The greatest fault of literary awards is that they, like the review industry, are largely directed at new writing. There is no reason why the “best” books should be “new” books. Whereas commercial fiction is topical, trendy, and has a very short shelf life, literary fiction is not. If an industry supporting quality writing is to succeed in this changing publishing world, it must distinguish itself from the fashion industry where being “the latest” is every thing. A new philosophy for literary fiction publishing must focus on the maturing title as well as the new one.
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Category Archives: literary fiction
What is literary fiction?
Literary fiction is often linguistically difficult, or unusual, in the way that poetry is. It often contains unfamiliar words or supports political, ideological, religious positions that are not widely accepted. It subverts sentimentality. It makes people think.
Non-fans of literary fiction tend to complain that it sends them to the dictionary (or tries to). They claim literary fiction is guilty of affectation, a term which seems to have changed its meaning of late:
Main Entry: af·fec·ta·tion
Pronunciation: ˌa-ˌfek-ˈtā-shən
Function: noun
1 :displaying extensive knowledge acquired chiefly from books : demonstrating profound, recondite, or bookish learning
2 :speech or behavior relating to, or characteristic of poets or poetry Continue reading
Locus Amœnus Reading Group Forms
Last week I noticed that over a hundred people had read the beginning of my new novella, Locus Amœnus, online in a single day. I checked my webpage stats, and I found that the referring pages were from the local school district’s email server and a school board trustee’s business email server. (Who needs Booz Allen Hamilton or Statfor?!) So a hundred people from the very small town of Amenia, mostly school administration I guess, were struggling through all those “words, words, words,” to try to find out if they appear in the satire.
The Permanent Press reports most successful year to-date
As the major publishers continue to report significant declines in book sales for several years in a row, the Permanent Press, a small fiction house which published my first and third novels, reports a 58% percent increase over all.
Thirty-five years ago, The Permanent Press started publishing an average of 12 to 14 books yearly (mostly fiction). Keeping all their books in print–hence the name–has provided them with a small but steady source of income from a backlist of over 400 titles. In 2012, their print book sales increased by 37%, eBook sales increased by 94%, and subrights sales increased by 427%, resulting in a total income increase from all sources of 58%. Continue reading
Emily Dickinson attends a writing workshop
The Biologist’s Mistress
My new non-fiction title, The Biologist’s Mistress: Rethinking Self-Organization in Literature, Art, and Nature, has been released by Emergent Publications. Last year, I tried to distinguish myself from popular Harlequin Romance writer Victoria Alexander by changing my novel-writing pen name to Tori Alexander. But I kept Victoria N. Alexander for my philosophy of science work, assuming that I ran no risk of being confused with Victoria Alexander on that front. A couple of months ago, I wrote to a colleague in Denmark telling him that my new book, Biologist’s Mistress, would be released soon. He wrote back quickly saying that he had ordered my book from Amazon, but strangely the title (by Victoria Alexander) in Denmark had been translated into the “Perfect Mistress.”
I suppose there’s no avoiding one’s Doppelgänger.
My title, by the way, references a quote attributed to 20th C geneticist J. B. S. Haldane, “Teleology is like a mistress to the biologist; he dare not be seen with her in public but cannot live without her.”
Please take a look at the book’s website www.biologistsmistress.com, and get a copy too!
Naked Singularity now on Kindle
My second novel may not get quite as much attention as my other two novels (with pretty females on their covers), but Naked Singularity is my personal favorite and I’m happy to announce that it’s finally available on Kindle. The subject is dark — euthanasia — but heavy as it is, it’s also darkly comic. Here’s a thoughtful review from poet Gerrit Henry published when the novel first appeared in 2003.
Alexander, Victoria N. Naked Singularity.The Permanent Press, 2003, Sag Harbor. 189 pp. One of the many dark beauties of Victoria N. Alexander’s new novel is that, not only is it the proverbial good read, it is also a proverbially brilliant one. Alexander–holder of a PhD–has dished up a heart-stoppingly beautiful heroine who holds similar degrees in teleology (the study of why) and she thinks, and writes, like a dream. Witness this sample from a soliloquy by Hali on death: “You had thought death would at least be romantic, but now you realize there is nothing to be thankful for–how vacuous, how colorless, how without pity, how without regard for your intentions . . . . ” This, from a piece of popular fiction, is almost asking too much in the matter of sheer, unabused style. Continue reading
Fake political correctness in Amazon.com’s “Editorial Review” section
Let me say off the top that I like Amazon.com. Even as a huge corporate entity, they provide a fairly even playing ground for small literary fiction presses. They are even more democratic in this regard than many independent bookstores. But today I have some criticisms to make regarding their practices of posting “Editorial Reviews.” These are the unsigned reviews that appear at the top of the review section and that are the most visible. Amazon has an agreement with Publishers Weekly, Booklist and Library Journal to post their reviews in this section. Publishers cannot opt to replace these reviews with others from equally respectable review publications. Amazon claims they are under contract to post reviews and do not have a choice in the matter. Continue reading
Biosemiotics: Discussion with Don Favareau
Philosopher Don Favareau explains “biosemiotics,” the new paradigm for scientists and philosophers grappling with the concepts of “meaning,” “signaling,” and “coding” in biological processes–and in culture. Click here to listen to BBC radio broadcast featuring Don.
Biosemiotics is an area of science that informs my work in philosophy, as described in my forthcoming non-fiction work, The Biologist’s Mistress: Rethinking Self-Organization in Art, Literature, and Nature. But it also informs my creative writing, especially the short story collection I’m currently writing, The Narrative: and Other Stories, which focuses on how things become signs through poetic and chance associations. Continue reading
How to write a book review
I’m the editor at an online literary fiction review called Dactyl Review. We receive a lot of emails asking for some general pointers for writing reviews. Most requests have come from conscientious readers who want to post their first review on Amazon.com, GoodReads or LibraryThing. As a supporter of literature, I liked to help the reviewing world do a good job, on Dactyl Review and elsewhere. So here’s some guidance that (I hope) will help you write the kind of review that will be useful to readers and writers alike, no matter what you think of the book. Continue reading