Suspend Your Disbelief

Shop Talk

Win a copy of If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This, by Robin Black

by Anne Stameshkin

Before I recommend or send any book to one of FWR’s reviewers, I always read a sample story or two, a chapter, or maybe the first fifteen pages. If I fall in love, I order a copy of the book for myself. But sometimes there’s a novel or collection that demands to be read immediately. If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This (Random House, April 2010) made me forget I had a job, a website, friends, a boyfriend waiting for me to pick him up, dinner burning on the stove. And even after finishing this book (and sending […]


Short Story Month 2010: The Collection Giveaway Project

by Anne Stameshkin

Inspired by the Emerging Writers Network—who dubbed May as Short Story Month again this year–and the Poetry Book Giveaway for National Poetry Month, Fiction Writers Review is excited to propose a community effort by lit bloggers to raise attention for short story collections: Short Story Month 2010: The Collection Giveaway Project. Warm thanks to Erika Dreifus (The Practicing Writer), who suggested FWR as a home for this project, and who will be joining the cause. To participate in Short Story Month 2010: The Giveaway Project: (1) This month, post an entry on your blog recommending a recently published short story […]


Tim O'Brien-arama

by Celeste Ng

The classic The Things They Carried is being re-released in honor of its 20th anniversary, so unsurprisingly, Tim O’Brien keeps popping up in my radar lately. Besides being a powerful writer, O’Brien is also a great teacher, and in his recent interviews he offers useful thoughts for writers of all levels. In this interview for Beyond the Margins (with Grub Street program manager Sonya Larson), O’Brien discusses the writing of The Things They Carried, how being a father changed his writing, and recent literary works by soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan: I have read a number of books and […]


Book Covers in the eBook Era

by Celeste Ng

Imagine you’ve walked into a bookstore, browsing for something new. Besides an explicit recommendation, how do you decide what to read? If you’re like most people, you reach for a book that looks interesting… based on the cover. Mokoto Rich of the New York Times discusses how the e-book era may prevent us from judging a book by its cover and the ramifications that has for authors: Among other changes heralded by the e-book era, digital editions are bumping book covers off the subway, the coffee table and the beach. That is a loss for publishers and authors, who enjoy […]


The Case Against Writing Manuals

by Celeste Ng

In The Atlantic‘s 2010 Fiction issue, Richard Bausch makes a powerful argument against writing manuals: Now, I’m not speaking about books dealing with the aesthetics of the task, or with essays about the craft and critical analysis of examples of it—and we have several very fine volumes in that vein (Charles Baxter’s Burning Down the House and John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction come to mind)—no, I’m talking about straight how-to books, most of which claimed to offer shortcut advice, practical instructions on “writing your say the genre,” and even in some cases “secrets” of the novelist’s or story writer’s […]


Dating Advice as Writing Advice

by Celeste Ng

Over at The Elegant Variation, Marisa Silver guest blogs, drawing some parallels between love and writing: On love: 3. You will never know your partner. 4. You should never know your partner. 5. You will never know how things will end up. On writing: 3. People will ask you what your work means and you will try to explain it to them, but you won’t really be able to explain it even if it sounds like you are saying something intelligent. 4. You should not be able to explain it. There should always be something ineffable and mysterious about it, […]


Strand Tote Bag Contest

by Celeste Ng

You’ve seen it a million times: that iconic tote bag with The Strand logo on it. Recently, The Strand partnered with the School of Visual Arts, TOON Books, Drawn & Quarterly, and Fantagraphics Books to host a tote bag design contest. Over 800 emerging artists submitted their representations of The Strand Bookstore, and a panel of judges, including Pulitzer Prize–winner Art Spiegelman, selected three winners. Check out a slideshow of all the entries, just the finalists, or the three winners. The image by the grand prize winner, Zak Foster, will be featured on a new tote bag, available in-store and […]


O. Henry Launch Party at Idlewild Books this Saturday

by Jeremiah Chamberlin

For those of you in New York, Idlewild Books will be hosting a launch party for the 2010 PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories Anthology this Saturday from 6-8pm. FWR is pleased to have two of its contributors represented in this year’s collection: Preeta Samarasan, whose story “Birch Memorial” was published in A Public Space, and Natalie Bakopoulos, whose story “Fresco, Byzantine,” was published in Tin House. Come join us for the reception with several of the authors featured in the anthology. Idlewild is located at 12 W. 19th street (near 5th Avenue).


Amazon Gives $25,000 Grant to Lambda Literary Foundation

by Celeste Ng

You know how in the movies, every super-villain has a sweet side? Like a cat to dote on, or a lovely patch of garden to tend, or a puppy to kiss—in between ordering assassinations or blowing up planets or stages in the Master Plan to Take Over the Universe. Well, Amazon’s got one too, and it goes beyond being sweet: it’s actually doing good. The Lambda Literary Foundation, the country’s leading national nonprofit organization for the LGBT literary community, recently announced that it has received a grant of $25,000 from Amazon.com: The grant will support the Writers’ Retreat for Emerging […]


Electric Literature's Short Story "Trailer"

by Celeste Ng

Literary journal Electric Literature has put out a wonderfully weird animation based on one sentence from Jenny Offill’s short story “The Tunnel,” from Electric Literature No. 3. It reminds me of a mix between Alice and Wonderland and Monty Python, both whimsical and serious, but take a look for yourself: This video is actually the latest in a series: lots more are available on Electric Literature‘s website. But the videos aren’t just a gimmick; they’re an integral part of the journal’s mission. The editors write: Electric Literature’s mission is to use new media and innovative distribution to return the short […]


Because it's National Poetry Month…

by Anne Stameshkin

All across the blogosphere, writers have been celebrating April 2010 by discussing poems and sharing recommendations, including work of their own. – At Powell’s Blog, Jae suggests three collections (including Alphabet by Inger Christensen), observing: The poetry section of a bookstore can present potential challenges for any reader. More often than not, poetry books are precociously slim, slipping past first glance; it’s far easier to quickly name 10 famous living novelists than 10 famous living poets; and even when you know exactly what you’re looking for, small print runs may have rendered the book unavailable. Despite these occasional pitfalls, people […]


Andrew's Book Club: April 2010 Picks

by Anne Stameshkin

There’s still a week left in April: spend it reading one of these new collections recommended by Andrew Scott. INDIE PICKS: – Strange Weather (Press 53), by Becky Hagenston. Winner of the Spokane Prize for Short Fiction. Praise from Antonya Nelson: The sensibility overseeing these fine stories is curious, clever, quick, hilarious, and heartbreaking. The world contained between the covers of Strange Weather is both realistic and magical, silly and sublime, ‘romance and raunch. Just like real life.’ When a character working a desk job in a toxic chemical plant announces wistfully that ‘nothing’s blown up,’ the reader completely understands […]




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