Suspend Your Disbelief

Author Archive

Shop Talk |

eBooks? Not in this crib.

by Celeste Ng

News flash: eBooks are growing more popular by the year–wait, make that the minute. But there’s one market where paper books are still king: babies. The New York Times reports that even eBook-reading parents prefer paper books for their tots. This is the case even with parents who themselves are die-hard downloaders of books onto Kindles, iPads, laptops and phones. They freely acknowledge their digital double standard, saying they want their children to be surrounded by print books, to experience turning physical pages as they learn about shapes, colors and animals. Parents also say they like cuddling up with their […]


Shop Talk |

"Work" writing and "really" writing

by Celeste Ng

Like many writers, I tend to think of job-related writing–like copywriting, or editing, or ghostwriting memos–as Not Really Writing. In the Huffington Post, though, Holly Robinson expresses a very different point of view: “Doesn’t it bug you to write other people’s books when you could be working on your own?” another writer asked me recently. Not a bit. In fact, I love telling other people’s stories. What other job would allow me to walk in another person’s shoes so completely that I’d feel their blisters? Working as a book doctor or ghost writer, I have the opportunity to immerse myself […]


Essays |

The 2011 Sozopol Fiction Seminar: Part I

by Jeremiah Chamberlin

Step One: Leave home. Three fellows from the Sozopol Fiction Seminar consider questions of travel, culture, and translation. Part I: John Struloeff on international diplomacy and collaboration, Jane E. Martin on finding home abroad, and Michael Hinken on how we rediscover home by leaving it. Later this week: Molly Antopol and Lee Romer Kaplan.


Shop Talk |

Stories We're Thankful For: "Pilgrims"

by Celeste Ng

I’m thankful for many things this Thansksgiving–friends, family, bits of good fortune large and small that have come my way over the past year. But in terms of stories, there’s one I’m eternally grateful for: Julie Orringer‘s “Pilgrims.” I first encountered “Pilgrims” in The Best New American Voices 2001, where it was the lead-off story. It begins simply enough: a family–father, mother, sister, brother–are headed to Thanksgiving dinner. But within paragraphs, you feel less and less at ease. The mother is gravely ill, as are many of the parents at the group dinner. Brother and sister must contend with a […]


Shop Talk |

One book to rule them all

by Celeste Ng

A recent discussion on the community blog Metafilter asked, “Please tell me one book you think everyone should read and why. Fiction or nonfiction, doesn’t matter. I’m not so interested in hearing about your favorite book or your desert island book, but a book you think everyone would benefit from reading.” In a matter of hours, over a hundred people responded with their recommendations. Many suggested nonfiction—from Richard Dawkins to Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond to The Art of War to the Bible—but surprise! Many others felt that the one book everyone should read would be fiction. Here’s […]


Shop Talk |

Book-of-the-Week: Quarantine, by Rahul Mehta

by Jeremiah Chamberlin

This week’s feature is Rahul Mehta’s debut collection, Quarantine, published this year by Harper Perennial. Mehta was born and raised in West Virginia. He received his MFA from Syracuse University, where he was the Cornelia Carhart Ward Fellow. Stories from this collection have appeared in such places as The Kenyon Review, The Sun, Epoch, Noon, and Fourteen Hills, as well as having been selected for New Stories from the South. Mehta lives with his partner in Alfred, New York, and teaches at Alfred University. In her recent review of this collection, contributor V. Jo Hsu writes: In his debut publication, […]


Shop Talk |

Book-of-the-Week Winners: White Truffles in Winter

by Jeremiah Chamberlin

Last week we featured White Truffles in Winter as our Book-of-the-Week title, and we’re pleased to announce the winners. Congratulations to: Eric Wyatt (@ericswyatt) Colette Sartor (@colettesartor) Victoria Barrett (@enginebooks) To claim your free subscription, please email us at the following address: winners [at] fictionwritersreview.com If you’d like to be eligible for future giveaways, please visit our Twitter Page and “follow” us!


Shop Talk |

At a loss for words

by Celeste Ng

Yesterday we talked about a tool to help you analyze your writing for “flabbiness” or “fitness” based on your use of prepositions, adjective and adverbs, and so on. But could analyzing your writing tell you something about your mental fitness, too? Researchers now believe that they may be able to detect the early signs of Alzheimer’s from a writer’s language. In a recently published paper, scientists at the University of Toronto examined the output of three writers for signs of the disease. From the study (titled “Longitudinal detection of dementia through lexical and syntactic changes in writing: a case study […]




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