Craft
Alexis Soloski on Theater, Criticism, and the Mystery of Performance
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Vivian Parry, the main character of Alexis Soloskiโs Here in the Dark, is a perceptive theater critic for a New York magazine. Sheโs tough on hammy actors, but even…
And They All Died Happily Ever After: Cozies, Grimdarks, and Modern Morality
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Those familiar with Game of Thrones will recognize the hallmarks of โgrimdarkโ storytelling. In a grimdark world, morals are flexible. Dark aesthetics and gritty details dominate. Todayโs hero could…
Crafting Creepy Crime Fiction in the Danish Countryside
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So there you are, sitting in a cozy cafรฉ in Odense, the hometown of the great fairytale writer Hans Christian Andersen, enjoying a flaky Danish pastry and a strong…
My First Thriller: Patricia Cornwell
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โThere was no call for him to be as unkind as he was,โ says famed author Patricia Cornwell, who single handedly created the forensic science crime fiction genre. Robert…
Fictional Versus Real Settings: A Writerโs Dilemma
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Every story has to start somewhere. And be somewhere. Take Dennis Lehaneโs 2003 novel, Mystic River. Its setting is so pivotal to the plot that you can find it…
The Bane and Boon of an Unreliable Narrator
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There has long been a discussion of whether or not a reliable narrator in fiction is something that truly exists. Since humans are prone to biases and judgment, a…
Stephen Spotswood On โQueering the Narrative of the Golden Age of Americaโ
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When things seem to be going badly in a society, people sympathize with characters who distrust or operate outside of that societyโs governing systemsโฆIn eras tinged with chaos in…
60 Years of โThe Spy Who Came in From the Coldโ
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โAdapted from a Center For Fiction conversation between Joseph Kanon and Paul Vidich, November 9, 2023 The Spy Who Came in From the Cold was published in September 1963…