Cliche, the Literary Default

Column by Jon Gingerich October 5, 2011 9 comments
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Cliche, the Literary Default

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Original Photo by Gerhard Lipold

As writers, we’re constantly told to avoid the cliché. MFA programs in particular indoctrinate an almost Pavlovian shock response against it; workshops introduce a wearingly familiar ritual where even the most minor characters are raked over the literary coals if they fail to achieve Hazel Motes levels of compelling. To an extent the witch-hunt is justified.

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A Conversation with Daniel Woodrell

Interview by Keith Rawson October 5, 2011 11 comments
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A Conversation with Daniel Woodrell

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Is it cliché to say that Daniel Woodrell is “criminally” underrated as a novelist? Most likely it is, but it, in fact, describes the iconic Arkansas novelist best. Over the last thirty-five years Woodrell has slowly but surely carved out his niche in the landscape of American literature by chronicling the travails of the new American working class and the hard bitten men and women of the Ozarks.

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The Top 10 DC Comics Relaunch Titles

Column by Jason Van Horn October 4, 2011 14 comments
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The Top 10 DC Comics Relaunch Titles

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"What are they thinking?" It was the question posed in comic shops all around the world and a topic of much debate amongst the many message boards out there. Why would DC take all their comics, relaunch everything with brand-new number one issues, and change the history of characters - and the DC Comics universe as a whole - when there is already such a rich history? 52 new books released within the span of a month. A lot of people want to know which books are worth their money and which are better left to rot on the shelf.

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'In Other Worlds' by Margaret Atwood

Review by Joshua Chaplinsky October 4, 2011 4 comments
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'In Other Worlds' by Margaret Atwood

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In 2009, Ursula K. Le Guin called out Margaret Atwood over comments perceived as disparaging to writers of science fiction. Le Guin proposed that Atwood was attempting to relegate the persecuted genre to the outskirts of the literary ghetto. Turns out, Atwood wasn't being condescending when she said she didn't consider her speculative novels to fall under the nerdiest of banners- the two authors just had differing opinions over what constituted science fiction.

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Contents Unchanged: Don't Judge A Book By Its Packaging

Column by John Jarzemsky October 3, 2011 11 comments
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Contents Unchanged: Don't Judge A Book By Its Packaging

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Image by Mattox via Free Images

Shortly after the new year, when it became apparent that Borders Books and Music would be shuttering its doors, my father wrote me an e-mail and reminded me that I might want to spend any unused gift cards I had laying around (these being a favorite of outer-orbit family friends and relations). Once the chain had sunk for good, they would be worthless.

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This Is Not Oklahoma: OK vs. Okay

Column by Stephen Graham Jones October 3, 2011 18 comments
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This Is Not Oklahoma: OK vs. Okay

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Whatever prose sensibilities you have, they most likely don’t let you use, say, ampersands in your fiction. Why, though? Is it that that kind of symbolic shorthand foregrounds itself on the page, taking attention away from the words that are trying to mean by way of sound rather than sight? Is it that we associate that kind of symbolic economy with billboard signs, which need to be readable at highway speeds? Is it that the word the ampersand is replacing, ‘and,’ isn’t all that bulky in the first place, kind of suggesting that shortening it’s redundant?

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LitReactor Is Now Online

News by Dennis Widmyer October 1, 2011 6 comments
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LitReactor Is Now Online

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It's alive!!  LitReactor is now online, folks!  For a month now you've all eagerly watched the clock tick down on our splash page.  We've tried to ease that process with some kickass advance content.  But we know, we know...  You were waiting for that 'On' switch to be flicked.  And now that it is, let me tell you some of the great stuff we have in store for you.

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