Suspend Your Disbelief

Archive for 2012

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Police Composite sketches for literary characters

by Celeste Ng

Like most readers, you probably have your own mental image of Humbert Humbert, or Emma Bovary, or the Misfit. But if you’re the kind of person who likes a visual, check out The Composites, a Tumblr site that plugs literary descriptions of characters into police composite sketch software. The results are… well, take a look below and decide for yourself. Here’s how the police sketch program portrayed the three characters I mentioned above, along with the passages that generated them. (All images via The Composites.) Humbert Humbert, from Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov: Gloomy good looks…Clean-cut jaw, muscular hand, deep sonorous […]


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Get Involved

Hi there; we are Fiction Writers Review We’ve been fueled entirely by donated time, work and funds since FWR was founded in 2008, and in that time we’ve created thousands of articles, reviews, interviews, and original works — everything in our rich archive, and we’re not stopping here (read more about how we’re getting writers and readers talking…). So, do you come here often? If you’re an avid reader (writers included), you’re enjoying FWR, and you happen to be a wealthy philanthropist, we’d love to tell you how to donate your extensive estate to FWR upon your demise. Step right […]


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Thank you for supporting Fiction Writers Review! Fiction Writers Review is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide a public forum for conversations about the craft of fiction, literature, and the writing life. In an age where fiction coverage is an endangered species, Fiction Writers Review brings fiction back into the conversation. Because fiction matters! Fiction Writers Review is the only non-profit organization dedicated to exploring fiction with the same devotion to depth of craft as the authors who create it. Your financial contribution allows us to continue this mission, serving emerging writers, professional authors, and readers alike, […]


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Great Literary Things You Can Do Because You're Not at AWP

by Celeste Ng

Not at AWP—and wishing you were?  Don’t.  Here are 3 great literary things you can do this weekend because you’re not at AWP: 1. Go to a reading. Hear Alice McDermott at Hofstra, Karen Joy Fowler in San Francisco, Jodi Picoult in Boston, or any of a dozen other great readings.  Poets & Writers has a handy calendar, searchable by state or city, or check your local bookstore’s website. 2. Take a writing class. Many writing centers offer one-night classes, so take advantage of them while others are away. Happening AWP weekend: in Boston, Grub Street offers classes such as […]


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Cooler than AWP

by Celeste Ng

So you’re not at AWP right now, and you’re wondering what kind of highjinks you’re missing?   I can promise you, you’re not missing anything as fun as the sessions on Full Stop’s mock AWP schedule, which I must confess looks way more exciting than the original. Here are the sessions I’d be attending at this alterna-AWP: 4 Over 400: The Gutenberg Problem. Noted grimoire authors Merlin, Gandalf, Conor MacLeod, and Albus Dumbledore discuss the potentially disastrous consequences of printing presses. Will the grimoire survive this radical new development in publishing? How should scroll hawkers best adapt to the new […]


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2012 Sozopol Fiction Seminars Application Deadline March 7th

by The Editors

Reminder: There are still a few days left to apply for the 2012 Sozopol Fiction Seminars. This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Seminars, which take place each year in the historic, seaside town of Sozopol, on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast. Famed fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and naturalist Barry Lopez will be the distinguished English language guest lecturer this season. Lopez is the author of many books, including Arctic Dreams, which received the National Book Award, Of Wolves and Men, which was a National Book Award finalist and the recipient of the John Burroughs and Christopher medals, and numerous […]


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FWR at AWP 2012!

by The Editors

We here at Fiction Writers Review are excited to hit AWP and catch up with our friends and contributors. All throughout the conference, you can find us at our Bookfair table (N16)—come by and say hi! And here’s a partial list of FWR-related events: Thursday, March 1st: 12 pm – “Beyond the Workshop”: Contributor Margaret Lazarus Dean and other panelists explore new ways of teaching creative writing.  (Private Dining Room 2, Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor) 7 pm – University of Michigan Reception: Contributor Valerie Laken reads along with Darcie Dennigan.  (Marquette, Hilton Chicago Hotel 3rd Floor<) Friday, March 2nd: 9 […]


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Three Ways of the Saw, by Matt Mullins

by Lee Thomas

Prodigals on a grand scale who don’t want to go home. Matt Mullins packs 25 stories into his high-velocity debut Three Ways of the Saw. Don’t be misled by the Zenlike title, these characters come at you like a karate chop to the windpipe. Read on to find out exactly why you’ll be thanking him for that bruised trachea.


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Book of the Week: The World of a Few Minutes Ago

by Anne Stameshkin

This week’s feature is Jack Driscoll’s new collection, The World of a Few Minutes Ago, which was released by Wayne State University Press this month. Driscoll is the author of four books of poetry and four previous books of fiction. His first story collection, Wanting Only to be Heard, won the AWP Award for Short Fiction in 1991, his novel Lucky Man, Lucky Woman won both the Pushcart Editors’ Book Award in 1999 and was subsequently selected as a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award title in 2000, and his novel How Like an Angel was a Michigan […]




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