New Paul Murray, The Art of Finding a Protagonist, Joan Didion and Women, and more . . .

The Mark and the Void Paul Murray Sneak Peek

What links the Investment Bank of Torabundo, www.myhotswaitress.com (yes, with an s, don't ask), an art heist, a novel called For the Love of a Clown, a six-year-old boy with the unfortunate name of Remington Steele, a lonely French banker, a tiny Pacific island, and a pest control business run by an ex-KGB agent? Only one thing, really: Paul Murray's madcap new novel, The Mark and the Void. It's the first we've heard from the man since the wild Skippy Dies, and we're pleased to announce his upcoming tour this fall. And to whet your whistle (and attempt an explanation), here's the first few pages from the new novel in stores October 20th. Read on...

What Will She Do?: The Art of Finding a Protagonist Susanna Moore On Writing

I begin with a character. As you know, there are many kinds of characters - Henry James's peripheral but all the same essential character who observes the narrative with the same mystification and curiosity as does the reader; Joan Didion's ironical and vaguely menacing character, sometimes even the writer Joan Didion herself, who tells you the plot in the first paragraph, and then fills in the blanks; Stendhal's historical figure, who is a creature both of his own ambition and the strivings of history. The character with whom I begin is a solitary figure, and always a woman (at least so far). But what is it that I am to do with her? Better still, what is it that she will do? If I trust her, she will tell me. Read on...