Writers on writing; Writers of Dead Teenager Novels

[rachelmanija]

David Langford does not enjoy a novel:

Tricia Sullivan, Someone To Watch Over Me (1997): this one provoked mixed feelings. This story of the grim, visceral implications of possible future mind control/transfer technology is well written, but somehow I couldn't muster any empathy for the variously hellbound characters, and kept feeling I wanted a shower as respite from successive doses of in-your-face sordidry. A not untypical moment: 'Squatting in the bathtub slick with sweat she watched the blood, skin oil, semen and tears mingle and slither toward the drain.' Yes, I know we all have occasional days like that, but ...

http://www.ansible.co.uk/writing/random07.html

Will Shetterly considers the art and purpose of the synopsis (page down)-- it's all good and to excerpt any part would be to misrepresent the whole, just read if you're interested:

http://shetterly.blogspot.com/

Neal Stephenson gives good interview:

Q: Do you think that hacking tools should be protected (in the United States) under the second amendment?

Neal: Such is the intensity of issues like this that I can't tell whether this is a troll. I'm going to assume it's not, and answer the question seriously.

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/20/1518217

Six Months to Live
I Want to Live
A Time to Die
Mother, Help Me Live
She Died Too Young
Too Young To Die
Don't Die, My Love
Please Don't Die
Baby Alicia is Dying
Sixteen and Dying
The Girl Death Left Behind
Till Death Do Us Part
Somewhere Between Life and Death
Someone Dies, Someone Lives
Time to Let Go

(drumroll)

When Happily Ever After Ends

Yes, it's the bibliography of Lurlene McDaniel, popular writer of... I'd call it death porn in the same spirit as food porn, but that sounds so necrophiliac... extremely morbid novels for death-obsessed teens. Lurlene McDaniel, meet Emmeline Grangerford.

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/lurlene/bookshelf.html

Comments

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Lurlene McDaniel! Oh, this takes me back: those started coming out when I was late in high school and I read a few.

And then I stopped reading them.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Re: Lurlene.... Ho. Ly. Cow. I showed it to my high-school daughter and she said "Bet it's on my next year's reading list."

[maramala.livejournal.com]

Whoah. These are the stuff I used to read way back in high school. For some reason, I stopped, and promptly forgot about them. Prolly because I got into more hardcore works later on. ;)

[larryhammer]

Chronic fatal illness of the, well, not month. Quarter.

---L.