It was completely predictable that the e-book phenomenon would spawn various enhancements like video and music designed, according to their creators, to “enrich” the reading experience.
I suppose there are some readers who will welcome having their e-books enhanced by such accompaniments. Indeed, I have known many writers who compose their books while listening to music.
Read more: The E-Book Intrusion
I have always been wary of novelists reviewing other novelists, especially in places that attract serious readers of serious novels like the New York Times Book Review which, despite its diminishing influence, still has an effect on the reading tastes for the discriminating consumer of books.
Perhaps I am uncomfortable with the practice because mainstream non-genre novel writers are, despite loud protests to the contrary, in fierce competition with other mainstream novelists. They compete for attention, notoriety, praise and prizes in a kind of nebulous pantheon of imagined immortality and secretly hope to be part of the literary canon of the future.
Read more: Should Novelists Review Another Novelist’s Novels?
Years ago, in the wake of Watergate, I wrote a novel titled The Henderson Equation which dealt with the following premise:
If media, meaning a powerful newspaper, had the persuasive power to bring down a President, why is it not possible for a newspaper to create the President of its choice?
Read more: In the Media, How Many Wrongs Make a Right?
