Linwood Barclay on the Art of Making Everyday Things Terrifying “Making people fear things in their everyday lives in ways they never did before, that’s the dream of every writer of suspenseful tales,” prolific thriller author Linwood Barclay tells us. How the far right seeks to spread its ideology through the publishing world Jason Wilson, […]
This month we start with Kate’s pick for the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction, All Fours by Miranda July. first degree The most recent novel I’ve read that features a number in its title is The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan. second degree I’ve recently read a novel by another author named
6 Degrees of Separation Read More »
Novels Based on Mythological Retellings On the relationship between culture, psychology, folklore, mythology, and history: Mythological retellings bring us stories with timeless resonance, viewed through the lens of modern concerns, explains Francesca Simon. The bestselling author tells us about her five favourite retellings. On Slaughterhouse-Five, the “Ultimate PTSD Novel” In this excerpt from his book
Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature Read More »
Earlier today, the 2025 Pulitzer Prizes were announced and Percival Everett’s James was declared the winner for fiction. (You can see all of the winners and finalists here.) This came as no s… Source: Did the Pulitzer Board just overrule the Jury to give Percival Everett the prize? ‹ Literary Hub I’m guessing this will
Power and Punishment: Using the Language of Fantasy to Subvert Real-Life Oppression Power lies at the heart of all fantasy, written or imagined. To craft a novel of the genre is to visualize an expression of power and assign it to factions that will then weave and warp over the course of the story. Yet,
Reviewing The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight got me thinking about the use of metaphors as novel titles. Metaphor is the use of indirect comparison to describe or define something else: metaphor —Source: Oxford English Dictionary Metaphors associate two things or concepts without the use of like or as. (Comparisons that
Metaphors as Novel Titles Read More »
The Novel I’m Searching For “Five years after the pandemic, I’m holding out for a story that doesn’t just describe our experience, but transforms it.” Novelist Lily Meyer, a contributing writer at The Atlantic, writes that early literature about the COVID-19 pandemic aimed at giving people a sense of control by mentioning details of how
The Real Cognitive Neuroscience Behind Severance I haven’t caught up with the second season of Severance yet, but I will because I’m interested in both the dichotomy of inside vs. outside stories and the use of science fiction elements to portray aspects of human existence. In this article two neuroscientists explore the question “Can a
Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature Read More »
5 Books About Baseball Feature image (Turner Field, Atlanta, GA) by Joshua Peacock on Unsplash ’Tis the season! In honor of opening day, here are five books (2 novels and 3 works of nonfiction) about the boys of summer and the game they play. What books would you add to this list? Play Ball:
A Twist of the Kaleidoscope: Three cases for literary criticism If, like me, you review books on your blog, you’re a literary critic. In this article Kasia Bartoszyńska discusses three books about literary criticism to answer the following questions: Has academia ruined literary criticism? Is this the end of literary studies? Has contemporary culture reduced
