Impressionable Cacao Beans; the Wisdom of Bourbon

"Thoughts About Fiction" -- the title of this blog -- could easily extend well beyond literature.

How about marketing, for instance?

What about this assertion from the folks at Raaka, a maker of what might be called artisanal chocolate bars:

"This chocolate is years in the making. Our bourbon casks have lived multiple lives before we receive and fill them with cacao.  As they age, the young impressionable beans absorb the history and wisdom of the bourbon before them." (my emphasis)

Really?

New Narratives for a New Diversity

The  May 14, 2018, issue of The New Yorker includes a short story by Edwidge Danticat entitled "Without Inspection" that can be viewed as representing a new narrative for a more diverse America.

This country has always been a nation of immigrants (after it was "discovered" by European explorers at any rate), but until relatively recently, the vast majority of the newcomers were Europeans who arrived legally.  Thus, the classic immigration story has long been one of persons, parents or grandparents who arrived from the "old world" at Ellis Island in New York harbor and after various trials and tribulations, often including discrimination, eventually achieved the American Dream, if not for themselves for their offspring.

Tell Me a Story, Mommy

Remember when digital books were all the rage and various companies were rushing to bring out new readers?

Well, no more it seems. Audio books are now where it's at.

That's according to a lengthy article in the Seattle Times entitled "Listen carefully, book lovers: Top authors are skipping print for audio."

Freedom or Just Trying to Live: Differentiating Character

If one is writing stories short on plot, character development is often critical. That raises the issue of character differentiation and how to go about it.

In that vein, here is an interesting quote from a May 14, 2018, New Yorker article on rapper Post Malone.

"Some people are free to live their best lives. Others are just trying to live."

One Older Reader of Young Adult Fiction

I have discussed various aspects of Young Adult (YA) fiction in a number of posts, which readers can find by clicking on the tag “young adult fiction” at the bottom of this submission.  The YA field is interesting in part because it has in recent years been one of the best, if not the best, performing genre for the publishing industry.

List Journalism Is Alive and Well

Literary Hub, an online publication created by the venerable independent publisher Grove Atlantic and the Internet-age publisher Electric Literature, describes itself as “an organizing principle in the service of literary culture, a single, trusted, daily source for all the news, ideas and richness of contemporary literary life.”

Sounds high brow, doesn’t?

Well, Lit Hub, as it is known, is not shy about being low-brow as well – in this case, list journalism. You know the type: 24 ways to entice HIM into bed (your favorite women’s magazine); the 12 best sports bars in … (fill in the name of your city), etc., etc.

Trump as a Character from a James Joyce Novel

President Donald Trump could be a character created by James Joyce based on the way he thinks and communicates.

That’s the view of an unnamed national security expert, as reported by General Michael Hayden, a head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency under former president George W. Bush.

In an interview published in the May 6, 2018, New York Times Sunday Magazine, Hayden was asked what it was like for analysts to brief a president who ignores intelligence with which he disagrees and embraces information that suits his policy needs.