"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
Ted Gioia is a writer and musician. He is the author of Delta Blues, The History of Jazz and, most recently, The Birth (and Death) of the Cool.
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70
Conceptual Fiction: The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
Today Dr. Moreau would take his biotech company public on the NASDAQ, but in Victorian times he was a dangerous villain.
69
Conceptual Fiction: A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
A recent controversy in the blogosphere brings Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s 1959 novel 'A Canticle for Leibowitz' back into the limelight.
68
The New Canon: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Is J.K. Rowling's writing just "clichés and dead metaphors" as Harold Bloom argues, or is there something more to Harry Potter?
67
The New Canon: Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
In Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy shifts quickly from loving descriptions of flora, fauna, and rocks into accounts of bloodthirsty violence.
66
Conceptual Fiction: Dune by Frank Herbert
Frank Herbert's Dune was rejected by countless publishers, yet became a cherished sci-fi classic. How does it stack up today?
65
Book Review: The English Major by Jim Harrison
Jim Harrison writes a new millennium version of Kerouac's On the Road for senior citizens.
64
Conceptual Fiction: The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov
The young Isaac Asimov tried to chronicle hundreds of years of future galactic history in three pulp fiction novels. Should we care?
63
Book Review: Death With Interruptions by José Saramago
In José Saramago's newest novel, people suddenly stop dying, but this unexpected gift of immortality leads to chaos.
62
Conceptual Fiction: The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
In The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick imagines a universe in which the United States lost World War II.
61
Book Review: A Mercy by Toni Morrison
Charts the troubled relations of African, European and Native American members of a 17th-century New World household.
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