The author has no problem embracing the inscrutable and uncanny; it's what fuels his fiction
Links of the week August 19 2024 (34)
Our new feature links to interesting blogs or articles posted online, which will help keep you up to date with what's going on in the book world:
26 August 2024
Jeff VanderMeer is a poet laureate of weird fiction, the speculative subgenre that traffics in the Gothic and unknowable, and he wears the "weird" descriptor with pride. "Marketing labels can obviously make things overly commercial or restrict what you can do," he says via phone from his home in Tallahassee, Fla. "But in this particular case, it actually widened things up to the point where major publishers were publishing stuff that was pretty edgy that I don't know they would've been able to without the label."
In his trilogy of Southern Reach novels, VanderMeer has created a strange new world called Area X, a coastal habitat marked by bizarre cellular mutation and interspecies mingling, most of it both beautiful and dangerous. The Southern Reach, a Kafkaesque military bureaucracy, does its best to explore and reign in the land. The novels-Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance, all published in 2014-made VanderMeer a leading light among fans of the uncanny; Annihilation was adapted into a movie, directed by Alex Garland and starring Natalie Portman, in 2018.
Some decisions we make. Some are made for us. Fiction needs to acknowledge what we can (and can't) change.
I was asked recently to describe my work as a novelist in two or three words. It was, I think, supposed to be a bit of comedic question at the end of an interview. I was told other writers had said, "caffeinated and crazy" "trying hard," and, "poor sales." As much I like (and related to) those answers, and as much as my gut told me to say, "rural and southern," I instead went with "choice and circumstance."
Article continues after advertisementI write a great deal about choice and circumstance and how the two elements relate. My characters seem to always find themselves at the cusp of some moral dilemma. And when it comes time for them to choose-to make their ultimate decision that will then reverberate throughout the novel-I make sure the events of their past have a say in which direction they go. I don't do this for dramatic effect. Rather, it is the most accurate way for my characters to mirror actual human beings and how we often make our own decisions.
The Talking to Strangers author on the perils and joys of internet dating, being a duvet writer, and her own author inspirations
Former national newspaper journalist Fiona Barton is the author of five thrillers, including The Widow, The Child, and Talking to Strangers, which is published this week. It tells the story of a detective whose investigation into a woman's murder is hampered by a journalist who insists on doing her own investigation.
Could you tell us about the inspiration behind Talking to Strangers?
It probably dates back to childhood... when my mother told me never to talk to strangers. She drummed it into me, evoking the strangers of nightmares - the evil predators in dirty macs who tempted kids with sweeties or puppies before snatching and murdering them. But we all talk to strangers now, don't we? Now that we live online. People become our friends or followers at the click of a button. Or the swipe of a finger.
Fast forward to a lunch with friends, when one announced she had a date with a man she'd never met. "It's on Salisbury Plain," she said, buzzing with excitement. "He's sent me the map co-ordinates." She just laughed when I told her he was clearly an axe murderer with a shovel in the boot of his car. And I realised for her - and many of the women happily dating online - meeting 'The One' was worth the risks.
As a writer, I loved that potential jeopardy, the room for deception, the danger people put themselves in to find their happy endings.
It's an author's nightmare, but you're not alone. James Queally talks with writers who have been through a publisher's demise.
There's no best place to find out every book you've ever written is about to go out of print. But I'd imagine 30,000 feet in the air, two weeks after having a kid, is low on the list of preferred options to learn that particular bit of bad news.
Halfway through a cross-country flight to my kid brother's wedding I got a Facebook message from a friend suggesting Polis Books was about to shut down. The Jersey-based indie crime publisher - which helped launch names like Rob Hart, Cynthia Pelayo, Alex Segura and many others - was the home of my Russell Avery series. The only two books I'd ever published were about to disappear from all shelves save for the ones in my house. The third in the series, which I'd sold to Polis last year but foolishly written most of before receiving my advance, was now homeless.
After sponsor Baillie Gifford ended its support, book festivals urgently need new models to survive financially
A "jewel" in national life - that is how MSP Angus Robertson described arts festivals last week, as he promised them additional funding. It was a faintly ironic moment, coming two months after Robertson said that public money could not replace corporate sponsorship, when partnerships between investment management company Baillie Gifford and nine literary festivals came to an end.
The Baillie Gifford sponsorships - which helped fund the Hay festival, Edinburgh international book festival and Cheltenham literature festival among others - ended after a campaign by Fossil Free Books (FFB) calling for the asset manager to divest from fossil-fuel companies and firms linked to Israel.
Now, festivals are in the process of piecing together alternative funding solutions. In July, the nine festivals previously sponsored by Baillie Gifford put out a joint statement seeking support and asking for donations.
