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Readers response: What is one fictional place you would like to visit?

We asked our readers what fictional place from a movie, TV or book world they would love to travel to. Here's what they said. Ann Sigley - Hogwarts and Diagon Alley. Alison Jane - The Magic Faraway Tree. Peta Alto - The Secret Garden. Graham Moss - The Shire from Lord of the Rings. Kath Wilkinson - Robinson Crusoe’s island. Ken Harris - Emerald City. Betty Howarth - Marigold hotel. Matilda Jambour - Camelot. Joy Gardner - Narnia. Jean Rose Paoli - The garden of Eden. Jennifer Halemba - Brigadoon. Regina Johnson - Pemberley. Image credits: Shutterstock

International Travel

30 years ago, Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction shook Hollywood and redefined ‘cool’ cinema

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ben-mccann-398197">Ben McCann</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-adelaide-1119">University of Adelaide</a> What might be the most seismic moment in American cinema? Film “speaking” for the first time in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SzltpkGz0M">The Jazz Singer</a>? Dorothy <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4eQmTizTSo">entering</a> the Land of Oz? That <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw_D3a2pZtk">menacing shark</a> that in 1975 invented the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-history-of-the-blockbuster-movie/">summer blockbuster</a>? Or how about that moment when two hitmen on their way to a job began talking about the intricacies of European fast food while listening to Kool & The Gang? <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2j_A6e-VESk?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> Directed by Quentin Tarantino, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110912/">Pulp Fiction</a> (1994) celebrates its 30th birthday this month. Watching it now, this story of a motley crew of mobsters, drug dealers and lowlifes in sunny Los Angeles still feels startlingly new. Widely regarded as Tarantino’s masterpiece, the director’s dazzling second film was considered era-defining for its memorable dialogue, innovative narrative structure and unique blend of humour and violence. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, made stars of Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman, and revitalised John Travolta’s career. Pulp Fiction is dark, often poignant, and very funny. It is, as one critic <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/apr/13/my-favourite-cannes-winner-pulp-fiction">describes it</a>, an “intravenous jab of callous madness, black comedy and strange unwholesome euphoria”. <h2>A Möbius strip plot</h2> Famous for its non-linear narrative, Pulp Fiction weaves together <a href="https://thescriptlab.com/features/main/1457-structure-of-pulp-fiction-method-in-the-madness/">a trio of connected crime stories</a>. The three chapters – Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace’s Wife, The Gold Watch and The Bonnie Situation – loop, twist and intersect but, crucially, never confuse the viewer. Tarantino has often paid tribute to French filmmakers <a href="https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/jean-luc-godard-quentin-tarantino-ultimate-hero/">Jean-Luc Godard</a> and <a href="https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/director-deeply-inspired-quentin-tarantino/">Jean-Pierre Melville</a>, whose earlier films also presented their narratives out of chronological order and modified the rules of the crime genre. By inviting audiences to piece Pulp Fiction together like a puzzle, Tarantino laid the way for subsequent achronological films such as Memento (2000), Go (1999) and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). <h2>Pop culture meets postmodernism</h2> In his influential essay Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, first published in 1984, political theorist Frederic Jameson coined the term “<a href="https://literariness.org/2016/04/04/fredric-jamesons-concept-of-depthlessness/">new depthlessness</a>” to describe postmodern culture. Jameson perceived a shift away from the depth, meaning and authenticity that characterised earlier forms of culture, towards a focus on surface and style. Pulp Fiction <a href="http://moviemezzanine.com/the-eyes-behind-the-mask-pulp-fiction-and-postmodernity-20-years-later/">fits</a> Jameson’s definition of depthlessness. It is stuffed with homages to popular culture and a vivid array of character types drawn from other B-movies – hitmen, molls, mob bosses, double-crossing boxers, traumatised war veterans and tuxedo-wearing “fixers”. It is a film of surfaces and <a href="https://wiki.tarantino.info/index.php/Pulp_Fiction_Movie_References_Guide">allusions</a>. Jackson, Travolta and Thurman feature alongside established 1990s box-office stars including Bruce Willis and industry stalwarts Harvey Keitel and Christopher Walken, both of whom have brief but memorable cameos. The film’s most iconic scene takes place at the retro 1950s-themed Jack Rabbit Slim’s diner. Thurman’s twist contest with Travolta fondly echoes Travolta’s earlier dancing in Saturday Night Fever (1977) and pays homage to other dance scenes in films such as 8 ½ (1963) and Band of Outsiders (1964). <h2>Words and music</h2> Film critic Roger Ebert <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-pulp-fiction-1994">once noted</a> how Tarantino’s characters “often speak at right angles to the action”, giving long speeches before getting on with the job at hand. Pulp Fiction is full of witty and quotable monologues and dialogue, ranging from the philosophical to the mundane. Conversations about foot massages and blueberry pie bump up against Bible verses and reflections on fate and redemption. The film’s 1995 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay was a fitting achievement for Tarantino, who many regard as <a href="https://medium.com/word-garden/tarantinos-conversations-are-the-best-in-movie-history-this-is-why-52e06de4f773">the snappiest writer</a> in film history. Countless other filmmakers have looked to replicate Pulp Fiction’s mashup of cool and coarse. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/S6Vuj8tF-kk?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> Needle drops are <a href="https://medium.com/cuepoint/the-music-of-pulp-fiction-8a13a7cdb5a8">just as important</a> in establishing Pulp Fiction’s mood and tone. The film’s eclectic soundtrack pings between surf rock, soul and classic rock ‘n’ roll. The soundtrack peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard 200 in 1994 and stayed in the charts for <a href="https://www.grammy.com/news/how-pulp-fiction-reinvented-the-film-soundtrack-anniversary">more than a year</a>. <h2>Dividing the critics</h2> Though it was officially released in October 1994, Pulp Fiction had already made a stir earlier that by winning the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Many expected Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colours: Red to take <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/nov/09/three-colours-red-cannes">the top prize</a>. Tarantino himself seemed stunned, telling the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnS5pXQQmR4&t=188s">Cannes audience</a>: “I don’t make the kind of movies that bring people together. I make movies that split people apart.” The film has divided critics ever since. Many adored Pulp Fiction for its intoxicating allure and sheer adrenaline-fuelled pleasure. To this day it maintains a 92% critic score on <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pulp_fiction">Rotten Tomatoes</a>. Film critic Todd McCarthy <a href="https://variety.com/1994/film/reviews/pulp-fiction-1200437049/">called it</a> a film “bulging with boldness, humour and diabolical invention”. But the backlash was equally robust. <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2014/10/pulp-fiction-bad-film">Some</a> criticised the film for its excessive gore and irresponsible use of racial slurs. Screenwriting guru Syd Field <a href="https://sydfield.com/syd_resources/pulp-fiction/">felt</a> it was too shallow and too talky. Jean-Luc Godard, once one of Tarantino’s idol, apparently <a href="https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2022/12/0eav5zg509ajlqjg9xc8em2m3xrorw">hated it</a>. Nonetheless, its financial success (a <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0110912/">box office return</a> of US$213 million from an $8 million budget) signalled the growing importance and cultural prestige of independent US films. Miramax, the studio that backed it, went on to <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Down_and_Dirty_Pictures/aXn_CwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=down+and+dirty+pictures,+biskind&printsec=frontcover">become</a> a major force in the industry. <h2>A lasting legacy</h2> Shortly after Pulp Fiction’s release, the word “Tarantinoesque” <a href="https://www.oed.com/dictionary/tarantinoesque_adj">appeared</a> in the Oxofrd English Dictionary. The entry reads: <blockquote> Resembling or imitative of the films of Quentin Tarantino; characteristic or reminiscent of these films Tarantino’s films are typically characterised by graphic and stylized violence, non-linear storylines, cineliterate references, satirical themes, and sharp dialogue. </blockquote> Pulp Fiction has since been parodied and knocked off countless times. Hollywood suddenly began <a href="http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2016/the-10-worst-copycat-films-of-pulp-fiction/">mass-producing low-budget crime thrillers</a> with witty, self-reflexive dialogue. Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead (1995), 2 Days In The Valley (1996) and Very Bad Things (1998) are just some example. Graffiti artist Bansky even <a href="https://banksyexplained.com/pulp-fiction-2004/">stencilled</a> the likeness of Jules and Vincent all over London, with bananas in place of guns. The Simpsons <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u6wR_2S4xQ">got in on the act</a> too. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4u6wR_2S4xQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> Tarantino <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/profile-hollywood-s-hitman-quentin-tarantino-a-sadist-or-just-a-stylist-david-thomson-on-the-boywonder-director-of-pulp-fiction-1444551.html">once summed up</a> his working method as follows: <blockquote> Ultimately all I’m trying to do is merge sophisticated storytelling with lurid subject matter. I reckon that makes for an entertaining night at the movies. </blockquote> I’d say there’s no better way to describe Pulp Fiction.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/236877/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ben-mccann-398197">Ben McCann</a>, Associate Professor of French Studies, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-adelaide-1119">University of Adelaide</a> Image credits: Miramax This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/30-years-ago-tarantinos-pulp-fiction-shook-hollywood-and-redefined-cool-cinema-236877">original article</a>.

Movies

8 fictional places you can visit in real life

Step into the world of your favourite book, movie or TV show with a visit to these fictional locations that represented the original. Hogwarts, Harry Potter You won’t see anyone playing Quidditch on the lawns, but Alnwick Castle in Northumberland in the UK played Hogwarts in the first two Harry Potter films (with a little digital trickery thrown in). The castle has been the home of the Dukes of Northumberland for more than 700 years and is in high demand with film and TV crews – it also stars in the Downton Abbey Christmas specials. Jurassic Park The lush jungle foliage and towering waterfalls of the island of Kauai in Hawaii served as the backdrop for Stephen Spielberg’s rampaging dinosaurs in all three Jurassic Park movies. You can rent a four-wheel drive and travel through the national park where the movie was filmed though, sadly, none of the dinosaurs remained behind after shooting wrapped. West Egg, The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald modelled West Egg on Great Neck in Long Island, New York. This area on the north coast of Long Island was known as the Gold Coast because of the huge mansions, polo fields, golf courses and country clubs built there by America’s super wealthy (think Vanderbilt, Astor or Guggenheim). The very grand Oheka Castle in nearby Huntington partly inspired Gatsby’s house. Amity Island, Jaws Don’t go in the water! The beach on Amity Island was the setting for the first scene in the classic 1970s horror movie, Jaws. As well as looking the part of the perfect American seaside resort, the shallow water of the bay made it easier for the crew to operate the mechanical sharks. Hundred Acre Wood, Winnie the Pooh Just over an hour from London you can walk in the footsteps of Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin through Ashdown Forest. There’s only about 25 square kilometres of wooded area left from what was once a mighty forest, but it is still quintessentially English and one could almost expect Pooh, Tigger and Piglet to come bounding around a shady corner. Greenbow, Forrest Gump Life is like a box of chocolates in Varnville, South Carolina, which served as the fictional town of Greenbow in the Oscar winning movie Forrest Gump. The old Southern mansion that Forrest and his mamma lived in was a fake however, built just for production (and torn down right after), and even some of the Vietnam War scenes were shot around Varnville. Thank goodness for special effects. King’s Landing, Game of Thrones The historic Maltese capital of Mdina played the part of Kings Landing in the first series of Game of Thrones. The medieval walled city is in the centre of the island and has a population of just 300 – many of whom weren’t happy about the series. Maltese officials complained about the damage done and filming moved to Croatia for the following series. Hobbiton, The Lord of the Rings The three Lord of the Rings movies were such a smash hit that the village of Hobbiton was completely rebuilt in the original film location near Matamata in the North Island of New Zealand. You can step inside the tiny hobbit holes, visit the Green Dragon Inn and (of course) buy a souvenir at the gift shop. Images: Getty

International Travel

"The wilderness of mirrors": 70 years since the first James Bond book, spy stories are still blurring fact and fiction

