for thinking people
February 7, 2022
This post continues – after quite some time – the “Authors Talk” series. You can think of it as an author interview and, indeed, that is the name of the blog category. However, I prefer to see it as a friendly chat between fellow authors. Today I’m having this virtual discussion with David Maxwell, author of The Drift. A list of useful links to David’s work can be found at the end of this post.
May 2, 2019
Today’s article is a result of a conversation I had with Francis Mont, author of House Arrest. We were talking about worldbuilding in fiction. Particularly, we were talking about the challenges involved in creating an imaginary setting for your science fiction novel.
And so, I decided to write this short guide to worldbuilding. If you’re a science-fiction, fantasy, and perhaps horror-fiction author, this post will interest you.
Interestingly enough, preparing this post required me to ponder on worldbuilding in fiction myself. As a literary-fiction author, I never really had to think about how to worldbuild. So, writing this post made for an interesting exercise.
October 1, 2018
The Heart Goes Last, by Margaret Atwood, is a quasi-science-fiction story set in the modern United States. Technically, it could be in the near future, but there is nothing to suggest it isn’t set in the present time.
The setup is (post-)apocalyptic alright, but in an individual way. Jobs disappear, social cohesion collapses, people live in the streets. However, the focus is on Stan and Charmaine, who are unwilling to live in their car anymore, and so sign up for Positron. It is a place promising security, safety, bliss; ad infinitum. That is the catch, however. Just like Hotel California, you can check out in any time you want, but you can never leave.
Let me start by saying this: I like Margaret Atwood’s style.Check the Critical Reception section in the article about The Other Side of Dreams to get a hintI like the way she introduces a deeply introspective narrative style, giving her characters life. As a result, I really had high hopes about The Heart Goes Last. Disappointingly, my expectations were shattered.
I have read countless books, both as a casual reader and from the perspective of literary criticism. Honestly, I never remember a narrative disintegrating so completely. Let’s see the details.