'I'm always on the lookout for stories that are escapist and inclusive; that carve out a space for all readers. As an editor, ensuring representation for all in the truest and most authentic way is something I am always working towards'
Why and how did you get into publishing?
I've always been interested in entertainment media, specifically the intersection between books and film/TV. At ten years old I would watch Jane Eyre on the telly, and then I would read the book; BBC would release a new adaptation of some classic, and after watching I'd read the material that inspired it. I've always enjoyed the intimate, quiet moments between the page and the individual, so the idea of getting involved in this process, to help shape that experience for the reader, was always exciting to me. I remember the first time I read The Hunger Games or Twilight aged about 12, and how that completely changed my relationship with books. I became obsessed with YA fiction and their filmic counterparts, and as a teen with access to Twitter, always had an eye on what was being published both UK and stateside. So book publishing always made the most sense to me.
In a spirited five-day celebration, held August 8-12 at the Scottish Events Campus in Glasgow, Scotland, crowds converged from all over the globe for the 82nd World Science Fiction Convention, known as Worldcon. Show organizers said that more than 8,000 membership badges were purchased in total, with over 7,200 issued at the venue and upwards of 600 in attendance online.
On the convention floor and across a wealth of a wealth of panels, book signings, and creative showcases, the mood was buoyant, with old hands and first-timers alike connecting in bars, at events, and simply in passing. And the organization's promise to "[consider] access, inclusion, and diversity as integral to Glasgow 2024," found the perfect venue in the Scottish city, which was welcoming, accessible, and spacious.
This energy was summed up perfectly in one small room on Sunday evening, as a panel on science fiction and fantasy limericks got underway. Though its timing clashed with the imminent Hugo Awards, a panel led by author R.W.W. Greene still drew a great crowd, and gamely led a wonderful back and forth between panelists and the audience in the pursuit of the perfect SFF verse. It was collaborative, convivial, and showed the strong communal spirit at this year's event.
In advance of the Frankfurt Rights Meeting, Lisanne Mathijssen talks about the challenges facing Dutch publishers, and possible ways to tackle them
English-language book sales seem to be on the rise in several European countries. Are you seeing this trend in the Netherlands, and if so, what impact is it having on the Dutch book market?
I believe this is our number one challenge. English-language books accounted for one in five books sold in the Netherlands in 2022 and almost one in four books in 2023, and we believe it will be one in every four books this year. There are two genres specifically affected by this: general fiction and YA - in YA, 60-80% of the books are sold in English. Non-fiction and information books are being read in Dutch. Oddly enough it also doesn't seem to affect the thriller genre that much; readers still read those in translation.
Karin Slaughter's unflinching crime novels dare to acknowledge the dangers women face in everyday life
The crime writer Karin Slaughter has been plugging away at a new novel from her secluded cabin in Blue Ridge, Ga., and recently, the distant revving of a chain saw has disturbed her peace. "I have no idea where it's coming from," Slaughter says via Zoom from the cabin's book-filled den. "I hope it's a serial killer."
She looks over her shoulder toward the noise. When she turns back, white hair piled high, she looks completely unfazed.
Perhaps it's because Slaughter (yes, that's her real last name; yes, she's grown tired of jokes about it) has built a career imagining such worst-case scenarios. There are no chain saws in This Is Why We Lied (Morrow, Aug.), the 12th entry in her popular series featuring Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Will Trent, but the book's bloodshed takes place in a setting just as sequestered as Slaughter's cabin.
Author William Gibson and his editor, Malcolm Edwards, recall how a seminal SF work came to publication
Malcolm Edwards
The early 1980s was a time when change was in the air for science fiction. New ideas, taking their cue from advances in computing and virtual reality, became the hot topics in what swiftly acquired the label 'cyberpunk'. The new writer who quickly became identified as the spearhead of this movement was an unfeasibly tall expatriate American living in Vancouver, William Gibson. Gibson had only published a handful of short stories, but their impact in the small world of SF was explosive - not just the content but also the language, hyper-modern with a command of vernacular that set them apart. He was immediately embraced by the glossy new magazine Omni, a mix of futuristic non-fiction with a smattering of SF, which paid rates previously unprecedented in the SF world and which therefore became the first choice for writers of the genre. I had the great good fortune to be the relatively new editor of an SF list, eager to make its mark, and it was obvious that Gibson was the author any editor would target. I was also deeply immersed in the SF subculture, knew the editor who had commissioned Neuromancer (Gibson's first novel), and shared several acquaintances.