"The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning." With these opening words, Ian Fleming (1908-64) introduced us to the gritty, glamorous world of James Bond. Fleming’s first novel, <a href="https://www.ianfleming.com/items/casino-royale/">Casino Royale</a>, was published 70 years ago on April 13 1953. It sold out within weeks. British readers, still living with rationing and shortages after the war, eagerly devoured the first James Bond story. It had expensive liquor and cars, exotic destinations, and high-stakes gambling – luxurious things beyond the reach of most people. The novel’s principal villain is Le Chiffre, the paymaster of a French trade union controlled by the Soviet intelligence agency SMERSH. After losing Soviet money, Le Chiffre takes to high-stakes gambling tables to recover it. Bond’s mission is to play against Le Chiffre and win, bankrupting both the Frenchman and the union. The director of British intelligence, known only by his codename “M”, also assigns Bond a companion – Vesper Lynd, previously one of the agency’s assistants. The two infiltrate the casino, play at the tables, and dodge assassination attempts, while engaging in a dramatic battle with French communists, the Soviets, and each other. Fleming’s Bond – the sophisticated, tuxedo-clad secret agent – is an enduring image of espionage. Since 1953, martinis, gadgets, and a licence to kill have been part of how ordinary people understand spycraft. Some of this was real: Fleming drew on his own work as a spy for his novels. Intelligence work is often less glamorous than he depicted, but in both espionage and novel-writing, the difference between fact and fiction is not always easy to distinguish. <h2>Ian Fleming, Agent 17F</h2> Fleming came from a wealthy, well-connected British family, but he was a mediocre student. He only lasted a year at military college (where he contracted gonorrhoea), then missed out on a job with the Foreign Office. He could write, though. He spent a few years as a journalist, but drifted purposelessly through much of the 1930s. The outbreak of war in 1939 changed everything. The director of British Naval Intelligence, Admiral John Henry Godfrey, recruited Fleming as his assistant. Fleming excelled, under the codename 17F. He didn’t see much of the war firsthand, but was involved in its planning. He was an ideas man, not overly concerned with practicalities or logistics. Fleming came up with the fictions; other people had to turn them into realities. In 1940, for example, he developed “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/entertainment-britain-fleming-bond-finea-idCAL1663266620080416">Operation Ruthless</a>”. To crack the German naval codes, Fleming planned to lure a German rescue boat into a trap and steal its coding machine. They would obtain a German bomber, dress British men in German uniforms, and deliberately crash the plane into the channel. When the German rescue crew arrived, they would shoot them and grab the machine. Preparations began but Fleming’s plan never eventuated. It was too difficult and risky – not least because crashing the plane might simply kill their whole crew. Fleming worked on various operations. When he began writing after the war, these experiences found their way into Bond’s world. Fleming and Godfrey had visited Portugal, a neutral territory teeming with spies, where they went to the casino. Fleming claimed he played against a German agent at the tables, an experience that supposedly inspired Bond’s gambling battles with Le Chiffre in Casino Royale. Godfrey maintained that Fleming only ever played against Portuguese businessmen, but Fleming never let facts get in the way of a good story. Fleming picked up inspiration everywhere. Godfrey became the model for M. Fleming’s secretary, Joan Howe, inspired Moneypenny. The Soviet SMERSH coding device in <a href="https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/From_Russia_with_Love_(novel)">From Russia, With Love</a> (1957) was based on the German Enigma machine. Many of Fleming’s characters were named for real people: one villain shares a name with Hitler’s Chief of Staff, another with one of Fleming’s schoolyard adversaries. It became something of a sport to hypothesise about the inspiration for Bond. Fleming later called him a “compound of all the secret agents and commando types” he met during war. There were elements of Fleming’s older brother, an operative behind the lines in Norway and Greece. Fleming also pointed to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Reilly">Sidney Reilly</a>, a Russian-born British agent during the First World War. He had access to reports on Reilly in the Naval Intelligence archive during his own service. Other possible models include <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_O%27Brien-ffrench">Conrad O’Brien-ffrench</a>, a British spy Fleming met while skiing in the 1930s, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_Dunderdale">Wilfred “Biffy” Dunderdale</a>, MI6 Station Chief in Paris, who wore handmade suits and was chauffeured in a Rolls Royce. Stories of discovering <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/mr-bond-i-presume-20141017-117xji.html">the real-life James Bond</a> still appear. But there was also much of Fleming himself in Bond. He gave 007 his own love of scrambled eggs and gambling. Their attitude towards women was similar. They used the same brand of toiletries. Bond even has Fleming’s golf handicap. Fleming would play with this idea, teasing that the books were autobiographical or that he was Bond’s biographer. Much like a cover story for an intelligence officer, Bond was Fleming’s alter-ego. He was anchored in Fleming’s realities – with a strong dash of creative licence and a little aspiration. <h2>The changing world of Bond</h2> The success of Casino Royale secured contracts for more Bond novels. In the early 1960s, critics began to denounce the books for their “sex, snobbery, and sadism”. Bond’s attitude toward women, in particular, was clear from the beginning. In Casino Royale, he refers to the “sweet tang of rape” in relation to sex with his MI6 accomplice and paramour Vesper Lynd. But the public appeared to be less concerned. Bond novels still sold well, especially after John F. Kennedy listed one among his top ten books. The first film adaptation, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055928/">Dr. No</a>, appeared in 1962 and Fleming’s success continued apace. Bond’s world was evolving, though. From Casino Royale to For Your Eyes Only (1960), Bond battled SMERSH, a real Soviet counter-espionage organisation. The early Bond novels were Cold War stories. Soviet Russia was the West’s enemy, so it was Bond’s. But East-West relations were thawing in 1959 when Fleming was writing Thunderball (1961). The Cold War could plausibly have ended and he didn’t want any film version to look dated, so Fleming created a fictional villain: SPECTRE. This was an international terrorist organisation without a distinct ideology. It could endure beyond the battles of the Cold War – and did. It features in the 2021 Bond film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2382320/">No Time To Die</a>. Fleming’s more fantastic plots were always anchored in reality by recognisable brands and products. Bond’s watch was a Rolex; his choice of bourbon was Jack Daniels. His cigarettes were Morlands, like Fleming’s. In the novels, Bond drove Bentleys – the Aston Martin was introduced in the 1964 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058150/">Goldfinger</a>. The films have changed Bond’s brands to keep up with the world around them (and secure lucrative product-placement deals): Omega replaced Rolex in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113189/">Goldeneye</a> (1995); the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/apr/17/bond-taste-for-beer-skyfall">martini was swapped for a Heineken</a> in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1074638/">Skyfall</a> (2012). Bond now carries a Sony phone. Other changes brought the 1950s spy into the 21st century. Recent films have more diverse casting. Their female characters do more than just spend a night with Bond before their untimely deaths. The novels, too, continue to change – the 70th-anniversary editions have had <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/27/james-bond-novels-to-be-reissued-with-racial-references-removed">racial slurs and some characters’ ethnic descriptors removed</a>. Some have criticised this as censorship. But as with <a href="https://theconversation.com/roald-dahl-a-brief-history-of-sensitivity-edits-to-childrens-literature-200500">recent rewritings of Roald Dahl’s books</a>, changes like this are not new. Fleming’s family has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-28/ian-fleming-james-bond-books-changes-to-new-editions/102035958">defended the alterations by citing similar removals</a> in 1955, when Live and Let Die was first published in the United States. There is a risk that this whitewashes Fleming’s attitudes, making them appear more palatable than they really were. But the revised Bond novels will include a disclaimer noting the removals. Casino Royale itself has not been altered (Bond’s rape comment remains intact), so the changes will perhaps be less extensive than the media coverage suggests. <h2>Spies After Bond</h2> Fleming is not the only ex-spy to have successfully turned his hand to spy fiction. John le Carré’s George Smiley is perhaps an anti-Bond: slightly overweight, banal, and essentially a bureaucrat. He relies on a shrewd mind rather than gadgets or guns. Le Carré introduced his readers to a more mundane, morally grey world of espionage. He had worked for MI5 and MI6 in the 1950 and ‘60s. He thought Bond was a gangster rather than a spy. Le Carré’s stories have also shaped how we think about espionage. Words like “mole” and “honeytrap” – the terminology of spycraft – <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2023/02/john-le-carre-spy-came-in-from-cold-book/673227/">entered common usage via his novels</a>. Stella Rimington, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/apr/23/stella-rimington-i-fell-into-intelligence-by-chance">the first female director-general of MI5</a>, began writing fiction after retiring from intelligence in the late 1990s. Her protagonist, 34-year-old Liz Carlyle, hunts terror cells in Britain. Like Smiley, Carlyle appears rather ordinary. She is serious and conscientious. We get glimpses of the everyday sexism she experiences. Carlyle triumphs by remaining level-headed, not by fiery gun battles or explosions. After three decades of agent-running for the CIA, Jason Mathews wrote his <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/series/The-Red-Sparrow-Trilogy">Red Sparrow</a> trilogy to occupy himself in retirement. He called it <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/28/books/shadowing-jason-matthews-the-ex-spy-whose-cover-identity-is-author.html">a form of therapy</a>. There’s a little more Bond in Mathews’ books than in those of le Carré or Rimington. His protagonists Nate Nash and Dominika Egorova are attractive, charismatic and entangled in a personal relationship of stolen moments and high drama. This is counterbalanced by the many hours they spend running surveillance-detection routes before meeting targets. The more tedious and banal aspects of spycraft – brush passes, broken transmitters, and dead drops – accompany the glamour and romance. <h2>The wilderness of mirrors</h2> Spy fiction is never just about entertainment. The real world of espionage is so secret that most of us only ever encounter it on pages or screens. We don’t usually look to Bond films for accurate representations of espionage. But the influence of Fleming’s spy and the general aura of secrecy surrounding intelligence work lend some glamour and excitement to the work of real spies. These fictions also influence our views on real intelligence organisations, their activities, and their legitimacy. This is why the <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-cia-goes-to-hollywood-how-americas-spy-agency-infiltrated-the-big-screen-and-our-minds/">CIA invests time and money into fictionalisations</a> dealing with its work. From stories based on true events, such as <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1024648/">Argo</a>(2012) or <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790885/">Zero Dark Thirty</a> (2012), to fictional series like <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1796960/">Homeland</a> (2011-20), the agency’s image is shaped via the media we consume. This was true when Fleming was writing, too. Soviet authorities <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Russia-and-the-Cult-of-State-Security-The-Chekist-Tradition-From-Lenin/Fedor/p/book/9780415703475">were preoccupied</a> by Sherlock Holmes’ surging popularity behind the Iron Curtain and fretted over the release of the Bond novels and films. The KGB studied both carefully. It was likely Bond who prompted KGB officers to release classified details about their most successful spy story: the career of <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-name-s-sorge-richard-sorge/">Richard Sorge</a>. Former intelligence officers such as Fleming are often quite good at fiction – perhaps because it is a core part of spycraft. A solid cover story has to be grounded in reality, with just enough fiction to protect the truth or gain a desired outcome. A good operation often requires creativity, to outwit a target or evade detection. And spreading fictions – disinformation – can sometimes be just as useful as gathering information. The world of espionage is sometimes referred to as the “wilderness of mirrors”. Spycraft relies on both reflections and distortions. The line between fact and fiction, between real stories of intelligence work and invented ones, can become blurry – and intelligence agencies often prefer it that way. Image credits: Columbia Pictures This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-wilderness-of-mirrors-70-years-since-the-first-james-bond-book-spy-stories-are-still-blurring-fact-and-fiction-201373" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Books

