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Icelander (novel)
''Icelander'' is the debut novel of Dustin Long. It is part of the Rectangulars line of McSweeney's Books. It appeared on the ''Los Angeles Times'' best-seller's list. Plot The plot primarily follows the adventures of a character known only as Our Heroine as she attempts to solve the mystery of her friend's murder while repeated flashbacks detail her family's past adventures in the underground Icelandic kingdom of Vanaheim. Style Though playing on the mystery genre, the book is more in line with the postmodern fiction of Vladimir Nabokov, Thomas Pynchon, Alasdair Gray, and Flann O'Brien Brian O'Nolan ( ga, Brian Ó Nualláin; 5 October 1911 – 1 April 1966), better known by his pen name Flann O'Brien, was an Irish civil service official, novelist, playwright and satirist, who is now considered a major figure in twentieth ce .... The author created a real life "Bean Day" website, in reference to the event in the novel. References 2006 novels McSweeney's books Novels ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dustin Long (writer)
Dustin Long is an American novelist and author. He is known for his 2006 book ''Icelander''. Biography Long studied English literature at the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently a PhD student at Indiana University, Bloomington. Long has a son, and is a teacher in Manhattan. He currently lives in Brooklyn. Career ''Icelander'', published in 2006, was Long's first novel. It appeared on the Los Angeles Times best-sellers list. Long published a second novel, ''Bad Teeth'', in 2014. Long cites Thomas Pynchon and David Foster Wallace as influences. Works ;Fiction *''Icelander'' (2006, McSweeney's, Hardcover) (2007, Grove Press, Paperback) *''Bad Teeth'' (2014, New Harvest) References External linksAn HTMLGiant interview with Dustin Long (17 February 2012) [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
McSweeney's
McSweeney's Publishing is an American non-profit publishing house founded by Dave Eggers in 1998 and headquartered in San Francisco. Initially publishing the literary journal'' Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'', the company has moved to novels, books of poetry, and other periodicals. Company history Since 2002 Advanced Marketing Services had been the parent company of McSweeney's distributor Publishers Group West (PGW), but in 2006 they declared bankruptcy. At the time of the filing, PGW owed McSweeney's about $600,000. McSweeney's eventually accepted an offer from Perseus Books Group to take over distribution; the deal paid McSweeney's 70 percent of the money owed by PGW. In June 2007, McSweeney's held a successful sale and eBay auction which helped make up the difference. As of 2013, the company's archives, including rare material from its founding and its early history, are held in the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas. In October 2014, Dave Eggers ann ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hardcover
A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as case-bound) book is one bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other cloth, heavy paper, or occasionally leather). It has a flexible, sewn spine which allows the book to lie flat on a surface when opened. Modern hardcovers may have the pages glued onto the spine in much the same way as paperbacks. Following the ISBN sequence numbers, books of this type may be identified by the abbreviation Hbk. Hardcover books are often printed on acid-free paper, and they are much more durable than paperbacks, which have flexible, easily damaged paper covers. Hardcover books are marginally more costly to manufacture. Hardcovers are frequently protected by artistic dust jackets, but a "jacketless" alternative has increased in popularity: these "paper-over-board" or "jacketless" hardcover bindings forgo the dust jacket in favor of printing th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Debut Novel
A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to publish in the future. First-time novelists without a previous published reputation, such as publication in nonfiction, magazines, or literary journals, typically struggle to find a publisher. Sometimes new novelists will self-publish their debut novels, because publishing houses will not risk the capital needed to market books by an unknown author to the public. Most publishers purchase rights to novels, especially debut novels, through literary agents, who screen client work before sending it to publishers. These hurdles to publishing reflect both publishers' limits in resources for reviewing and publishing unknown works, and that readers typically buy more books by established authors with a reputation than first-time writers. For thi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States. The publication has won more than 40 Pulitzer Prizes. It is owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong and published by the Times Mirror Company. The newspaper’s coverage emphasizes California and especially Southern California stories. In the 19th century, the paper developed a reputation for civic boosterism and opposition to labor unions, the latter of which led to the bombing of its headquarters in 1910. The paper's profile grew substantially in the 1960s under publisher Otis Chandler, who adopted a more national focus. In recent decades the paper's readership has declined, and it has been beset by a series of ownership changes, staff reductions, and other controversies. In January 2018, the paper's staff voted to unionize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vanaheim
