Showing posts with label Fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fiction. Show all posts

Monday, April 2, 2012

British Science Fiction Television: A Hitchhiker's Guide (Popular TV Genres)

British Science Fiction Television: A Hitchhiker's Guide (Popular TV Genres) Review



From Doctor Who to Red Dwarf, Thunderbirds to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, some of the most memorable and cherished British television has been in the area of science fiction.This pioneering book, by leading writers in TV history and science fiction, offers for the first time a detailed national survey of this most well-loved of TV genres and provides in-depth reassessments of these shows, as well as others including Threads, Sapphire and Steel, Invasion: Earth and The Last Train. The volume argues that British science fiction television, too often in the past critically derided for the quality of its special effects compared to American equivalents such as Star Trek--deserves to be taken seriously as a legitimate object of cultural analysis, both in terms of its ambition and ideas and its value in illuminating wider aspects of recent social and cultural history. The book also features a contribution from an acclaimed biographer of the late Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, as well as an exclusive published interview with Thunderbirds creator and producer Gerry Anderson.


Friday, March 23, 2012

Masculinity in Fiction and Film: Representing men in popular genres, 1945-2000 (Continuum Literary Studies)

Masculinity in Fiction and Film: Representing men in popular genres, 1945-2000 (Continuum Literary Studies) Review



This book looks at a wide range of fiction and film texts, from the 1950s to the present, in order to analyse the ways in which masculinity has been represented in popular culture in Britain and the United States. It covers numerous genres, including spy fiction, science fiction, the Western and police thrillers. Each chapter focuses on key forms of masculinity found in each genre, such as the 'double agent', the 'rogue cop' and the 'citizen-soldier'.
Brian Baker takes a broad, contextual approach, placing a detailed discussion of key texts and issues concerning masculinity in their historical and cultural context. Written in a clear, accessible way, it explores the changing representation of men over the last fifty years.


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction

Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction Review



Award Winning Finalist USA News Best Book Awards Writing & Publishing -
Named #5 in 10 of This Year's Terrific Writing Books 
byThe Writer Magazine (2011)

Award-winning author Michael A. Arnzen and Heidi Ruby Miller gather the voices of today's top genre writers and writing instructors alongside their published students. Many Genres, One Craft fosters the writing process in a way that focuses almost exclusively on writing the novel. Using a compilation of instructional articles penned by well-known authors affiliated with Seton Hill University's acclaimed MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction, the book emphasizes how to write genre novels and commercially appealing fiction. The articles are modeled after actual learning modules that have successfully taught students in the program how to reach a wider audience for over a decade.

Award-winning and best-selling contributors from a spectrum of genres and literary careers offer their sage advice, including David Morrell, Tess Gerritsen, Victoria Thompson, Nancy Kress, Shelley Bates, Nicole Peeler, Maria V. Snyder, Thomas Monteleone, Susan Mallery, and over fifty other published authors, teachers, and alumni, as well as special guest agents and editors who have visited the program. Divided into three parts Craft, Genre, and The Writer's Life the book provides advice on everything from point-of-view to writing media tie-in novels to marketing romance, all from writers who have actually done it.


Wednesday, January 11, 2012

100 Most Popular Genre Fiction Authors: Biographical Sketches and Bibliographies (Popular Authors Series)

100 Most Popular Genre Fiction Authors: Biographical Sketches and Bibliographies (Popular Authors Series) Review



Genre authors, like genre fiction, often get no respect. Traditional biographical dictionaries tend to focus on established authors with literary credentials, and if genre writers are included, they are certainly not the focus of the book. Yet genre fans hunger for information about their favorite writers. This compilation focuses exclusively on genre fiction authors, more specifically today's most popular genre authors. It profiles representatives from all major genres (mystery/detective, crime, adventure/suspense, thriller, horror, fantasy, science fiction, western, historical, women's, and romance). Most are contemporary authors, but a few classics who are still in print and widely read (e.g., J.R.R. Tolkien), are included. Featured authors include Julia Alvarez, Maeve Binchy, Lawrence Block, Clive Cussler, Tony Hillerman, Jan Karon, Faye Kellerman, Dean Koontz, Charles de Lint, Robert Ludlum, Terry McMillan, Anne Rice, Nora Roberts, Scott Turow, and Stuart Woods. A wonderful reference, particularly for readers' advisors and adult and teen readers seeking information about their favorite writers, this book can also be used as a source for student reports and research papers. It is an affordable alternative to multivolume sets. Young adult and adult. Grades 10 and up.