Romance fiction rewrites the rulebook

Romance fiction has one of the most recognisable brands in book culture. It is known for a handful of attributes: its happy-ever-after endings, the pocket Mills & Boon and Harlequin editions, the covers featuring Fabio (in the 1990s) or naked male torsos (the hot trend in the 21st century). It is known for being overwhelmingly written and read by women, and for being mass-produced. But romance fiction is also the most innovative and uncontrollable of all genres. It is the genre least able to be contained by established models of how the publishing industry works, or how readers and writers behave. Contemporary romance fiction is challenging the prevailing wisdom about how books come into being and find their readers. For our book <a href="https://www.umasspress.com/9781625346612/genre-worlds/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Genre Worlds: Popular Fiction and Twenty-First Century Book Culture</a>, coauthored with Lisa Fletcher, we conducted nearly 100 interviews with contemporary authors and publishing professionals. Our research shows that fiction genres are not static. They do not constrain artistic originality, but provide the kind of structure that sparks creativity and passion. Genre fiction can be understood as having three dimensions. The textual dimension is what happens on the page. The industrial dimension is how the books are produced. And the social dimension is the people who write, read and talk about genre fiction. These three dimensions interact to create what we have called a “genre world”. Each distinct genre world (such as fantasy or crime) combines textual conventions, social communities and industry expectations in its own way. And romance is the most fast-paced, rapidly changing genre world of them all. When it comes to genres of articles, we have a soft spot for the listicle. So, here are five things you may not know about contemporary romance fiction – five things that show the dynamism at the heart of book culture. <h2>1. Romance is at the forefront of digital innovation</h2> Twenty-first century publishing has seen fundamental shifts in the way books are produced, distributed and consumed, largely thanks to digital technology. The romance genre is notable historically for its rapid production and consumption cycle. As a result, it has been well placed to adapt to the widespread uptake of digital publishing, which also moves rapidly. Romance writers and publishers are entrepreneurial and comfortable taking risks. The moment constraints are released, romance writers rush in. This is exactly what has happened with self-publishing. Since the advent of <a href="https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kindle Direct Publishing</a> in 2007, hundreds of thousands of romance books have been self-published there. Other opportunities have blossomed on sites such as <a href="https://www.wattpad.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wattpad</a> or through print-on-demand services such as <a href="https://www.ingramspark.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IngramSpark</a>. In Australia, for example, there was a 1,000% increase in the number of self-published romance novels between 2010 and 2016. Some self-published romance novels have achieved mind-boggling success. Anna Todd’s 2014 romance novel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_(Todd_novel)" target="_blank" rel="noopener">After</a>, originally fan fiction based on the band One Direction, drew more than 1.5 billion reads on Wattpad. It was subsequently acquired by Simon & Schuster and has spawned a movie series. In other cases, romance authors have formed co-ops to publish work together. <a href="https://tulepublishing.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tule Publishing</a> is a small, largely digital publisher with a limited print-on-demand service that produces multi-author continuity series as part of its publishing model. The Tule authors we interviewed spoke of their strong community and creative connections. The self-publishing of genre fiction has blurred the lines between author, agent, editor, cover designer, typesetter, publisher and bookseller. <a href="http://www.stephanielaurens.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stephanie Laurens</a>, one of the world’s most successful romance novelists, began writing with Mills & Boon before moving to HarperCollins. In 2012, she gave a keynote address to the <a href="https://www.rwa.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Romance Writers of America</a> convention. She used the opportunity to reflect on industry change. Soon after, she began reconfiguring her own publishing arrangements. Now Harlequin publishes her print novels, while she self-publishes the e-book versions. She also self-publishes novellas that are prequels to, or that sit between, the novels in her traditionally published series. Laurens is a prolific author with loyal fans, an author who can afford to take risks. She realises that self-publishing potentially offers her a better deal and has been able to pursue that while retaining ties to a traditional publisher. Her career complicates any view of self-publishing as second best. Her example has been much emulated among romance writers. Such a career move challenges how we might typically theorise the power relations of literary culture. <h2>2. Romance readers are active and engaged</h2> The dynamism of romance fiction is intimately linked with its engaged readers. Unlike other kinds of publishing, where the fate of each book is relatively unpredictable, romance has historically had many loyal readers who subscribe through mail-order systems to receive books regularly – a model that has not worked successfully at scale for any other genre. In the 21st century, many of these loyal romance readers are online. They tweet about their favourite authors, write Goodreads reviews, and run blogs and podcasts. People read romance fiction for different reasons. They might be drawn to its focus on the emotional nuances of relationships, its escape into various times and places (romance subgenres really do cover the gamut), or its gold-plated promise of happy endings and pleasure. They might read casually or intensely, with curiosity, scepticism or devotion. All of these are active modes; they can’t be reduced to consumerism. There is an element of feeling to the involvement. The shared pleasure and sense of belonging that comes with being in the genre world came up regularly in our interviews. Author <a href="https://www.rachaeljohns.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rachael Johns</a>, speaking of romance fiction, said “this is my passion, I fell in love with the romance genre”. Agent Amy Tannenbaum described the romance community as “tight-knit”. Harlequin marketing specialist Adam Van Roojen suggested the romance community’s supportive nature makes it “so distinctive I think from other genres”. People say the same thing about other genres, of course, but these claims show how people imagine genre worlds as a kind of community. Communities have boundaries and can be exclusionary. <a href="https://kristinabusse.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kristina Busse</a> has written about the impulse to police borders in fan-fiction communities, and of how ascribing positive values to some members of a community may exclude other people. This dynamic is at work in genre worlds, even if it is low-key or not openly acknowledged. What’s more, the inside world of romance fiction has an inside of its own. This is evident in the way readers relate to one another (there is an implicit hierarchy of fans) and in the industrial underpinnings of the genre. For example, there is a distinction between a writer’s core audience and fringe audience that affects sales formats and international editions. Core romance readers tend to read digitally, and therefore can often access US editions of a book. Casual romance readers are more likely to pick up a print book from a store like Big W or Target and are therefore more likely to be the target audience for local editions. In general, though, both core and fringe romance readers know how to read romance fiction. They are attuned to the codes that run through the novels. Back in 1992, <a href="http://faculty.winthrop.edu/kosterj/engl618/readings/theory/Krentz&BarlowRomanceCodes.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jayne Ann Krentz and Linda Barlow</a> argued that certain words and phrases in romance fiction act as a hidden code “opaque to others”. Committed romance readers have a deep knowledge that makes them experts in their genre. When these readers express their views online, authors and publishers take note. One recent example involves a tweet from romance fiction author, podcaster and blogger <a href="https://www.sarahmaclean.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sarah McLean</a>. She asked her nearly 40,000 Twitter followers to “Tell me the best romance you’ve read in the last week. Bonus points for it being 🔥🔥🔥.” The tweet was directed at the hardcore readers of the romance genre world. It assumed an audience that reads more than one romance novel per week. The 300 or so replies constitute a mega-thread of recommendations. Romance readers are generous to one another this way, as the sheer abundance of commercially and self-published romance fiction makes it hard to sort and choose. The replies also offer an up-to-the-minute map of the subgenres and tropes to which readers are responding. These include shape-shifters, second-chance love stories, queer romance, and dukes and duchesses (possibly a Bridgerton effect). <h2>3. Romance fiction is global</h2> Far from being circumscribed by small horizons, romance fiction is globally connected and inflected. This is amply demonstrated by the example of Australian romance fiction, which is formed and sustained across international literary markets and creative communities. Pascale Casanova’s theory of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Republic_of_Letters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world republic of letters</a> notes the cultural force of London and New York as anglophone publishing centres. This mitigates against the inclusion of Australian content in popular fiction. Stories set in New York or London seem to have no limits in terms of international portability. But stories set in Australia, or another peripheral market, can be harder to pitch. Australian writers are conscious of this, as it directly affects the viability of their careers. But export success is possible for Australian work. The subgenre of Australian rural romance or “RuRo” is the best-known example. Authors like Rachel Johns are bestsellers in other territories. Romance novels set in Australia are popular in Germany – the Germans even have a name for them, the “Australien-Roman”. Romance fiction is energised by transnational communities of readers and writers, often mediated online. Australian romance author <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/author/kylie-scott/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kylie Scott</a>, for instance, credits American romance bloggers with driving the popularity of her books, and thanks book bloggers in the acknowledgements of her books. These cultural mediators assist the transnational movement of books in genre worlds. The development of digital-first genre fiction publishers and imprints also supports such movement, not least through promoting global release dates and world rights, so that genre books can be simultaneously accessible to readers worldwide. But nothing comes close to the romance fiction convention, or “con”, in demonstrating the international cooperative links of the romance community. Cons, such as Romance Writers of America, support romance writers by providing professional development opportunities; they offer structure to participants’ professional lives. For example, Regency romance writer <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/anna-campbell/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anna Campbell</a> has oriented her career towards the United States. Campbell began to professionalise by joining the <a href="https://romanceaustralia.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Romance Writers of Australia</a>, but then entered professional prizes run through US networks, and it was these that gained attention for her writing and enabled her to get an agent. American success followed: <blockquote> My agent ended up setting up an auction in New York, and three of the big houses wanted to buy it. The auction went for a week, and at the end of Good Friday 2006, I was a published author and they paid me enough money to become a full-time writer. </blockquote> Campbell went on to write five books with Avon, then moved to Hachette for a number of books. She has now moved to self-publishing. The majority of her readership remains in the US. Romance’s capacity to reflect the local concerns of writers and readers, coupled with its responsiveness to global industrial processes, makes it one of the most intriguing genres for considering what “Australian books” might look like in the 21st century. <figure></figure> <h2>4. Romance can be socially progressive</h2> It has been more than 50 years since Germaine Greer, in The Female Eunuch, dismissed romance fiction as women “cherishing the chains of their bondage”. The perception that the genre is conservative persists. But romance writers and readers are more and more concerned with inequality across gender, race and sexuality. They are pushing back against old conventions. In 2018, Kate Cuthbert, then managing editor of Harlequin’s Escape imprint, gave a speech that revealed romance’s internal debates. She addressed the responsibilities of romance fiction writers and publishers in the #MeToo era, arguing that <blockquote> if we want to call ourselves a feminist genre, if we want to hold ourselves up as an example of women being centred, of representing the female gaze, of creating women heroes who not only survive but thrive, then we have to lead. </blockquote> For Cuthbert, this means “breaking up” with some familiar romance fiction tropes, such as the coercion of women: <blockquote> many of the behaviors that are now being called out – sexual innuendo, workplace advances, stolen kisses because the kisser couldn’t resist – feel in many ways like an old friend. They exist in the romance bubble […] and they readily tap into that shared emotional history over and over again in a way that feels familiar and safe. </blockquote> Cuthbert’s compassionate acknowledgement of readers’ and writers’ attachment to established genre norms sits alongside her call for evolution, for renewed attention to “recognising the heroine’s bodily autonomy, her right to decide what happens to it at every point”. Structural hostility in the publishing industry towards people of colour has also become a cause romance writers and readers rally behind. In 2018, <a href="http://blackmagicblues.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cole McCade</a>, a queer romance writer with a multiracial background, revealed that his editor at Riptide had written to him: <blockquote> We don’t mind POC But I will warn you – and you have NO idea how much I hate having to say this – we won’t put them on the cover, because we like the book to, you know, sell :-(. </blockquote> In the wake of this revelation, multiple authors pulled their books from Riptide, as a further series of revelations about the publisher’s bad behaviour emerged. The following year, the Romance Writers of America examined the past 18 years of its <a href="https://www.rwa.org/Online/Awards/RITA/RITA_Award.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RITA Awards</a> finalists and published the results: no black author had ever won a RITA, and the percentage of black authors represented on shortlists was less than half a per cent. In response, the board published a “Commitment to RITAs and Inclusivity”, in which it called the shocking results a “systemic issue” that “needs to be addressed”. In 2020, they announced they were employing diversity and inclusion experts to help diversify their board, train staff, and help “design and structure” more inclusive membership programs and events, including the annual conference. The Romance Writers of America’s intentions have not always been successful. The ongoing visibility of marginalised groups in the genre continues nonetheless, in part driven by romance’s rapid and robust uptake of digital publishing. Access to publishing platforms has allowed micro-niche genres to proliferate. LGBTQIA+ romance subgenres have become particularly visible: from lesbian military romance to gay alien romance to realist asexual love stories. Sometimes these stories go spectacularly mainstream, as with C.S. Pacat’s <a href="https://cspacat.com/books/captive-prince/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Captive Prince</a>, a gay erotic fantasy about a prince who is given to the ruler of a neighbouring kingdom as a pleasure slave. Originally self-published, The Captive Prince started as a web serial that gathered 30,000 signed-up fans and spawned Tumblrs dedicated to fan fiction and speculation about where the series would go. The book was rejected by major publishers, so Pacat self-published to Amazon and within 24 hours it had reached number 1 in LGBTQIA+ fiction. A New York agent approached Pacat and secured her a seven-figure publication deal with Penguin. The queer fantasy or paranormal romance has continued to thrive in Pacat’s wake. In our interviews with romance authors, questions of diversity, inclusion, representation and inequity arose again and again. In representation and amplifying marginalised voices, romance has enormous potential to lead the way. <h2>5. Romance has gates that are kept</h2> Romance fiction is more progressive than some stereotypes might suggest, but it is not free from exclusion or discrimination. The genre is influenced by its gatekeepers – human and digital. One form of gatekeeping takes place through the same voluntary associations that nurture community. In late 2019, the board of the Romance Writers of America censured prominent writer of colour, <a href="https://www.courtneymilan.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Courtney Milan</a>, suspending her from the organisation for a year and banning her from leadership positions for life. The decision was made following complaints by two white women, author Katherine Lynn Davis and publisher Suzan Tisdale, about statements Milan had made on Twitter, including calling a specific book a “fucking racist mess”. This use of the organisation’s formal mechanisms to condemn a woman of colour and support white women was controversial, provoking widespread debate across social media and email lists. Milan had long been an advocate for greater inclusion and diversity within Romance Writers of America and the romance genre. As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/31/romance-novel-industry-uproar-discipline-author-racist-courtney-milan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Guardian reported</a>, the choice not to discipline anyone for “actually racist speech” made punishing someone for “calling something racist” seem like a particularly troubling double standard. “People saw it as an attempt to silence marginalised people,” observed Milan. The board retracted its decision about Milan. It is difficult, however, to calculate the damage that may have been done to readers and writers of colour in the romance genre world. Conversely, the use of Twitter to extend debate and eventually correct the Romance Writers of America shows change happening, in real time. Another form of gatekeeping in romance fiction happens through the same digital platforms that put the genre at the forefront of industry change. Safiya Umoja Noble’s book <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479837243/algorithms-of-oppression/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Algorithms of Oppression</a> demonstrates how apparently neutral automated processes can work against women of colour — for example, the different results that come up from a Google search of “black girls” compared with “white girls.” In the world of romance fiction, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Claire-Parnell" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Claire Parnell’s research</a> has shown the multiple ways in which the algorithms, moderation processes and site designs of Amazon and Wattpad work against writers of colour. For example, they make use of image-recognition systems that flag romance covers with dark-skinned models as “adult content” and remove them from search results. They can also override the author’s chosen metadata to move books into niche categories where fewer readers will find them, such as “African American romance” rather than the general “romance fiction”. Concerted activism and attention is needed to work against this kind of digital discrimination, which risks replicating the discrimination in traditional publishing. There is no simple way to account for the dynamics of contemporary romance fiction. It is inclusive and policed; it is public and intimate. Its industrial, social and textual dimensions are not static, but interact dynamically, incorporating the possibility of change. Only by understanding these interactions can we gain a complete picture of the work of popular fiction. Contemporary romance fiction is formally tight, emotionally intense and digitally advanced. It’s where the heartbeat of change and action is in book culture. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-romance-fiction-rewrites-the-rulebook-183136" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Books

