-wife is asking for a nearly $2 million advance. "It doesn't take a genius... More »

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Heather Mills • Paul McCartney • London • fiction • book • celebrity tell-alls

opinion

 Put Catcher to Rest Already 

Salinger standby should make way for newer books

Aug 28, 08 7:16 PM CDT
(Newser) - JD Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye may have once been edgy, coming-of-age literature, but does it deserve a place in today's curricula? It's time to retire Holden Caulfield, argues Anne Trubek in Good magazine. "Salinger’s novel lacks the currency or shock value it once had,... More »

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education • fiction • literature • The Catcher in the Rye • JD Salinger • opinion

ANALYSIS

Ex-Wife's Novel Details Taylor's Marital Breakup

Publisher of ex-wife's A Stopover in Venice downplays a big selling point

Jul 21, 08 6:53 PM CDT
(Newser) - Book-jacket fodder that could alone put a novel on the bestseller list is curiously absent from Kathryn Walker’s debut, A Stopover in Venice, Celia McGee notes in the New York Times—though it’s a fictional account of her unhappy marriage to James Taylor. The musician comes in for... More »

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fiction • roman á clef • Venice • Kathryn Walker • James Taylor • Carly Simon • Jason Robards

Midnight's Children Wins Best of Bookers

Rushdie's epic novel beats out 6 others by public vote

Jul 13, 08 5:04 PM CDT
(Newser) - Salman Rushdie's classic Midnight's Children, which nabbed the Booker Prize 27 years ago, has now won the Best of the Bookers by public vote, the Guardian reports. About a boy born at the hour of India's independence, the novel won over six previous prize winners. The prize "looks at... More »

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India • fiction • literature • Salman Rushdie • Booker Prize • novel • Mahatma Gandhi

BOOK REVIEW

Summer's 'Most Enchanting Debut Novel'

Edgar Sawtelle is Hamlet-inspired 'bolt from the blue'

Jun 13, 08 4:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, the debut novel from former software developer David Wroblewski, is “a great, big, mesmerizing read, audaciously envisioned as classic Americana," Janet Maslin raves in the New York Times. "Pick up this book and expect to feel very, very reluctant to put it... More »

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fiction • book reviews • book • great books • dog • David Wroblewski • The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

BOOK REVIEW

Shiny Morning No New Dawn for Frey

Critic lashes
fake memorist's
'execrable' new novel

May 13, 08 7:23 AM CDT
(Newser) - The flap over James Frey's memoir-that-really-wasn't was bound to cast some clouds over his new novel Bright Shiny Morning. But lack of believability continues to be a key issue for the author with his "execrable" new book of two-dimensional characters in a city that bears little resemblance to LA,... More »

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Los Angeles • fiction • James Frey • memoir • book reviews • A Million Little Pieces • novel

Gang Memoir Exposed
as Fiction

Author of Love and Consequences fesses up to fabricating

Mar 4, 08 7:50 AM CST
(Newser) - Margaret Jones' acclaimed memoir of a half-Native American girl growing up in a foster home in South Central LA and running with gangs, Love and Consequences, turns out to be fiction, the New York Times reports. Jones, whose real name is Seltzer, grew up with her birth parents in an... More »

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gangs • Los Angeles • fiction • publishing • memoir • author • book • fabrication • Penguin Group • Margaret Jones • Margaret Seltzer • South Central LA • Riverhead • Love and Consequences

OPINION

Nabokov's Ghost: Make Buck off Laura

Son's imagined convo with dead dad might've saved final manuscript

Feb 29, 08 7:59 PM CST
(Newser) - Dmitri Nabokov's decision not to destroy his famed father's unfinished manuscript followed an imagined conversation with Vladimir's ghost, writes Ron Rosenbaum for Slate. Rosenbaum, who sleuthed his way through the "to burn or not to burn" debate, was previously told by Dmitri—who hinted at the book's genius before... More »

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Russia • Tom Stoppard • fiction • literature • book reviews • book • Lolita • Vladimir Nabokov • John Banville • preservation • deathbed • Dmitri Nabokov • Brian Boyd • The Original of Laura • Nabokov Online • Zembla • The Nabokovian

Holocaust Memoir Mostly Fiction: Author

Best-seller on Jewish girl saved by wolves a fantasy, Belgian admits

Feb 29, 08 6:15 PM CST
(Newser) - A best-selling Holocaust memoir, which follows a 7-year-old Jewish girl who lived with wolves after losing her parents to the Nazis, is mostly fictional, its author confesses—in particular, the parts about the wolves and her being Jewish, Reuters reports. Misha Defonseca says she "always felt Jewish," but,... More »

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Holocaust • fiction • Nazi • memoir • escape

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