reviews of new fiction and features about reading

Nazi Literature in the Americas by Roberto Bolaño

Nazi Literature in the Americas by Roberto Bolaño

Roberto Bolaño's 1996 book Nazi Literature in the Americas, now published for the first time in the UK, is a collection of fictional portraits of strange right-wing writers from the 20th century and beyond. ...

Win a copy of Nazi Literature in the Americas

Win a copy of Nazi Literature in the Americas

The start of this year saw the publication of the UK edition of Roberto Bolaño's Nazi Literature in the Americas, and The Fiction Desk is giving away a free copy in this month's email newsletter. ...

An A-Z of Possible Worlds, by A. C. Tillyer

An A-Z of Possible Worlds, by A. C. Tillyer

An A-Z of Possible Worlds is a collection of twenty-six short stories, each one printed as a separate booklet and collected in a red box. The stories explore aspects of imaginary places, some being direct sociological histories, while others show off their environments through an individual's crisis or a specific event. ...

New website IndieBooks to sell titles from independent publishers

New website IndieBooks to sell titles from independent publishers

Legend Press are launching a new website, IndieBooks, which will sell a limited range of fifty fiction and non-fiction titles from independent publishers. ...

Charles Lambert and the hypocrisy of power (interview)

Charles Lambert and the hypocrisy of power (interview)

Charles Lambert's debut novel Little Monsters and story collection The Scent of Cinnamon both met with critical acclaim. His new novel, Any Human Face is a thriller. The Fiction Desk interviewed him about his writing and the inspiration he finds in Italy's political corruption. ...

The Original of Laura by Vladimir Nabokov

The Original of Laura by Vladimir Nabokov

Knopf in the US and Penguin Classics in the UK have together published an elegant facsimile edition of Vladimir Nabokov's draft for The Original of Laura. But what are we supposed to do with it? ...

The return of the bookseller-publisher?

The return of the bookseller-publisher?

Reading Seven Lives of John Murray, Humphrey Carpenter's history of that publishing house, raises the question of whether independent publishers and booksellers might benefit from teaming up... or even being one and the same? ...

The Last Englishman: The Double Life of Arthur Ransome

The Last Englishman: The Double Life of Arthur Ransome

The Last Englishman: the double life of Arthur Ransome is a new biography of the Swallows and Amazons author, focussing on the years he spent in Russia during the Soviet revolution. ...

The Fiction Desk newsletter: win signed books!

The Fiction Desk is launching a monthly newsletter, with updates, news, and most importantly, the chance to win a signed copy of Legend of a Suicide, the excellent debut novel by David Vann. ...

Legend of a Suicide by David Vann

Legend of a Suicide by David Vann

It's often interesting to see the subtleties of marketing between different editions of the same book. From covers to titles to apparent target audience, dramatic changes take place as books move across oceans. David Vann's Legend of a Suicide is an interesting example: in the US, it's a collection of short stories built around a central novella; in its UK edition, published by Penguin, it's a novel. Neither description is inaccurate. ...

Who owns Twitter accounts?

Who owns Twitter accounts?

A look at the question of who owns publishers' Twitter accounts. Is it the publishing house, or the publicist themselves? And what happens when a publicist wants to move from one house to another? ...

Twitter Tips for Authors

More and more authors, from unpublished novices to international heavyweights, are getting involved with Twitter. If you're planning to join them, here are some tips for good author tweeting. ...

Are book blogs and novellas made for each other?

Are book blogs and novellas made for each other?

Book bloggers must balance the need for regular new book reviews with the demands of their daily lives. Are novellas the natural medium to meet their needs, and could we see a rise in the number of novellas being published? ...

War on the Margins by Libby Cone

War on the Margins by Libby Cone

War on the Margins, an MA thesis-turned-debut-novel from Libby Cone, explores the Jewish experience of the Nazi occupation of Jersey through a combination of archival documents and fiction. ...

The Red Wheelbarrow: Profile of a Paris Bookshop

The Red Wheelbarrow: Profile of a Paris Bookshop

The Red Wheelbarrow has been in Paris's Marais district since 2001. It's a vibrant outlet for both new and backlist books, which are shelved from floor to ceiling and stacked on every available table and chair, and a good portion of the floor. ...

The Impossible Stories of Zoran Zivkovic

The Impossible Stories of Zoran Zivkovic

Reviews of Impossible Stories Vols. 1 and 2 by Serbian author Zoran Zivkovic, and published by PS Publishing. Often brilliant and always entertaining, Zivkovic uses the format of story cycles to play with structures and symbols. ...

Big ships turn slowly: why large publisher websites don’t work

Big ships turn slowly: why large publisher websites don’t work

Some notes on why it may be better for the publishing industry to focus on smaller, niche sites. ...

Ramsey Campbell, Probably

Ramsey Campbell, Probably

Ramsey Campbell, Probably, is a 2002 collection of the author's essays, reviews, and various other bits of non-fiction. It's the kind of writing I'd push into the hands of anybody who professes an interest in writers, writing, or reading. ...

The Booker Prize Longlist 2009

The Booker Prize Longlist 2009

Another year, another Booker. After last year's fun but not particularly informative blog roundup, I thought I'd take another crack at a look at what bloggers have said so far about the Booker longlist. ...

Stop discounting before discounting stops publishing

Stop discounting before discounting stops publishing

There's something that I'm finding increasingly troubling: the majority of the books I purchase to read, or receive for review, shouldn't have been published. At least, not in their current state. ...

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