Charges against the Queen and 75 others dubbed a “work of legal fiction”

Social media posts celebrating the fact that the Queen, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Pope Francis are among 75 individuals charged with “crimes against humanity” have been dubbed a work of fiction by experts.According to <a href="https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck/arrest-warrants-for-queen-and-pope-a-work-of-legal-fiction/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AAP FactCheck,</a> the so-called “International Common Law Court of Justice” has no legal authority to issue arrest warrants and its judgements are meaningless, despite the claims made online.Posts have emerged from <a href="http://archive.today/0ctCR" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australia</a> and <a href="https://archive.ph/0gl6U" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Zealand</a> claiming the International Common Law Court of Justice has convicted the individuals to life imprisonment for their crimes.“After a four-month trial convened under International Law, the judges of the International Common Law Court of Justice (ICLCJ) issued their historic verdict and sentence today, along with Arrest and Expropriation Warrants against the defendants,” a Facebook post read.The post also contained a link to a <a href="https://www.bitchute.com/video/4L4VdCi0QEl9/?fbclid=IwAR2hyrAAxKeSaFaJDp7IOKprKJy2TKmft6oXg_n4VbfvqsXL5BAAUBhezv4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bitchute</a> video of a man who introduces himself as “Kevin Annett Eagle Strong Voice” and claims to be the chief advisor to the ICLCJ in Brussels.<img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/02/kevin-annett1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" />Kevin Annett, the man seemingly behind the International Common Law Court of Justice, reads out the court’s ‘judgement’ against the Queen, world leaders, and the CEO of Pfizer. Image: Murder By DecreeThe full video, available along with the judgement details on a website for Mr Annett’s book, <a href="http://murderbydecree.com/2022/01/14/breaking-news-from-the-international-common-law-court-of-justice-january-15-2022-gmt-big-pharma-government-church-leaders-face-arrest-as-court-convicts-them-of-genocide-prohibits-injections/?fbclid=IwAR211sRCsw1jEQDI0uVz7ymp0S1JF_rfvHrb0HS8tvb6zviBumkdDVUAnDQ#page-content" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Murder By Decree</a>, claims to be an “international press conference” going out as a “cause of hope to people labouring under the Covid Corporate Police State”.Mr Annett, a former Canadian church minister who was <a href="https://pacificmountain.ca/kevin-annett/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">removed for spreading conspiracy theories</a>, goes on to share a summary of the court’s “judgement” on its behalf.Along with the Queen and the Pope, others who have been “charged” include Albert Boula, the CEO of Pfizer, and Emma Walmsley, the CEO of GlaxoSmithKline.As well as sentencing the 75 individuals to life imprisonment, the verdict also “seizes their assets and disestablishes their corporations, and lawfully prohibits the further manufacture, sale or use of their COVID vaccines”.Documents on Mr Annett’s website also claim that the COVID-19 vaccine is part of a “Criminal Conspiracy to reduce humanity to slavery” and “master plan of global Eugenics”.In addition, the court’s ‘judgement’ allegedly empowers “not only our Sheriffs and deputised police, but people everywhere to enforce the Court’s verdict by arresting the convicted felons, seizing their assets, and halting the sale and use” of the vaccines.<img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/02/queen-guard.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" />Though the ICLCJ may allow it, arresting Queen Elizabeth II may not be the best of ideas. Image: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty ImagesHowever, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported that the ICLCJ doesn’t exist as a legal authority in any jurisdiction, and that it isn’t listed on the United Nations’ list of courts and tribunals.An investigation by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-vatican-pope-idUSL1N2RT0XP" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters</a> also found that the court had no legal standing and appeared to have been invented by Mr Annett.Professor Kevin Heller, an expert in international law and human rights at the Australian National University (ANU), described ICLCJ as a fabrication.“It is a private initiative that has adopted a fancy name to make it seem like a real one,” Professor Heller shared with AAP FactCheck in an email.“Basically a right-wing version of a People’s Tribunal (such as the Russell Tribunal during the Vietnam War). Because it’s not a real court, it has no authority to issue an arrest warrant for anyone.“So any ‘conviction’ of the Queen or Pope or anyone is meaningless.”Professor Heller, who is also a special advisor to the International Criminal Court Prosecutor for International Criminal Law Discourse, said that the only international court with the power to prosecute individuals was the International Criminal Court (ICC).Emeritus professor Steven Freeland also told the publication that there was no such thing as the ICLCJ, and that the International Criminal Court can only prosecute individuals for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.Image: Murder By Decree

Legal

“It has stayed with me”: Using fiction to explore trauma

Content warning: This article mentions sexual assault. Those who experience trauma can seek help in various ways, through therapy or creative outlets, and fiction is no exception. In fiction, traumatic events are often depicted as a jumping-off point for a protagonist or hero’s story - whether that’s watching Bruce Wayne’s parents die before he can fight crime as Batman, or witnessing the attempted murder of Uma Thurman as the Bride in Kill Bill before she seeks revenge. These depictions of traumatic events are often the precursor to a character’s descent into revenge, madness, or both, but they don’t have to be the only stories we see. In her <a rel="noopener" href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0022167817749703?casa_token=s_BbuJyDvjAAAAAA%3Apewb-trbcPxlbO0uGRYKAqOf_cchsFgT1CCpbRZQvODADU7rWimX6gaj1of76-A1cM1u61nak6K1L40" target="_blank">doctoral thesis</a> published in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Dr Lynn Gumb defines an ‘ordinary hero’ that can emerge in fiction as a “person who, despite the challenges of trauma, continues to live an ordinary life” and doesn’t follow the well-worn path to madness or revenge. Instead, the individual can choose to “alter the landscape of their own lives” after trauma and pursue recovery. P. J. McKay, the author of <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.pjmckayauthor.com/shop-1" target="_blank">The Telling Time</a>, uses traumatic experiences from her own life to explore this recovery process, as women from two generations navigate the Croatian immigrant experience, family secrets and backpacking as a rite of passage. “I know that my personal experience while backpacking in the 1980s, especially in a country like Yugoslavia, where there was such a chasm in the way men viewed Western women (fuelled of course by Western movies and songs) would be familiar territory for many young women,” she told OverSixty. “For me, novels that speak of shared experiences, or situations which feel believable, resonate most. “The backpacking experience has been a rite of passage for many, particularly in Australasia and I know many have experienced unwanted sexual attention. My experience was a close call. It has stayed with me and has felt like a significant turning point in my life.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Our discomfort and resulting tendency to retreat into silence only adds to the power of perpetrators. — Grace Tame (@TamePunk) <a href="https://twitter.com/TamePunk/status/1464790576323170305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 28, 2021</a></blockquote> As difficult as it can be for survivors to witness these moments, stories like The Telling Time keep these traumatic situations at the forefront of our minds, especially as these situations continue to happen. “I thought it was important not to shy away from the reality of sexual assault and to explore the impact of this on friendships and why sometimes (often) it seems best to hold close and not disclose what happened,” McKay adds. However, some argue that the focus of recovery stories should be on what happens after the traumatic event, and how individuals can find truth and healing despite their experiences. “There seems to be no doubt that trauma can stand in the way of finding truth and healing,” McKay says. “It remains to be seen whether society today, with its broader expectations and openness around sexual relationships, and less traditional male and female roles, will alow for more open conversations by those who have suffered trauma, particularly sexual trauma.” In an interview with ABC’s 7.30, American activist and founder of the #Metoo movement Tarana Burke said conversations around trauma should shift, as the retelling of traumatic events comes with more costs than benefits. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none"> "We urge survivors to share their story, so you're re-traumatising not only the person but the person hearing that. There's not a tremendous amount of value in hearing the story, there's so much value in the hearing what happens after." – <a href="https://twitter.com/TaranaBurke?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@taranaburke</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/abc730?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#abc730</a> — abc730 (@abc730) <a href="https://twitter.com/abc730/status/1450386432757927947?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 19, 2021</a></blockquote> “We urge survivors to share their story, so you’re re-traumatising not only the person but the person hearing that,” she said. “There’s not a tremendous amount of value in hearing the story, there’s so much value in hearing what happens after.” As the conversations around trauma continue to change, it may be that having to witness these events becomes less necessary, and that we no longer need to share them to prevent future generations from experiencing them. Image: Getty Images

Mind

Fact or fiction? 5 myths about heart health, busted

When it comes to heart health, cardiovascular disease is still affecting <a rel="noopener" href="https://world-heart-federation.org/world-heart-day/about-whd/world-heart-day-2021/" target="_blank">520 million people</a> around the world. In Australia, 16.6% of the total population is currently living with cardiovascular disease[1]. This continues to be the leading underlying cause of death in the country[2],not only amongst the elderly but also for people <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/life-expectancy-death/deaths-in-australia/contents/leading-causes-of-death" target="_blank">aged 45–64</a>. Knowledge is power and understanding how to look after our heart is as essential as separating facts from fiction when it comes to our heart health. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7844397/ross-walker.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/b080367c7cb546658786946d3b956a01" /> Image: Supplied Ahead of World Heart Day on 29 September, we spoke with Dr Ross Walker, an eminent practicing cardiologist with over 40 years experience as a clinician to discuss the top 5 myths surrounding heart health and help us separate truth from myth. Myth 1: Heart disease is a man’s problem Like men, women can be diagnosed with a range of heart conditions. The common risk factors for cardiovascular disease for Aussie women are high cholesterol, overweight and lack of physical activity. In fact, 90% have one risk factor for heart disease, and <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/heart-health-education/risk-factors-for-women" target="_blank">50% have two or more</a>. Although cardiovascular disease develops 7 to 10 years later in women than in men, the risk <a rel="noopener" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12471-010-0841-y" target="_blank">increases significantly</a> after menopause. The truth is that most heart research has been done on male patients rather than females, but <a rel="noopener" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12471-010-0841-y" target="_blank">studies have shown</a> that women have gender specific symptoms when it comes to heart disease and failure. What you can do whether you are a man or a woman is to get your heart checked every twelve months even if you are feeling fine. This way, if your blood pressure or cholesterol is not well controlled, you can commence treatment right away. The earlier you begin to treat these issues, the better. Myth 2: After heart failure, exercise can be dangerous After heart failure, physical activity can actually assist you in restoring your usual day to day activities. Although you may be worried about which exercises you can and can’t do, staying physically active <a rel="noopener" href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ehf2.12225" target="_blank">reduces your chances</a> of having another heart attack. Being involved in a supervised cardiac rehabilitation program is recommended, especially if there is a prior history of heart disease or you have a very strong risk factor profile. You can start by talking to your doctor and follow advice on how to gradually restore your fitness in a safe and suitable way. Walking, for example, is a great way to start. You can begin with a daily 5-10 minute walk and build up slowly to 30 minutes over several weeks. Myth 3: It is okay to have high blood pressure as we age As we age our cardiovascular system changes, and high blood pressure is more common in older people. As we age, our arteries <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/high-blood-pressure" target="_blank">become stiffer</a> causing our blood pressure to rise. However, this is not necessarily good for our health or heart. In fact, high blood pressure should be monitored regularly, as it increases the risk of suffering from stroke and a possible heart attack. Myth 4: Good vs bad cholesterol A major misconception around cholesterol is that one type is good and one type is bad. Incorrectly, low-density-lipoproteins (LDL), is labelled as “bad” cholesterol while high-density lipoproteins (HDL) is labelled as “good” cholesterol. The truth is both types of cholesterol carrying proteins contain “good” and “bad” elements. LDL and HDL both contain small and large components. The large components of LDL and HDL are beneficial for normal body metabolism, keeping cholesterol away from our arteries and removing any excess from arterial plaque, which <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/health-conditions-and-risks/australian-health-survey-biomedical-results-chronic-diseases/latest-release" target="_blank">helps to prevent heart disease</a>. The small components of LDL and HDL promote fatty deposits in the artery wall. This is what can contribute to cardiovascular disease. The small components of LDL circulate in our blood and may build up in our arteries, forming plaque that may rupture, <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fats-and-cholesterol/cholesterol/" target="_blank">leading</a> to blocked arteries. On the other hand, the small components of HDL are <a rel="noopener" href="https://iubmb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/biof.1205" target="_blank">pro-inflammatory</a>. Although heart disease & cholesterol have strong genetic components, it is also important to avoid foods containing trans fats and processed carbohydrates, eat a diet full of fresh fruits and vegetables, and conduct regular physical activity to help maintain good health. You may also need to check in with your GP to assess if your cholesterol levels are high and if you are deemed at high risk for a vascular event such as heart attack or stroke, the medications, such as statins or blood pressure therapy, may be necessary. Myth 5: Supplements are of no benefit While a good balanced diet and exercise are key to good health, our food today has lower nutritional value and we encounter many toxins in our day-to-day. Supplements can bridge the gap between the nutrients we need and the food that is lacking them. For example, numerous studies have proven that <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.ubiquinol.net.au/" target="_blank">Ubiquinol</a>, the active form of Coenzyme Q10, helps promote heart health by <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.eurekaselect.com/161292/article" target="_blank">providing the cellular energy needed</a> to keep the heart pumping well. Ubiquinol helps improve heart function by maintaining healthy levels of LDL cholesterol as well as the overall maintenance of a healthy cardiovascular system. While this antioxidant is found in many foods – including oily fish, meats and whole grains – it is difficult to achieve the daily recommended dose without consuming excessive amounts, e.g. 14kg of sardines or 60 avocados! In this case, taking Ubiquinol in supplement form may help achieve the recommended daily dose to support optimal energy levels and cardiovascular health. Seek advice from a healthcare practitioner to determine if supplementation is right for you. Always read the label and use only as directed. This article was written by Dr Ross Walker. [1] Australian Bureau of Statistics 2018, National Health Survey 2017-18, Data customised using TableBuilder [2] Australian Bureau of Statistics 2020, Causes of Death 2019, cat. no. 3303.0, October Image: Getty Images

