A Brief Lesson in Tabloid Philosophy

I don’t usually go “off-message” and talk about anything other than books and writers on this blog, but I went to the little grocery store on the corner earlier today, and I happened to look at the newspapers by the door, which is how I noticed the contrasting approaches New York City’s two daily tabloids, the Post and the Daily News, had taken to the story of Charles Augusto, Jr., a Manhattan business owner who shot four men who tried to rob his store earlier this week, killing two of them.

I really don’t have much to say about the story; I don’t much feel it’s my place to comment. All I’m saying is that these front pages may just tell you everything you’ll ever need to know about the philosophies that guide editorial sensibilities at the two papers.

(Note: I cropped some sort of contest banner from the middle of the Daily News front page, to make the comparison more stark.)

15 August 2009 | uncategorized |

Jem: The Science Fiction Novel the Literary Establishment Embraced

The National Book Foundation is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the National Book Awards by looking back at every one of its fiction winners, and the first contribution I’m making to the series is an appreciation of Frederick Pohl’s Jem, the first and only winner of an American Book Award (1980 was a strange year for the Foundation) for hardcover science fiction.

It’s only a few paragraphs, but I explain why the American Book Award for science fiction didn’t go along with the Hugo and Nebula commendations, and how certain aspects of Pohl’s novel find resonance with other authors from Charles McCarry and Ted Mooney to Jonathan Lethem and Junot Diaz. Unfortunately, it’s really hard to find Jem in the U.S., but if you put in the effort I’m pretty sure you won’t be disappointed.

13 August 2009 | read this |