In Norse cosmology, Vanaheimr (Old Norse for 'home of the Vanir'Byock (2005:158).) is a location associated with the Vanir, a group of gods themselves associated with fertility, wisdom, and the ability to see the future. Vanaheimr is attested in the '' Poetic Edda''; compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the '' Prose Edda'' and (in euhemerized form) ''Heimskringla''; both written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In the ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda'', Vanaheimr is described as the location where the god Njörðr was raised. Attestations Vanaheimr is mentioned a single time in the ''Poetic Edda''; in a stanza of the poem '' Vafþrúðnismál''. In ''Vafþrúðnismál'', Gagnráðr (the god Odin in disguise) engages in a game of wits with the jötunn Vafþrúðnir. Gagnráðr asks Vafþrúðnir whence the Van god Njörðr came, for, though he rules over many hofs and hörgrs, Njörðr was not raised among the Æsir. Vafþrúðni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian (1926–1938) while living in Berlin, where he met his wife. He achieved international acclaim and prominence after moving to the United States, where he began writing in English. Nabokov became an American citizen in 1945 and lived mostly on the East Coast before returning to Europe in 1961, where he settled in Montreux, Switzerland. From 1948 to 1959, Nabokov was a professor of Russian literature at Cornell University. Nabokov's 1955 novel ''Lolita'' ranked fourth on Modern Library's list of the 100 best 20th-century novels in 2007 and is considered one of the greatest 20th-century works of literature. Nabokov's '' Pale Fire'', published in 1962, was ranked ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, Literary genre, genres and Theme (narrative), themes, including history, music, science, and mathematics. For ''Gravity's Rainbow'', Pynchon won the 1973 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction."National Book Awards – 1974" National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-29. (With essays by Casey Hicks and Chad Post from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog. The mock acceptance speech by Irwin Corey is not reprinted by NBF.) Hailing from Long Island, Pynchon served two years in the United States Navy and earned an English degree from Cornell University. After publishing several short stories ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alasdair Gray
Alasdair James Gray (28 December 1934 – 29 December 2019) was a Scottish writer and artist. His first novel, ''Lanark'' (1981), is seen as a landmark of Scottish fiction. He published novels, short stories, plays, poetry and translations, and wrote on politics and the history of English and Scots literature. His works of fiction combine realism, fantasy, and science fiction with the use of his own typography and illustrations, and won several awards. He studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1952 to 1957. As well as his book illustrations, he painted portraits and murals, including one at the Òran Mór venue and one at Hillhead subway station. His artwork has been widely exhibited and is in several important collections. Before ''Lanark'', he had plays performed on radio and TV. His writing style is postmodern and has been compared with those of Franz Kafka, George Orwell, Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino. It often contains extensive footnotes explaining the works that i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flann O'Brien
Brian O'Nolan ( ga, Brian Ó Nualláin; 5 October 1911 – 1 April 1966), better known by his pen name Flann O'Brien, was an Irish civil service official, novelist, playwright and satirist, who is now considered a major figure in twentieth century Irish literature. Born in Strabane, County Tyrone, he is regarded as a key figure in modernist and postmodern literature. His English language novels, such as '' At Swim-Two-Birds'' and ''The Third Policeman'', were written under the O’Brien pen name. His many satirical columns in ''The Irish Times'' and an Irish language novel '' An Béal Bocht'' were written under the name Myles na gCopaleen. O'Brien's novels have attracted a wide following for their unconventional humour and modernist metafiction. As a novelist, O'Brien was influenced by James Joyce. He was nonetheless sceptical of the "cult" of Joyce, saying "I declare to God if I hear that name Joyce one more time I will surely froth at the gob." Biography Family and early ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2006 Novels
6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second smallest composite number, behind 4; its proper divisors are , and . Since 6 equals the sum of its proper divisors, it is a perfect number; 6 is the smallest of the perfect numbers. It is also the smallest Granville number, or \mathcal-perfect number. As a perfect number: *6 is related to the Mersenne prime 3, since . (The next perfect number is 28.) *6 is the only even perfect number that is not the sum of successive odd cubes. *6 is the root of the 6-aliquot tree, and is itself the aliquot sum of only one other number; the square number, . Six is the only number that is both the sum and the product of three consecutive positive numbers. Unrelated to 6's being a perfect number, a Golomb ruler of length 6 is a "perfect ruler". Six is a c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
McSweeney's Books
McSweeney's Publishing is an American non-profit publishing house founded by Dave Eggers in 1998 and headquartered in San Francisco. Initially publishing the literary journal'' Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'', the company has moved to novels, books of poetry, and other periodicals. Company history Since 2002 Advanced Marketing Services had been the parent company of McSweeney's distributor Publishers Group West (PGW), but in 2006 they declared bankruptcy. At the time of the filing, PGW owed McSweeney's about $600,000. McSweeney's eventually accepted an offer from Perseus Books Group to take over distribution; the deal paid McSweeney's 70 percent of the money owed by PGW. In June 2007, McSweeney's held a successful sale and eBay auction which helped make up the difference. As of 2013, the company's archives, including rare material from its founding and its early history, are held in the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas. In October 2014, Dave Eggers annou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_The_Cosmos_in_the_Norse_mythology.jpg "Click for more on -> Vanaheim")