Body

"Fiction is presented as fact": Royal family blasts new series of The Crown

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text redactor-styles redactor-in"> The British Royal family is said to be "furious" about the fourth season of hit Netflix show The Crown, which covers aspects of the royal family's life, including Charles' doomed marriage to Princess Diana and his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles. The Prince of Wales' friends have slammed the show to UK tabloids, saying that "fiction is presented as fact" in the latest series. ‘This is drama and entertainment for commercial ends being made with no regard to the actual people involved who are having their lives hijacked and exploited,’ one told the <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8949675/Prince-Charles-friends-launch-blistering-attack-Netflixs-Crown.html" target="_blank" class="editor-rtflink">Mail on Sunday</a>. “In this case, it’s dragging up things that happened during very difficult times 25 or 30 years ago without a thought for anyone’s feelings.” “That isn’t right or fair, particularly when so many of the things being depicted don’t represent the truth.’” The depiction of a cold and disinterested Prince Charles meeting and marrying a young Princess Diana while continuing his affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles is the issue the royal family have contention with. “This is trolling with a Hollywood budget.” “The public shouldn’t be fooled into thinking this is an accurate portrayal of what really happened,” another insider added. Sunrise Royal Editor Rob Jobson said that the royal family is understandably upset by any negative portrayal of the Prince of Wales. “The bottom line is the Prince of Wales is a kind man, and the reality is that at the beginning of his marriage he did try very hard to help Diana,” he said. “I’ve known him fairly well and I think he’s a much nicer guy than he’s been shown to be.” </div> </div> </div>

Love and a happy ending: Romance fiction to help you through a coronavirus lockdown

Romance fiction has two <a href="https://www.rwa.org/Online/Romance_Genre/About_Romance_Genre.aspx">defining features</a>. First, it centres on a love story. Secondly, it always ends well. Our protagonists end up together (if not forever, then at least for the foreseeable future) and this makes the world around them a little bit better, too. In times of uncertainty, upheaval and chaos, readers often turn to romance fiction: during the second world war, Mills & Boon was able to maintain its paper ration <a href="https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198204558.001.0001/acprof-9780198204558">by arguing</a> its books were good for the morale of working women. The books the company was producing in this period were not about the war. Most never even mentioned it. Instead, they provided an escape for readers to a world where they could be assured everything was going to turn out all right: love would conquer all, villains would be defeated, and lovers would always find their way back to each other. Today, romance publishing is a <a href="https://www.rwa.org/Online/Romance_Genre/About_Romance_Genre.aspx">billion-dollar industry</a>, with thousands of novels published each year. It covers a wide range of subgenres: from historical to contemporary, paranormal to sci-fi, from novels where the only physical interaction between the protagonists is a kiss, to erotic romance where sex is fundamental to the story. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_34_(Internet_meme)">Rule 34</a> of the internet states if you can think of something, then there’s porn of it. The same, I would argue, is true for romance fiction. But where to begin? As both a scholar of romance fiction and an avid reader of it, I’ve put together this list of five great reads for people who might want to start exploring the genre. If you like Jane Austen, try… <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42279630-the-austen-playbook">The Austen Playbook</a> by Lucy Parker The Austen Playbook is the fourth book in Parker’s London Celebrities series (all only loosely connected, so you can jump in anywhere). Heroine Freddy is an actress from an esteemed West End family, trying to balance her desire to perform in musicals and crowd-pleasers over her family pushing her towards serious drama. Hero Griff is a theatre critic and his family estate is playing host to a wacky live-action Jane Austen murder mystery, in which Freddy is playing Lydia. Parker is a gifted author, and this book is a light, bright and sparkling delight. If you like (or hate!) dating apps, try… <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39863092-the-right-swipe">The Right Swipe</a> by Alisha Rai Many people now find partners on dating apps, but these apps are often <a href="https://theconversation.com/right-swipes-and-red-flags-how-young-people-negotiate-sex-and-safety-on-dating-apps-128390">not exactly friendly</a> for women. Rai addresses that to great effect in The Right Swipe, where heroine Rhiannon is the designer of a dating app designed specifically for women. She meets hero Samson the first time as a result of swiping right, and then the second time, months later, when he’s teamed up with one of her primary business rivals… If you’re fascinated by psychology, try … <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35852829-the-love-experiment">The Love Experiment</a> by Ainslie Paton Paton is one of Australia’s smartest and most underrated romance authors. The Love Experiment draws on the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167297234003">36 questions</a> developed by psychologist Arthur Aron to explore whether intimacy could be generated or intensified between two people if they exchanged increasingly personal information. The 36 questions were popularised in Mandy Len Catron’s 2015 New York Times essay <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/style/modern-love-to-fall-in-love-with-anyone-do-this.html">To Fall In Love With Anyone, Do This</a>. Here, journalist protagonists Derelie and Jackson undertake the experiment in Paton’s book, only to find love is more complex than 36 questions. If you think we need to save the oceans, try… <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42016094-project-saving-noah">Project Saving Noah</a> by Six de los Reyes This book emerges from <a href="https://romanceclassbooks.com/about/">RomanceClass</a>, a fascinating community of English-language romance writers and readers based in the Philippines. One of their distinctive features is their collaboration with local actors in Manila to perform excerpts from the books (including Project Saving Noah) at their <a href="https://romanceclassbooks.com/live-reading/aprilfeelsday2019/">regular gatherings</a>. I was privileged enough to attend one of these last year. Protagonists Noah and Lise are graduate students in oceanography competing for one spot on a research project, while simultaneously being forced to work together. Their romance is conflicted and compelling, but what stands out about this book is the vividness with which their environment – natural and academic – is constructed. If you like your protagonists to have some maturity, try… <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44084867-mrs-martin-s-incomparable-adventure">Mrs Martin’s Incomparable Adventure</a> by Courtney Milan If Milan’s name sounds familiar, it’s because she was at the centre of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-the-romance-writers-of-america-can-implode-over-racism-no-group-is-safe-130034">recent scandal</a> engulfing the Romance Writers of America, which penetrated through romance’s usual cultural invisibility. When she’s not standing up against systemic racism, Milan writes excellent, mostly historical, romance. Mrs Martin is a delightful historical romp, as our two heroines Bertrice (aged 73) and Violetta (aged 69) team up against Violetta’s terrible nephew, and fall in love and eat cheese on toast together.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133784/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jodi-mcalister-135765">Jodi McAlister</a>, Lecturer in Writing, Literature and Culture, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/love-and-a-happy-ending-romance-fiction-to-help-you-through-a-coronavirus-lockdown-133784">original article</a>.

Books

3 alternative romantic fiction authors that will heat up any beach trip

There’s no better way to escape the stresses than to put your reading into “romance” gear. For summer relief, try instead the question of the heart versus the mind. That is the core problem of much of my very favourite, intellectually inspiring fiction. Chick lit is out, I’m afraid: an avowed literary snob, I like my dilemmas of desire served up in rich, fulsome English, with slowly unravelled plots and textured characters, not two-dimensional patriarchal fairy tales dished up in elementary school grammatical structures (hides under the table). Current favourites are George Gissing’s <a href="https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/odd-women">The Odd Women</a> and an assortment of Margaret Drabble, the queen of 1970s British letters, and pretty much anything by Iris Murdoch. George Gissing For the tensions and irrationalities of romantic feeling, The Odd Women (1893) is superlative. What it does so brilliantly is take one of the burning sets of issues of the day – women’s rights, particularly in relation to marriage – and pits its intellectual and ideological propositions against the anarchic, intrusive power of dawning love. Let me lure you further. The book’s main characters are two vehement feminists, the excellently named Rhoda Nunn, and her partner in crime, the angelic yet forceful Mary Barfoot. Together – they live together, too – they seek to save single, or “odd” women from the desolate dregs of the old maids’ job market by training them up as clerks on typewriters. Suddenly, Rhoda finds herself in an odd position. An avowed spinster, determined to practice what she preaches, she is also of “strong and shapely” figure and “handsome” feature. So when Mary’s sexy cousin, Everard, begins visiting the house on return from his relaxed bachelor travels around the Orient, he takes an interest in her. Rhoda’s position is the following: “I am seriously convinced that before the female sex can be raised from its low level there will have to be a widespread revolt against sexual instinct.” Catnip for Everard who – as stubborn as Rhoda – begins a woo that is hard to resist, seeming to fall not only for Rhoda but for women’s equality, too. The delicious yet unexpected conclusion to this story is head and shoulders above your usual romance fare, the work of a master stylist who never abandons humour, even as he makes you cry. Margaret Drabble Drabble, 80 years later, gives a softer but equally crystalline gender-aware portrait of relationships. In <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/10/19/home/drabble-oates.html">The Needle’s Eye</a> (1972), reserved Simon Camish goes to a dreadful supper party and is offended by the guests’ vulgarity. But then rough-skinned, makeup-free, and self-dispossessed heiress Rose walks in, and with her genteel delicacy of manner and genuine modesty, immediately entrances Simon, himself married to a minor heiress he can’t stand. Simon gets involved in Rose’s divorce saga; desperate to play the legal knight in shining armour (he is a lawyer) to Rose’s sensitive yet deeply stubborn damsel in distress. Both reveal astonishing integrity of character as Rose is buffeted with extreme violence for rejecting social expectations by insisting on being poor. But if you’re feeling anxious, I recommend <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/15/the-millstone-the-crucial-1960s-feminist-novel">The Millstone</a>, Drabble’s 1965 peach about an adorable unmarried scholar of Elizabethan verse who gets pregnant the first time she has sex, and never tells the father, who she worships from afar. It’s both soothing and sad. The father is a BBC radio announcer, and she merely switches on the radio when she wants to feel reassured by him, which is a lovely bit of romance. It is a very slim book, but it’s perfectly formed: a story of an intelligent, liberated woman leaving the man out while falling in love with the baby everyone told her not to have on any account. Happy ending? Unclear. Like real life, in which convention, rationality and deep emotional drives do not always mesh? Definitely, but sweeter. Iris Murdoch Iris isn’t for everyone. But I have loved her ever since a friend handed me <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/20/specials/murdoch-prince.html">The Black Prince</a> (1973) on a rainy holiday in Sicily. Cowering on a deserted beach, I found myself intrigued and amused as ageing author Bradley becomes increasingly caught in a cat’s cradle of deadly desire, starring a striking assortment of women with men’s names such as Christian and Julian. Booker Prize-winning <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/feb/10/iris-murdoch-sea-booker">The Sea, the Sea</a> (1978) also completely bewitched me: once more, a story of explosive obsession ripping through the reserve of an otherwise orderly, if arrogant, English life of letters. And currently I’m savouring <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/20/specials/murdoch-sandcastle.html">The Sandcastle</a> (1957), about a middle-aged Surrey schoolmaster, Bill Mor, who falls ill-advisedly in love with the deliciously named Rain Carter, a nymph-like portrait painter hired to capture the retired headmaster. The parched school grounds, the doe-like yet strong Rain, the prudish ferocity of Mrs Mor and their children’s spectral games cast a magic spell, just as Murdoch – I assume – intended.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61549/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> Written by Zoe Strimpel, Doctoral researcher, History, University of Sussex. Republished with permission of <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/three-alternative-romantic-fiction-authors-that-will-heat-up-any-beach-trip-61549" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.

