Dystel, Goderich & Bourret » fall fiction http://www.dystel.com/blog Fri, 23 Jun 2017 16:41:33 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.15 I’m in the mood for… http://www.dystel.com/blog/2016/08/im-in-the-mood-for/ http://www.dystel.com/blog/2016/08/im-in-the-mood-for/#comments Fri, 26 Aug 2016 14:59:33 +0000 http://www.dystel.com/?p=13038 If you’re like me, I’m starting to think longingly about fall—nestling into soft sweaters and scarves, brisk temperatures, and the explosion of pumpkin that seems to accompany autumn. It also signals a new wave of books, TV shows, and movies that many of us have been eagerly waiting for all summer. With the new wealth of things available to lose yourself in, it can seem overwhelming. I’ve noticed that since moving to NYC, I’ve found myself in a mad dash to try and keep up with pop culture and just…culture in general. As a newbie to the publishing industry, there’s so much to learn and so much to read. I’ve subscribed to a few literary/publishing industry newsletters, try and read Publishers Weekly and Publishers Lunch fairly religiously, I’ve dipped a tentative toe into the podcast waters, and I have constant running fines at the New York Public Library.  However, when it comes to movies and TV shows, I’m totally out of my element. And with all the suggestions flooding in from various sources, it can be tough to figure out exactly what you want to spend your time immersed in.

Thankfully, for the film/TV illiterate like me, Vulture has released a fall entertainment generator, which they describe as, “an interactive guide to this season’s 306 best offerings” for books, movies, TV shows, theatre, art, and music. You pick what you’re in the mood for and how you want it to make you feel, and it spits out a list of recommendations for you to choose from. I’m excited to see what it might steer me towards in the ever-busy autumn months! I’ve already got a fall reading list going, but am always looking for new recommendations.

Where do you get your book recommendations from? How do you get your daily dose of culture? What makes one book or movie stand out to you from a list?

]]> http://www.dystel.com/blog/2016/08/im-in-the-mood-for/feed/ 3 More All Hallows Reading http://www.dystel.com/blog/2015/10/more-all-hallows-reading/ http://www.dystel.com/blog/2015/10/more-all-hallows-reading/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2015 14:09:00 +0000 http://www.dystel.com/?p=12098 Although Erin has ably covered scary stories, I’ll chime in with another—David Mitchell’s disquieting but mesmerizing Slade House, which is as exquisitely packaged as it is unsettling to read late at night, alone, in what the older of my two sons calls a house with a lot of squeaky, freaky noises. I’m not so easily spooked, but I did find myself listening harder than usual. For what, I’m not sure…spectral footfalls, soul-sucking shades, my kids waking up and interrupting a delicious stolen moment of actual pleasure reading?

Slade House is a delightfully dark fairy tale, one that riffs off the world Mitchell built in The Bone Clocks but does not demand prior knowledge of it. There’s a stylish book trailer here. Its Edward Gorey-ish vibe makes me like it even more than the litany of praise it was designed to showcase. And indeed, no Halloween would be complete without a dose or several of Gorey. My sons and I just finished reading John Bellairs’ The House With the Clock in Its Walls; Gorey’s illustrations were the perfect complement to the tale of an evil wizard who concealed a doomsday clock in his squeaky, freaky home. Perhaps I was listening for ticking…

Generally speaking, I like a subtle, atmospheric brand of scary, the sort that steals over you, rather than overt horror, the sort that jumps out at you with chainsaw in hand. I may be the only child of the 80s who managed to avoid the Friday the 13th, Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street franchises, and the allure of the slasher flick eludes me still. This animation of Gorey’s cryptic but compelling “The Object Lesson” by Matt McGee is more my speed: https://vimeo.com/23504205.

Happy Halloween!
 

]]> http://www.dystel.com/blog/2015/10/more-all-hallows-reading/feed/ 1 Fall fiction, and a few debut author stories http://www.dystel.com/blog/2015/07/fall-fiction-and-a-few-debut-author-stories/ http://www.dystel.com/blog/2015/07/fall-fiction-and-a-few-debut-author-stories/#comments Thu, 23 Jul 2015 20:43:05 +0000 http://www.dystel.com/?p=11749 Not that I want to rush summer, which is my favorite time of year, but I did get a little excited when I saw this roundup of big fall fiction in Publisher’s Weekly, which really is right around the corner. Fall is always the time when big books are released, in both the nonfiction and fiction categories.

The list is pretty eclectic but the one common factor is that all the books are debuts. Someone took a chance and felt that these books could stand out in a very crowded and difficult marketplace. I’m always eager to get a sense of what publishers are excited about in terms of not only plots, but also writer backgrounds and pedigrees. Has their short fiction been previously published? Do they have an MFA from a prestigious program?

In the case of this list, it’s a mixed bag. There’s a lawyer from Reno, an MFA from NYU, and a former magazine book editor. But my favorite story is about an author who had been rejected by 60 agents (and that’s after getting her MFA from Columbia, people!) before sending her novel to a few independent publishing houses. Eight months later, a fellow student from Columbia was working as an editor at Soho Press and asked her if the manuscript was still available. INTO THE VALLEY by Ruth Gahm will be published this fall.

Check out all of these stories. They are interesting and fun, and look for the books this fall. If PW is profiling them, there’s a good chance at least a couple of them will do really well. Which ones do you want to read? Any other books you’re excited about for fall?

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