Truth strange enough for fiction
So far, we've given a lot of attention to our Non-Fiction entries, so it seems high time to give the floor to some of our submissions to the Fiction category--several of which are novels based on the author's non-fiction blog.
The Washingtonienne: A Novel
by Jessica Cutler - www.jessicacutleronline.com
$10.95 (Hyperion) Buy it
Blooker category: Fiction
"When Jacqueline Turner's fiance give her two days to move out of his apartment, she has no choice but to leave New York City and crash with her best friend in Washington, D.C...It's a town where a girl has to make her own excitement--and Jacqueline is just the woman for the job...Jackie's roster of paramours grows so complicated that her friends ask her to start a blog so they can keep up. But in a small town like Washington, the line between private and public blurs very easily, and Jackie quickly realizes this blog idea may be more than she bargained for...Deliciously gossipy and impossible to put down, The Washingtonienne is every bit as steamy and outrageous as the real-life exploits that inspired it."
The Banana Project
by Cat Oars Fiction Collective - forums.losangeles.craigslist.org
$8.50 (Francias/Lulu) Buy it
Blooker category: Fiction
Stories by the Cat Oars Fiction Collective--writers who post on the Craigslist Literary & Writing forum.
"What are we? Well, we're not an MFA publication. We like to think of ourselves as the garage band equivalent of a literary review or a punk rock version of the Algonquin Round Table, or an online community of outsider artists, or anything you can think of besdies an MFA review...For Banana I asked the writers to find a few words from a Velvet Underground or Lou Reed song that had some personal resonance, then blend them into a story, then write about why they picked that songs and those lyrics."
Faces in the Street: Louisa and Henry Lawson and the Castlereagh Street Push
by Pip Wilson - www.wilsonsalmanac.com
$21.48 (Lulu) Buy it
Blooker category: Fiction
"'She struggled to get women the vote. Her son was Australia's most famous writer. They drove each other crazy.' Meticulously researched big Aussie historical novel that takes the lid off the world of Louisa Lawson and Henry Lawson and their circle of radical friends: revolution, poverty, love affairs, madness, drunkenness, sedition, terrorism, passionate hopes, and friendships with some of Australia's most remarkable people. Much historical info here is not in their biographies."
Diary of a Dysfunctional Flight Attendant: The Queen of Sky Blog
by Ellen Simonetti - queenofsky.net
$22.95 (Blog Based Books) Buy it
Blooker category: Fiction
"The novel is based on the controversial true story of Ellen Simonetti, whose 2004 firing from a major US airline made headlines around the world and causes an international debate about the limits of free speech. It follows the online ramblings of Queen of Sky, the alter ego of Elena Guaio, a fun-loving, light-hearted and slightly dysfunctional flight attendant for "Anonymous International Airlines." Elena's blog quickly becomes her trusted confidant, which she uses as a release and a tool to sort through the numerous ups and downs of her life...She eventually even decides to post pictures of herself on her blog--pictures in her flight attendant uniform. The result of this seemingly innocent act throws her life into complete disarray."
The Doorbells of Florence
by Andrew Losowsky - www.flickr.com/photos/andrewlos
$27.99 (Prandial Publishing/Lulu) Buy it
Blooker category: Fiction
"As more than 12,500 viewers (and counting) of the Flickr set can testify, The Doorbells of Florence is cult fiction at its least predictable.
This book contains 36 real Italian doorbells (including some never before seen), each one with a strange story about the people and things that may, or may not, live inside.
This first-ever volume of "flicktion" was written by Andrew Losowsky and lovingly put together by award-winning designer, Nuno Vargas as the mini coffee table book that espresso was invented for."
Anonymous Lawyer
by Jeremy Blachman - anonymouslawyer.blogspot.com
$25.00 (Henry Holt) Buy it
Blooker category: Fiction
"He's a hiring partner at one of the world's largest law firms. Brilliant yet ruthless, he has little patience for associates who leave the office before midnight or steal candy from the bowl on his secretary's desk. He hates holidays and paralegals. And he's just started a weblog to tell the world about what life is really like at the top of his profession...Written in the form of a blog, Anonymous Lawyer is a spectacularly entertaining debut that rips away the bland facade of corporate law and offers a telling glimpse inside a frightening world."
I'm so depressed, I just found out by way of your blog that Jeremy Blachman published his blog-novel a few months before I did. Oh well, I guess I can claim the title of the world's first SELF-PUBLISHED novel in blog format ;)
-Ellen aka Queen of Sky
Posted by: Ellen Simonetti | January 17, 2007 at 01:01 AM