Books

Fact or fiction: Are these laws real or not?

It is true, Australian laws are some of the strangest rules in the world. Some are so strange and bizarre that they don’t seem real. So which laws are just urban legends and which ones are actually punishable? Scroll through the gallery above to see if these laws are real or not. Did you know any of these bizarre laws in Australia? Let us know in the comments below.

News

The surprising benefit of reading fiction

There is a fair chance that someone in your close circle of friends and family used a smartphone, e-reader or tablet computer to read the latest bestseller over the holidays this year. Since the 2007 and <a href="https://gizmodo.com/5844662/the-history-of-amazons-kindle-so-far/" target="_blank">the introduction of Kindle</a> in 2010, such devices have changed the way that people <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/14/digital-reading-ebook-kindle-ipad" target="_blank">engage with books</a>. Most newspapers, including the 166-year-old New York Times have completed their digital transition, and some are now exclusively online. In academia, journal articles are increasingly published first in digital form, and sometimes exclusively so. But when it comes to books, the paper form has shown unexpected resilience. Ground-breaking inventions The digital or screen revolution we are living today is on the same scale as two other major events that radically changed humanity: the invention of writing 6,000 years ago in the form of <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/wrtg/hd_wrtg.htm" target="_blank">clay inscriptions in Mesopotamia</a> and <a href="https://owlcation.com/humanities/Johannes-Gutenberg-and-the-Printing-Press-Revolution" target="_blank">Gutenberg’s invention of printing with moveable type in the 15th century</a>. These ground-breaking inventions were regarded with suspicion by many contemporaries. Plato considered writing a <a href="https://books.google.co.in/books?id=7w2tAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA54&lpg=PA54&dq=Plato+considered+writing+a+threat+to+human+memory&source=bl&ots=-LpFFdtUCF&sig=aI75lZgBPbkcuGFw0jAhJQHoKlA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwir6ubdvIjYAhXDQ48KHdvbDaAQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=Plato%20considered%20writing%20a%20threat%20to%20human%20memory&f=false" target="_blank">threat to human memory</a>, and monks agonised over the demise of their way of life. In 1492, for example, the abbot Johannes Trithemius wrote <a href="http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/0003/bsb00037424/images/" target="_blank">De laude scriptorum manualium</a>, which he had printed in 1494 for better effect. In both cases the contemporary sceptics were right. Human powers of memory are nowhere near what they were before the advent of writing, and printing spelled the end of the <a href="https://sites.dartmouth.edu/ancientbooks/2016/05/24/medieval-book-production-and-monastic-life/" target="_blank">monastic scriptorium</a>. Not surprisingly, the screen revolution, too, has its detractors, and once again, their criticisms frequently have their basis in truth. In <a href="http://ereadcost.eu/" target="_blank">the E-READ research network</a>, to which we belong, we are trying to understand the function of reading in the digital age especially at a time where research points out the negative impact of screens. Screen addiction Smartphone usage among teenagers has been compared <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/13/health/teenagers-drugs-smartphones.html" target="_blank">to drug addiction</a>. Worldwide surveys show <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-20/teens-smartphones-resilience-adulthood/8960618" target="_blank">that a whole generation</a> has been growing up constantly online, checking the smartphone up to 75 times a day. These so-called <a href="https://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf" target="_blank">“digital natives”</a> are, according to a recent Italian study, <a href="http://www.dipendenze.com/associazione" target="_blank">less autonomous and less happy</a> than their predecessors. They face new social anxieties like “FOMO” (fear of missing out) and “vamping” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/fashion/vamping-teenagers-are-up-all-night-texting.html" target="_blank">(late-night texting)</a>. The device as a medium is not to blame, but its online nature encourages a 24/7 connectivity, inducing greater distraction and more fragmented reading habits. The prime victim here is <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129348373" target="_blank">deep or immersive reading</a>, whether in literature or all sorts of narrative and argumentative texts, included academic ones. Is it possible for us to counter these <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198" target="_blank">unwelcome side effects</a> of the digital revolution? The good news is yes. Part of the solution lies in changing our habits by reading fiction and enjoying solitude. Experience solitude <a href="https://www.sas.rochester.edu/psy/people/gradstudents/nguyen_thuy-vy/index.html" target="_blank">Thuy-vy Nguyen</a>, along with his colleagues from Rochester University <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167217733073" target="_blank">found that solitude can lead to relaxation and stress reduction</a>. The researchers define solitude as “as being alone for a period of time with no access to devices, personal interactions, external stimuli, or activities.” In all four studies, the solitude lasted 15 minutes and the subjects were instructed to sit alone and not engage in any activities or to carry out an activity alone as to think either positive or neutral thoughts. In one part of the experiment, subjects were provided with a short recreational reading, titled <a href="https://longreads.com/2015/02/10/glamorous-crossing-how-pan-am-airways-dominated-international-travel-in-the-1930s/" target="_blank">“Glamorous Crossing: How Pan-Am Airways Dominated International Travel in the 1930s”</a>. The results were similar to that of the other activities carried out in solitude: people were more relaxed and calm. Reading carried out in “<a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?content=reviews&isbn=9780674634633" target="_blank">fertile solitude</a>” fosters readers’ resilience and greater impermeability to social pressures and expectations, such as those encountered especially on social media. It may of course also incite people to do their reading on paper, simply because they find that more relaxing than using an online device. But if reading is good for you, reading fiction is even better. Find the good in you Scholars have indeed recently provided empirical evidence for claims that literary reading positively affects <a href="https://benjamins.com/#catalog/journals/ssol.6.1.04kid/details" target="_blank">social cognition</a> social skills and <a href="https://repub.eur.nl/pub/98670" target="_blank">empathy</a>. Psychologist Raymond Mar and his colleagues found that the more fiction people read – and it can be of any kind – the <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=753778B351C73B7B8950A3A352E5DD88?doi=10.1.1.502.9329&rep=rep1&type=pdf" target="_blank">better they scored</a> on tests that measure <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1469-7610.00715/%20%20abstract" target="_blank">a form of empathy</a>. In another experiment, professor of psychology <a href="https://benjamins.com/#catalog/journals/ssol.3.1.08joh/details" target="_blank">Dan Johnson found</a> that participants who read an excerpt from a novel about the plight of an Arab-Muslim woman showed a significant increase in empathy for Arab-Muslims and in their intrinsic motivation to reduce prejudice. Literary readers could actually counterbalance the unhealthy trend of hatred and indifference which is rife on the Internet. In experiments related to an ongoing project at the <a href="http://www.paris-iea.fr/fr/liste-des-residents/massimo-salgaro" target="_blank">Institute for Advanced Study in Paris</a>, we could show that literary readers feel compassion for morally positive characters but not for morally bad ones. At the Max-Planck-Institute for <a href="https://www.aesthetics.mpg.de/en/research/department-of-language-and-literature/aesthetic-emotions/projects/sympathy-devil.html" target="_blank">Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt</a>, we ran an experiment manipulating a literary text. In one version, the protagonist is a doctor volunteering in Africa, in the other he is a Nazi who fled to South Africa. In the two versions we changed only four sentences concerning the moral nature of the protagonist and preserved the rest of the text almost entirely in form and content. 120 German subjects read either the text with the morally positive protagonist or the one with morally negative protagonist and afterwards rated the aesthetic and moral value of the text and answered several empathy/sympathy-related questions. While the results have not yet been published, they clearly show that the sympathy measures were affected by the moral nature of the protagonist. Thus, literature can be considered a moral laboratory which enhances our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=14&v=bmgv7VcwNjs" target="_blank">prosocial traits</a>. Now how do we get young people – our so-called digital natives – to read without being constantly distracted by their various social networks and other communication tools? Here are a few more tips. Teach people how to (really) read To ensure that literature regains (or gains) a central place in people’s reading aspirations, the didactics of literature in the digital age must be drastically overhauled. While text and author-oriented approaches are still dominant in European schools, <a href="http://as.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0631226249.html" target="_blank">new studies</a> show the need to implement “experiential approaches” where the focus should be on the addressee of the text – for example, students. <a href="https://books.google.co.in/books?id=sT-EDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA12&lpg=PA12&dq=Experiencing+or+Interpreting+Literature:+Wording+Instructions.+In+M.+Burke,+S&source=bl&ots=c5XCjvtnH1&sig=jj5VLpGYV9witff78GlJ2nIcHoI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiMg6XjiIrYAhUlSo8KHeRdBhQQ6AEIKzAB#v=onepage&q=Experiencing%20or%20Interpreting%20Literature%3A%20Wording%20Instructions.%20In%20M.%20Burke%2C%20S&f=false" target="_blank">Research suggests</a> that listening to student preferences (instead of imposing texts) and helping them choose the right book to fit a particular moment in their lives instigates much greater engagement. That way we can make literary fiction mean a great deal more to adolescent readers and enhance what they can gain from it for their social lives and <a href="https://l1.publication-archive.com/publication/1/1592" target="_blank">for their personal development</a>. Incidentally, it may be that paper itself is an invaluable ally here. <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/nature-brain-%20and-culture/201102/the-%20problem-the-%20web-%20and-e-%20books-is-%20there-s-%20no-space-%20them" target="_blank">Research has been shown</a> that its material properties suit our memory better. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21443378" target="_blank">Psychologist Rakefet Ackermann</a>, also a member of the E-READ network, explained that despite immense technological advances, learners still prefer studying text from hardcopy pages rather than computer screens. She revealed that while learning performance on digital devices is not worse than on paper, surprisingly, it’s our metacognitive capacity fails us. When reading an article on screen a person is less prepared to evaluate how much she has understood or – in case of studying also – memorized. What our own experiments on the appeal of paper books <a href="http://ereadcost.eu/the-aura-%20study/" target="_blank">showed</a> is that readers of works on paper engage more deeply while those who use digital devices tend to read more shallowly. So do we want to really sharply contrast digital and paper reading, and do we oppose reading from screens? No. We need to adapt our tools to our needs and to develop them in order deliberately to make reading a profound component of our social and cultural habits. The more we understand about digital reading the more we can salvage from the precious past we inherited. Written by Massimo Salgaro and Adriaan van der Weel. Republished with permission of <a href="http://theconversation.com/" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.<img width="1" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88830/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation"/>

Books

7 things about Pulp Fiction

It’s been over 23 years since Quentin Tarantino’s modern classic, Pulp Fiction, was released in cinemas, and its fan base has only grown since then. To celebrate our love for this shining moment of cinema, we’ve dug up some fun facts and titbits about the film and its creation. 1. Don’t let your grandchildren watch it Well, not until they’re a little older – the film contains 265 instances of the word “f**k”. It might seem like overkill, but it’s what we’ve come to expect from Tarantino films. 2. Uma wasn’t first pick It’s hard to imagine anyone else as Mia, but she wasn’t Tarantino’s first choice for the role. Among other famous names Tarantino was considering were Meg Ryan, Daryl Hannah, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Isabella Rossellini, and Halle Berry. His preferred choice apparently would have been Michelle Pfeiffer. 3. That injecting scene? Movie magic Understandably, John Travolta was apparently very nervous about the scene in which his character injects Mia with adrenaline. To make it less stressful for everyone, the needle was carefully inserted, and then filming began with Travolta pulling the needle out. By running the footage backwards, it looks like the needle is desperately plunging the needle into Mia. 4. The film inspired Top Gear Remember Top Gear’s helmeted race car driver “Stig”? The concept was inspired by Pulp Fiction’s anonymous character, Gimp. Top Gear’s creators apparently wanted to use “Gimp” for their driver, but had trouble finding a driver whose ego or masculinity could handle the name. 5. Honey Bunny was a real rabbit first The story goes that Linda Chen, who typed up Tarantino’s handwritten script for him, asked him to pet sit for her rabbit, Honey Bunny, when she went on location instead of paying her for the task. For whatever reason, Tarantino refused. The rabbit later died, and in honour of it, the director named one of the film’s characters after the pet. 6. Tarantino didn’t direct the whole film Sometimes, actors direct a film they’re performing in, doing both jobs from in front of the camera. But when Tarantino stepped out of the director’s chair to play Jimmie, he asked long-time collaborator Robert Rodriguez to direct the scenes. 7. Butch wasn’t written for Bruce Willis Tarantino famously writes roles with actors already firmly in his mind. The character of Butch was originally written for Matt Dillon, who took his time making up his mind if he wanted it. Tarantino rewrote the part slightly to make it for an older actor and offered it to Bruce Willis. Which of Quentin Tarantino’s films is your favourite? Let us know in the comments below.

