A Russian publisher has stooped to a new low: it added “fake quotes from fake newspapers on the cover of a … novel released this summer.” That’s not all, either. Apparently the publishers are trying to bill the book as a “Swedish” crime novel even though it was actually written by a Russian under a pseudonym.
Who Can You Trust Anymore?
*Cricket*
“It’s a book about fathers that has few good ones on display. It’s a book about language that cannot decide among many. It’s a book about bargains in which no character makes a wise one.” On Aravind Adiga’s new novel Selection Day.
How to Pitch Your Addiction Memoir
A writer pitches an addiction, and a subsequent addiction memoir (working title: Running Up a Glass Hill on Roller Skates) to a publisher, at McSweeneys.
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Penkov Takes the BBC ISS Award
East of the West author Miroslav Penkov is sitting pretty these days. The Bulgarian fiction writer recently nabbed the BBC International Short Story Award for his collection’s titular story, “East of the West.” With a purse of £15,000, this is the world’s biggest prize for short stories, though typically it considers work by British authors only. However this year, due to the 2012 Olympics, the field was expanded to include international writers. All five judges unanimously picked Penkov’s work over the nine other submissions. You can read an excerpt online courtesy of Google Books, and you can get a little more acquainted with Penkov’s themes on Picador’s Tumblr.
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New Covers for Anticipated Books
A couple more highly anticipated fall books now have cover art. J.K. Rowling’s post-Harry Potter effort The Casual Vacancy features a simple, bold design. And the cover of Ian McEwan’s Sweet Tooth is a throwback to the design motifs of several decades ago.
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Considering the Bittersweet End of Susan Falls
From Abkhazia to Zimbabwe
“[W]e can confirm that there is no place on Earth (not even Antarctica) that literature isn’t written.” Michael Barron, the U.S. literary editor for Culture Trip, curates “The Global Anthology,” an online project showcasing more than 220 pieces of literature from all over the world written in or translated into English (via Moby Lives).
Weird: France & Belgium
Recommended recommendations: Weird Fiction Review has compiled a list of notable “weird” French and Belgian writers.
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During the period in which Portugal was under Salazar’s dictatorship, which of course included censorship of books and press, portuguese author Dinis Machado wrote three noir crime novels under the pseudonym Dennis McShade (notice how he played with his own name), pretending to be an american author. The books claimed to have been translated by Dinis Machado himself, who was called by the censor agents regarding this american. He was able to convince them that the books were harmless, and they were published. The set is in America, but you can identify some metaphors regarding the dictatorship in Portugal.
This kind of pretending games can be fun. Though this story is not related to the one you are talking about, I thought it would show you how this pretending games can be subversive. And by the way, the three novels by Dennis McShade are incredibly good. He was, of course, a reader of Chandler and Hammett.
Well, I have to wonder if the fake quotes from the fake reader are any more authentic than the hyperbolic blurbs from ostensibly “real” readers….