The book is part of Facts On File's Literary Movements series, and it has its uses. It also has flaws that make it less useful than it might be. It is the work of one writer, who is described in promotional material as "one of the world's leading experts on contemporary science fiction" and a writer of fiction and criticism. The prose is full of errors like muddling prophesy and prophecy.
The work is alphabetical and combines articles on authors, novels, novellas, short stories, and series. A term in capitals in one article sends the reader to another. Articles range from a few paragraphs to a page or two.
Part of the reason why I find science fiction attractive as a focus for study is because of its inherent uncertainties. For instance, Altman states that ‘most genre critics prefer to deal with films that are clearly and ineluctably tied to the genre in question’. This has certainly not been my approach to science fiction. For instance, I have included discussion of films that are less than clear examples of the genre and have chosen to read films like Crash (dir. David Cronenberg, 1996) and The Terminal Man (dir. Michael Hodges, 1974) as science fictions. I am not sure that it is possible to consider science fiction in the kind of vacuum that Altman suggests is prevalent ...
Why are adults reading children's fiction? The Crossover Novel delves into the heart of the controversy over "crossover fiction"--the fiction that has crossed from children to adult readers over the millennial decade, and continues to do so today. This book argues that the popularity of cross-reading cannot simply be attributed to clever marketing or to the "dumbing down" of adult readers, as some have claimed. Crossover fiction may be understood as an extension of "kiddulthood," the celebration of youth culture in a modern, capitalist society that places a premium on speed, flexibility, and lightness. In other respects, however, as Falconer persuasively argues, it can be understood as capitalism's antithesis: the expression of a desire for personal rootedness and for communally shared truths.
"John Gardner was famous for his generosity to young writers, and (this book) is his . . . gift to them. The Art of Fiction will fascinate anyone interested in how fiction gets put together. For the young writer, it will become a necessary handbook, a stern judge, an encouraging friend."--The New York Times Book Review.
Ten years ago, Barbara Kingsolver published a first novel that is well on its way to becoming a classic work of American fiction. The Bean Trees is a book readers have taken to their hearts. It is now a standard in college literature classes across the nation and has been translated for a readership stretching from Japan to Romania.
