Suspend Your Disbelief

Archive for 2011

Shop Talk |

"Journal of the Week" subscription winners: One Story

Since launching in September, Fiction Writers Review’s “Book of the Week” promotion has shipped dozens of books to dozens of states. A few weeks back, we extended the promotion to highlight literary journals as well. Our inaugural “Journal of the Week” post featured One Story, and in addition to an exclusive interview with Associate Editor Marie-Helene Bertino, the post offered three free One Story subscriptions to our followers on Twitter. Congrats to our winners: Helen Smith (@emperorsclothes), Kenneth Jarman (@Krjarman), and Hank Nielsen (@hheerup). You’ll each receive a complimentary one-year subscription to One Story! Please contact us at winners [at] […]


Shop Talk |

Flipbook: "Becoming a Writer"

by Celeste Ng

Every few weeks, we launch a new Fiction Writers Review “Flipbook.” During the past two and a half years, we’ve featured more than 50 interviews with authors established and emerging. They’ve had such valuable insights into the writing life—from thoughts on process and craft to ideas about community and influence—that we wanted to find a way to further these conversations within our community. Each Flipbook highlights some of the very best of the conversations on our site, centered around a particular topic. Our latest Flipbook is now up on the FWR Facebook page, with an exclusive slide right here on […]


Interviews |

A Texture the Facts Can't Convey: An Interview with Susanna Daniel

by Laura Valeri

In this conversation with FWR’s Laura Valeri, Susanna Daniel discusses her debut novel, the fictional memoir Stiltsville, and shares her insights on the process of writing, the power of quiet stories—which she terms eminently readable—and the perseverance and faith that writers must nurture for their own work.


Shop Talk |

Making a book, 1947 and now

by Celeste Ng

Print book aficionados, here’s a little treat: a video on how a book was made in 1947. (My favorite part? How the author is “finished” writing his story as soon as the last page leaves the typewriter—and the book has a publisher immediately. Ah, if only…) Via. More interested in all the stuff that comes before printing—and how that works today? Mediabistro has released a four-minute video that outlines the process of finding an agent, finding a publisher, and getting publicity:


Reviews |

The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia, by Mary Helen Stefaniak

by Leslie Clements

In the tradition of Southern storytelling, Mary Helen Stefaniak’s novel The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia offers a window on the power of myth to transform one small town during the Depression. Leslie Clements explores how that tension between progress and tradition free the inhabitants of Baghdad, Georgia, for radical reinvention.


Shop Talk |

"When you have only a sentence or two, there’s nowhere to hide."

by Celeste Ng

Twitter turned five this week—an event celebrated by some and bemoaned by others. Is the (very) short form killing or helping our communication? Writer and teacher Andy Selsberg argues that learning to write short can make you a better writer: I don’t expect all my graduates to go on to Twitter-based careers, but learning how to write concisely, to express one key detail succinctly and eloquently, is an incredibly useful skill, and more in tune with most students’ daily chatter, as well as the world’s conversation. […] So a few years ago, I started slipping my classes short writing assignments […]


Shop Talk |

Feed your head—and your stomach—at La Pizzateca

by Celeste Ng

A new shop in Madrid, La Pizzateca, serves up tasty combos of books and pizza. Reports Springwise: The brainchild of Spanish publisher ES Ediciones, La Pizzateca offers a wide range of artisanal pizzas and calzones made from natural ingredients for enjoyment in-house or to go. It’s also a bookstore, however, and it even offers specials to encourage both pursuits. One, for example — dubbed the “menú de las letras” — includes a slice of pizza and a book for just EUR 5. Sounds like a clever new way to market books—and I love the idea of pairing pizzas with literature, […]


Shop Talk |

"Atlas Shrugged" + "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" 4-Ever

by Celeste Ng

Clearly there’s some connection between literature and romance. We know that fiction makes you more empathetic, and thus, possibly, more dateable. Writing and love are a lot alike. And a literary misalignment can even break a budding romance. Recently we’ve heard about how a shared love of books can act as a matchmaker. Now the San Francisco Public Library has taken that a step further, organizing a speed-dating session in the library itself: Participants were asked to bring a favorite book, so he clutched a copy of “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell and “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy. In […]


Shop Talk |

Thursday Morning Candy: Authors On Tour – Live!

by Celeste Ng

Welcome to Thursday Morning Candy, where we highlight an online journal or resource that’s a treat for writers and readers. Love author readings, but find you can’t get to them as often as you’d like? Or maybe you live in an area where author readings are infrequent. Authors on Tour – Live! is at your service. The website brings you podcasts of live author readings, including plenty of fiction, much of it by emerging writers—all for free. Recent podcasts include Siobhan Fallon reading from and discussing her debut collection You Know When the Men Are Gone, Chris Cleave on his […]


Interviews |

Secrets and Revelations: An Interview with Danielle Evans

by Melissa Scholes Young

In her debut collection, Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, Danielle Evans’s characters, like most of us, struggle to belong. Their loyalties to place, to family, and to self are often divided. Melissa Scholes Young interviews the author to find out how the identities we claim or deny often define the people we become.




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