Movies

The 6 best fiction books of 2017

2017 was a fantastic year for readers, with so many highly-anticipated books released and even a few surprise hits. If you fell behind on your reading last year, don’t fret – we’ve put together a collection of six of our favourite books from 2017 for you to catch up on. Enjoy! 1. <a href="http://t.dgm-au.com/c/93981/71095/1880?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Fforce-of-nature-jane-harper%2Fprod9781743549094.html" target="_blank">Force of Nature</a> by Jane Harper Five women reluctantly pick up their backpacks and start walking along the muddy track. Only four come out the other side. The hike through the rugged Giralang Ranges is meant to take the office colleagues out of their air-conditioned comfort zone and teach resilience and team building. At least that is what the corporate retreat website advertises. Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk has a particularly keen interest in the whereabouts of the missing bushwalker. Alice Russell is the whistle-blower in his latest case - and Alice knew secrets. About the company she worked for and the people she worked with. Far from the hike encouraging teamwork, the women tell Falk a tale of suspicion, violence and disintegrating trust. And as he delves into the disappearance, it seems some dangers may run far deeper than anyone knew. 2. <a href="http://t.dgm-au.com/c/93981/71095/1880?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Flittle-fires-everywhere-celeste-ng%2Fprod9781408709719.html" target="_blank">Little Fires Everywhere</a> by Celeste Ng In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned – from the layout of the winding roads, to the colours of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules. Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother- who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than just tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community. When old family friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town – and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at an unexpected and devastating cost... 3. <a href="http://t.dgm-au.com/c/93981/71095/1880?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Fa-column-of-fire-ken-follett%2Fprod9781447278733.html" target="_blank">A Column of Fire</a> by Ken Follett Christmas 1558, and young Ned Willard returns home to Kingsbridge to find his world has changed. Europe is in turmoil and Ned soon finds himself on the opposite side from the girl he longs to marry, Margery Fitzgerald. When Elizabeth Tudor becomes queen, all of Europe turns against England. The young monarch sets up the country's first secret service to give her early warning of assassination plots, rebellions and invasion plans. She knows that alluring, headstrong Mary Queen of Scots lies in wait in Paris. Mary was proclaimed the rightful ruler of England and her own supporters are scheming to get rid of Elizabeth. Over a turbulent half-century, the love between Ned and Margery seems doomed, as extremism sparks violence from Edinburgh to Geneva. With Elizabeth clinging precariously to her throne and her principles, protected by a small, dedicated group of resourceful spies and courageous secret agents, it becomes clear that the real enemies are not the rival religions. The true battle pitches those who believe in tolerance and compromise against the tyrants who would impose their ideas on everyone else – no matter the cost. 4. <a href="http://t.dgm-au.com/c/93981/71095/1880?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Fthe-lucky-one-caroline-overington%2Fprod9780732299767.html" target="_blank">The Lucky One</a> by Caroline Overington For more than 150 years, a grand house known as Alden Castle has stood proudly in the hills above the historic town of Paso Robles, home to a family weighed down by secrets and debt. When, after much rancour, the castle is sold, billionaire developers move in, only to discover one skeleton after another, including a fresh corpse, rotting in the old family cemetery. As three generations of the well-respected Alden-Stowe family come in for scrutiny, detectives will discover a twisted web of rivalries, alliances, deceit, and treachery. Set amidst the rolling hills of the California wine district, and featuring gold-digger wives, a frustrated housekeeper, a demented patriarch and forbidden love, police must decide: who has died? Who has survived? And who, amidst all this horror and betrayal, is the lucky one? 5. <a href="http://t.dgm-au.com/c/93981/71095/1880?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Fnorse-mythology-neil-gaiman%2Fprod9781408886809.html" target="_blank">Norse Mythology</a> by Neil Gaiman Neil Gaiman has long been inspired by ancient mythology in creating the fantastical realms of his fiction. Now he turns his attention back to the source, presenting a bravura rendition of the great northern tales. In Norse Mythology, Gaiman fashions primeval stories into a novelistic arc that begins with the genesis of the legendary nine worlds; delves into the exploits of the deities, dwarves, and giants; and culminates in Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods and the rebirth of a new time and people. Gaiman stays true to the myths while vividly reincarnating Odin, the highest of the high, wise, daring, and cunning; Thor, Odin’s son, incredibly strong yet not the wisest of gods; and Loki, the son of a giant, a trickster and unsurpassable manipulator. From Gaiman’s deft and witty prose emerge the gods with their fiercely competitive natures, their susceptibility to being duped and to dupe others, and their tendency to let passion ignite their actions, making these long-ago myths breathe pungent life again. 6. <a href="http://t.dgm-au.com/c/93981/71095/1880?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Fkillers-of-the-flower-moon-david-grann%2Fprod9781471140266.html" target="_blank">Killers of the Flower Moon</a> by David Grann In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And this was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll climbed, the FBI took up the case. It was one of the organization's first major homicide investigations and the bureau badly bungled it. In desperation, its young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to unravel the mystery. Together with the Osage he and his undercover team began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.

Books

Separating fact from fiction on a visit to Transylvania

There can be few places in the world where myth and marketing have so completely overshadowed reality as they have in Transylvania. It doesn't matter how much one repeats the mantra that vampires have as much to do with this mountainous region of Romania as the Loch Ness monster has to do with Lake Tekapo, the associations linger on... like a set of teeth marks. Transylvania happily trades on its association with Dracula although they do make some effort to retain some historical integrity by emphasising that the Dracula legend probably stems from stories surrounding the real and possibly even bloodier character of Vlad the Impaler. Fact and fiction still collide in an historically muddled collecting of t-shirts, mugs and fake teeth dripping blood in the souvenir market beneath Bran Castle, a 14th century fortress perched on a cliff about an hour's drive from the Transylvanian town of Brasov. The castle, which seems to grow out of its rock foundations is historically significant as part of the region's defences against the invading Ottoman Turks during the century and more recently as the last royal summer residence of Romanian royalty. The last king, Michael, was forced to abdicate in 1947. On a Romanian summer's long holiday weekend Bran was thronged with local tourists but the castle offers special after hours tours complete with a generous tasting of local wine (red of course). The tour guide appears dramatically from behind a curtain, a reincarnated Vlad. Such impersonations are often disasters, twee and painful. However, "Vlad" not only had an in-depth knowledge of Transylvanian history but had a wonderfully dry sense of humour and only once descended into stereotyping by offering to bite my neck. I've read several guidebooks that touring Bran's interior was not worthwhile. I disagree. The rooms are now beautifully restored, the views across the countryside beyond are spectacular and the castle's history is fascinating in itself, even if the real Vlad the Impaler apparently only stayed here a few nights while fleeing the Turks in 1462. Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia was a 15th century ruler who became a folk hero for defending the territories of Romania and Bulgaria from the incursions of the Turks. He was later dubbed Vlad the Impaler because of his favoured method of execution which, it's estimated, brought a grisly end to up to 100,000 people. Our Vlad, shortly before escorting us up a secret staircase while wryly pointing out that as we were about to troop up it, the secret aspect of it was somewhat lost, explained the two reasons Bran is now indelibly linked with Dracula. The first is that the author of the original Dracula story, Irishman Bram Stoker, when writing about Dracula's lair, in Transylvania, seem to rather accurately describe Bran (possibly after seeing an illustration in an early guide to the region). "And the second," said 'Vlad', "appears to be the result of a group of American tourists some decades ago imploring their guide to show them Dracula's castle. There was, of course no such thing but not wanting to disappoint them he brought them to Bran and as they say, the rest is now history… or not." On the border of Transylvania and the neighbouring region of Wallachia is another spectacular building with royal connections, Peles Castle. <img width="498" height="245" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/33369/image__498x245.jpg" alt="Image_ (69)"/> Built between 1873 and 1914, Peles is more accurately a palace and was built for the Romanian king of the time, Carol I. Featuring about 170 rooms and 30 bathrooms, it was a costly exercise; in today's money the construction bill would amount to about $NZ165m. The style is a blend of Neo-Renaissance and Gothic Revival with towers, balconies and a central courtyard decorated with frescoes. Many of the rooms have an international flavour, being decorated in Italian, Moorish and even, rather ironically given the region's long history repelling the Ottomans, Turkish, styles. Bran and Peles tend to steal the limelight from Transylvania's other treasures, its medieval towns such as Sighisoara and Sibiu. Sighisoara doesn't entirely escape the Dracula phenomenon, having been the birthplaces of the historical figure Vlad the Impale. However, with its pastel-coloured houses, winding cobblestoned streets and medieval walls and towers (each of which named after the artisans' guild given the responsibility for its upkeep) it is a captivating place to explore. I spent some time here ensconced in a cellar because Sighisoara is the home of the best producers of Transylvanian brandies. Teo Coroian's pear, apple and plum brandies, together with a berry liqueur, pack quite a punch and have been produced by his family for over 200 years. He has a wall full of international awards too. I'd make a lousy judge because each one appeared to me to be better than the last. En route for Sibiu we stopped in Saschiz, a small Romanian village surrounded by fields of sunflowers and corn where farmers were still using horses and carts on the main roads. Ducks swam in the stream that flowed between the houses and elderly residents sat on benches outside their houses to watch the world go by. Sibiu, a city founded by German settlers known as the Transylvania Saxons, has not one, but three town squares. What arrests visitors most however, is the curious impression that one is being constantly watched. Many of the houses which once were home to wealth merchants have steeply pitched roofs to provide ample storage for goods. These attics were lit by tiny almond-shaped windows that look eerily like heavy-lidded eyes. A former European Union Capital of Culture, Sibiu hosts more festivals and craft fairs than any other place in Romania. Outside the Gothic Lutheran Evangelical Cathedral built between 1300 and 1520, artisan blacksmiths were at work, one crafting beautiful roses from iron. Inside the church an organist was practising on a baroque instrument built in 1671 which after additions in 1917, now features more than 6000 pipes, making it the largest pipe organ in south-eastern Europe. Only a few glittering façade pipes could be seen form the nave, which rather sums up Transylvanian …a place of hidden depths behind its more lurid exterior. Have you ever been to Transylvania? Written by Jill Worrall. First appeared on <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz">Stuff.co.nz.</a> No matter where you’re travelling to, making sure you know how to access your cash while away – and in the most affordable way – is very important. Easy to use and with countless benefits, the Over60 Cash Passport allows you to securely access your cash in the same way you use an ATM or credit card. <a href="https://oversixty.cashpassport.com.au">To apply for a card today, click here.</a> Related links: <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international/2016/12/5-alternatives-to-popular-european-trips/">5 alternatives to popular European trips</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international/2016/11/5-places-to-see-before-they-disappear/">5 places to see before they disappear</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/travel-tips/2016/11/10-best-places-to-visit-in-2017/">10 best places to visit in 2017</a>

