The Newest New Voice In Fiction
Ever wonder how many times a year someone is declared this year’s "bright light in fiction" or some other stupid thing. As an avid reader of reviews - it’s almost risen to the level of being an obsession - I stumbled across this one in the August issue of Vogue. Not my usual book recommendation magazine, sure, but this sentence made me wonder what was happening out there in fiction land:
"Kunkel has created what is easily the most endearingly original voice in fiction so far this year…"
The praise is for the lead character in Indecision by Benjamin Kunkel. I hadn’t heard of the book. It’s possible not many people have since it’s not one of those book covers plastered in every magazine. In case you care, this is Kunkel’s first book and it’s about a guy who can’t commit to anything and ends up in Ecuador. Something like that.
So, I tried to figure out if I’ve come across any new and exciting voices in romance fiction so far this year. I enjoyed several books. There also were some I didn’t like so much. As far as finding an amazing author or book, nothing jumps out at me. See, if I find a new-to-me author I tend to read the person’s entire backlist and hunt down his or her website to see what’s coming next. Didn’t have any of those moments this year so far. I did pick up the newest from chick lit author Lauren Baratz-Logsted and liked her voice. Wouldn’t give her a "best of’" award but did find her voice refreshing. Maybe some years that’s the best we can do.
July 22nd, 2005 at 10:20 am
I can only think of a few for me that might qualify (going on being new and somewhat unusual/exciting). I loved both Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughan and Enchanted, Inc by Shanna Swendson. Two pretty opposite books but both fresh in their own way.
And Marjorie M. Liu. Her debut book, Tiger Eye was fantastic IMO.
Lydia Joyce’s book was pretty good, especially for a debut novel (historical is not my fave genre so I can’t gush as much about this one)
Other than that, I’ve heard good things about a few other new authors but haven’t read them yet so will have to wait to throw my 2 cents in about them.
Interesting post!
July 22nd, 2005 at 1:55 pm
I forgot about Lydia Joyce. Historicals and gothics aren’t my usual thing but I really liked her first book. Don’t think the second is out yet.
July 30th, 2005 at 6:04 am
I read the Baratz-Logsted as well, and loved the voice even if the story didn’t turn out quite as interesting as the back cover made it out to be. Not to mention that the psuedo-ghetto talk gave me the wig.