Writing and publishing a nonfiction book is a big investment-of time, energy, and often money. In our work with authors, we find that people often approach the process with passion and ambition but without any sense of what it really takes to get the attention of an agent or editor, especially in today's crowded market. That's why we've created these five ways to test your book idea.
What kind of publishing path is right for your book?
When new authors come to us, they often have an idea in their minds about what getting their dream publishing deal will look like: an agent, a big advance, and a book tour. While they don't always know it yet, theirs is a fantasy about getting a traditional deal with a Big Five house (Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan), and, unfortunately, it is usually a fantasy-not because their book isn't a great idea, but because they don't have the "platform" (i.e., reach) to justify the investment from a Big Five publishing house. Also, book tours are a thing of the past, even for many Big Five authors.
The great news is that there are many publishing paths available. When we work with authors, we invite them to align their goals with their publishing path. Here are key questions to consider.
The New Zealand author channelled her experience of tragedy and mental illness with dazzling results. Now centenary celebrations will ensure her extraordinary vision lives on
In February 1975 the New Zealand writer Janet Frame was the subject of a rare interview for television conducted by the journalist Michael Noonan. This relaxed, intimate retrospective of her life and work - Frame and Noonan stroll, laughing together, at the height of summer along a sea-swept beach near her then home on the Whangaparāoa Peninsula, north of Auckland - was made as part of a project to mark the United Nations' International Women's Year. Frame would turn 51 that August; on screen she comes across as confident, relaxed, witty and thoughtful, far removed from the introverted and reclusive former psychiatric patient portrayed in Jane Campion's 1990 film An Angel at My Table. Based on Frame's bestselling autobiography, it is a legend-enforcing depiction of how Frame transformed her early background of poverty, tragedy and mental illness into literature. The New York Times obituary published the day after her death from leukaemia on 29 January 2004 would categorise Frame in its headline as a "writer who explored madness".
Have YA dystopias lost their bite?
How are young adult dystopias fairing these days? We saw a huge surge after 2010, with The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner and their many imitators - a phase that burned out pretty quickly. I remember publishers telling me over any number of years that the dystopia craze was over. It never quite is, but as a money fountain, it feels like the genre's had its day. Dystopia has been largely replaced by romance/fantasy in the YA SFF best-seller lists; think Samantha Shannon with her Bone Season series, Lauren Brookes with such books as Reckless, and Juno Dawson with her Her Majesty's Royal Coven series.
There's hopes now that The Hunger Games prequel movie, "Songbirds and Snakes", together with the new Netflix launch of "Uglies" might turn the tide. "Uglies" has all the hallmarks of modern YA dystopia - the identity politics, the hero, the love story, the rebellion, leading to some kind of self realisation. It's a strong formula, but will it launch a new summer of YA dystopia? I think not. It all feels too familiar. We need something different. So what's missing?
One of the persistent themes to emerge from the ongoing nationwide surge in book banning is that the bans are being pursued by a vocal, politically motivated minority. This week, a new survey report from the Knight Foundation is offering more support for that conclusion, finding that public engagement with efforts to ban books in public school libraries and classrooms is limited, despite a dramatic surge in book challenges since 2021.
The survey, based on a sizable national sample of more than 4,500 adults, found that most Americans feel informed about efforts to ban books in schools. But just 3% of respondents said that they have personally engaged on the issue%u2014with 2% getting involved on the side of maintaining access to books, and 1% seeking to restrict access. Overall, a solid majority of respondents expressed support for the freedom to read, and expressed high levels of trust in their local teachers and school librarians.
Index on Censorship said 53% of librarians polled had been asked to remove books - and that in more than half of those cases books were taken off shelves
More than two dozen school librarians in the UK have been asked to remove books - many of which are LGBTQ+ titles - from school library shelves, according to new survey data.
The Index on Censorship survey found that 28 of 53 librarians polled - 53% - said that they had been asked to remove books. In more than half of those cases books were taken off shelves.
Among the titles complained about were This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson, Julián is a Mermaid by Jessica Love, and ABC Pride by Louie Stowell, Elly Barnes and Amy Phelps. More than 50% of the requests to remove books came from parents.
The Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) has described Artificial Intelligence (AI) company Anthropic's alleged use of "pirated books" to train AI chatbot Claude as "egregious" and "typical of a wider trend."
Earlier this week, lawyers acting on behalf of authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson filed a copyright infringement case in California, US, claiming Anthropic had used "pirated" copies of their books to teach its AI chatbot, Claude.
The legal action accuses Anthropic of "downloading and copying hundreds of thousands of copyrighted books taken from pirated and illegal websites".
This is the latest in a series of legal cases where AI firms stand accused of using authors' material to teach large language models (LLMs) without their consent, or by using allegedly stolen copies of their books.
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