Books Features

Books Hey, authors, don't tweet in anger!

Alice Hoffman continues the literary tradition of lashing out at critics, Twitter style. Who's sorry now?
  • A guide to vampire fiction with real bite

    The spirit of the Vampire Slayer lives on in the kickass young heroines of urban fantasy fiction
  • A teen book burns at the stake

    A Christian group hopes to set fire to library copies of Francesca Lia Block's novel about a gay boy coming of age.
  • Call me Ishmael. The end.

    Cellphone novels, the rage in Japan, now have competition in America: Twitter fiction.
  • The unlimited dreams of J.G. Ballard

    His dark, perverse fiction is unforgettable. But the author of "Crash" and "Empire of the Sun" was also a visionary who mapped the collision of culture and technology, media and desire.
  • Remembering J.G. Ballard, 1930-2009

    The visionary writer has passed away at age 78. This entry from "The Salon.com Reader's Guide to Contemporary Authors" takes us on a tour of his best and bravest work.
  • A eulogy for my father's words

    Critic and novelist John Leonard built grand cathedrals out of language. His son pays tribute to his lexicon and his passion.
  • The novelist in wartime

    In this powerful speech, the great author explains his controversial decision to accept a literary prize in Israel and why we need to fight the System.
  • John Updike's life and work

    The entry from "The Salon.com Reader's Guide to Contemporary Authors," published in 2000.
  • How to write a poem for the president

    Elizabeth Alexander has been commissioned to write a poem for Inauguration Day. But the checkered history of the form suggests it's an almost impossible task.
  • The Holocaust memoir so heartwarming it had to be fake

    Herman Rosenblat's concentration-camp romance duped Oprah, among many others. Why are we so eager to put a happy ending on a tragedy?
  • Read it and weep

    The economic news couldn't be worse for the book industry. Now insiders are asking how literature will survive.
  • Remembering John Leonard

    "The books we love, love us back," wrote the great critic, editor and reader, who died Wednesday.
  • The end of "Opus"

    Berkeley Breathed explains how our coarse national dialogue led him to end his strip. But what fate awaits our beloved, big-nosed hero?
  • The last days of David Foster Wallace

    The people who knew the brilliant writer best talk about the crippling anxiety and spiraling depression of his torturous final weeks.
  • In memory of David Foster Wallace, 1962-2008

    A tribute to the great American novelist who left us all a little less alone.
  • We drive as we live

    No wonder traffic will never improve. We are doomed by our behavior, as a drive in New York with "Traffic" author Tom Vanderbilt reveals.
  • The man who shook the Kremlin

    Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who died this week, was instrumental in bringing the Soviet Union to its knees, and he never wavered from his belief in a writer's moral responsibility to truth and beauty.
  • Why won't you blurb me?

    I had an agent and a book deal for my first novel. All I was missing was quotes for the back cover. Next time, remind me to suck up to more famous writers.
  • Remembering Thomas M. Disch

    In his many dark, satirical, heretical books, the pioneering science fiction author contemplated death with elegant despair.
  • Barack by the books

    The works that have influenced Obama illustrate that he would be the most literary president in recent memory -- and one likely to govern from the center.
  • Summer reads

    Past perfect: From a sinister Victorian thriller to the lush life of Louis XIV's mistress, these historical novels will take you back in time.
  • Summer reads

    True confessions: From a trek through the American West to a life filled with music, these memoirs will whisk you away.
  • Would you like some books with that tote bag?

    This year's Book Expo America attendees snatched up totes, celebrity autographs -- oh yeah, and some books.
  • Summer reads

    Chick chat: From a black-humored romantic romp to the tale of a single woman flirting her way around the world, these novels make perfect beach companions.
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