tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916332485223671615.post8839419447747018372..comments2023-09-30T08:53:15.486-07:00Comments on Shelly Lowenkopf's Blog: Way to golowenkopfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05198658136254028258noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916332485223671615.post-11267227179938623682008-09-02T18:08:00.000-07:002008-09-02T18:08:00.000-07:00Reginald Hill has at least two books where the "mu...Reginald Hill has at least two books where the "murderer" is never detected by the cops and even in the third book in which this antagonist appears, we are left wondering along with the cops, esp. when he dies a hero's death. Wonderful ambiguity.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916332485223671615.post-15014458513248428162008-09-02T17:34:00.000-07:002008-09-02T17:34:00.000-07:00Magical realism is often a subtle AU, with reality...Magical realism is often a subtle AU, with reality infused with magical elements, reality overlayed and pervaded by some alternate realm. Surrealism, too, as in Kafka, provides an AU within the confines of apparently normal reality. These are the novels I love the best, where there is often confusion and distress on the part of those that perceive the AU when others don't. Of course there are the Stephen King horror genre, which I have not read, but I suspect is too formulaic and the reader knows exactly what to expect. With magical realism and surrealism you don't know what to expect and you eventually find yourself steeped in bizarro land before you know it. No clues, no suspects, no solutions, just crazy experience. Kind of the way I personally see life.Querulous Squirrelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11708026581220562733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916332485223671615.post-22956639141189550662008-08-31T13:57:00.000-07:002008-08-31T13:57:00.000-07:00In my English major days I read all the "greats" a...In my English major days I read all the "greats" and in my twenties and thirties I read literary fiction, but for the last several years, my fiction-reading consists almost exclusively of mysteries- the more literary the better; Reginald Hill, Laurie King, PD James, etc. Yet my novel is mainstream, not a mystery. I guess that's because I read mysteries for the moral universe they inhabit, but I don't think I have the chops to pull off a mystery in which the murder has the impact of real life, as opposed to serving mainly as a plot device, and I don't have the desire or the experience to get inside the mind of a detective. It's a conundrum for me, since everyone says to "write the kind of books you read". Do most people write in the genre they read? Or am I weird in that I don't? Maybe I should stick with nonfiction- the difference between real (death) and unreal (the way people react to death in most mysteries) is more clear to me there...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916332485223671615.post-54508041978572684582008-08-31T13:43:00.000-07:002008-08-31T13:43:00.000-07:00If I reimagine Austin, I shall surely have Lowenko...If I reimagine Austin, I shall surely have Lowenkopf Blvd. No doubt. <BR/><BR/>I've created an AU. I think. I wonder if that is good or bad--if it helps the story or is a trick. But when I write I look back over what I've written and find it is idd, things aren't completely like the real world, and I don't know for sure where these things came from.<BR/><BR/>I guess I need to work on my list.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916332485223671615.post-60349911429574527412008-08-31T13:05:00.000-07:002008-08-31T13:05:00.000-07:00Re: alternate-universe stories... I've always been...Re: alternate-universe stories... I've always been interested in a <I>specific</I> way in which a great deal of fiction, including much genre fiction and movies, is AU fiction even when not explicitly so. <BR/><BR/>Think e.g. of any Marlon Brando film made, oh, after 1965 or so. In none of them does Marlon Brando's or any other character inhabit a universe in which "Marlon Brando films" are a feature of popular culture. <BR/><BR/>Sometimes a mystery or SF author will tip his hat, slyly, to a forebear (even a contemporary) in the genre. But in none of Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr mysteries, say, does a character walk into Bernie's bookstore and find a Bernie Rhodenbarr book -- or any other book by an author named "Lawrence Block."<BR/><BR/>There must be a name for this phenomenon. <BR/><BR/>(Part of me has always thought there's potential for an interesting, non-gimmicky story in all of this; part of me says to stop wool-gathering and get back to work.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com