International Travel

6 of the best historical fiction books

You’ve got to love a book that can completely transport you to another place (or even another time), and these fantastic historical novels do just that. Set in some of history’s most important eras, these books perfectly capture the spirit of the time, all the while creating a brand new story. <a href="https://t.dgm-au.com/c/93981/71095/1880?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Fmarch-geraldine-brooks%2Fprod9780732278427.html" target="_blank">March</a> by Geraldine Brooks This is a must-read for any fan of Louisa May Alcott’s classic Little Women. Set during the American Civil War, March tells the story of the absent father of the Little Women, Mr. March, following him as he fights for the Union while dealing with illness and the trials of war. One thing’s for sure, next time you read Little Women you’ll certainly see it in a different light. <a href="https://t.dgm-au.com/c/93981/71095/1880?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Fthe-other-boleyn-girl-philippa-gregory%2Fprod9780006514008.html" target="_blank">The Other Boleyn Girl</a> by Philippa Gregory Loosely based on the lives of those in King Henry VIII’s court, The Other Boleyn Girl focuses on the life of Mary Boleyn, the little-known sister of Anne. This alternate story of how Henry’s second wife Anne met her fate will give you an entirely new perspective on this thrilling chapter in British history. <a href="https://t.dgm-au.com/c/93981/71095/1880?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Fenigma-robert-harris%2Fprod9780804115483.html" target="_blank">Enigma</a> by Robert Harris Set during World War II, Enigma follows young mathematician Tom Jericho as he pushes his mind and body to the limit in an effort to crack the Germans’ “Enigma” ciphers. Critics praised the novel for its realistic depiction of a cold, war-torn Britain. It was adapted into a film in 2001 starring Dougray Scott and Kate Winslet. <a href="https://t.dgm-au.com/c/93981/71095/1880?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Foutlander-diana-gabaldon%2Fprod9780440212560.html" target="_blank">The Outlander series</a> by Diana Gabaldon Gabaldon’s multi-genre smash hit series Outlander has taken the world by storm. It tells the story of Clare Randall, a WWII nurse who finds herself mysteriously transported from 1945 Scotland to 1743 and the Jacobite rising. She finds herself torn between her husband back in her own time and a handsome young warrior in the 18th century. You won’t be able to put this one down. <a href="https://t.dgm-au.com/c/93981/71095/1880?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Fmemoirs-of-a-geisha-arthur-golden%2Fprod9780099771517.html" target="_blank">Memoirs of a Geisha</a> by Arthur Golden Published in 1997, Golden’s historical novel follows the life of a fictional Japanese geisha working in pre- and post-WWII Kyoto. Memoirs of a Geisha delicately handles the themes of honour and sacrifice while revealing the ugly reasons why life as a geisha isn’t as glamourous as it seems on the outside. <a href="https://t.dgm-au.com/c/93981/71095/1880?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Fthe-name-of-the-rose-umberto-eco%2Fprod9780099466031.html" target="_blank">The Name of the Rose</a> by Umberto Eco Italian author Eco’s stunning novel The Name of the Rose is a murder mystery like no other. Brother William of Baskerville (famously played by Sean Connery in the film adaptation) is called upon to investigate a string of crime and murder in a Northern Italian monastery. What follows is a smart and tightly-plotted medieval mystery that will leave you guessing till the end. What’s your favourite historical novel? Tell us about it in the comments below! Related links: <a href="/entertainment/books/2016/08/7-lesser-known-books-by-famous-authors/">7 lesser-known brilliant books by famous authors</a> <a href="/entertainment/books/2016/07/12-hilariously-honest-alternate-titles-for-books/">12 hilariously honest alternate titles for books</a> <a href="/entertainment/books/2016/07/6-of-the-best-books-about-war/">6 of the best books about war</a>

Books

Why there needs to be more women’s fiction

Jenni Ogden, 68, is the author of Fractured Minds and Trouble In Mind and her first novel, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27037952-a-drop-in-the-ocean" target="_blank">A Drop In The Ocean</a>, was published this May. She lives on Great Barrier Island in New Zealand. It is a mystery why publishers prefer to publish books about young women when women over 45 (or 60, or 70) read more books than any other group! In the US, for example, there are 39 million baby boomer women aged between 45 and 65 years old, their estimated spending power equals $1 trillion, and many are avid readers who have the time and money to indulge their passions. Australia and New Zealand, relatively speaking, will have even more passionate readers in this wiser and freer age group, given the fact that in both countries we pitch well above our weight when it comes to reading (and writing) books. At the rich age of 68, I am an eclectic reader of non-fiction as well as fiction, but if I had to choose my favourite fiction ‘genre’ it would be women’s ‘bookclub’ fiction – stories that touch on thought-provoking topics – and especially stories featuring a strong older woman protagonist who dismantles age stereotypes. By this I mean that she is fully engaged in life (or becomes so in the story!), and follows her passions, including developing old relationships in new ways or perhaps discovering that romantic love is always a possibility. Books about older people finding love tend not to find favour with the same publishers who have failed to catch on to the massive numbers of passionate readers out there, women and men, who are over 50, over 60, over 70, and yes, of course, over 80! For many people in their later years whose minds are active but whose bodies are not as able as they once were, reading is their main window to the changing world. And most readers love reading novels that include, as major characters, some people in their own broad age group. So for me it feels right to imagine stories about people who continue to expand their horizons as they age. In my novel A Drop in the Ocean my central character, London-born Anna Fergusson, is 49. We know this is young, but Anna doesn’t, and when the funding for her Huntington’s disease research lab at a prestigious Boston university is pulled unexpectedly, she finally faces her truth: she’s almost reached the half-century mark, she’s single, virtually friendless, and worse, her research has been sub-par for years. With no jobs readily available, Anna takes a leap and agrees to spend a year monitoring a remote campsite on Turtle Island on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. What could be better for an introvert with shattered self-esteem than a quiet year in paradise? As she settles in, Anna opens her heart for the first time in decades—to new challenges, to new friendships, even to a new love with Tom, the charming, younger turtle tagger she sometimes assists. But opening one’s heart leaves one vulnerable, and Anna comes to realise that love is as fragile as happiness, and that both are a choice. *** In this extract from Chapter 14, Anna and Tom, the laid-back turtle researcher (ten years her junior), have gone to another remote coral cay to count turtle hatchlings. Collette, the snotty university professor who arrived unexpectedly to check up on Tom’s research has joined them, much to Anna’s annoyance (especially as Collette looks like a young Elizabeth Taylor). Anna has been learning to snorkel but her confidence in the water is still shaky, so she stays put on the beach when Tom and Collette head off for a dive. Read on to discover what happened next! The dinghy was speeding back over the lagoon when I got back to our camp. They’d been gone only forty-five minutes. Tom leapt out of the boat and dragged it into the shallows, shouting to me as he did so. “Anna, get your wetsuit on, quickly. There’s a Queensland grouper out there. You’ve got to see it. It might be gone tomorrow and you won’t get another chance; they’re bloody rare around here. We’ll just make it before the tide’s too low.” I stood still, just for a moment, poised on the verge of crying off. Then I saw Collette smirking in the boat. Within minutes I was back with my wetsuit half on, clutching my flippers in one hand and my mask and snorkel in the other. Tom stuck out his hand and steadied me as I clambered into the boat, then he pushed it into the deeper water, vaulted in, and we were off. I looked down as we crossed the reef edge, my heart in my mouth. It was only minutes before Tom cut the motor and heaved an anchor overboard. In the sudden silence I looked at him as the dinghy bobbed gently on the small swell. “You’ll need a weight belt,” Tom said, maneuvering the thing around my waist. “Get your flippers on and you can lower yourself over the side, feet first.” He was all efficiency and I was all a liquid mess. “You stay here, Collette, in case we drift and you have to come and get us.” His tone made it clear that Collette had no option. “Are you certified, Anna?” said Collette. “Not that I know of,” said I. Tom snorted. “We’re not using a tank. She doesn’t need to be certified, for Christ’s sake.” “I don’t think it’s a good idea. This is university equipment.” Tom ignored her and pulled the weight belt tight. “Okay?” “Won’t I sink?” “That’s the idea. It will make it easier to dive down. I’ll be beside you; I promise you will be fine. Wait ’til you see this beauty.” He was as excited as a small boy. “What is it we’re looking for again?” “You’ll see it. Now over you go.” I held my breath, slipped off the side and sank below the surface. I could feel the panic in my chest, but then I was up again and Tom was beside me, helping me with my mask and snorkel. He winked at me, and then pulled his on and flippered off. I stuck my head under and the underwater world opened up in all its glory. We swam away from the boat, side by side, and I concentrated on breathing normally and looking at the fish swimming in their myriads below us. The sea bottom seemed a long way down but the water was crystal clear and I could see a large blue starfish on a patch of white sand between the coral outcrops. I felt Tom take my hand. We must have swum out of the reach of Collette’s beady little eyes. Something strange was happening—a stillness in the water. Then I realized that the fish had disappeared. We were swimming alone. Spooked, I pulled back and Tom stopped and stuck his head out of the water. I followed suit, flapping rapidly in my effort to stay vertical and in one place. I hadn’t quite mastered treading water with flippers on. I looked around and saw our boat far, far away. How could we have come such a distance? I tried to cover my panic. Tom had removed his snorkel and was saying something. I took my snorkel mouthpiece out and instantly got a mouthful of water, which made me flap even harder. I was about to sink. Then I felt Tom’s arm around me, holding me steady. “Take it easy. Tip the water out of your snorkel and put it back in,” he said. I managed that and breathed again. “I’m going to take you over to a big bommie and on top of it is a massive fish. We won’t go too close, but it won’t take any notice of us so don’t freak out. The other fish don’t like it. That’s why the sea around it is empty.” Tom had sunk back into the water and I had no option but to follow him. What I wanted to do was to flipper as fast as possible the other way, back to the boat. Tom was pointing ahead and I peered through the fish-free, shimmering water to a large dark coral outcrop rearing up from the deep: the bommie. It must have been twenty meters or more high. Unlike every other bommie I had seen it had no fish darting in and out around it. Tom was hanging in the water and I could feel him fizzing. He jabbed his finger towards the bommie again and I nodded. What was I meant to be seeing? He was pulling me along again, and as we got closer, the top of the bommie became a giant fish. A great brown ugly fish just sitting there, his enormous mouth open. My heart was thundering, and I started to turn away, flee as far away as I could get. But Tom held firmly to my hand and pulled me back. He turned his head and made the okay sign with his free hand. My heart slowed down a little and I forced myself to give him the okay sign back. Together we floated just below the surface, and I gradually calmed down. The monster hovered there above the bommie, glaring at the world. It looked at least three meters long, and it would take two long-limbed men to embrace it around its middle. Not that that would ever happen. Even a couple of Aussie blokes wouldn’t be that crazy. Its repulsive, drooping, wide mouth opened wider, and my heart rate accelerated again. If it sucked inwards, I could disappear right down its slimy throat. Tom looked at me and I could see him grinning around his snorkel. He made a diving motion with his hand and raised his eyebrows above his mask. I shook my head desperately. He shook his head back and jabbed himself in the chest and made the diving motion again, and then the okay sign. I breathed through my snorkel and returned the okay sign. Tom released my hand and swift as an arrow dove down and swam towards the bommie. My heart was still thumping but it was definitely in my mouth now. I tried to stay in one place, concentrating on keeping my snorkel end free of the waves, which had become choppier, and conscious of my weight belt holding my body below the surface. I knew if the monster went for Tom I’d never get back to the boat by myself. Tom had surfaced again, far too close to the side of the fish. Now I could see him diving and swimming just above it. Men are so mindlessly stupid. Then it moved. A giant wriggle. Its great mouth shut and opened again. I could feel the force of the water pushing out to where I floated, twenty meters away. It could have me in a heartbeat. I held myself there with phenomenal courage and looked for Tom. He had scuttled away bloody fast and was back at the surface. He made one last dive down to the monster and skimmed alongside it, then continued towards me. I waited for the monster to lunge after him. I felt like a pro as we flippered away from the fish-free zone and back into the friendly bustle of the healthy reef. Even the sleek shape of a small white-tipped reef shark minding its own business a few meters below us caused only a brief palpitation. Within minutes we were back at the boat and Tom was shoving my butt from below as I heaved myself over the side. Even Collette seemed nicer, leaning over and grabbing my shoulders to haul me in. As we sped back to Lost Cay, weaving in and out of bits of coral piercing the rapidly receding waters over the reef flats, I sat in the middle of the boat and grinned at Tom. Wow was all that I could think. Wow. ***** To find out more about Jenni Ogden and her work, please visit her <a href="http://www.jenniogden.com/" target="_blank">website here.</a> Related links: <a href="/entertainment/books/2016/06/the-10-most-beautiful-libraries-around-the-world/">The 10 most beautiful libraries around the world</a> <a href="/entertainment/books/2016/05/10-unique-things-to-do-with-old-books/">10 unique things to do with old books</a> <a href="/entertainment/books/2016/05/best-coffee-table-books-of-all-time/">6 coffee table books you’ll never want to put away</a>

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10 of our favourite fictional lawyers

There have been some great fictional lawyers through the ages. We’re going to take a look at 10 of our favourite fictional lawyers in books, TV and movies. To see all the lawyers, scroll through the gallery above. Related links: <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/finance/legal/2016/01/10-celebrities-who-cut-their-kids-out-of-inheritances/">10 celebrities who cut their kids out of massive inheritances to give to charity</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/finance/legal/2015/08/3-places-to-safely-store-your-will/">3 places to safely store your will</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/finance/legal/2016/01/why-you-need-to-appoint-a-power-of-attorney-now/">Why you need to appoint a power of attorney now</a>

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