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LitReactor Staff Picks: The Best Books of 2017 (part 1)

December 7th, 2017

Another year has come and gone. You know what that means, don't you? Time for a bunch of strangers to tell you what was good! And why should you care what the LitReactor staff thinks are the best books of the year? Trick question! You shouldn't. But what they have to say might interest you nonetheless, because they are good-looking and knowledgeable and they read like the wind. So for those who care, we submit for your approval/derision some of LitReactor's favorite reads of 2017 (part 1).

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Why I Am Writing Under a New Name

December 7th, 2017

This article originally appeared on the Hank Early website. Photo courtesy of the author. So, one of the questions I've been getting is why write these next two books under a new name. What was wrong with John Mantooth? Some folks have rightly pointed out that you can't really hope to find a better name than Mantooth, and I would tend to agree with them.

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10 Hot Caribbean Authors to Keep You Warm This Winter

December 6th, 2017

The Caribbean has given the world a wealth of superb writers. Some, like Junot Díaz, Nicolás Guillén, Alejo Carpentier, and Oscar Hijuelos are now household names in the US, but there are still a lot of gems to discover. In fact, between Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, there is enough literature for book lovers to spend years reading only Caribbean authors and nothing else. I read Caribbean fiction throughout the year, but I've felt a stronger craving for it during the past few winters.

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Netflix's 'The Punisher': Aggressively Average

December 5th, 2017

 Out of all the Marvel Netflix series, The Punisher was definitely the one I looked forward to the most. He was one of the first characters other than Batman and Superman to really fascinate me, and despite some rather unfortunate divergences (FrankenCastle anyone?) he has continued to maintain my interest ever since. Perhaps it's because he is a rebuttal to the traditional superhero archetype.

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Write Who You Don’t Know?

December 4th, 2017

Header image by spekulator A psychologist always stirs up suspicion at a party. Guests laugh as they ask whether they’re being analyzed, but they’re never quite joking. Should they avoid mentioning their mothers? Not pick up any phallic objects?

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10 Tips for Authors to Avoid Book Promotion Burnout

December 1st, 2017

The struggle is real: book promotion burnout. If you're an author, you know what I'm talking about. If you have author friends, you know what I'm talking about. If you're a reader, maybe just hanging out on Twitter or Facebook, looking for that next good book, you know what I'm talking about. The constant tweets and posts about a book's latest review, upcoming sale, 99 cent promotion, release in paperback, very existence. As authors, we get burned out writing about our books. And we know that readers get burned out hearing about our books.

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Octavia's Daughters: Meet the New Queens of Spec Fic

November 30th, 2017

The Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Diaz, highfalutin' literary author though he may be, has famously mourned the fact that there will be no more Octavia Butler books.

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Thank You, Louisa May Alcott, For Writing the Perfect Book For Me

November 29th, 2017

There’s no horror like that of a budding writer reading about Jo’s manuscript erupting in the flames. There’s no jealousy like that of an intense shipper watching Amy flirt with Jo’s should-have-been-man. And there’s no sorrow like that of a wanna-be March family member getting to the part where that one thing happens to Beth.

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Why We Need Border Fiction More Than Ever

November 29th, 2017

Header image via Unsplash It's been a year since Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, and every day has been a battle. That sentence is to the point, painful, and accurate. But it's not a helpful statement. We need solutions. We need understanding and representation and the amplification of voices that are too often shouted over. This can happen anywhere. In the arts, in the sciences, in the business world. It can happen in classrooms and churches and offices.

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What Makes A Great Financial Thriller?

November 28th, 2017

One of my favourite movies is 12 Angry Men, a courtroom drama showing the emotional turmoil within the jury room during a murder trial. It’s an oldie, but still worth watching today. The legal thriller has been with us for some considerable time, and the works of John Grisham, Michael Connelly, Mark Gimenez and many others have kept us hooked on the genre to this day.

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