Suspend Your Disbelief

Author Archive

Shop Talk |

Book Design Nerdery, Part I: Designing a Cover

by Celeste Ng

Have you ever wondered how book covers get designed? This video shows how Orbit Books’ Creative Designer Lauren Panepinto designed the cover for an upcoming novel. The whole process took over 6 hours, but the video condenses that into just under two minutes: On Orbit’s webpage, Panepito explains: Trust me, no one wants to watch it in real-time…and even then I left out the not-as-riveting-onscreen stages of my cover design process, such as reading the manuscript, sifting through Alexia photoshoot outtakes, background photo research, etc. And since this is a series look that has already been established for Soulless and […]


Shop Talk |

I have an MFA in Fiction and a Master's in Vampire Studies

by Celeste Ng

How do you know when vampire lit has reached critical mass? When it gets an academic conference. Vampire literature is now receiving some scholarly attention with a conference at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK. Despite the smirk factor, the conference—”Open Graves, Open Minds: Vampires and the Undead in Modern Culture”— has some serious intellectual heft: The aim of the conference is to relate the undead in literature, art, and other media to questions concerning gender, technology, consumption, and social change. […] The irony of creatures with no reflection becoming such a pervasive reflection of modern culture pleases in […]


Reviews |

Swimming with Strangers, by Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum

by Brian Short

The stories in Kirsten Lunstrum’s new collection, Swimming with Strangers, are smart, harrowing, dramatic, and quite often surprising. In one, the narrator describes the story of her own birth; in another, as the characters discuss fairy tales—one of the characters forces his students to read the Brothers Grimm in their brutal, original forms—the roles of witch and distressed damsel switch back and forth. While we could easily imagine stories like these in which thematic elements take over, Lunstrum keeps them at a low burble, focusing on the reality of these characters’ struggles. It is a very brave choice.


Shop Talk |

YA Authors Fight Bullying

by Celeste Ng

Here in Massachusetts, the story of Phoebe Prince has been big news for a while. Prince was a fifteen-year-old high school freshman in South Hadley, MA, who committed suicide after being repeatedly bullied at school. Now, as some of the teens who allegedly bullied Prince are charged in connection with her death, the story has gotten news coverage across the country. And it’s also sparking action from an unlikely group: YA authors. GalleyCat reports: To help combat the problem of bullying, YA authors Carrie Jones and Megan Kelley Hall have founded a new group–Young Adult Authors Against Bullying. Since the […]


Shop Talk |

SHAY-bahn, not cha-BONE

by Anne Stameshkin

When you have a last name like Stameshkin, it’s rare–and lovely–to hear someone say it correctly. And I imagine that if even if you’re a world-famous author like Michael Chabon (see the subject line), Jonathan Lethem (that’s LEETH-um) or Chimamada Ngozi Adichie (en-GO-zeh ad-DEE-chay), it’s frustrating to hear thousands of fans and critics say they love…someone else. To avoid crimes of mispronunciation, study this guide to pronouncing authors’ names (via Buzzfeed via Dieselbookstore via The Panorama Book Review): it’s a great resource if you’re introducing, teaching, or even just talking about one of these writers. (Thanks to Tori and Todd […]


Shop Talk |

Payment vs. Good Karma

by Celeste Ng

At the Coachella Review, Steve Almond makes a case—through his email exchange with an agent—against contributing to an anthology for free: Mark – I may be willing to do this, but I’d really like to know: who IS getting paid, if not the contributors? I contribute to a lot of anthologies, and almost without exception, they offer to pay contributors based on the advance, or a small percentage of the royalties. The idea is a great one, and the contributors are top-notch, so this book could make real money. Why wouldn’t the people who provided the material for the book […]


Interviews |

Literary Mentors & Friends: An Interview with Charles Johnson

Charles Johnson taught creative writing at the University of Washington from 1976 to 2009. He is the author of numerous books, including the National Book Award-winning Middle Passage. Zachary Watterson, one of Johnson’s former students, talks with his mentor about the literary friendships that have influenced the author’s more than forty-year writing career.


Shop Talk |

The Hypothetical Library

by Celeste Ng

The subtitle of the blog The Hypothetical Library is “Imaginary Book Covers. Designed for Real Authors.” And that sums up this interesting little project nicely. Book designer Charlie Orr collaborates with real authors like Colum McCann, David Lehman, and Thomas Kelly to design covers for books that the authors have not written—and never will write. I ask each writer to provide flap copy for a book that they haven’t, won’t, but in theory could, write, and then I design a cover for it. I am not a writer. I have tried over the years, but it is simply something I […]


Shop Talk |

FWR @ AWP: Panels, Panels, Panels!

by Anne Stameshkin

Several of our fabulous contributors are participating in panels and readings at AWP. In addition to our panel on online journals and lit sites in 2010 (Saturday from noon to 1:15, featuring Jeremiah Chamberlin), don’t miss the following sessions: Thursday, April 8 10:30 – 11:45 a.m. Rooms 102, 104 Colorado Convention Center, Street Level R124. Bollywood, Bullets, and Beyond: The Poetry of South Asian America. (Featuring: Summi Kaipa, Pireeni Sundaralingam, Ravi Shankar, Bhanu Kapil, Subhashini Kaligotla and Monica Ferrell) What do a sestina, 9/11, and Amitabh Bachchan have in common? Popular, political, and poetic themes all appear in Indivisible (University […]




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