A while back on SF Awards Watch we posted about The Brief Wonderful Life of Oscar Wao, a book which today has been revealed as the winner of this year’s Pulitzer Prize for fiction. From the novella published in The New Yorker it does seem like Junot DÃaz is a really good writer, but equally poor Oscar is a really pathetic nerd. I mean, Blake’s 7??? (That will get me into trouble.)
Anyway, it appears that DÃaz is not alone, and if the New York Times can use the deaths of two old men who happen to blog as proof that blogging is bad for your health then surely I can use two books about nerds to claim evidence of a startling new trend in mainstream literature.
The other book is All Shall Be Well; and All Shall Be Well; and All Manner of Things Shall Be Well (yes, that is the title) by Tod Wodicka. There’s more about it on GalleyCat, but the important evidence is as follows:
Burt, the novel’s protagonist, is a vehemently faithful medieval reenactor, who dresses in handmade garb and refuses to drink coffee because it’s “out of period.” He tries to give up all his possessions and journey to Prague to reconcile with his estranged son, but don’t let your sympathy build up just yet. “I wanted Burt to be an unlikable asshole,” Wodicka says, “and in the earlier drafts, he was even more of one than he is now.”
(Note to Mr. Scalzi – I think “Burt” is the character’s first name, though I could be wrong.)
So there you have it. Two data points, so it must indicate a new literary movement, right? As to why? Well, obviously some of these mainstream types are running scared. They have seen how successful SF is these days, and how other mainstream authors are using SF themes in their work in a desperate attempt to stay relevant in today’s technology-obsessed world. Rather than give up and join the flow, they are busily writing books about how awful those SF types are in a desperate attempt to turn the tide.
Well, that’s my theory anyway, and I think it holds up at least as well as the NYT one about the dangers of blogging does (if not a lot more so). Now if you’ll excuse me I’m off to write a proposal for a novel about a greedy entrepreneurial geek who makes a fortune running science fiction conventions for his sad, nerdy friends but gets into blogging and dies of a heart attack at 25.
Sounds like you’ve got a bestseller on your hands. But it might be a mistake to give your protagonist a fatal heart attack — puts a dent in your chance of turning this into a series.
The plan is to have him come back as either a vampire or a zombie, depending which one is currently most popular with the urban fantasy/romance crowd at the time.
You realize, of course, that now the idea is out it’s your duty to write it. At least as pieces of flash fiction, if not as a novel. Let us know when the first installment is published!
I heard several places that shape-shifters and vampires are on the way out and Zombies were the next big thing in Paranormal Romance. I don’t see it myself. There is just all that ick factor.
The new Mike Carey book I’m reading has some interesting ideas about how zombies can stay fresh and, er, together, but overall I think you are right. You wouldn’t want crucial bits falling off at inconvenient moments.